Firstly, I wuld like to pointout that I've managed to crawl out of bed to write this as I have a ful/cold type thing and am feeling shocking. No swine flu comments please as they don't have it over here yet.

The mayhem that is rice collection day at New Hope occurred on Friday and I must tell you of the boy who made me say "Ah bless" and that doesn't happen very often!!

All the rice had been collected and there were a few stragglers left as well as all the volunteers when the heavens opened and we had a proper monsoon storm. Buckets from the sky as well as thunder and lightening galore. One of our tuk tuk drivers turned up and he came inside to seek shelter as there was no way anyone was going anywhere in that. The gate was opened for him by the local village fool. This lad is probably about 16 and has Down's Syndrome, which you rarely see here, maybe as a result of infants being killed. Every day when we drive through the village on our way to school he jumps up and down and waves at us.

When he shut the gate after the driver he managed to shut himself inside and then had to open the gate again to let himself out. We were all watching as he stood back on the correct side of the gate waving the smallest plastic bag in the world, wearing only a scarf round his waist in the torrential rain. Finally one of us figured out that he wanted his bag filled with rice. He had obviously seen all the families coming and going all day collecting their 40 or 50 kilos of rice and brought his own little bag which could hold no more than 8oz to collect his share. He was so grateful and was waving and blowing us all kisses when we gave him his rice. He was so sweet.