Max and Margaret (Tas) - hippos, arrivals and the bakery

The heat is on...16 days working time left. Still to be constructed are a 5m tank stand, further stands to aerate mealy meal bags and store bread making ingredients and lest we forget………THE BREAD OVEN! This could well be my WATERLOO! I have never been motivated to be greatly interested in preparing the daily bread. Now I am finding eyes turning to me in expectancy, to lead the charge. There is only one chance for rescue… PATRICK...a very old guy who ambulates with the aid of a copper hot water pipe complete with compression joint for attaching a short handle, and used as a walking stick. Patrick talks of making ovens in 1970, and through an interpreter said he would help. I haven’t seen him since and a search failed to find him. I am going to pour the foundation today and trust that he will materialize before the actual oven section is undertaken. It is hard to imagine Patrick as the cavalry galloping into the rescue, or the fresh faced American students who pass through being able to help. I do have remnants of a plan from the internet if all else fails. A sight to behold is the “reo” that Max had to construct for the slab. Rebar arrived bent in half to fit the truck. Great, says Max!!! How to straighten that! Instead he constructed quite a work of art. Pity it will be immersed in the concrete, said Fiona, it would be a good sweet-pea trellis.
An exciting afternoon when Rury sent a message to say there were hippos near the houseboat. He came up in the speedboat and collected us and off we went to view two huge hippos wallowing in the middle of the river. They seemed quite unperturbed by our presence but keenly followed the progress of a fisherman in his dugout paddling into their escape path. A few days earlier I went down river in the boat and saw a large civet on the bank. The riverbanks abound with waterbirds of all kinds including skimmers which are amazing to watch as they skim across the top of the water catching fish. We also have an otter in the river near the house, a very curious little fellow. e pops his head up regularly for a little look around.
Yesterday, trucks - belching diesel - pulled up alongside the container I was working in and within minutes dozens of people appeared from the bush and proceeded to unload 50kg sacks of grain donated by CARE INTERNATIONAL. Another group of young people from Ireland and other places arrived to work for a few weeks. There are also 15 young nurses working for 1 week at the hospital. So at present Mwandi is flush with volunteers and a few more arrive here next week plus a family from UK here over the weekend on the verandah. We currently have 9 people in the house !!!

For more information about People in Mission contact Kathy Periera, People in Mission Coordinator, kathyp@nat.uca.org.au, Ph. 02 8267 4230.