Sunday 7 June – Day 75

I only know the number of days I’m on now because it’s getting close to the day of my flight, so I’ve counted backwards rather than forwards as before. The count down has begun.

The last post was so short as the power cut out and all but ten minutes of life has been drained from the battery in my laptop.

My uncle Fred in Worcester phoned the other day. I had forgotten to reply to his email. That’s the problem when you maybe only have time to read emails before the power or the connection goes, or your money runs out. It is joyous now to be staying at a place with power – to be able to plug in the computer and type away, without having to lug the laptop on my bike. Both my laptop and my bike have been indispensible here. I wouldn’t have been able to write nearly as much in my blogs (although infrequent) if I only had the time in the internet café, and I wouldn´t have been able to move about the villages, or make so many meetings if I hadn’t boxed up my mum’s bike and flown it over with me. Thanks mum! And thanks to Brixton Cycles for giving me a free box and helping to show me how to take apart and put it back together again.

Uncle Fred has been working hard to secure an opportunity for me to make a pitch for funding to the Rotary Club International in Worcester. He’s confident they will be keen to support Abené Karantaa providing education in West Africa. He’s invited me to see the Rotary Club committee. I’ve never done a pitch for funding like this before, but my mum has and is in fact getting training on it right now, so I’m hoping she will have the time to help me prepare for it in my first week back, before the meeting on 29th June.