A decent proposal

As April draws ever closer, I've had plenty going on recently -

Meet Emmanuel, star of my Training Course Production
 "Emmanuel learns all about AIDS"

All the training is finished, the second course in Birmingham really was excellent, and we had a great bunch of people on the course - all friendly and out-going which made the tasks all the more fun.

And in a more life-definining move, I surprised Liisa with a trip to Albania (where we met), popped the question (incidentally just before February 29th!), & very thankfully she said Yes. Huzzah! My fiancee!

Liisa quits her job on Friday, and I've got another 4 or 5 weeks. The time will fly and we're both really starting to focus on Tanzania at this stage!

If anybody would like to donate to the very worthy cause that is VSO, I would be entirely grateful:
http://www.mycharity.ie/events/tompeilow (for the Irish)
http://www.justgiving.co.uk/tompeilow (for everyone else)

See you all soon!

Now we play the waiting game

If London get indepedence, this city will become the UK's capital
(this isn't the VSO training building!)

Everything is coming along nicely, and we're firmly counting down to April. Mass amounts of administration are in process (visas, accomodation, flights, insurance etc), but I'll spare you the details on that.

On top of online based training,  Liisa and I were in Birmingham for a 3-day course to help us prepare to move a developing country. A good course, although tiring coming at the end of a long week. It was great to meet other volunteers who were a fantastic bunch - we developed a few of our own tasks, such as "Go to the Pub" which I particularly excelled at!

Liisa is to hand her notice in on Monday (hopefully her manager doesn't read this ...actually even if somehow she does, what would it matter?!) Everything is quickly becoming more real, exciting times ahead, and no regrets.

But next up, another trip to Sunny Birmingham on Saturday!

Step 1

The biggest step so far is done - I've handed in my notice! I'm sad to leave Avanti, I've built up a lot of strong friendships there, but it feels like the timing is right. Liisa and I have also had plenty of time to consider our decision, having first thought of all of this back in August.

After much researching, and hitting a few brick walls on the way, I managed to land a Finance Consultant Volunteering role for me with SolarAid in Dar Es Salaam, structured through A f I D and VSO. SolarAid is a fantastic organisation, and as they have a head office in London I've met the staff here and really have a good feel for them.

Liisa meanwhile will be going over with her primary focus on starting up her freelance translating business. Once she has a laptop and the internet she can do that from anywhere in the world. So where better than a tropical beach with temperatures in the high 20s to early 30s?!

When in Tanzania, the working language will be English, which is a relief! We will however undertake Swahili lessons. Liisa, and her knack for picking up languages, will soon become probably the only person in the world who can translate from Swahili into Finnish!

First up, I will remain with Avanti until early April before moving to Tanzania, and I have no doubt the time will fly. There's plenty still to organise - I need to complete VSO's training with a couple of trips to Birmingham, fundraising, working visas, accomodation, make sure I get home enough to see my new nephew Padraic, arrange my shots & malaria, and make the most of the weekends I have left!

My 3 years in London have flown by, and I may very well be back one day. It's been brilliant.

Hadi wakati mwingine!




Tom Peilow