November 10th – 16th
After all the drama of last week, this week has been relatively quiet!! After returning from the Valley on Saturday morning, the remainder of the day was spent helping Melina to take the dread locks out of her hair. It almost involved as long a sit as getting them put in, but at least it gave us the opportunity to probably catch up after being apart for a week!
On Sunday afternoon we went to the market to get a few things. The stall holders seemed genuinely surprised to see me again! I think them thought I had left! In fact, the man in the bread shop asked me my name, which took me by surprise because normally we have a big conversation. When I said Jeannie his response was hilarious! “Jean… from Ireland… I thought you had left!! Where have you been?? I didn’t recognise you with your hair!!!” It was then that I remembered that I had left for the Valley after getting the dread locks in and hadn’t really been seen in Lundazi! I found it rather sweet that although I have only been here a month, I was missed already! J
After relaxing over the weekend, it was back to the office on Monday to catch up on all the work we missed while in the Valley. My first task was to write the report on the trip. As usual I wrote far too much and ended up spending longer on it than I had expected, but I found it really helpful in that I was able to collect my thoughts on the trip and understand exactly what we achieved and areas can be improved on. Much of the remainder of the week was spent researching and emailing a few potential donors. By the beginning of next week I should have responses back and hopefully they’ll mark the beginning of some progress on this front.
In the middle of the week a problem developed with the internet – it started charging!! Until now we had been connecting with Mathias’ mobile phone and we hadn’t been charged anything. On Wednesday however, his initial six months free conscription expired. It means now that we are being charged per minute so basically we’re being very quick online – just doing the essentials, checking email and, as you can see, uploading the blog! I had hoped to start uploading pictures with it but it’s not going to happen now. The connection is just too slow so it would cost a fortune at the minute!!
On Thursday and Friday we were preparing to go to Kanele Middle Basic School to carry out a similar distribution to orphans there as we had done in the Valley. I was really looking forward to returning to the school as I had already visited it with Ragini and Ketan on my first week. Unfortunately, the school was busy with other activities and our visit was postponed until Monday of next week. Nevertheless, everything is ready to go, including cards for the children to make Christmas cards for our sponsors. All this considered, events on Monday should be very enjoyable.
Friday marked the end of a very busy week in which I slowly managed to get caught up in my work. However, as there is only one computer in the office, Melina is now behind with work because I have been on the computer all week!! This just affirms, yet again, the urgent need for more office equipment for RFDP.
Another busy week in which I have continued to learn lots about the work I am doing and the country I am visiting. I’m sure next week will be no different!!! J J
