Louise

“My Dad Chris was always the clown in the family. He was known—amongst many other things—as a larrikin. He had this wonderful talent to always turn something negative into something that was fun—and not just funny, but hysterical. He had a great sense of humour that would let you see something from a different perspective, which was a great thing to do in many instances. Also, he had incredible grit. He never complained even though he was often in great pain. He was a really good role model on how to get on with life and make the most of it. My father died while I was in Uganda and it was incredibly tough that I couldn’t be with any of the family. In fact, saying goodbye to my dad when I left for this trip was a very hard one. He had been sick for a long time and every time I went to Africa, in the back of my mind, I expected this to be our last goodbye. This time though, his health had deteriorated quite a bit but still I hoped he would be there when I got back. Unfortunately, this time he wasn’t. It was a very sad time for me being away from all the family, alone, and being frustrated over there because I couldn’t fly back in time. Just that separation at the time was really hard and challenging.”