Monkey Business

There has been a lot of monkey business this week.

It all started when a Colubus monkey visited the garden by our house. We knew there was a small family of monkeys living near us but it is not often that we have seen one so close.

 On Mothering Sunday (or St Marys Day as it is called here) Irene was asked to speak to a group of married couples after the morning service.

 

 

One of the unexpected parts of the meeting was rather than receiving Mother’s Day’s gifts, the wives knelt before their husbands to give them a present as a sign of respect. This appealed to Malcolm, who thinks it is a good tradition to introduce to Britain!!! Cheeky monkey

 

The hospital employs a team of security guards (Askaris) to make sure no-one gets up to monkey business. This week they had a training session to develop their skills.

One part of the training was on how to deal with fires.

 

Talking of monkey business,  on 1^st April we had an email discussion with our family on how well Irene would cope in the jungle. Here are some photos to prove how well she survives.

 

 

 This week’s Proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is from the Cameroon: “If money were to be found up in the trees, most people would be married to monkeys”

"Semahani"

The senior staff at Potter’s Village have told Malcolm that his African name is ‘Semahani’. (Pronounced ‘Say ma ha knee’). He’s very proud of it. He’s not sure what it means but it sounds strong. Leadership? Charisma? Handsome? Semahani!!!


The senior staff of Potter's Village got together to say thank you to Andrew and Laura for the work they did during their holiday (honeymoon!) from the UK. In addition to trekking golden monkeys and climbing the extinct volcano, Muhabura, they painted the new medial centre.

We also took them out last Sunday for drive through the mountains surrounding Kisoro and to Lake Bunyoni where we enjoyed lunch before returning down an almost impassable dirt road.

It was also a week to say thank you to Ezra who officially finished as administrator at Potter’s Village on Friday. He has worked there for many years but decided it is time to move on. To mark his last day the new administrator, Jackie, baked a banana cake (made to Malcolm’s recipe) which Rosie presented.

There was also a new arrival at the children’s crisis centre. Isaac’s mother had just died and his father is a ‘drunkard’ (an alcoholic?). He is 11 months old but only weighs 5.1 kg. His 2 siblings had previously died and his own life was clearly at risk.

This week’s proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is from Ghana:

“A person's character is like pregnancy - it cannot be hidden”



Editor’s note. Malcolm may not realise it, but ‘Semahani’ means ‘trouble’. Most appropriate?