Dead rats and bats...essential elements to any kitchen!

It's been a while since I've had the chance to update this site, so before writing about the amazing safari I just went on, I feel I ought to bring everyone up to speed with what has been hapening these past few weeks!

Two tuesdays ago (I believe it was Oct. 24) Andrew, Jen and I made our way to Usolonga, the remote village situated 70 km north west of Iringa. Our goal for the two day visit was to clean out the house, meet the local 'government', and introduce ourselves to the teachers and students at the local primary school where we'll be teaching basic health care and nutrition. It doesn't sound like much, and one wouldn't think that it would take two days to accomplish such seemingly simple tasks, however, this being Africa, we have come to expect delays! We started cleaning as soon as we arrived and worked diligently for a few hours. Everything was covered in a thick layer of cement dust and bat droppings, not to mention spider webs and spiders. The house hasn't been lived in for a few months and has recently undergone minor construction; we now have a drop ceiling (which will cool the place down considerably as well as deter the bats from taking up permant residence) and the outside brick has been plastered with cement (to prevent the mud bricks from crumbling!) Needless to say, the place needed to be attacked with cleaning supplies and a broom! The most interesting room to clean was the storage room, where our food and kitchen supplies will be kept. The above picture was taken AFTER we'd been cleaning it for a good hour! I have yet been able to take an "after" picture, as it will require another few hours of scrubbing before reaching our standard of cleanliness! Among the more exciting things we came across, besides the ant infested food and dead rats and bats, were live bats. Andrew and Jen took turns killing, then disposing of the live ones, while I watched and provided moral support!

As we were making our way into the centre of the village later that day, we were greeted by many children, who, for the most part seemed very excited to see us! (one little boy started to cry as soon as he saw us and ran away as fast as he could, he was about three or four years old -I guess we scared him...) One of the cutest things was two small children (about three years old) who ran over to see us and to "shikamoo" us, and the one little boy reached up for my hand and kissed it! (to "shikamoo" someone involves greeting an elder by saying "shikamoo" -a term of respect which literally means 'to bow and touch someone's feet'; in the village, the children "shikamoo" those older than them by reaching up and touching their head). So not only does a trip to the village entail a lot of waving and smiling, there's also a lot of bending involved!

We finally got to meet the local 'director' of the village (on our second attempt) and made our introductions. Our next stop was the primary school, where we were greeted by a mob of 50+ students, who quickly formed a large animated circle around us. . .I have a feeling that teaching there will be quite the experience! We met one of the teachers and discussed starting dates; we'll be sitting in on a few classes this month in order to get a feel for the teaching environment and methods, and will hopefully start teaching by the end of November!

We left the village late Thursday afternoon and had a pretty uneventfull trip back to Iringa (no goats or motorcycles to pick up along the way!) Although we only spend one night there, we were happy to get back to Iringa, where the temperature is much more bearable and we had access to a nice shower and 'proper' washroom facilities! (Not that I'm complaining about the facilities that are available in the village! I'm thankfull for the small room with a drain that will serve as our 'bath in a bucket' "shower" and our squat toilet!)