Saturday Breakfast

I woke up wanting something different for breakfast. It was a lazy morning so no rush. Question was, what to eat?
Porridge is our staple breakfast and nice though it is (Quaker Porridge Oats no less) I felt like something else. I then thought muffins.

Bra Alley and Beyond!

Bra Alley is the colloquial name used by expats to describe the alleyway leading to and from the market. On Sunday’s this whole area becomes the fruit and veg market but on Saturdays the area is transformed into the clothes market and the alleyway festooned with bras for sale – hence the name.

Charity Fair

Today was the date in the Calendar when the school holds it’s annual Charity Fair in aid of Saturday School. On Saturday mornings Isamilo opens up it’s facilities on to local children to provide free education, including computing and English as well as swimming. The Charity Fair is open to the whole community and each tutor group runs a stall. Other stalls are run by local artisans or by parents, The visitors pay s modest entry fee and then buy tokens which are used as tickets for the various stalls. Unfortunately, Anita (Malaria) and Bex (UTI and Amoeba infection) were both too poorly to come do it was just Matt and I who went. Matt was helping to run the “Sponge The Teacher” stall, of wich more below.

My tutor group ran a stall whereby people paid for water balloons which were then thrown at members of the group. A hit gave points which led to receiving a bookmark or sweets.

My role was to wander through the event making sure things were OK (which they were). Which gave me a good chance to see all the different activities. Other than this there was the “Sponge The Teacher” stall in which I participated. This was great fun but very wet. A token bought 3 wet sponges aimed at your head which peered through a hole in a board.

The day finished off with a raffle. I had bought a single ticket – Peach 66. I so wish I had got a strip as Peach 65, 67 and 69 all came out of the bucket. Even so it was a great afternoon and the rain held off until after 6 when we’d finished.

Saturday in Mwanza

T + 14

Two weeks ago we arrived in Mwanza – it seems like we’ve been here forever. Last night we met with a whole bunch of expats, mostly Americans but with a few Brits and Canadians and Germans. All are Christian development workers who meet on the first Friday in the month for food and fellowship. It was a great time and a good chance to meet other folk.
After a long first week of teaching it was nice to have a bit of a lay in today.
Just after 9:30 we met with a carpenter who is going to make a bench for us, for the patio – our neighbours Stéfan and Rachel had one made and we like the design – should we with us midweek.
Then it was into town with another neighbour friend Aletta for a bit of shopping.
Mwanza is a busy town with a variety of shops but first stop was a local café to meet John and John. These Tanzanian guys met Anita and neighbour Liz yesterday. They are artists who do work to sell and provide support to a local orphanage. . Anita had been given to paintings overnight with a desire to buy one and return the other today. As skeptical as I was initially they both seemed really genuine guys.
After coffee and cake we set off around town – the main items included a toaster (I miss toast!) and surge protectors, saucepans, tea strainer (loose leaf tea here), material for making some clothes for the family (we have commissioned a tailor).

After a few hours of walking we ended up at the only ice cream parlour in town.

Here we met Joel one of the folk at last night’s meeting, who kindly gave us a lift home.

That Friday Feeling!

T Minus 112

Finally Friday.