You bundled into our lives from a land far away
But it didn’t make it any less special
You’re ours to celebrate

You’re a perfect little tot popped out a most beautiful being
So how could we love you any less?
That’s just not

And just because you’re far out there
So some things we’ll suffer not to share
It doesn’t mean that we any less care
No way

So long as now and then
We meet on Skype time again
I hope you’ll know I’m me
Your Auntie Kirsty
She or Orange and a little crazy
But no less part of your loving family

The part that’s all the way over here
Too far, not at all near
Yet still loving you more each year
As we watch you grow from far away
Waiting for the day when with you we’ll get to play
With anything

For I’ll play with whatever you enjoy
And whether that’s a toy
Or imagination
I promise we’ll have loads of fun
Be that in our cold or in your sun

You see you get the best of both
Given by your Mum and Dad
The world is yours to be had
On both its’ sides you’ve heaps of love

Only difference is
At this end it calls a need for gloves

I like words because you can carry them in your head
So you don’t lose space in your handbag
I like sentences because words are not enough left alone
I left alone is solidarity
Love left alone is heartbreak
You left alone is distance
I love you together is a friendship and a relationship and a family
Sentences are heavier than words
But your head still has room for an infinite amount
Your head can carry a conversation
Infact infinite conversations can be housed in your head
Conversations are words achieving their highest destiny
But they still take up just as much room in your handbag

So what do I need to take with me in my handbag?

Children play in the yard
Whilst I do what?
I sit in the sun
Because it is what?
My last day
Last chance for sunshine
Once gone I will miss them
Because they did what?
Made me feel welcome
They will miss me they said

This is Africa
My feet need a deep clean
Stained red and dusty
More than just *****

This is Africa
My clothes stick to me
I wouldn’t want to smell me
I’m hot beyond sweaty

This is Africa
I’m a sight worth seeing
A target for street traders
My skin is impressive so it seams

This is Africa
Where the fruits grow so tasty
But prices are doubled for me
Yet they’re worth it

This is Africa
Where the people seam happy
Whilst living life more simply
Even when stretching to raise money

This is Africa
Where time has no certainty
Motion no stress or urgency
Things just happen more tardily

This is Africa
Where police are bought at a fee
People roam with guns and machete
But we’ve not seen them used

This is Africa
And it’s welcomed me
So much I don’t want to leave
I just want more

The journey here was entrancing
and the state of semi-consciousness
induced by the wavering waters
has been stretched out to theme the weekend

Helped occasionally by smokes of something special
we’ve been coexisting in harmonious condition
of pure laziness

Our biggest achievement walking to Palm Beach
Which we lengthened creating circles around
Before realising it was in fact in front us
Since we arrived

Our companion Cecil has been guarding us
Whilst we sleep in the shade
And leading us on the way to the local fishing village
Where we’ve adopted the Ugandan pace of exploration
And have enjoyed the local tastes

Sessee sounds like we are walking through natures ****
The birds making out in trees are plugged into amps
Whilst the crickets chirp in competition
And the chickens cockadoodledo

The birdlife is vastly variable
and the bat in the bedroom an unexpected guest
Perhaps explaining the piles of roof debris upon our beds
But also accountable to the bugs gnawing wood

The dead frog in the shoe was an unwelcome companion
and upset the pleasure
taken from a lone explorative beach strole
paddling upon white sands in the shores of Victoria

But it was soon forgotten with a game of smackabum
and some drunken discussion
trying to distinguish Wafargi from Farigi
The Waragi has hit our heads

Needless to say next day our hurts are hurting
and we’re frowning at the fishy friends
accompanying us on the journey home
….nothing a rolex (or two) can’t fix though

I will miss Uganda
The people that made us feel most welcome
That helped us learn as part of the team

I will miss the sunshine
Even the downpours and storms that stunned us
And the dryness of earth that dusted our skin

I will miss the hilltop views
That look upon the cityscape of hectic humanity
And roads filled with the danger of boda-bodas and matatus

I will miss the expectation of casual tardiness
Of moving like there’s no rush
No better place to be so why hurry

I will miss the adventure of discovering new places
Of eating new things with new people
And sharing stories of varied past

I will miss Uganda and it says it misses me
But as long as I remember
I wont need to miss the memories

I knew that I’d come here
And that I’d nurse here
But not what the work would involve
Or what it would miss

I should have known
That this would be like a home
My companions would be like a family
And that I’d make friendships I’d miss

But I didn’t know
I would be so afraid of leaving
Wondering how to return to what my life was
Having forgotten the things I thought I’d miss

Probably because of now knowing
It’s been more unforgettable
And something I wish to relive
A place I am truly going to miss

I’m just glad to have known Uganda
So intimately and realistically
Absorbed in work and local culture
Those things that just tourists miss