Word of the Week - Camping

I'm aiming to camp in the van every month in 2026. I managed a night on my friend's drive in January.

I'm on my son and Dil's drive for half term. it's cold, wet and windy outside but lovely and snug inside. Peter opted to stay at home for the week which worked out well in the end as Birmingham reached the 4th round of the FA Cup against Leeds which was played on Sunday the 15th so after the match I drove on up to Birkenhead for the overnight ferry.

I'm only using the campervan for sleeping in, going out to it at 9pm after a shower and getting into my pjs, with a hot water bottle and a mug of tea.

I'm waking up at 7am and it's a quick dash into the house for a wee, refill the hot water bottle, make a cup of tea say goodbye to eldest grandson as he goes to pre school and back to bed in the campervan for an hour. It was tricky opening the door one morning.

The campervan has diesel heating that runs either off the mains or the solar panels. I've plugged into the mains while I'm at my sons, if I camp for just one night I tend to use jsut the solar panels. I only need the heating on for an hour at night and an hour in the morning to get the van warmed up.

I sit in my dry robe until it warms up.

When the diesel heating is running and the roof is popped there is enough ventilation with the canvas, but when the roof is down I need to have a window cranked.

I opted to sleep on the bottom bed on the last night (Thursday) as the canvas had dried and it was due to rain on the Friday and it could be 2-3 days before I might be able to dry it properly, so I dried round the external rims and folded the top down.

The downside of sleeping on the bottom bed is not having a table, but there are plenty of surfaces to put things on especially as I'm not cooking in the van either or even having to make a cup of tea in it.

I packed my clothes onto hangers and placed everything int he wardrobe, just taking what I needed into the house each day, just leaving my washbag in the bathroom.

I'm travelling home on Friday night so I'll be making a couple of stops on the way home for a coffee and a lie down on the back seats.

Supporting vulnerable adults and children in South Africa.

Before moving to Dubai, I lived in Pretoria, South Africa for 4 years. There I worked with 3 charities/organisations supporting educational projects in rural areas and in townships across the region.

I was back in SA July 2^nd – July 10^th to work with these charities/organisations and I was hoping one or two of you would like to support the work I do.

The Santa Shoebox Project is a country wide organisation and collects and distributes over 100,000 gifts every year to the most vulnerable children. In Pretoria I worked with a team who provided over 50,000 gifts over a 5 year period.  For AED 50 you can buy a gift for a boy or a girl aged 0 - 18. Sadly I won't be able to support them with collection, checking and delivering the boxes this year as that takes place end of October, early November. But I am spending a week there in July to sort the storage unit out, do some marketing and collect donations, ready for drop off. Last year I had sponsorship from Ford and worked with KFC and other national companies.

 The Pretoria Volunteers

 Each shoebox is packed for an individual child

 The hats my MIL knitted for Njabulo Child Care facility

Out in Soshanguve delivering gifts November 2015

The Viva Foundation provides rape support and counselling as well as running several educational centres in South Africa, including a school in Kildare, an hours drive west of Kruger National Park that I sourced donations for, they provide support for orphaned and vulnerable children in the Alaskan Informal Settlement and arrange family days to build communities, fund birthday parties and provide training to help people get into employment. One of their community projects is an annual Art's festival. I was involved with the education side, teaching and training and sourcing educational supplies.

There is little, if any, government funding for these projects and they rely almost on public donations, volunteers and cooperate sponsorship.

I fund raise and raise awareness year round for the above causes and I'm hoping a few of you would like to make a financial donation for this years trip. I paid my own flights and I stayed with friends. I'm looking for donations to support educational supplies, even if it's just your loose change, it will go a long way with the current exchange rate. I will provide you with receipts and photos of the children who receive your donations.

Please let me know if you would be interested in making a financial donation or click here for paypal.

Below are some of the blog posts I've written, with photographs, if you're interested.

Just how far does your loose change go? 

The Santa Shoebox Project 

Rural Communities 

Camping in a township and the Viva Art Festival 

When you have to walk 4km for fresh water