Habari Everyone,

This means 'How are you?' to which you would usually reply 'Mzuri' which means fine. We havent come across anybody here in Africa yet who isn't 'Fine' lol so we haven't bothered to learn a diffferent reply. Its quite common however for us to want to reply with something a little different, like Hot for example, Tired or Sweaty. These are just a few of the replies that we never get to voice as we have only been taught Mzuri. HaHa no its all good, its just FINE! Lol.

Anyway, asante sana (thank you) all for the lovely messages. Its the best part of coming to town, reading them and seeing how you are all doing....That and the chips we get! Lol, seriously they're good. We can choose from garlic ones, masala or normal. So we usually get all three and share lol.....

So, what is there to tell you bout this week so far??? We began a new prject at the forest on Monday, we cleared away an area of long grass and weeds etc to begin a new Tree Nursery. It was quite cool as the monkeys paid us a visit, as did a few snakes! The snakes were quite small, they buried under the soil and you could only see where they were because of the soil moving slightly underfoot lol. We saw one to begin with and with its arrival came several screams from various volunteers (also our supervisor Mercy who lives here so thought she'd be used to them, obviously not! She kept screaming that it was poisonous- haha so funny!)

Yeah so that snake continued on its journey but sadly the next snake that appeared managed to get sliced in half- well beheaded actaully! The weird thing was that its whole body continued moving and wiggling around, so did the head!!! The next one had its tail cut off but it carried on slithering away so that wasnt too bad....perhaps they will learn not to come between a human and their machete!!!!

So that was Mondays excitement! Then came Tuesday and even more excitement in the form of a safari truck thing!!! We arrived at the project and were told we were heading over to the other side of the forest, firstly we thought we had to walk, thank goodness we didnt because the forest is HUGE!!! We got driven there by this small truck thing, it had no sides and instead of chairs it had benches in the middle lol!!! Some of the guys stood on the outside and held on- was so much fun! We had to go up really steep hills though and climbed higher and higher, we thought it was going to topple over at one point but we survived!!!

Anyway, when we got back after working at the forest Jade and I made our way over to the boys' place- takes bout half an hour.... 2 Hours later, hot, tired and desperate for the toilet we arrived home. I thought i knew where it was but we didnt. we made a wrong turn and got lost basically. We ended up makin our way onto this road that i recognised and soon realised we had gone FAR out of our way! LOL. Was not good. This is a perfect example of needing another answer to the question 'Habari' cos we were def not fine!!! Oh yeah and when we got bak there was a powercut, so we had fun sitting in the dark flashing our torches every now and then. So all in all a good day! Hehehe.

And now we arrive at today, was a bit boring. Oh actually no it wasnt, i've got a story to tell about a certain Nathan tut tut tut! We were digging for fertile soil in the forest and had dug loads up, doing really good. When a certain person decides to pick me up, throw me over his shoulder and firemans-carry me over to a heap of soil and drop me on it so loads of mud ended up in my trousers!!!! Deary Me, what a day hey!?!?!

On the walk here we go through the town and market etc and it was quite tough cos we started getting followd by a bunch of kids- they were beggin us for money and bread and holding out their hands. We just had to apologise and walk away- they followed us for ages- really sad.

Its very strange how different life is here. Just thinking bout Molly, E-A, George and Olivia and how protected they are etc. Its a real shock when i see children of their age fetching water and crops from the fields. Also there is a really busy road near here where children of 4/5 can be seen crossing and walking miles to get home from school. The responsibilities they are given at such a young age, man its crazy! I just want to scoop them up and take them home.

Okay, so i have updated you on this week so far. Quite an indepth update actaully, goodness me i should stop spending all these shillings on the internet- i have garlic chips to buy- haha joking!!!

Just before i go thought i'd share something that is really annoying all of us..... Luke is lovely, he's great but ALWAYS has his camera running and his phrase is "Smile Guys!" We have heard it everyday for 4 weeks, even at ridiculous hours of the morning! LOL. He knows he can't say it now without getting beaten. HaHa no, love you really Luke!

KK so i had best go now, got places to go, people to see! Keep safe everyone. Love you lots! Hope the weather is good for you! Oh and Smile Guys! x x x