Making Progress?

This week there are a number of developments to report.

Earlier this month the American Peace Corp volunteer (similar to VSO), Josh, returned home for a wedding with samples of tailoring done by students of the Vocational Tailoring Centre. He wanted to see if any of the shops near his home would be interested in ordering items made here as this would be one way of generating income for the Centre and to assist the students with their school fees. He took with him samples of dresses, trousers, bags and embroidery. Irene was involved in explaining to the teachers and students the type of samples required. This week Josh emailed to say that one shop may be interested in ordering 20 pairs of trousers.

The construction of a new baby unit at Potters Village continues to move on. This week the roofing timbers were put in place, and the shape of the new build ing, consisting of circular units linked together, become clearer.

There has also been a big astep forward in completing our kitchen. We originally oredered a cupboard last November and this week it was eventually ready to be delivered and installed. The time taken has been frustrating as the unit was almost completely built last year, just needing a new worktop and drawer to complete it. It is not quite finished yet, but does mean that we have our very first drawer in our house!!! What an innovation!! (The fact that the drawer did not have a bottom when it came is neither here nor there, of course.) Being competent at tiling Malcolm was keen to start getting the unit fitted and tiling completed. Unfortunately, whereas in England you can buy tubs of ready mixed tiling adhesive / grout combined, here you can only get tiling cement powder, which requires a very different technique to mix and use, plus separate grouting. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. The good news is that tiles are remarkably cheap, so it is less critical if Malcolm learns by his misteaks! (Warning for Irene. The last time Malcolm installed units and tiled a kitchen he started when his daughter was born, and finished on her first birthday!!)

Finally, a possible happy development to the sad saga of coffee cakes. In previous blogs Malcolm has admitted to some disastrous attempts to bake a British coffee cake. Not to be beaten he has tried again, with a different recipe, and there has been progress!!! The only problem is that it was so attractive that visitors were keen to make too much progress eating it leaving less for us. Well, that proves that sometimes progress brings its own problems.