Moments that change lives

MARY ANN SIEGHART, the assistant editor of The Times, is taking four months off with the family



FOR ages, my husband has nurtured the fantasy of our family taking a year off to sail around the world.

Personally, I prefer dry land — partly because I suffer from seasickness, and partly because there is so much more to see there.

But the main obstacle was our belief that none of us could afford — financially, academically, careerwise — to take a whole year out of our working and studying lives.

So the idea remained a fantasy until, in the course of a seminal conversation with my brother, I began to question this rigid belief. I realised that, if we scaled down the trip from a whole year to just one school term, we could probably all manage it.

What is more, now was the time to embark on such an adventure. My husband had just sold his business, I deserved a break after covering my fifth successive general election, and our eldest daughter, at 14, had only one year left before embarking on GCSEs. If not now, when? The answer was “never”.

So we started planning. In the spirit of compromise, I suggested that we backpack for two of the months and sail for the other two. Neither of us had been to Central America, and it was near the top of my travel wishlist. So was Cuba. Both had the advantage of sitting next to the loveliest sailing territory in the world: the Caribbean.

We had to avoid the worst of the rainy season in Central America and the hurricane season in the Caribbean. That meant delaying the trip until the end of October. So we shall be away from autumn half-term until spring half-term.

We shall start in the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico and hope to work our way down through Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica. Then we pick up our hired catamaran and sail for eight weeks. At the end, we will have two weeks in Cuba before flying home.

But we are determined that the itinerary should remain vague. We shall book only the outward and return flights and the boat. Otherwise, we intend to let serendipity guide us.

We shall try to keep the children — our youngest is 12 — up to speed on subjects such as maths and languages, where it matters if they fall behind. Otherwise, we reckon that they will absorb enough Spanish, history, geography and biology in their trips to pyramids, jungles, colonial cities and volcanoes to constitute at least a term’s worth of schoolwork.

Most of all, I am hoping that this trip will bond us all like nothing before. There will be glorious moments and disasters, I don’t doubt, in equal measure.

But for four months we shall all be in it together. And four months’ intensive togetherness may at least help to make up for the absences our children have endured from us working parents. This truly will be quality time.

Page 2: Kate Dakers taught in the Dominican Republic () Kate Dakers, age 35, from Bradshaw, West Yorkshire, taught in the Dominican Republic

I HAD been working in telemarketing for two years after a succession of part-time jobs and one day I suddenly decided that I’d had enough of the corporate world.

When I looked at the bigger picture, I could see that all I was doing was making my bosses richer — I wasn’t doing anything to make the world a better place.

I’m originally from Zimbabwe, so I’ve seen a lot of poverty close up. Initially I thought I’d take a break to get involved in a project doing something positive in Africa. But then I came across an I-to-I trip to teach English in the Dominican Republic.

I learnt some Spanish before leaving and stayed with a family in Santo Domingo, the capital. It was really humbling. We are so used to luxuries in England: comfortable homes, sophisticated public transport and so on. But out there I saw that people had so little, yet they were so happy. It helped me to put things in perspective: that you don’t need to constantly strive for DVDs, cars, mortgages and better jobs.

Teaching also gave me confidence. There were 50-60 kids in my classes. None spoke English and my Spanish left a lot to be desired.

But it got better and the classes worked. Typically, I’d be up at 6.30am for breakfast before going to school, where I’d teach everything from painting and dancing to exercises around the yard. By the end of my three months, my Spanish was good enough to get around the country easily.

When I got back, I re-thought my career and have started in a new field — working for a charity. The trip changed my life for the better.

Details: www.i-to-i.com.

Page 3: Hannah Pratt helped out in Ghana ()

HANNAH PRATT, age 23, from Little Kingshill, Buckinghamshire, helped out in Ghana

AFTER graduating in psychology from University College London, I had about £10,000 of debt. Even so, I wanted to take some time out before training to be a clinical psychologist. So I got a temporary job and saved enough to go on a trip to Ghana, where I was involved in building work and teaching in remote villages in the Volta region.

It was hugely rewarding. About a dozen of us worked in the villages and our biggest job was to build a community lavatory block with a septic tank. It may not sound glamorous, but we really enjoyed it: all the pick-axing, bricklaying and plastering. It was just nice to be out under the sun, working with local people — who became our friends.

I also helped out in a post-natal clinic, weighing babies and giving out information. The teaching was usually for classes of 50. It was incredible to see how some kids were really able and were likely to go on and succeed.

We felt as if we were making an impact in the community. I also learnt that if you really want to do something in life, then you should just go for it — go and live your dreams.

After the projects, we spent three weeks travelling around Ghana and went right up to Timbuktu in Mali – which was a fun way to round off the experience.

Details: www.madventurer.com.