Not yet a week here.

Yesterday our house was broken into and my entire bag was taken - my passport, all my money, credit and debit cards, all my clothes, ipod. Literally everything. Something you never expect to happen, and certainly we never expected it here. All of our things had been searched and any electrical devices taken - so everyone's ipods, chargers, speakers were gone, but passports and money were left apart from mine. Being naive and English I locked my bag, giving them a reason to take it.

I have honestly never felt such overwhelming terror and sheer panic - already this week has been a total culture shock, and we were finding it hard enough dealing with the acclimatization to this insanely different world. To then discover everything gone, with no explanation and no hope of retrieving it, was like a sign for me to give up and go home - which I was definitely ready to do.

Yet the reaction of our charity team has been so extraordinary, I know the latter is completely out of the question. They were so calm, so gentle and so thorough, they took care of everything - I had no idea what happened in those 7 hours. Consequently, I know I have no reason to feel unsafe here; I have total trust in the coordinators of CALM and am so lucky to be working with them. I couldn't give up now, not when I haven't even started. I am here, and I really can't let anything waver my determination. Hopefully this has been the worst experience we'll have during our travels; all the s*** at once.

No talk on Africa today, my entire body is still numb, and rather than analyse the country I'm forced to focus on s*** like getting a new passport and insurance claims. Never been so homesick, but also never been so certain I have no choice but to stay.