Rain, Rain come again ...

After a stifling heatwave, we have actually had some rain. In Malawi we called these ‘planters’ rains’ and it prepares the soil for the seeds. The main rains come at the end of the year.
One of the many benefits of working from home is having time with the children (this can also be a drawback, too!). We have time for craft (Caris and I have made a dolls’ house from a cardboard box. David is reading them ‘The Jungle Book’. When Étienne is at karate Caris and I make use of the Spar unloading area (concreted) to teach her to rollerblade (everywhere else is sand, sand, sand). Étienne takes his second grading today.
There are many interesting bugs here. However, I was not too pleased to be woken up by Caris with a fat, wriggly lizard tail two inches from my face. ‘Look, Mum!’ One simply smiles and suggests she find somewhere safe to put it!!
For want of something to read, I have been reading books we brought over for the children. Some are familiar from my own childhood and some are new. I confess a new appreciation of E Nesbit, having thoroughly enjoyed her Bastable books.
I am about 1/3 way through the Greek manual but have also done a lot on the appendix, dictionary and answer key. It is hard work but I do enjoy the challenge.
Oshikwanyama is also a challenge. Using words makes folk think you can speak well and they RATTLE off replies. Huh??? I am still looking for an educated (so as to have a grasp of grammar) Kwanyama person (with some spare time on their hands) to help me with the dictionary (correcting it). Koneka, who is helping us now (esp David) is not Kwanyama but speaks it very well. Many of our friends around here who have a good education are Ndonga. The church we attend in Ondangwa is Anglican and therefore Kwanyama, but Ondangwa is the captital of the Ndonga people so it is like a little linguistic island! I think we are very close to the Kwambi area, too.
I have downloaded some Photoshop tutorials off the internet and am enjoying doing one a week. David has bought a bike and uses it when working locally. This has a 3-fold benefit; I am left with the car so I can pick up Étienne from school, he gets some exercise, we save on petrol! Good or good?!
I will be putting up a few more pictures.
One is of the canal that brings our water supply from the Kunene River up on the Angolan border. People wash clothes in it, bathe in it, and draw water from it, animals drink from it and wallow in it. Hope they have a good purifying system this end!
Another picture is of an outhouse and ‘shower’ of a family. There is no running water and the shower is simply some stones to stand on (to prevent muddy feet) whilst you sluice yourself from a bucket. Meme Amalia has built her zinc hut on the property of people from church so that she can use their toilet and ‘shower’. There is also a pic of a woman bending over. She is washing clothes at a communal tap. This is very close to Meme Amalia’s place.
I will also post a photo of our post office so you can see where your letters come, and also our Spar.
There will also be posted the following: a child with a home-made wire car (very popular among the boys here), some pix from the market where David meets up with Joseph for language practice, and one taken in the Ondangwa prison when the CESA folk were here. These prisoners are very keen on workshops and those who have bursaries to study theological through NETS are hard workers. There is another prison further a field that David has also visited, where some folk are enrolled in NETS’ courses. One prisoner has just graduated with a diploma and it really has helped him as he was the ‘pastor’ of the other prisoners.