Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
BBC News - December 26, 2005
A Cheltenham man who was auctioned on eBay to raise money for an Aids charity has been visiting the people he was aiming to help.
Sisters Victoria and Olivia Randell offered a date with their father Ernie on the internet site last month.
The sale raised £205.01 for the Nuru centre in Tanzania where Olivia works as a volunteer.
Olivia, 22, said her father and sister were given a guided tour of the facility and shown aspects of its work.
Clean plates
"We hosted a Christmas party for the staff and some of the street children who come to the centre to receive free primary health care," she said.
"Thanks to donations from some of the ladies on eBay and members of their families we were able to give the kids a small present each.
"As a gift from ourselves we bought them food and soda, which I think they really enjoyed, there were certainly a lot of clean plates after they had finished."
Ernie, 51, added: "The objective was to raise £1,000 to provide a means for Nuru to acquire basic foodstuffs more cheaply and in sufficient quantities to safeguard and indeed increase, the supplies to their poorest clients.
"I am very pleased to be able to tell you that, as a result of some extremely generous gestures by many people, we have so far raised £1,645."
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