Volunteers found love while bringing hope to Africa

The shirt had "GG" on the front, and Caroline Pitcairn's first thought was 'girlguiding'. Girlguiding was the reason she was in Malawi, as it had given her a "taste for Africa" in 2005.

In July 2005 Caroline, who lives in South Gyle, had spent five weeks volunteering in Ghana with Girlguiding Scotland, encouraging young girls in the country to consider becoming guides.

So in February 2007 Caroline was waiting to be taken to her accommodation in Rumphi in the north of Malawi to begin volunteer work with Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) when the man caught her eye.

He was Jonathan Ssentamu from Uganda, who had also just arrived in Lilongwe – the capital of Malawi – to work with VSO as an HIV/Aids co-ordinator. Just two years later, she would become Mrs Ssentamu.

Caroline, 29, and Jonathan, 28 were the only two new VSO volunteers travelling to the Rumphi area. Caroline laughs: "It was a bit bizarre because I didn't realise there would be any African volunteers. I was thinking, 'here's a Malawian coming to help us,' when he was actually a VSO volunteer.

"Jonathan's a good-looking lad and I can remember the blue T-shirt he was wearing at the time. I hadn't heard of this GG before and it just stuck in my mind – I still don't know what it means.

"Because we were both quite new we spent quite a lot of time together with the other volunteers. At first I was living with a Belgian doctor. She was the best cook, and people would come round to her house for dinner and Jonathan would come along too. We got chatting and that was it."

Caroline adds: "I remember telling my parents on the phone about a month later that I had this boyfriend.

"My mum was very excited that I had got a boyfriend and that he was African. My dad was just my dad – very laid-back."

Caroline's role in Rumphi as a continuing professional development facilitator involved working with 12 primary education advisers, as well as teachers. She helped train the advisers in management skills, and helped the teachers devise lessons.

Meanwhile Jonathan, who worked in a hospital in Uganda before starting his two-year voluntary placement, was counselling people with HIV/Aids. He set up a support group for HIV-positive children – many of whom were orphans.

"I would help him and you would see the children and just get on with it, but then you would take a step back and think, 'oh my goodness, these poor children are eight years old and they're HIV-positive,'" Caroline adds.

"The living conditions were OK for me and the other volunteers, but Malawi is very poor and there are lots of mud huts. Families of eight can be living in just one or two rooms."

The couple grew closer but after 18 months in Malawi, it was time for Caroline to return home to Balerno, where she lived with her parents – Liz and Brian – in August 2008.

She had been granted a six-month extension on a one-year sabbatical at Winchburgh Primary School in West Lothian, where she has taught since 2003.

Caroline recalls: "It was really hard to leave Jonathan, we were both in tears at the airport."

But it wasn't long before they were reunited, with Caroline going over to Malawi during the school break in October 2008.

It was then that Jonathan proposed to Caroline at Lake Malawi – and she happily accepted.

"It was very romantic," she smiles. "We were sitting on a beach, there were shooting stars in the sky and then he asked me."

Jonathan adds: "I never had it in my mind that I could find a partner while I was in Malawi, but it just worked out like that. Caroline is the girl of my dreams and I love everything that we share in common together."

With the help of two wedding committees – consisting of the groom's family members – Jonathan planned the perfect ceremony for his bride-to-be in Uganda in April last year, which around 200 people attended including 20 of Caroline's family and friends.

"Jonathan had to be married before he could get a visa to live in Scotland so we thought we may as well get married as soon as possible so we can start our life together," Caroline explains.

The couple applied for Jonathan's visa shortly after the wedding and it was approved within less than a week, with Jonathan arriving in Edinburgh in May last year.

He landed a permanent job as a healthy lifestyles and sports co-ordinator for Muirhouse Youth Development Group last month, after doing volunteer work. He also runs sexual health workshops for older kids in the area.

Caroline laughs: "He got the shock of his life when he was working with children in Muirhouse, because the children in Uganda are very well behaved."

Jonathan adds: "The kids here are really challenging. Sometimes I don't think they realise the opportunities they have compared to other young people elsewhere in the world: they take things for granted, whereas the children back home are very kind and appreciative of everything you do for them.

"My life in Edinburgh is really good and I'm happy being here. I have been used to living with different cultures so I've fitted in well."

A keen footballer, Jonathan has also started playing for Spartans in the Sunday League, and is now a fully-fledged Hearts fan following a little encouragement from Jambos fanatic Caroline.

The couple are Hearts season ticket-holders and even celebrated their wedding with a reception at Tynecastle in August last year, which 150 family and friends attended.

Jonathan has had some difficulties since moving to the Capital. The couple first lived in a flat in Longstone, before moving to their current flat in South Gyle, and it took Jonathan some time to get his bearings.

Caroline laughs: "When Jonathan first came back to live here he wanted to go to the Careers Scotland office, so I drew him a map and I thought, 'There's no way he can get lost.'

"But he ended up getting completely lost and this old lady with a shopping bag had to help him. I said, 'Why didn't you look at the names of the streets on the map?' and he said he didn't know the streets had names. Little things like that catch you unawares – you take it for granted that someone would know that."

Jonathan will have plenty time to familiarise himself with the city's street names as he plans to apply for permanent residency after his two-year visa expires next year.

Caroline adds: "Meeting Jonathan in Malawi was completely unexpected. I was quite happy to go out there and be single, but these things are meant to happen.

"I had been single for about five years beforehand and it's just amusing that I went to Africa and found myself an African, and it wasn't planned at all."

FIND OUT HOW REWARDING GIVING CAN BE

THE Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) has organised a gathering this month for teachers and education managers interested in volunteering overseas.

International development charity VSO Scotland will host the evening at Thorn House on Rose Street, on 25 February from 6:30pm-9pm.

It will give information about volunteering, and there will also be an opportunity to speak to VSO staff and teacher volunteers. To book, call 020-8780 7500.

The event will be the UK's biggest voluntary sector event.

It takes place at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre next Thursday and Friday, featuring 55 events and 85 exhibitors, although VSO Scotland, which is a member of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, will not be exhibiting.