10th anniversary

Yesterday went well. Despite it being a Saturday, all the children ere expected to attend school and most of them did. we had a play abhout TB, a quiz on AIDS, TB maths and english which sounds a bit serious but the girls won.The girls had a football match aND THEN THE BOYS DID. iT WAS REALLY HOT AND i WENT FOR A NAP IN THE AFTERNOON. iN THE EVENING WE HAD A DISCO FOR THE HOME BOYS AND GIRLS, (THE ONES THAT LIVE IN) Ignore the capitals, must have pressed the cap lock. A lot of the local women came with their children and we all danced energetically despite the heat.

Today I walked a miole to Mass with the school head. I slipped over and my knees nd hands landed in thick red mus (there's a lot of it about) but we went to a house and got water to wash me down. The church is really nice and the service good although a bit longer than I'm used to at 2 hours. Much singing and drumming and clapping. A bit different than usual. the hurch is Our Lady of Lourdes.

I am getting used to the hole in the floor but the loo is about 50yards across the comp9ound and needs a torch at night. The wash cubical is a concrete block behind the loos and someone puts a bucket of water in for me. Everyt5hing here is bare concrete, not very aethetic but functional.

There is fruit around, mainly oranges and bananas. Those golden plums are called lemo9ns here and have a prickly stone inside. My other mainstay is egg mayonnaise rolls and laughing cow cheese. I also have a good supply of cup a soups. Not very African.

We are waiting for Miriam to arrive. She flew in from Kinshasa for the anniversary celebrations aqnd is visiting all the schools.

There are a lot of insects of all types here. Oddly enought he houseflies are the least unpleasant, most of the others bite and seem to love my legs. Itr is just too hot to wear long sleeves and long trousers so I'll keep taking the tablets and trying to scare them away with repellant.
I think it wil rain again soon, its been on and off all day and it is very muggy. Everyone here is very friendly. I may be the only white oerson in the district (this is not a multicultural society) but a man came up0 to me this mo9rnng to thank me for what I was doing. The word for white person is opoto and the little ones point and shout. The babies all cry when they see me but I'm used to that now.

Lets hope this goes. Will post again soon.

Pat