Most of the staff work until about 2 or 3 pm and we usually work without a break, so we have time in the afternoon for lunch and to relax. Somehow the time flies by.
It is a pleasure to have the time to talk together. We keep up-to-date (albeit 3 weeks later) with the Guardian Weekly and the British Medical Journal.
The usual reading (there is an active trade of good books amongst expatriates) and crosswords are disrupted by duties such as hand washing clothes in buckets and by Annie making bread. (Mostly edible!) or Christmas cakes as in photo.Hair needs to be cut and Annie even let Rupert cut her hair (once!). Nicola also had a go. (once!) We are running basic computer skill sessions twice a week and are still trying to master KiSwahili.
Gardening has produced a good crop of carrots ( the stunted ones in photo were transplanted when thinning!) and tomatoes and some runner beans as well as chives and basil. Lettuce (we shared 6 leaves for lunch the other day) and parsley is not so successful.
Picked my first pumpkin today and we have pawpaws coming ripe. We also have avocados from a young tree. The palmoil tree yields a fruit we find inedible but loved by our neighbours. We may not be here long enough to taste the fruits of the passion fruit vine, sadly.
In the evening we walk down to some rocks about half a mile away to watch the sunset over the valley and the Ngoni swamp at about 6.45 pm.
In the evenings it is attempting to access the internet through a lousy connection via the phone (maybe 30 minutes to send and receive one email, sometimes even then it does not go) and cooking supper.
Then a game of Scrabble, read a book or watch a DVD in the laptop of some period drama or longer film. DVDs of varying quality are readily available containing 40 James Bond films (?!) and other fantastic claims. Some are useless, some worthwhile.
Time passes remarkably quickly, many things are not done and there’s never a dull moment.
It is pretty quiet and rural here. We hear our neighbours who are not noisy (though their festering cockerel’s days are numbered!) and the occasional passer-by. The crickets/cicadas sing at night and the frogs sing loudly after rain. We hear the birds in the daytime as we are blessed with a huge variety in this area.
We love it here. We are made to feel welcome and part of the community and mostly people are kind, cheerful and helpful.
Time passes remarkably quickly, many things are not done and there’s never a dull moment.
It is pretty quiet and rural here. We hear our neighbours who are not noisy (though their festering cockerel’s days are numbered!) and the occasional passer-by. The crickets/cicadas sing at night and the frogs sing loudly after rain. We hear the birds in the daytime as we are blessed with a huge variety in this area.
We love it here. We are made to feel welcome and part of the community and mostly people are kind, cheerful and helpful.
3 comments:
Well, I've now back-tracked to where I left off and enjoyed it all. Your suggestion of opting out of the last entry was not taken up - you seem to be living an ideal existence while (from earlier entries) putting your all into your work. Tuggy
Really enjoyed reading the blog and looking at all the photos and reading Nichola's write up. When is Tom going to join you?
Am crossing my fingers that my efforts at growing veg will be more successful than last year but not sure they will be on a apr with yours!
Sue & Jim White
X
Glad you are enjoying your work and stay at Kagondo Hospital.
As you probably already know you are some of the hundreds of expats who have worked at the little hospital over many many years. Your great work is extremely valauble for the poor folks in that part of Tanzania.
I emigrated to Canada many years ago but I was born at Kagondo some 50 years ago. My father was hospitalized there in 1966. Kagondo has been part of community for a long time.
Great work folks. God bless you.
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