News of the world

We have been cocooned here in a bubble without world news. For the most part a relief to switch off from endless sad stories about the bad side of the human race, but in others a selfish ostrich in the sand to world matters. Inevitably some things have filtered through – the tragic aircrash on African soil, the bitter terrorist attack in New Zealand and in it’s wake the moving solidarity of support for the Muslim community there, the devastating storms that have so recently smashed through our neighbour Mozambique and on to Malawi and Zimbabwe, and of course the continuing bickering British politics of Brexit, so inwardly focused.

News elsewhere in the world can be so easy to ignore when it doesn’t affect you. For the most part the every day Tanzanian seems oblivious of what goes on outside their own village. Little wonder when your main focus in life is how to provide for your family. It makes it easy to imagine how the devastation on the coast south of us must be affecting the local community. If a tornado hit here, I have no idea how any kind of rescuing or recovery would be possible. Like a stack of cards, if 1 thing goes then the rest follows, and how a struggling country picks itself back up with the whole pack down I don’t know. Our eldest is all for hiring a lorry and driving south with tinned goods and water to help. Hard to explain that we’d also need a boat, and that it would take a whole week to drive just to the Mozambique water. I hope the international aid community can step in – it will be the next few weeks that disease spreads as the waters recede, and the knock on of lost crops and houses will be huge.

R and I have both started reading Sapiens…no further than chapter 2 as yet, but so far a fascinating take on our species and a great addition to our timeline of archaeological discoveries about the origins of humans here in Tanzania. A good reminder, in the timescales of planet Earth just how small we are.

Enough musings for one day! We are back in Muheza – I’ve been to the market for supplies, have a chicken waiting to roast for our arriving guests and children busy calculating how many biscuits we need to make for the school party on Wednesday (A LOT), and of course how to construct the requisite African Birthday cake for B on Tuesday  - current voting lies towards a crocodile (mainly because the only food colouring we have is green), but unlike the UK we shall be allowed to change our minds if it turns out the giraffe option looks better!

The schedule for the week is such: Monday -make birthday cake and what’s looking like 160 biscuits, visit dressmakers to collect creations and order more, last minute birthday shopping, sort out girls belongings for gifts to friends; Tuesday -birthday celebrations, current guest list for bday tea – shim family (even if we have to pull M out of theatre), medical students, our  housekeepers and our visitors, also purchase other party supplies for school party; Wednesday – school party and farewell hospital party in the evening; Thursday – trip to Tanga to renew visas (again) for our last few days, return drinks crates and bottles to supermarket in Tanga, last tourist shopping at Wazungu market; Friday  - pack up M’s suitcase with all our stuff that can be returned to UK, leaving small amount of space for his belongings; head to Peponi for last weekend! And in between all that – finish off maths books and commence large amount of admin building for our return to UK!! Actually not much different to any family week whether here in Africa or UK…just substitute activities to juggle.

How fortunate we are to have such hardships to contend with......hoping our girls now have some appreciation of just how different human lives can be