| Kenyan Site Coordinator is Sir Elton John's special guest of honor - 25 Jun 2009 |
|
Emily Owino, a site coordinator in Kenya, recently attended Sir Elton John's White Tie and Tiaras ball held at his house in Old Windsor, UK on Thursday, 25 June 2009. A fundraiser for the Elton John AIDS foundation, Emily was invited to attend on behalf of m2m and told her story and spoke about m2m and her role in helping and empowering HIV-positive women. Click here to see photos from Emily's trip The story below is Emily's personal account of her first trip overseas, meeting with Sir Elton John and speaking in front of all of his guests at the White Tie and Tiaras Ball. --------- I arrived safely at Heathrow airport 16.30 hours on 24 June 2009, and was received by a lady named Bab’s, Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF) grants manager, and grants head, Mohammed Osman. I was taken to Marriot Hotel where I stayed for 3 nights, all my hotel expenses were catered for. The following day after a good night sleep I was taken to the EJAF offices where I met the secretariat, later that day I was taken to the house of commons as an invited guest. Parliamentarians and the minister of health were meeting with invited guests, members from the constituency, to discuss and deliberate on HIV/AIDS as it was a factor affecting their lives. The theme of the day was “Leaders Taking lead in the fight against HIV/AIDS in UK”. I was able to exchange views and ideas participants. I took photographs with some of them including Sir Higgins , a prominent personality in UK. After the meeting, we went shopping for the events outfit, where I was bought an elegant beautiful summer dress, pair of shoes and other dressing accessory such as earrings. We were later that taken to the office of the head of grants who prepared us for a to visit Sir Elton Jone’s (sic) residence. Sir Elton Jones was very happy to meet the 4 guest speakers and they were Andy from UK, Medhini Layla from India, Dr Cooke Richards from South Africa and Emily from m2m Kenya. The event was called a ‘BALL’ where 600 celebrities invited attended. The Theme for the Day was “CREATIVE CONVENTIONAL ART”, this was an acquaintance meeting, a part of the rehearsal. On 25th June we went for our last rehearsal at 5 pm, thereafter prepared for the grand event, we met Sir Elton Jones this time at his Art Gallery, took photos with him and had a cocktail party then proceeded for dinner. Our speeches were programmed for 11.05 pm, each of the guest speakers gave moving speeches, and after my speech many celebrities wanted to know more about me, and mothers2mothers program in Kenya. Most of them wanted to be assured that their money was reaching us in Africa. Some confessed how mean and ignorant they had been with their money, but following our speeches they agreed that they will contribute just to make a difference in poor people’s lives, I could feel the love of God for humanity flowing among the audience. The event ended at 4am, I was taken back to the hotel as I had to prepare to catch an evening flight. |
