Hugs, Sweat and Tears

So this was it, the culmination of the fantastic three week visit, a sunny car park in the back streets of Egremont, loads of bags and people, a minibus and Bupe doing circuits of the assembled throng on a push bike! The time had come, the goodbyes were said the tears were choked back, or in most cases not. The minibus pulled away and silence briefly descended. First stop was Old Trafford, unfortunately Fratton Park was too far off route so we had to make do with the Theatre of Dreams. Gama and Aizeck posed defiantly for photos brandishing their Chelsea scarfs, not sure if Rooney was familiar with Best, Law & Charlton but the photo with the 'Holy Trinity' statue was taken non the less. The visit was capped off with a feast on the slightly warm and melted remnants of the ceilidh buffet! Next was a visit to the Science and Industry Museum in the city, the ground floor was devoted to the cotton industry in Manchester - the lads looked suitably underwhelmed! Just when I was thinking this maybe wouldn't be their thing, the girls discovered the glass elevator to the second floor - the lift was a hit as were the 'hands on' exhibits. The girls were both fascinated and spooked by the skeleton that mirrored your movements, Chotta spent a considerable amount of time attempting and failing to walk in a circle with mirror vision glasses on. The airport was beckoning, a brief stop was made at the Etihad Stadium followed by a drinks break in sunny Chorlton. At the airport two records were attempted and successfully broken; firstly how many layers of clothing could one group of Tanzanians wear in searing heat in a check in queue without suffering heat exhaustion, and secondly the most movements of bags between random check in desks and on and off scales for no apparent reason! Final goodbyes were said and the Tanzanians marched off to security like seasoned travellers, a mere 36 hours plus worth of travelling ahead of them. As we waved them off our three hour hop back to Cumbria looked all the more straightforward. It was sad to say good bye to such a wonderful group of people but a privilege to have been involved with them.