Bagamoyo was a good place to go! I only had two days there, but it took away all the tension that has been building up inside me especially about building! I don't like building houses, I've decided. Lots of people are helping in lots of ways, making life a lot easier, and eventually it'll get done. Meanwhile keep up those prayers, and here are a couple of pictures of the seaside just for fun.

After two or three weeks of painting walls and getting ceiling boards up, in between teaching and marking exams, I'm finished! But I like the result, with cafe olee and ivory in the sitting room and light olive in the corridor. I mixed the paints, and made up the names as I went along, so now just need a rest from it! I am going to Bagamoyo for a relaxing three days on the beach. Sun and sand here I come!

The cooker arrived but wouldn't go through the door, (better than getting stuck in it like a great hippopotomus, I guess) so it will have to go in an outside kitchen. That floor needs concreting first and plaster put on the walls, so yet another delay... that's life here. Full of delays and disappointments, but the end result, if you survive, is very satisfying.

Elizabeth came back from South Africa happy and relaxed, but glad to be back. Her son Will received the 'all-clear' on his cancer, so he and Amanda can relax until the next check up in six months' time.

...and the river... is up like a raging torrent after the rains started, so my swims have had to be curtailed, hence the attraction of Bagamoyo. Bye bye for now

Exam prep

This week the secondary students are doing exams, whereas the Bible school are doing revision, with exams next week. I've helped them all I can, and prayed for them in the class - something appreciated, as there is a lot of apprehension. No one likes examz! (oops) Pictured is the shortest student in the school winning the prize for being best in his class during graduation, a while ago. Bishop Donald is giving it to him, with Headmaster Mgeni in the foreground.

I am hoping to be able to go to Dar es Salaam sometime during the break over Christmas, as it is the first opportunity I've had to get away since arriving in March. I need to get a tooth repaired and feel like a shopping spree! Look out shops... Today again I went for some exercise in the Little Ruaha river. Its quite cold, so unlikely to get dangerous animals, though we have seen hippo poo on the bank. Never seen the animal himself/herself.

My weekend swim

This is the famous river, and though I look as if it's going to wash me away, I'm securely sitting on a rock. My good friends who live near the river welcomed me again, and today we went there for a bit of fun and a swim. I feel so much better for it, and able to face the weekly travel and teaching in Kilolo! I am very blessed with so many good friends around. Elizabeth, who I usually stay with has gone with her son Will and his wife Amanda to South Africa to get a check-up on his leg. He had a partial amputation after being diagnosed with cancer. He still walks around and sometimes kicks it off by mistake!

House preparations

On Friday I ordered a cooker for the house I'll live in in Kilolo. It is an enclosed wood burner with a cast iron plate for cooking, and an oven. Like an Aga I suppose, but more elementary! I am looking forward to getting it installed in around three weeks when it is ready. I just have to get ceiling boards up, wiring done and the plumbing, then I should be ready to move. Not putting any dates on it because it may take ages still, as everything does here.

I've had another wonderful weekend on Kibebe Farm. Elizabeth had her daughter and husband staying with her from the UK, so I was with her son Richard and Victoria and their family, just next door. They have made me feel part of their family, and it is such a good experience.

Weekend

This weekend has been like a good holiday. There's a lot going on at the secondary school, and it is good to have a break from it. The headmaster is helping teachers and students work together to get through the worst of it. I am still on the sidelines to some extent. If i start explaining there'll be no end, so please be content with these snippets of information, and keep us in your prayers.

Meanwhile I have been staying with some friends who live near the river, so I have been able to have a daily dip, as well as some fun on a picnic by the river, floating down the stream on inflated motor tyres. They had constructed a clay oven and then baked pizza in it, and I thought to myself 'I don't deserve this life'. God has been very good to me!

'O' level exams

This is the first year St Michael's school has done 'O' levels! The science teacher, Diane had pneumonia just before she was meant to get all the practicals set up, and there is no technician to help in the laboratory.

Guess what! I had a flashback to one of my previous lives, the one where I worked as a medical lab technician in NW Tanzania, and had some fun making and marking various coloured fluids and bugs. Thankfully there were no complaints, and I'm just going to have to resist the temptation to get more involved. Have to keep the bible school as my top priority...