Packing the bags.....

After almost 12 months to the day of our fundraising event we are heading over to Cambodia at the weekend to see the finished school and attend the official opening!

I want to again thank everyone for your support to date, and there have been so many ways that you have supported, by those that were our key speaker/entertainer on the evening, by being a sponsor, by attending our evening, by donating, by adopting a toy to send, by donating a recipe for the upcoming fundraising cookbook - everything and every way is fully appreciated and going to such a great cause.

Today for me will be a day of last minute tidying up of things I need to do before I go and making sure I have everything in order - visa's, medicine, first aid kits, invoices for all the shipments that have gone....and before I even get any clothes in my suitcase I have about 13kgs of rugby rippa flags and waistbands to somehow get in!

The shipping side of things has been a big task - and again thank you to Michael and Chris at Midlands Seed Limited, Ashburton, who have done this big job for me and the Company for so generously sponsoring this side of things - by no means an inexpensive exercise, the paper work has been immense and the taxation for entering Cambodia has been a learning curve - even when itemized for charity! All the cartons have been sent to Auckland from here by road, and held in storage, and will fly tomorrow so as they will arrive just before we do.....fingers crossed! ....so there was minimal time for them to be stored minimizing risk.

Temperture wise we will be heading into a temperture range of late thirties and above, not to mention the humidity, so we will definitely need to keep the fluids up and the sunscreen on - and with me being blonde and fair skinned and having two auburn haired children we will need sunscreen in bulk! - Apparently with the malaria tablets that we need to take it causes hyper-sensitivity to the sun so we have got the highest degree of sunscreen we could get our hands on!

The official opening of the school will be starting at 8.30am to try and get finished before the intense heat of the day hits, so on that particular morning a very early start to travel to the village, with all the cartons of backpacks, toys, sports equipment and gifts and un-packed and organized. I can't wait to see the light go on in these children's eyes - that will make everything worthwhile.

Twelve months ago, I stood in front of the people that came to our fundraising evening and made a speech, and in that speech I said "life isn't about sitting back and thinking that as an individual you can't make a change, because if you see an opportunity and have a belief in yourself, you can and will make it happen" - I said it then as I believed it, I believe it even more now.

Wish us luck!