Long time.

It has been hard work since I last wrote but the main reason for the long gaps is the internet. the mains electricity is very low voltage or quite often zero and the wireless does not have the power to transmit. we were without any power fro three days last week but luckily we do have the generator for evenings or it would be impossible with 180 pupils in the dark.

We had a little 12 year old boy with sickle cell anaemia have a crisis the other night. He was in agony with his knees and miriam and I spent the night holding him and giving him what painkillers we could. His father is dead and his mother has no interest in him so he lives at the school all the time. There are lots like him round here.

I have been spending a lot of my time teaching maths to the girls in the women's project. It is quite tiring teaching for 2 hours at a stretch in this heat.

It is nothing like as wet as I thought it might be but that just makes it stickier. Miriam is away again for 10 days so they are going to repair the tank downstairs while the flat is nearly empty. I will have the one roof tank of water until its fixed so no long showers. It's hard to believe that a cold shower could be so welcoming, even though it comes in a solid stream, no fine spray.

We had some old bananas so one of the girls is making banana rice cakes for me and some of the older students. they are made from banana ( obviously) and rice flour then deep fried.

We went out to a hotel on the beach in freetown a few evenings ago. I had a plate of fish goujons and chips and a local lager called Star. I'm getting quite fond of it. It really is very nice to sit out round a table on the beach and see the stars and hear the sea, or more accurately the Atlantic ocean. On Sunday we went out to the cotton club. It sounds very colonial and posh but it is very run down. All the buildings are dilapidated and the swimming pool has seen better days and was a bit murky but still nice to swim in. Tourists used to come and stay here but no more. It started lashing it down with rain on the way and the dirt roads run with red mud streams and then it stops and all is well again and the cars swing round the new ruts.

I have finished rewriting the electronics materials and am going down soon to supervise them being bound into booklets. I am obviously a women of many talents, have to be here.

the school in Magbeni on the river is waiting for parts for the pump so apparently they have to drink river water. Nasty idea. I have decided that buying bottled water is a mugs game. The tap water is perfectly good, especially if cooled in the fridge. The power was off for so long last week my bottle of milk went sour. Still the cat seems to still like it.

Off to make some books. I do like getting e mails so don't forget to write.

Enjoy the summer!! Pat