Saturday, 6 June 2009

A wee bit of Scottish Culture, at last!!!

































Last weekend saw us go to the 50th birthday party for Carol (someone we know from Dodoma) , who wanted to have a Ceilidh. Malcolm even had his hair cut for the event!!!! So you would have seen us energetically Scottish dancing in an aircraft hanger owned by MAF in Dodoma, surrounded by airplanes and other bits of engineering. Well at least Malcolm was dancing a bit energetically; Irene found her dodgy knee didn’t quite take to the reels. However, because the music was recorded and there was not an experienced caller, part way through to everyone’s delight she decided she could do better and took over, and began calling the dances. This is the first time she has ever, ever done this with adults - maybe a new career beckons! The next day we followed this by attending the English speaking service in the cathedral where we joined Corrie as the music group. There’s no such thing as taking a back seat here.

During the week we were invited for a meal to Mama Asantes house. Her door frame had recently collapsed. However, that didn’t stop the invite. Unlike some of the houses we have been invited to, Mama Asante’s house doesn’t have smooth floors and painted walls but is a simple construction of mud bricks with rough walls and floor. However the welcome couldn’t have been warmer and we were treated to meat and rice which would have been quite an expense for her and she would have saved up over many weeks. During the evening we discovered that she was down to her last bucket of maize. We had given her a salary advance when we arrived which should have provided her with adequate food. However, we believe that, as is the culture here, when one person has some food or money they are expected to share this with friends or other members of the family, so her money will have gone, Because her husband suffers from epilepsy they survive on what we pay for part time work (about £16 per month) and growing tomatoes. A bucket of maize costs £4 and lasts about 3 weeks (if no family come to visit). They have no money to buy any more. And yet, because she has a job they would probably not be regarded as desperate enough to deserve a share of the Hunger Fund we distributed last week.

At work it was decided that next Wednesday the Hospital DDH Governing Board will meet. This is the first meeting since the Hospital became a Designated District Hospital. Malcolm is therefore desperately putting together a report on the financial position and preparing a budget. It will be interesting to see how the meeting develops, and what other information will be discussed.

There will also be interviews next week for a new accountant and administrator. Malcolm visited the Diocese General Secretary in Dodoma to discuss arrangements for the interviews and to prepare questions. If successful it will mean the Hospital will have its first full-time accountant for over 18 months. Bizarrely, whilst at the Diocese HQ Malcolm met the former accountant who had left under a cloud taking with him all the financial records.

The egg saga continues. We were quite impressed as last weekend the chickens had produced 4 eggs in 2 days; this means that two chickens must have been laying. However Jet has become broody and we have decided to let her keep 2 eggs to sit on and hopefully hatch. Since then only 1 other egg has appeared in 5 days! We cant decide if this is because Jet is now hogging the communal nest or whether its because their food has run a bit low. Malcolm has just managed to bring a large sack of chicken food back from his trip to Dodoma so maybe that will encourage them again. Total cost is now £43 for 16 eggs - £2.70 each.

Next week:

- Interviews for a new accountant on Tuesday

- First DDH Health Board on Wednesday

- John Clark, secondary school headmaster, returns to Eton College on Friday

- Will the cost of eggs drop???? Will any more eggs drop????


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