Unterwegs...
The nomadic life of Mara & Raf
Hemel Hempstead
- Mara & Raf
- January 1, 2022
- #FamilyFriends
Our bags were pretty much packed and we were ready to go on a jet plane to Germany for our first trip abroad for almost two years. And then everything changed again. The omicron variant took off in England, travel regulations changed, and it became clear that we’d need to stay at home once more. So, we actually managed to stay in South East England for the whole of 2021! Of course this is…
Cape Town
- Mara & Raf
- November 21, 2021
- #FamilyFriends
Every time another niece or nephew is added to our wider family, we become aware of the wonderful miracle of new life. Raf’s sister Tabitha gave birth to Asher at home a few days ago, and we are again so amazed and excited….
Hemel Hempstead
- Mara
- November 1, 2021
- #FamilyFriends
The main theme of this blog is supposed to be our nomadic life, with us reporting from all over the world. Obviously things have been rather quiet in that regard for a while now. Much of life at the moment may be a bit more mundane for us than…
Cape Town
- Mara & Raf
- August 11, 2021
- #Covid19, #FamilyFriends
Raf became close friends with Cindy while they were both at Cornerstone College in Cape Town. And because Cindy and her partner Bettina later also lived in London for a good number of years we were able to spend many special moments all together. But in addition to Cape…
- Mara
- August 10, 2021
- #Covid19, #FamilyFriends
Liebe Freunde, ich habe eine ganze Weile darüber nachgedacht, ob ich schreiben soll, denn ich vermute, dass das was ich jetzt schreibe unter Umständen hart oder konfrontativ rüberkommen kann. Die Alternative wäre, dass ich mich einfach mal etwas zurückziehe von manchen Leuten, innerlich, aber auch was den aktiven Kontakt…
Hemel Hempstead
- Mara & Raf
- July 15, 2021
- #FamilyFriends, #Home
No words needed. We reckon you’ll probably be more interested in the pictures….
Hemel Hempstead
- Mara & Raf
- July 5, 2021
- #FamilyFriends, #Home
Moving is hard work. Eight trips by minivan, three trips with brother-in-law Matthew’s car and ten trips with our small car later and we have managed to move most of our belongings from Finchley to Apsley. There was some painting to do as well as ripping off wallpapers, some…
London, UK
- Mara & Raf
- July 1, 2021
- #FamilyFriends
It’s the time of farewells. Mara is saying goodbye to her boss Alison, who she has known since her first deployment in Pakistan in 2006. In addition to Alison, Birgitte, the head of the department under which Mara’s section of the International Emergency Section falls is also retiring. We are…
London, UK
- Mara & Raf
- June 19, 2021
- #Covid19, #FamilyFriends
While Covid continues to wreak havoc around the world, some restrictions have been lifted here in the UK in recent weeks. That has meant that we’ve been able to meet friends and family in small numbers and could even enjoy having some sleepover guests. But we are also still mostly working…
- Mara & Raf
- April 25, 2021
- #Covid19, #FamilyFriends
When we celebrated Easter last year we would have never guessed that a year later we’d still be facing lockdowns and restrictions with the pandemic being far from over. But here we are, it’s April 2021 and our life in the last few months has still meant mostly working from…
- Mara & Raf
- March 25, 2021
- #Covid19, #FamilyFriends
The Coronavirus and the resulting Covid-19 disease changed the world and it changed all of us. At the time of writing, 125 million people are affected and almost 3 million people have died globally. In addition to the incredible loss and the hurt due to death and sickness, countless…
- Mara & Raf
- January 27, 2021
- #Covid19, #FamilyFriends
It is the 27th of January and the cases of Covid-19 globally has officially crossed the 100 million mark. What a tragic milestone. 2.1 million people have died of Covid-19. In the UK we crossed 100,000 deaths yesterday. Another tragic milestone. The numbers are huge and hard to comprehend and…
London, UK
- Mara & Raf
- January 1, 2021
- #Covid19, #FamilyFriends
OK, admittedly the title of this blog entry sounds glum, but this Christmas and New Year’s season has definitely been a bit more sombre than any other we have previously experienced. Due to lockdown rules, households weren’t allowed to mingle which meant much quieter celebrations than usually. And then…
- Mara & Raf
- November 29, 2020
- #Covid19, #FamilyFriends
The Advent and Christmas season has started but in 2020 this will look very different. In London we still find ourselves in a lockdown and even when it probably ends in a few days there will still be restrictions, which means that we won’t be able to meet people…
- Mara & Raf
- September 20, 2020
- #Covid19, #FamilyFriends
Looking back at previous entries we saw that on 29th of March we wrote that there are “665,000 confirmed cases globally, with 17,312 here in the UK”. A couple of months later, on the 17th May we posted: ” As of today there are more than 4.6 million infections confirmed…
West Curry, Cornwall
- Mara & Raf
- August 9, 2020
- #FamilyFriends, #OutOfOffice
Our short trip to Wales a few weeks ago was great, so we decided to do it all over again: Doing the glamorous kind of camping and going for long walks along the dramatic British coast. This time we went to Cornwall and Dorset, and we slept in yurts….
- Mara
- August 1, 2020
- #Covid19, #Humanitarian
In the last post in this series, there are photos of Salvation Army staff and volunteers making sure that children are not left out in Sri Lanka and United Arab Emirates, providing meals for people in need in Saint Lucia and Taiwan, loading and unloading lost of boxes in…
- Mara
- July 31, 2020
- #Covid19, #Humanitarian
In the third post in this series, you there are photos of Salvation Army staff and volunteers providing support to displaced people in Mexico and Peru, promoting hygiene and safe hygiene in Nigeria or Rwanda, going tthe extra mile even if this means by bicycle in Moldova or the…
- Mara
- July 30, 2020
- #Covid19, #Humanitarian
In this post you can see Salvation Army staff and volunteers wearing masks to protect others in Lithuania or Italy, providing hand-washing facilities in Haiti or Liberia, going the extra mile in Hawaii or Hong Kong and working in Salvation Army hospitals and clinics in India or Indonesia. Thank…
- Mara
- July 29, 2020
- #Covid19, #Humanitarian
In this second post in the series you can see Salvation Army staff and volunteers providing food items to affected families in French Georgia or Grenada, looking after people living on the street in Germany or Ghana, packing food and hygiene items into bags in Ecuador and Guyana and…
- Mara
- July 28, 2020
- #Covid19, #Humanitarian
Covid-19 is a global crisis with 188 countries and overseas territories affected, more than 16.7 million confirmed cases and more than 660,000 deaths. Whilst I have been working from home with no travels to the office let alone around the world, my work remains global and I have been…