In TEMBO FAMILY CLUB Barcelona...
We strive to create a caring and supportive environment that makes your life easier and allows you to thrive.
Being a parent is a challenge, isn’t it?
The day just doesn’t seem to have enough hours.
You miss having free time. To enjoy a cup of coffee with friends or go to a yoga class.
You must work. Get your tasks done without interruptions.
You wish for more fun time with your children. To forget about anything but playing and having a laugh.
You need a happy place where your family can share special moments.
A family club where you can play, relax and make friends.
That’s precisely why Kay and Celia opened Tembo Family Club, in Barcelona, to establish a tribe to support and care for families like yours.
Let me tell you a story.
When Kay met Celia and Celia met Kay, a friendship blossomed into what they are now, family.
And business partners, because they’d found the person they wanted to set up a business with. That’s how they meshed their ideas into a Family Club.
Yet it wasn’t until their trip to Uganda (to collaborate in the construction of an orphanage and a school for local children) that they came across the word Tembo.
It was a fellow volunteer that first mentioned it. Tembo is elephant in Swahili and an elephant pack is what they wanted their Family Club to become.
Because elephants help each other in raising the little ones and there is always love and tenderness present. They hug and kiss to show their love by entwining their trunks.
So Tembo was the perfect fit for their Family Club in Barcelona. Since they both believe that if the people in your circle care and support you, you can thrive because life is easier.
But of course, there’s always a story behind another story. In Tembo Barcelona family club, there are two.
Kay’s story
All the way from the UK
“Taking time to be Kind is one of the easiest things to do.”
And Kay has had plenty of practice since she’s worked with children for what feels like forever.
After training as an actress she went on to teach theatre and dance to children.
This triggered a deeper interest in education. It got her training as an assistant teacher, a baby sensory teacher, and a children’s entertainer. Because she understood that to educate you must entertain too.
Her journey then took her to Australia where she taught English and Physical Education, in a boarding school. She experienced how important it is for little ones to have people in their life that genuinely care for them. She was a “housemother” to children as young as five there.
Life finally brought her to Barcelona where she became a mum and entrepreneur.
She realised that reconciling daily family and work life in a foreign country without close family support, is tough. And there were many families in the same situation.
So, after a few years of organising multilingual summer camps, playgroups in English, and setting up a multilingual agency, she decided to start Tembo Family Club in Barcelona. The spark was Celia, she’d met her ideal business partner.
If you ask Kay why she likes working with kids this is her answer: “I love feeling I’ve helped leave a positive impact on the children that they will hopefully carry through their lives”
Psst, do you want to know a few of Kay’s secrets?
She loves a Sunday roast with lots of vegetables (if it’s by the fire all the better). One of her favourite pastimes, on a rainy day, is a cuddle on the sofa with her kids, watching a movie, and eating popcorn.
Celia's story
Barcelona born and raised
“It’s important to feel easy around the people you mix with to favour a positive outlook on life.”
Celia focused on education since the beginning. She studied early childhood education at university and later on, director of leisure activities in the Pere Tarrés Foundation. Here she learnt to educate while entertaining.
Celia’s love for fun has taken her professional life on a few adventures.
She’s worked as an educator in a parenting group, a monitor in school canteens, a children’s entertainer in hotels, in “Soho house” Barcelona as a nanny, as a babysitter for different families, and in various summer schools.
In brief, she’s dealt with families from all over the globe and children of different ages. She’s had the opportunity of learning from all the people she’s either shared work experiences with or helped with her work.
That’s made her see that you never know who or what can “push” you on to the next adventure.
Before settling again in Barcelona, she took off to London to perfect her command of English. When she returned, she met Kay while looking after her then two-year-old son.
She knew she’d found the person she was going to start a new adventure with. A long wished-for goal. To create a business that revolved around educating and entertaining children, a Family Club in Barcelona, her hometown.
If you ask Celia why she works with children she’ll say: “Because it’s anything but dull, children always manage to surprise me”
Shhhh, don’t tell anyone but in her free time, she loves to….do puzzles and go to circus or magic shows. Oh yes, and travel to explore new places, discover other ways of life, and try delicious food (Indian is her favourite for now).