Where did it all begin?

The honest answer is that I can't quite remember!

To start with, I think it was really just a dream. I had a desire to share with Racheal my love of travelling and to give her new experiences, but a whole year of travelling seemed out of the question. It played around in my thoughts and slowly morphed from a crazy idea to 'why not?' to 'we're going to do this!'

Let me explain a little about our situation.

Racheal has profound learning disabilities, she is blind, non-verbal and a full time wheelchair user. She has cerebral palsy, microcephaly, and a number of medical issues which keep me on my toes. I need to be proactive to prevent, or at least reduce the possibility of, her becoming unwell. Despite all this she is a happy, fun loving young lady who revels in new experiences. Racheal enjoys the out of doors, travelling, musical & sensory theatre, making things, and hanging out with her peers.

Racheal has been involved in GirlguidingUK since the age of 10. She was a Guide and then Young Leader in the local Guide unit, achieving her Gold award as a Guide, and is now a Ranger. Girlguiding has given Racheal some fantastic opportunities including attending an international jamboree in Norfolk, and a trip to Switzerland with her unit. I've been fortunate to share these experiences with her. Guiding has been in my blood since I joined Brownies at the age of 7, and it has given me a huge amount of pleasure to support Racheal on her Guiding journey. Girlguiding has also given Racheal some lovely friends who have supported her and included her in their activities. One such friend is Summer who has been a Guide, Young Leader and now Ranger with Racheal. We are delighted that Summer has chosen to join Racheal on her Gap Year and are looking forward to adventuring with her.

In my life before Racheal, I was a Learning Disability and Paediatric Nurse. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to travel a lot, to north, east and west Africa, Mexico, India, Nepal, Canada and many European countries. Our house is full of souvenirs of my travels, particularly musical instruments, Much of my travelling in my adult life has been with my very good friend Ann, who will be joining us on some of our upcoming adventures.

I am a Christian and try to live my life in obedience to God (though I fail on a daily basis!). In 2013, I felt called to make a major life change. I gave up nursing and became a foster carer for children with additional needs. After a few months of providing respite care to other young people, Racheal came to live with me. Her previous foster carer was retiring and, though she had given plenty of notice, we had just 2 weeks for transition as the Local Authority had been unable to find a replacement carer. Racheal and I hit it off immediately and I quickly came to understand her needs. She had a desire to communicate, and soon learnt to make choices and answer yes/no questions by turning her head to the right or left. This opened up her world and gave her a degree of control which has been nurtured both at home and at school as she has matured into a wonderful young woman. In 2018 I felt it was time to apply to adopt Racheal, and by God's grace, we became a family legally in August 2019.

Going from being a single person to single mum of a child with complex needs was a huge step, and though I have never regretted it even for a moment, it came with a number of sacrifices. The biggest was freedom. In an instant I could no longer come and go as I please, and simple things like popping out for a pint of milk late at night, walking the dog early in the morning, or visiting a friend at the weekend became impossible or a highly organised operation. However, I was determined that Racheal would have lots of different experiences, so we found ways to manage camping holidays, visits to my Dad in Spain, and trips to the theatre in London. Even during Covid lockdowns we camped in the garden, slept in a den we bult in the kitchen and created our own rain forest in the dining room!

So, back to the gap year dream.

People would ask me what Racheal was going to do when she left school. I would jokingly reply that she was going to have a gap year. Gradually it stopped being a joke. If you say something too many times it's just not funny anymore! I started to think about how wonderful it would be to spend a whole year with my daughter, and dreamt of some of the places we could visit. Some people said to me that 'young people like Racheal don't have gap years'! So that was it - I had to prove them wrong. More and more ideas came to me, and before I knew it a year's itinerary was plotted on a calendar and a budget set. My biggest stumbling block was how I could manage away from home for long periods without any additional help. Ann could help for a week here and there, but has elderly parents she cares for and cannot be away for long. Then, walking home from Rangers one evening, Racheal's friend Summer said that she would like to have a gap year but didn't know who to go with. I was only too happy to invite her to join us, but told her to think about whether it was what she really wanted to do. When she came back a few weeks later to say she wanted to join us for the whole year it turned the dream into a reality and the planning began in earnest.