Today was another good day. The morning consisted of the same work in the classroom with some good progress being made (I believe). I really think we are making some progress with some of these children but have to admit it is a slow process. One of the big fears we have is that when we leave the new recruits will not be able to follow on from where we left off, and as with us have no idea of the level the individual children have reached. In part it comes down to us stating the level of each child and getting the organisers to make sure they are properly briefed when they start. A tall order but should be achievable. I also have to admit that even without the number of government initiatives that are a requirement in the UK there is a hell of a lot paper work involved if one does the job properly. OK vineyard teachers you have my respect and so too does Sally.
You also do not probably appreciate that we have to cycle over a mile each way over roads made up of stone and sand in 35 degrees which is really tiring. My bike has been to the repair shop on 3 occasions now for punctures and re setting the handle bars before they fall off. An inconvenience but better than walking.
The afternoon though was great as we went back to school to help finish the garden project. Full of enthusiasm we set about removing the sand and replacing with the soil garnered from the bush. This was back breaking work but highly satisfying. I think I have lost another couple of litres of fluids but all for a good cause. Not unexpectedly we did not have enough soil so will have to finish the work early next week. I am really pleased though that when this is completed I will have left a mark on the school that the children will enjoy long after I am gone.
We also went to see Abdullah's plot (our head of manual labour and interpreter), a fantastic piece of beach front land , that he is building out slowly and he was seeking advice of how to take it forward. I can only assume that he will be a wealthy man one day if he plays his cards right but as he currently lives with his family in a most simple dwelling that has no electricity or any other modern facilities, this probably seems a life time away from the reality that is the norm for most of the inhabitants of Jambiani. I will try and help without any thought of personal gain.
At the end of the day I managed to have a good chat with Amy using Skype and introduced her to some of the staff that work at a nearby hotel over the video conferencing all of whom were as bewildered by the technology as Amy was.
Tomorrow we have beach games in the afternoon which if last week's event is anything to go by should be real laugh.
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