Richard Goldsmith was the first person we met at the Kinyara Sugar
Works near Masindi, and it wasn’t long before his girlfriend, Kara March, had
volunteered to help us with our program.
This was back in 2006 when we were volunteers with the Jane Goodall Institute
in Uganda.
When the company they worked for lost the sugar works contract they
took jobs in Papua, New Guinea but we kept in touch. They are married now and have been back in the UK for a few
years. They invited us for the
weekend, along with Chris and Rose Turner, another expat couple from Kinyara.
Richard and Kara share a duplex on a large lot with her parents in
the town of Breton, in the Cotswolds.
It turns out to be a good deal for all concerned, if a bit crowded with
all of us plus two dogs on a rainy weekend. It seems all we did was eat and drink and share
stories, but we did manage a walk or two.
We had scones and tea, champagne and appetizers, dinner at the pub, huge
English breakfasts, a traditional Sunday roast leg of lamb, and gallons of
wine, pear liqueur and beer.
BELCH! But it was wonderful
to catch up after all this time.
While Richard and Kara went off to work, we followed Chris and Rose
on the “3 or 4 hour” trip to their cottage in Barley in Lancashire, where we have been invited to stay for a fortnight. I was
exhausted from trying to keep up with Chris when we finally arrived at the
cottage 220 miles and nine hours later.
Everyone in England, it seems, lives in a ‘cottage,” but theirs is the
real deal. Like the rest of
Barley, it dates from the 17th or 18th Century. The ceilings are low, the creaky stairs
are steep and the walls are thick.
The rooms are surprisingly spacious but cold, even in July with a coal fire going in the grate. I can't imagine what it would be like in January.
We took an instant liking to Chris and Rose when we met them at
Kinyara. He is from London and
they met in Zimbabwe where Rose grew up and they lived there for another 10 years.
We didn’t know them well until one Sunday afternoon when they drove
right up to our banda in the forest.
Chris jumped out with a brace of cold beers in each hand and Rose
carried a bottle of wine – instant friendship. When we all left Uganda, Chris and Rose ended up working in the Gambia for another two years.
Since we had no running water or electricity, we visited Richard,
Kara, Chris and Rose often for a hot
shower, a cold drink and some of Kara’s freshly baked bread or Rose’s homemade
ice cream and some good conversation. Five years later we value their friendship more than that of many we have
known longer. They are among the
few people we know who understand what traveling - and life - is all about.
