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It's Saturday and I have completed my first week at Hisani. I finished off with a test for standard 5 and 'colouring in' exercises for standard zero. All were rewarded with stickers and afterwards we made paper aeroplanes. Jenny, a qualified pilot, is having a load of Fed-Ex style model planes shipped over for the kids to play with (hmmm, get them exposed to advertising while they are still young, eh?) If anyone can post me a book on origami (paper folding) that would be great. Our masai warrior, called Jackson, who patrols our compound at night, needs a headlamp. I've asked Mark to buy me one, but if anyone can send teaching materials it would be good. The math(s) books i picked up from Fakenham market were useful with standard zero this week, but there is a shortage of good quality stuff here, so most of the time we are having to make it up.
We are all pleased to say that we have managed to have nine new benches built for Hisani. Most of the current ones are missing or broken. Volunteer Tom has put in the most effort in making this happen. We even got the money from current funds, but we might not be so fortunate in the future. I still have money to spend directly on the kids, from donations given to me in the last month or so. However, it is frugal to wait before spending it, otherwise it will be expected that we (the volunteers) will keep buying stuff, such as stationery, and there is already a budget for that - indirectly sourced from fees paid to VA. So we have to tread carefully.
There is more rain than i thought - most nights we have a splattering, and we have just had a downpour in Mwanza. Lots of Thunder and Lightning the other night, gave the air a fresher feel, sometimes muggy. But always when we step outside the compound there are tens of kids to greet us... we meet hundreds just walking to the orphanage each morning. Some you can see on some new photos i have just uploaded to:
I've tried a few different dishes here, but i am afraid i am not going to trying the Ugali or small fish again. We have found places in the local village (Buswelu) and in Mwanza that do lunch for around Ts 1000 (50p). I made a variation of ratatouille last night for everyone, without egg-plant (aubergine, biriganya). That went down well. Electricity comes and goes. We generally have it in the evening, but the lights flicker a lot and it is temperamental. Most of the volunteers go to bed before 9pm. I'm usually not far behind, although i stay up and write stuff, sometimes with just Emily (McIntye, Canadian, 19) for company.
Kwa Heri
Phil
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