All's well that ends well

  

Well, School holidays are well and truly over and the quiet is a thing of the past. Even the monkeys who took over the grounds are retreating and have lost some of their cheek. It has taken two weeks for all the students to return. Nothing happens in a hurry. To quote the Tanzanian  Business Manager, “This is the Tropics.”

The building is progressing rapidly,(not without a few headaches) . Kevin had

to drive the truck to IZIGO  to collect the remainder of the roof purlins which were offloaded there because it was late at night when the truck arrived from Dar Es Salaam so they decided to go on to the next place and unload them there. Despite these challenges, it should be totally finished in a matter of weeks and we are anticipating an early return to Aus.

Last year’s Form Six   students results have been published and now they wait anxiously to see if they can gain a place at University. It is very different from home and even if they have done well, there is no guarantee that they will be able to go. The number of Government loans is minimal and most of these students don’t have any possible way of raising the fees for a course.

Since beginning this we have had many days with no electricity about seven in a row. It is turned off shortly after daylight (so you make sure you are up early enough to at least try to make toast of some description) and isn’t back on usually until about 7.30pm.

We have had a regular visit from a small herd of goats many afternoons. Where they come from or who they belong to, nobody knows and nobody seems to care,but they definitely have acquired a taste for the hibiscus and shrubs around the front of our place.

My activities have again been curtailed by the Immigration Department, so I spend a lot of time just interacting with the students on a personal level. To hear their stories and find a way to help them deal with their difficulties can be quite overwhelming at times. 

On a recent trip to town , I lost my glasses somewhere and so have been a little limited in my vision . I have been using Kevin's second pair when I have to read but I have a different slant on life as everything is a little out of perpendicular. A couple of days ago a kind friend loaned me a second pair of hers. They are not perfect but life has a more balanced perspective when I am doing paper work.

Riddle of the week.
Can you guess what this is and what it might contain?

From the first of June black plastic bags have been banned and if found with one or one is lying around your place you face an instant fine of up to 80,000/= ( $ 50 AU approx), so this is how you but your lump of meat. It is wrapped in dry,clean? pieces of banana leaf or stalk. Anyway , we are still alive to tell the tale after cooking it for quite a few hours. 

Afternoon tea the same day was a piece of cake wrapped in some newspaper. it was a little dry by the time we got home but was still tasty and special.