Preface
It’s been on my mind for a long time now that no update has been given on BarnesAidlona since October 2003 – the last update. Hence this soliloquy you are about to read.. well, only if you decide to carry on reading obviously..
We had all these dreams to complete James’s journey to Kenya, and had shared these with you. Your donations have been more than sufficient in showing your generosity, caring and understanding towards our family. There have been some developments in our thoughts on completing the journey, some changes to following James’s path, which, I feel we should share.
Some Home Truths
The aftermath of a close one passing away and, perhaps because one so young, seems to mean one’s own life takes a step back in importance – all your actions revolve around fulfilling that missing person’s life - guess its looking to keep them alive – which makes sense in hindsight. There is also the aspect of dealing with all the administration and bureaucracy required after someone passes away – your life is almost put on hold as you deal with your own promises to fulfil his or her wish.
In this instance, we were left with a rather large legacy – BarnesAidlona being the main thrust – we had to find those kids in Kenya, find the Barnesalona bus, source other football equipment, find a way of getting it there, of storing it, finding people willing to set up coaching school for these kids, and keep this premise alive...
You come to realise that all the barriers you need to confront and solve in meeting these wishes start eroding your own life - only in so far as your own wishes and way of life take a back step - you eventually realise that you need to get on with your own life, there is a need to find your own new self – this own self starts taking on more importance..
Why am I saying all this..?
Simple reason is that we have made a decision (not an easy one at that), not to pursue the exact wishes James was working to – we have decided to touch upon as many aspects of his wishes without compromising too much of our lives. We decided on the following more general premise:
“Using Football as a Means to Improve People’s Life’s in Kenya”.
I am glad to say I believe we have found the best medium to meet this premise and more will be told further down the page..! In the meantime.. some other stories..
The Barnesalona Bus
A very fortuitous moment meant my mother met a young man, around March 2004, at the Barnes Rugby Clubhouse – his name is Patrick Forbes and he was then a PR to Prince Hassan of Jordan. The result of this meeting was that on his return to Jordan, he found the Barnesalona bus, its location, a Bedouin village called Little Petra, based near Petra itself; the bus was still sitting outside Khelil Kathi’s house where James had left it. All the football equipment James had left in it was still there – footballs, kits, boots, etc..
Patrick also “tour guided” and looked after my parents on their trip to Jordan in June 2004, helped in deciding and managing the best way to use the bus (included setting up introductions to 3 local charities), and so it goes on.. needless to say that without Patrick, the Barnesalona bus story would still be incomplete. Much debt and gratitude goes to him. I would need another 10 paragraphs to explain exactly how much he did – this should happen in another forum.
The outcome is the bus was donated to a community living in a village called Bir Abu Danah (literally “the Well of the Father of a person called Danah”), near Petra, in order for it to be used to take children to school, the sick to hospital, and for the elderly to be driven around – a communal bus in essence. Try and imagine a red bus with Barnesalona logos, driving around the desert regions in and around Petra…
It’s been on my mind for a long time now that no update has been given on BarnesAidlona since October 2003 – the last update. Hence this soliloquy you are about to read.. well, only if you decide to carry on reading obviously..
We had all these dreams to complete James’s journey to Kenya, and had shared these with you. Your donations have been more than sufficient in showing your generosity, caring and understanding towards our family. There have been some developments in our thoughts on completing the journey, some changes to following James’s path, which, I feel we should share.
Some Home Truths
The aftermath of a close one passing away and, perhaps because one so young, seems to mean one’s own life takes a step back in importance – all your actions revolve around fulfilling that missing person’s life - guess its looking to keep them alive – which makes sense in hindsight. There is also the aspect of dealing with all the administration and bureaucracy required after someone passes away – your life is almost put on hold as you deal with your own promises to fulfil his or her wish.
In this instance, we were left with a rather large legacy – BarnesAidlona being the main thrust – we had to find those kids in Kenya, find the Barnesalona bus, source other football equipment, find a way of getting it there, of storing it, finding people willing to set up coaching school for these kids, and keep this premise alive...
You come to realise that all the barriers you need to confront and solve in meeting these wishes start eroding your own life - only in so far as your own wishes and way of life take a back step - you eventually realise that you need to get on with your own life, there is a need to find your own new self – this own self starts taking on more importance..Why am I saying all this..?
Simple reason is that we have made a decision (not an easy one at that), not to pursue the exact wishes James was working to – we have decided to touch upon as many aspects of his wishes without compromising too much of our lives. We decided on the following more general premise:
“Using Football as a Means to Improve People’s Life’s in Kenya”.
I am glad to say I believe we have found the best medium to meet this premise and more will be told further down the page..! In the meantime.. some other stories..
The Barnesalona Bus
A very fortuitous moment meant my mother met a young man, around March 2004, at the Barnes Rugby Clubhouse – his name is Patrick Forbes and he was then a PR to Prince Hassan of Jordan. The result of this meeting was that on his return to Jordan, he found the Barnesalona bus, its location, a Bedouin village called Little Petra, based near Petra itself; the bus was still sitting outside Khelil Kathi’s house where James had left it. All the football equipment James had left in it was still there – footballs, kits, boots, etc..
Patrick also “tour guided” and looked after my parents on their trip to Jordan in June 2004, helped in deciding and managing the best way to use the bus (included setting up introductions to 3 local charities), and so it goes on.. needless to say that without Patrick, the Barnesalona bus story would still be incomplete. Much debt and gratitude goes to him. I would need another 10 paragraphs to explain exactly how much he did – this should happen in another forum.
The outcome is the bus was donated to a community living in a village called Bir Abu Danah (literally “the Well of the Father of a person called Danah”), near Petra, in order for it to be used to take children to school, the sick to hospital, and for the elderly to be driven around – a communal bus in essence. Try and imagine a red bus with Barnesalona logos, driving around the desert regions in and around Petra…
The football equipment was distributed to the children of Little Petra – there is a nice video my parents took of the kids in oversized football tops and oversized boots, running around the bus, kicking footballs. Wish I had been there, but, I myself, was gallivanting around SE Asia, looking for my own little bit of the world !
Contd on another section above "BarnesAidlona Update Nov 2006 Part 2")
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