A very frustrating night because the people who own where I am staying had a family party which kept me up till all hours and then they woke up early and crashed about – grrr!
More new people – again seem nice enough but they’re not my people. I’m sure we’ll bond on safari.
I offically disproved the “your accommodation is 10 minutes from the volunteer house” theory – it took me an hour to walk there. There is a shortcut through the cemetary which is a very sobering experience, basically trying to find someone who lived longer than I am currently living is a nigh on impossible task.
Oh yes, did I mention that one of the hotel owners’ guests just walked into my room this morning and when I said “oi” he carried on looking round and absolutely no apology. Plus no apology from the owners for the general disruption – grrr!
Things I keep meaning to blog about and keep forgetting:
Mama Mmassy likes to feed me up at break time. If it’s fruit then I’m quite happy but I do get a bit concerned if it’s endless milky coffee, bread and jam or evil (but delicious) mandazi so I try not to go too mad especially as I feel guilty that I’m meant to be helping and not eating them out of house and home. So I happened to mention that I didn’t want to get too fat and she said if people are too thin then they look as if they have an illness, more specifically AIDS. This does, if you’ll excuse the expression, give you food for thought. Whilst the developed world is eating itself to death or depriving themselves in the quest for size 0, the developing world shuns skinnyness as a sign of illness and praises plumpness as an indicator of health and wealth. Where did we get so screwed up? Ironically though it’s entirely possible to get fat in Africa (update: I did!) as vast quantities of food are available to Westerners at prices which seem ludicrously cheap to us but are beyond the purse of most people living here. Also much of the food here is swimming in oil and laden with salt and sugar. I’m assuming this is in part because that’s how it’s always been eaten and in part because calorie loading is important. This is the only place I’ve heard of where pasta in boiled in oil rather than water. Having said all this, the grim reality is that for some children the only meal they get all day is their porridge drink they have at school. What to do about this? As an individual you can’t throw money at the problem, feeling guilty that you can afford to eat is pointless. The only thing I can really see helping is trying to get people to help themselves but that is a long term solution and does not satisfy the personal feeling of “wanting to do something”. I sometimes think that I’m not being affected by Africa, I sometimes think the problems are so huge that there is nothing I can do but I know I have to do something whether that’s sponsorship, trying to raise awareness at home I just don’t know.
Next to the police station is the centre for safe driving. Outside the centre for driving are some of the most mangled wreckages you have ever seen. I’m not sure if it’s meant as a deterrent (judging by the driving it’s not working) or it’s just the most convenient place to put them. Luckily any obvious blood stains seem to have been removed.
