African skies

I mentioned the sunsets recently, here is one for you to enjoy. It looked even better in real life.

Last night I went to visit the college secretary who gave birth to a beautiful new daughter on Tuesday. I held baby Eukeria (named after Sr. Eukeria, her sister is called Euphemia) for over an hour and she slept peacefully. Some ladies came to visit; friends of the secretary. One had had her home broken into on Tuesday. I found out only after they left, as the conversation had been in Kikamba, that the thieves had used large bolt-croppers to cut through the bars that all homes here have in their windows, and entered their home. As the story was related to me, when the family discovered the intruders they opened the door and told the thieves to take what they wanted r\in return for their own security. This is, clearly, the approved course of action; I’m not sure I would be calm enough to act so sensibly.

The new baby’s father walked me back to my home with his torch as there was a power-cut at the time. The moon was over half full (!) but hiding behind clouds that made it slightly harder to see where the path enede and the water-filled quarry pits begin and there is danger of ending up in the drink (drinking not advised). On the way he told me that a common reason for power-outages in Kenya is because someone has stolen the overhead electrical transmission wires. Telephone lines, he said, were often taken to use as washing lines.

At the college compound we had to wait for my friend Simon, the night watch-man, to come and unlock the gate. I felt very grateful to him for being there, with his bow and arrows and ex-military grate-coat.

I re-heated lentil and cabbage stew on the gas-stove wearing my Petzl. The great thing about my head-lamp is that it shiines where I’m looking. The bad thing about it is that the sole source of light, to which all the moths and mosquitos are attracted, is just above my face!