10/03/2024

Hi all
It’s 7.45 Sunday evening. Innocent’s gone off to watch the Liverpool v City game at a local bar. It’s very dark and I’m sat on the ‘shade’. The bugs are a bit active tonight so hoping the 50% Deet keep the worst ones away! I do put a thin shawl around my shoulders now as so many bugs fall off the ceiling aiming for me! I’ve danced around like a mad woman trying to free a big-ish beetle that had gone down the back of my dress and a couple of smaller but equally irritating ones out of my bra!!
Often when I write to you, young Norman sits ‘writing’ in my notebook. Not much space left for my notes now! He simply sits and draws pictures and he can tell me most of the time in English what they are. His English has definitely improved since I’ve been here. He seems to like being with me too.

We’ve now been joined by the neighbouring children and they are very noisy! Actually Norman is the noisiest!! It’s just excitement as drawing for fun is not available any other time to families like these. More keep coming! Now 8 kids aged 2-12! Even now they are drawing what they have obviously been told to draw at school with words beside. Such as ball and boy, and keep bringing their pictures up for me to ‘mark’!! I keep hearing my name Madam Gerry this and Madam Gerry that. I think I may have started something here!! Now 8 kids have accumulated outside, aged 2-12! I’ve come inside!!!
Norman has now brought all their ‘work’ in and put it in my lap!! Two boys are looking at me through the bars of the window, fascinated by this Mzungu !!Home time for them now I think!!

They rarely get a chance as we know creativity, but their creativity doesn’t depend on paper and pencils here. Just look at Gerry in the following video. She found a couple of items and played for ages with them, so content. 😌