Meet the team - Sally!

Hello – I am Sally and am I excited to be part of the 2026 team from St Andrews. I first went to South Africa as part of the team in 2024. We went as a family - my husband Christopher, our children Adam and Pippa and myself. It was a life changing trip for all of us and I was so proud when both the children chose to return again last year. Adam could only get one week off work - but still went anyway for the time he could - and Pippa was brave enough to go without her parents (with Alice volunteering to becoming her legal guardian for a fortnight!).

I would have loved to have gone last year as well, but at the time I needed to commit I was still in the middle of my main breast cancer treatment. And of course I was not the only person to be frustrated at not being able to travel last year. I visited Chris Parker at Lister Hospital a number of times during the time the team were away including on the way back from dropping the team at Heathrow and on the middle weekend while Adam was flying back on his own from Skukuza to Johannesburg and then onto Heathrow. We enjoyed reading and commenting on the blog together over a cup of tea and monitoring the team’s progress thanks to the fact I could track both my children’s phones. We both were determined that we would do our best to make the trip this year whatever condition we were in! Sadly in Chris’s case this was not to be and he will be very much on all our minds while we are away.

I am looking forward to returning to the communities in Mafambisa, Seville B and Pfunani which we visited back in 2024 – meeting the care workers and the children again and seeing how things have changed and developed. You may recall from my intro blog in 2024 one of the things I was concerned about was whether our two-week visit really could make a difference to these vulnerable communities. I can confirm that I saw first-hand that simply by going and supporting local care workers, listening to caregivers and sharing God’s love with the children, we can provide encouragement and hope in extremely challenging circumstances. It is a real privilege to be going again and having the opportunity to do this. Whilst I am still coming to terms with the ongoing impact of my treatment and worrying how I will manage the trip with my fatigue and aches and pains, I am acutely aware that I have been blessed with access to excellent healthcare and support over the last two year and in the big scheme of things and compared with the challenges these communities are facing I have much to be grateful for.