Countdown...

The excitement is mounting for our long awaited and eagerly anticipated visitor! We were delighted my Uncle was contemplating checking out the reality of our living conditions for himself, not least because he has been a huge supporter of our African adventure. But we wouldn't have been surprised if travel logisitics had put him off. He's a determined man, squeezing us into a busy schedule and now we have the pleasure of showing someone really special to us a glimpse of this life we have been leading. Tomorrow he arrives.
It's been a marker on the calendar for the last 2 months.....much discussion has gone on as to sleeping arrangements, what local delights we should feed him, what are the highlights of Muheza to whisk him round….
M is collecting him from Tanga airport, so hopefully he should arrive just before dark and be greeted to the cacophony of swooping bats and a backdrop of setting sun towards the mountains. As it gets dark, the flames flicker from the many small fires that farmers are still busy tending as a quick method of clearing their land before the rains. We had a few showers the week before last, but nothing since.....there is much confidence they will arrive properly this weekend.
The water tank is full so we can offer him a light drizzle of a shower, and a toilet that flushes: luxury indeed.
We are planning a veritable feast; local stew, coconut rice, cabbage and fried plantain. The list of fruits I have been commanded to buy ready for a tropical breakfast is long.....hope he is hungry!
We are giving him less than 24hrs in Muheza: 1 night of noise and heat is more than enough to ask, and selflessly we thought we'd take him up on the offer of a trip to Zanzibar!!
So we'll have a jam packed schedule on Saturday morning, with a walk down through the farms, hospital tour and possibly a quick trip into the market. Then lunch and off to the airport to fly to that well know island.
A week holiday lies ahead for us, though we only have my uncle for 2 of those nights.
On our return it will be to our last week in Muheza, Tanzania, Africa.

This week has zoomed by; our markers of time, the English school maths books and our malaria tablets, are coming to an end. There are only a few pages to go for each girls, and the last packet of tablets looms for us all. I've done my last day of visits, a palliative care update for the hospital teams and helped the hospice director with a last round of grant applications. The dressmaker has had a busy time with all our new orders, though now time is short I keep thinking of other things I'd like her to make. Our souvenir shopping list is eclectic and should cause British customs some perplexity if they choose to check through M's - we are loading him with all our goodies so that we don't lose them all to the Australian customs, who are apparently very fierce about African souvenirs. I fear he will look like he's about to set up an African shop with the cooking pots, clothing, wooden animals and beaded Masai goods, not to mention the large collections of broken glass from the glassblowing factory in Arusha!
We have also fitted in another Nun visit - this time to a convent in Korogwe, an hour away, so not only dinner but an overnight stay. Our hostess, the amazing surgeon M has linked with to hopefully continue with support for his surgical input here. It is these interludes that have really made our time here special, being welcomed so openly....and a proud measure of how the girls have adapted, negotiating graciously through the appropriate greetings and tucking into many unknown dishes without batting an eyelid. We woke to serene voices harmonising in the cool morning air with morning prayer in the chapel outside our window.
Tonight the elder two have gone to bed snuggled up together in R's room......that bittersweet sister relationship edging ever closer to more of the sweet and less of the bitter. Whether it will last the night is another matter!

So another chapter of fun adventures to come, before we start our farewells......