Furniture has been arriving all week - both chairs and flatpack office stuff; the carpenter has virtually moved in; photos and information have been posted on the new notice boards; Khamissa has been baking solidly for at least four days and huge plates of cakes, biscuits and snacks (even chocolate ones!) have been arriving from all the other EFA houses; Sinead, with the girls, has produced a lovely painting of butterflies taking flight; and on a more mundane level girls have been scrubbing the walls while Khadija has been briefing the older ones on their individual roles for the ceremony itself.

The day dawned to the steady drumming of rain. I plodded down through the West Highland drizzle from David's guesthouse - I was given a leave out until 9am(!) - and arrived to frenetic activity as all the tables which had been laid out on the terrace were brought downstairs to the dining room. And then the power went out, followed in quick succession by the water drying up as electricity is required to pump it up. Poor Khadija, whose stress levels were already on high alert, (especially as power cuts are apparently not a common occurrence here); but nothing daunted, buckets were filled with what little water was left in the hot tank and the table was laid up with huge plates of spectacular tarts, cakes, pastries and cookies as well as two stunning flower arrangements of roses. And this was a result of Maryk suggesting two weeks ago that there should just be a few simple refreshments! I have come to realise that in Morocco when guests are involved nothing is simple. The balloons that I had brought were put to good use, and I helped Zineb practise the short speech of welcome which she was to give. A few of the girls appeared in gorgeous brightly coloured and very elegant traditional dress.

Although the whole thing was due to start at 11am most of the guests had arrived by 10.40 and it was so freezing and wet outside that the cutting of the ribbon and the official entry to the house went on double quick ahead of time. The VIPS then were greeted with a little cup of milk and a date as they came through the entrance to meet all the girls who were lined up in the hall. Zineb delivered her speech impeccably and first all the guests were invited through for juice, coffee and (of course!) mint tea and politely grazed on the fantastic spread of food. Fifteen minutes later word was given that the girls could help themselves so in about 10 minutes the table was cleared of the best of the snacks particularly anything with chocolate as that is a major treat here!

And after that the real party began as the drums were brought out and the dancing got under way. In the echoing hall the noise reverberated around the whole house and the girls, housemothers and staff had a ball! It certainly was huge fun as everyone dances together and there is loads of clapping and a certain amount of singing. After a prolonged photo session for the staff from each of the houses as well as several of the committee members and the VIPS (with Aicha, one of the housemothers, bustling into just about every photo!) most of the guests left and the girls kept on drumming!

David had by this time disappeared up to my room to get on with some work while I had a really interesting chat with one of the former students who is now in her 3rd year at Marrakech university. She was really impressive and told me in very fluent English how she was studying biology and hoped to return to the High Atlas to work on improving farming methods in the future. I asked her how she had found the transition from an EFA boarding house to the city, and she did say that it had been hard in her first year to cope with the demands of a pretty full day of classes as well as all the business of cooking and cleaning in her hostel. But she now seems well on track to complete her degree and I felt she was a fantastic role model for the other girls and really embodied the aims of EFA.

And then the clear-up commenced - by now with electricity but still without running water. Ever resourceful, bottled water was used and the quantities of plates and cups were all washed and dried, though I think it felt terribly wasteful to use up all those precious supplies of bottled water on washing dishes, but there was just no alternative. And of course just as we finished a tiny stream of water appeared from the taps …!

It was still raining when David and I left. Sinead, Amy and Asma had disappeared off to the hammam which seemed a good call in the miserable weather, but I don't think it was so high on David's list of priorities for his time here! We had a walk around Asni and then headed off to the guesthouse, where I could have murdered a cup of tea, followed in quick succession by a glass of wine and a really good fllm on TV in front of the fire, but it was not to be! Anyway we were given the most delicious supper and spent the rest of the evening playing our version of scrabble with 'Bananagram' a word game that I had brought out for the girls.

All in all a great day despite the challenges of lack of sun, water or power!