A few pictures from the last little while

Today was a bit of a funny day, as is usual when you're not sure whether it's actually a holiday or not. Believe me, it happens more often than you might think around here! Today was supposed to be a day of "mourning" for a well respected politician who passed away on Monday afternoon. It was also the big announcement day, which I mentioned yesterday.

But so far, all is calm. We were all told to "keep a low profile, lay low" today. So I didn't get to go out and do the shopping for the notebooks and pens and paper that we need for the workshop next week. Lots of other people stayed inside too, as we didn't hear much traffic on the streets. After lunch, everyone on the compound pretty much all went home, because it was supposedly a public holiday. But it took us a while to figure that out! One of my local colleagues here mentioned to me that if the office doesn't "close", it might look like we're not respecting the government, and that could reflect quite badly on us. So between the mourning day, and the announcement day, it was just a funny quiet day.

So it seems a good day to post some photos. One of the consultants who's been visiting here for the last few weeks left today (thankfully he left on the afternoon flight, as the airport was closed this morning because the politician's body was being flown back to his homeland). He left a cd of some of his photos with us. So here are a few photos of what I've been up to for the past few weeks:

Here I am, singing my little heart out at our Sunday evening church service.

And this is me doing a study together with some folks at that same Sunday evening church thing that we do each week.

And this is me and Annamarie playing badminton on our "court" behind the guesthouse. One of my friends had found a net in her house (left by a previous occupant) and passed it on to us, since she doesn't have any space in their compound for it. Richard put some bamboo posts in the ground, and voila! A badminton court!

Hit me with your best shot, Annamarie :)
And it's not all play around here. Here's Jackie and me being literacy specialists, examining a book that someone had brought in. He had put a little booklet together to try to teach his children how to read in their language! It was pretty good!

And last, but not least, here's a great photo of the guesthouse where we spend so much of our time! Want to come and stay? It looks pretty nice during the rainy season, with all this green stuff growing (and making me sneeze!).