Saturday 11 Nov.

Its been another interesting week. But it has been a difficult one, too, because Jenny fell ill on Monday evening and has subsequently flown home. She caught a minor strain of malaria, which she believes she picked up in Dar, where she was bitten to pieces and found she had out-of-date Malarone tablets. She also picked up a stomach upset. Not wanting to go on an IV drip in an African hospital, and with family concerned for her well-being, she made the very personal decision to go home for treatment. We will miss her greatly, and will see her again we are sure - maybe she can return.

I am missing home a little.  If money was no object and i could get a direct flight from Mwanza to Norwich then I would come back for one night and fly back again.

For now, the five of us will soldier on and share the teaching load. I am also currently down to just myself for Kili, but this may change. Tom is talking about doing it now and, of course, Jen may still want to do it in January, as planned. Jen gave me her book on Kili which i will read between now and then. 

Teaching wise, i have had a solitary girl, Elina, in the mornings. She is standard 2, and it was difficult to get through to her. Very quiet. But later in the week we read through stories and Winnie The Pooh helped greatly. I taught her the Tigger Song, which i haven't needed to use since i learnt it at a PGL adventure holiday when i was 9. In the afternoon I had standard 3 - 8 rowdy boys and 2 girls. We did division exercises, geography and i came up with wordsearches all week to keep them amused. I think my test on Friday was a little hard for them, and the girls, particularly, struggled. Sometimes they say they don't understand something when in fact they do, and sometimes it is the reverse of that.   I am already thinking that I might become the teaching co-ordinator after Georgina leaves.  I always felt it would be an extra role i would do if needed (no i am not taking over, Dad!).  The dynamics will certainly change once we become the more established vols.  Meanwhile, the head of VA is coming out next Sunday and there will be lots of issues to talk about.

It is still fascinating walking through the local village of Buswelu being greeted with 'Mzungu' (white person) and being happy to wave and sometimes get invited into houses.  It is so different from Mwanza town itself, where you walk with a purpose and try not to look more out of place than you already feel.

Last Sunday we invited three local Masai around for a meal at the compound.  As a thanks they did us a song and a dance, and we all got to shake a stick.  Later on in the week, Jackson, our main masai who guards our compound, told the story (in swahili) of him fighting 2 simbas (lions) when he was 20.  Guess its how you become a warrior...

I haven't said this yet, but there is no need for an alarm clock here as there are the extremely loud heron-like birds, which grunt like pigs. They sit in the trees overlooking the compound.  And there are plenty of mosquitos, cockroaches, geckos and the occasional millipede to keep us company.  Occasionally the electricity goes off halfway through cooking or something, but we just get on with it, and find our respective headlamps - provided Jackson hasn't borrow mine. 

I haven't spent the extra money yet on the hisani kids as i holding back for something that i can buy for all of them.  You can't just buy one pair of shoes, or one bag, its 46 pairs of shoes, 46 bags etc etc.  Jenny left a whole load of money to spend on them should she not return.

There are 5 more photos to enjoy on flickr, check em out.  I found a computer, this morning, with Windows XP Professional and all was good.

Anyway, badaai. Get well soon Jen.

Phil