Many of you will already have heard the great news that our daughter Jen is engaged! But in case you missed it…
The VERY lucky man (his own description!) is Warren Melnick from South Africa. They met in July in Rwanda; Jen was working there with Moucecore, a Rwandan affiliate of Tear Fund. While staying in the guest house, she met a group of people from various countries … [Details removed for security reasons]. One of the team members was Warren, aged 25 (Jen is 22), from Johannesburg, South Africa.
Jen and Warren hit it off from the start, and were amazed at the amount of overlap in their interests, from cheetahs, photography, and especially coffee, to serving suffering people in Africa. Surprisingly, Warren had already booked a holiday in London during September with his parents; what’s more, they were staying in Lewisham, where Jen lives! Jen and Warren spent a wonderful week in London with his parents and then some time at our home with us. We immediately felt they were just right for each other!
Warren has a small house in Johannesburg. His parents invited Jen to stay for two weeks in December at their home, also in Johannesburg. During this period they got engaged.
Warren still has a commitment which involves a lot of travelling, and Jen graduates in June from her Anthopology course in London. She already had plans of her own, which did not include an engagement! They hope to marry next year in South Africa. But wedding plans will not be finalised until they have decided what they will do after that.
They are both strongly motivated to do humanitarian work in Africa, but are open at this point as to what shape that will take.
Warren will be here in June and July, when he’ll be staying near our home in Thame. He will work from the UK for a couple of months, so that he and Jen can continue to plan their future, he can meet her friends, and so on. We’re all looking forward to seeing him again! The wider Pillinger family: Warren, Jen, Stephen, Johanna, Steve (Feb. 2010)
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