With 9 months of preparation, the April ‘séjour linguistique’ was destined to offer students from St Teresa’s, St Andrew’s School for Girls, St John’s College and Kingsmead College the tour of a lifetime. Everyone had enthusiasticall y been counting down the days and Wednesday 15 April should have been a day of great joy, as we commenced our wonderful adventure in la belle France.
But Covid-19 was destined to dash all these dreams and from early March the media frenzy threw the world into a whirlwind of emotions, fears and heartbreak. The dreaded virus evolved with such alacrity and once the World Health Organization had declared the crisis a global pandemic and France had raised its alert to level 3 , closing tourist sights, hotels and resta urants, the writing was on the wall. Slowly the reality set in and not only did this leave the students absolutely devastated, but I too was emotionally distraught, feeling that I had lost part of my soul. So much joy had been guaranteed, but all we were left with was a deep sense of sadness and enormous loss, with only the written itinerary to peruse.
The aftermath has been extremely painful and the enormous effort it has taken to secure the best possible solution for the group has been both exhausting & debilitating. From the bottom of my heart I thank the many, many wonderfully supportive parents who have sent letters of appreciation and encouragement, all of which renewed my strength and helped me survive some very dark days.
Whilst Personal Touch Schooltours has sadly been brought to its knees financially, I am comforted in the knowledge that I retained my reputation & integrity, which is of ultimate importance to me. At this point in time I am not sure what the future holds, but I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that God has a plan and I am excited to step out in faith and rise up on the ‘wings of eagles’.
Au revoir et à la prochaine …
