Tafia Hankili!

The title of this blog entry means 'drive carefully' in Hausa. I was shouting it at the Okada drivers as they rode passed us on the road safety rally. It was a roaring succes. We got some band drums from our school so we made lots of noise. We got lots of organisations involved and it went really well. We only had 6 days to prepare and we did it! Just goes to show what you can achieve if you work at a team!

The rest of the time my work counterpart and I have been preparing for our Global Citizenship Day. This is a day where we facilitate a days learning about a topic on the Global Citizenship Framework. We chose education and we talked about lots of things such as the challenges facing education in Africa. We had lots of interesting debates - one of which was to do with flogging. The day went well and we gave the team lots of drama based exercises which made the day more fun and the learning more interesting. I'm glad it's over!! It was a lot of stress preparing everything what with everything else we are doing.

On Tuesday night there was an epic storm. I absolutely love them! The thunder seems to thump right at your bones and the sky is completely illuminated by the lightning. Everywhere is lit up - you just can't imagine it! The rain pelts down as if all the lakes in Africa are being emptied from the clouds. Even though the sky is alive and hectic there are still little fire flies hovering around. It really is absolutely magical. I feel likie a child watching at our bedroom window.

We have actually started our research with Edu link. I think it will be ok. I am however frustrated that I can't ask people more questions. We have come across families who are looking after orphans. I want to know how these children are orphaned as I think it's important to establish. Some of the time we were asking these orphans questions. I felt terrible. We were only filling in a questionnaire, then leaving again. Their eyes were full of hope as if we were going to help them. I'm thinking of setting up a play group or some sort of football club for them. Even an idea like this takes so much time to plan. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the amount of things I have set myself to do. I can but try!

I initiated setting up a school council as the National High School. We have our first meeting tomorrow. I can't wait! I know it will be a challenge as the senior children think they have power over the juniors and often flog them. I will have to emphasize that they are all equal and have to remain so for the duration of the meeting. The members of the council were all fairly elected and I just hope it's a success.

It is Dianes Birthday on Saturday and we're having a big party. It will be nice to relax as a team and hopefully meet some new people. I have finally found an internet cafe which has air conditioning, no power cuts and a fase connection! Can you believe it??

Until next week! xxx