Sunshine and Rain

That’s right, it’s been a bit of both this week, but certainly more sunshine than rain, and more joy than pain. As a matter of fact, it’s rained twice, both between 5 and 7 in the morning, before the sun was strong enough to dry up the clouds and clear the air. Other than those few hours, it’s been more of the same baking. It’s an odd feeling, sitting in an air conditioned room and not cooling off, so that you feel as if you’re cooking from the inside out!

The highs this week have included successful negotiations to extend funding, increase funding, and provide more sustainable solutions for water supply. On the low side, logistics has reared its ugly head, and I’ve had to work with our team to coordinate vehicles, order supplies, and other things that have just taken longer than expected. Also this week, the government decided to stop turning on the generator, so we don’t even get power from 6-10, as previously took place. This means no showers, no lights, and no charging cell phones, computers etc., which frustrates the working process. It definitely means no cold drinks, ever.

This week has also been an exciting food adventure week. Yesterday we had a cold sardine, boiled egg and raw onion salad for breakfast, with leftover sardines in fried spaghetti noodles for lunch. This morning breakfast was canned luncheon meat (SPAM), warm canned carrots, and raw onions with bread. These have been a welcome change from chicken and rice, but not the breakfast of champions. My thanks to the Hyde family Christmas gift exchange, which supplied a lifesaving pound of Starbucks coffee for our little team.

Here’s some pictures of this week:

Kids who have been displaced by the floods.

The beautiful game...

"stamping" in to receive food

The receding river has left big swamps in farmers' fields