David wrote this piece in 2003, following his trip to Pandipieri in Kisumu, Kenya
“It’s taken me two trips to Africa with HANDS AROUND THE WORLD to clearly understand the merits of being part of a project. It’s easy to become obsessed with the work and its completion, to show some results. What I appreciate now is that it is just as important to accept the project as a learning process. As volunteers we were useful, inspiring even, but ultimately not essential.
Once you have accepted this humbling fact, your perspective completely changes. We were lucky enough to participate in many of the different community activities carried out at the centers we visited, and I am full of admiration for what they achieve in the face of great adversity. They made a lot of time for us and did it with great good cheer. I felt inadequate to say the least.
If I can come back to the UK and convey this message of hope and inspire others to go and experience it for themselves, then I will feel I have really achieved something.”