St Albans family spend first Christmas away from home

Alison and Alan Cowan, formerly of Burnham Road, St Albans, upped sticks earlier this year to help impoverished people in Africa. The couple have adorned their new home in Uganda with handmade festive decorations to capture the traditional jolly spirit of Christmas, despite living miles from home.

They are also hoping Santa will find his way to their new home to deliver presents for their three children, Bella, Zoë and Amy.

St Albans GP Alison decided to take on the challenge of volunteering overseas with national charity VSO, and the decision has transformed the family's lives - at least for the next two years.

In june the Cowan's left the family home bound for Uganda where Alison has begun work to improve the country's healthcare system.

Every step of the family's different Christmas holiday will be documented in an online blog, titled The Cowans in Kampala.

Alison told the Review: "We are all really looking forward to Christmas, despite it feeling very different. Christmas carols don't quite have the same ring in the sweltering heat.

"We have all been madly making Christmas decorations and so the house looks really festive now, and quite tasteful, though I say so myself.

"We have been making Christmas baubles out of old Christmas cards and have filled them with sweets and plan to hand them out to the local kids.

"The idea is that they hang the baubles up over Christmas and then enjoy the sweets afterwards but the girls we gave some to the other day destroyed them on the spot to get at the sweets.

"We are hoping to have an open house on Christmas Eve with mulled wine and mince pies but are not at all sure what the locals will make of those tastes and in this heat.

"Alan's parents are flying over too to join us, so it should be fun. There is a quorum of VSO volunteers staying in Kampala for Christmas so we are planning to have Christmas day together somewhere."