We lived in Dublin for six months short of 10 years. During that almost-decade I made so many good friends that when we returned to the UK, at the end of August 2011, it was heart-wrenching.

My friends had watched our three children grow from babies to young boys, had been with me through so many milestones: first days at school, birthday parties, nativity plays, summer camps and moments of triumph and tears on the touchline of muddy pitches.

We shared the practical: lifts to matches, babysitters, buggies and hand-me-down clothes; and the emotional: hugs, reassurance and mutual confidence-boosting. We got to know each other over endless cups of coffee, quite a few glasses of wine, and through some harrowing times – the death of relatives and serious illness of close friends, the shaky return to work after the milky haze of child-rearing.

We moved back to the UK last summer to follow my husband’s job. The boys have settled and the natives are friendly, but we miss Dublin sorely. So when the chance came for me to spend a weekend with some of my closest Irish friends, I jumped at it.

This was no spa retreat or shopping weekend, but a four-night stay in the capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa. The focus was the Great Ethiopian Run – 10km through the streets of the capital. The aim, to raise money for ORBIS Ireland, a sightsaving charity which trains local doctors to perform simple eye surgery, reversing blindness caused by trachoma across rural Ethiopia.


Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/