Presents, of a sort.

It’s that time of year when that man in red, Father Christmas (or Babu Christmassy), begins his world tour, and this week it was time for him to come to Tanzania. This was a bit of a shock to the old fella as he is used to the temperature at his home at the North Pole. 

Irene came across him when she attended a local craft fair. He certainly attracted a lot of attention with the children, especially when he handed out sweets and presents.

But the older children didn’t want to miss out either – there is no limit when it comes to Santa.

And when the African drums started there was no holding him back.

However, even Babu C is not as groovy as one of our shop staff, Athman. Although he has stunted growth he is a big character that always has a presence enjoying dancing to all kinds of music, even with someone hanging from his back.

At Neema Crafts Athman, as well as all staff, are represented by colleagues on the Democratic Workers Committee. This meets once a month with management (aka Malcolm for the next 4 months) to discuss areas of concern to staff. One of the treats at these meetings are plates of pop-corn.

Near to us is the ‘Gentle Hills Hotel’. Its name creates thoughts of green hills and clear flowing water. For some reason, however, the owner decided to decorate the entrance with a model of a leopard carrying home a dead deer, perhaps as a present to its family.

There was another sort of present this week. Earlier one of our guard dogs, Bella, decided to fine a safe place to give birth in the shelter of some rocks. This week she gave birth to 5 puppies.