Hugs and Mugs, Hearts and Charts, Mouse and Spouse

I’m woken by the hacking cough of the woman next door and lie still, hoping I’ll go back to sleep. A few minutes later the buzzing starts. It’s our 6.30am alarm.  Its dark outside but already noisy. We hear birds, chickens, cars, other people's bathroom activities, and early morning cleaning, through the ventilation grille. There's the scraping clunk of the corridor door followed by the click of light switches, then slapping flipflops.  Pulling back the mosquito net I go to the bathroom. After a cold shower I get dressed - a long wraparound skirt and a smart top. We’re in the office today so I put on regular flat sandals, not my usual scruffy walking ones.

Breakfast, which starts at 7am, is served at 7.15. Tom gets his special chapatis at 7.30. Our driver, Charles, is already waiting, so I go to the room and pick up my bag. I’ve got the first aid kit, my camera, a wrap, a frisbee, painkillers, hat and sun cream, notebook and pens, phone, purse, a bottle of water, and 2 slabs of Parkin. Charles is by the car, and eventually Tom arrives. We set off for the Global Care Centre a 10-minute drive away. It’s a bumpy ride. The road is rough, uneven and dusty, full of potholes and even a pile of bricks. Boda-bodas and bicycles career along the road avoiding hazardous bumps, each other, people walking and cars.

We arrive at the Centre in time for staff devotion. While the team are singing, Tom gesticulating – he wants me to record the gorgeous harmony.  He’s forgotten I used Fred’s phone yesterday as I'm hopeless with the audio recorder! Tom brings a 'thought for the day'. The session ends with much hand shaking and greeting.  Everyone else has jobs to do, so I take photos round the Centre - annoying everyone by interrupting their work or asking them to sit in a particular way. First, I go to the girls at the (outside) kitchen. They're cleaning the area with a hand broom, then collect branches to make a fire and boil a kettle. I realise this is for our morning tea.  I'm spoilt here – I rarely make a drink and no meals. They start washing the dust off yesterday's pots. The Ark is being cleaned too... floors swept and washed and everything prepared for the children. Hmm, maybe I should stop moaning about housework at home – I don’t have to contend with living in a hot dusty climate, fetching water from a standpipe, and I have an array of domestic appliances. Imagine what it's like in the rainy season! 

Its time to start work. Some of us are having a lesson from Tom on logframes. He tells me a logframe is a way to record the intended effects of a project and how you’re going to report them. I’ve been to this lesson before – I still struggle. In a classroom, we’ve decided to start with an exercise. Fred is blindfolded and told to give Brenda instructions to make him a cup of tea.  At the end he’s given the result– a cup with a few tea leaves. He didn't tell her to put in water or sugar. We hope this explains the importance of clear, detailed project planning!  The team want to look at a proposal to build a shelter at a school.  Younger children currently have lessons sitting on a log under a tree. An hour later, we’ve nearly done, but we’re desperate for a tea break.  It seems pretty obvious to me that its better for school to be a shelter with walls and a roof rather than a tree, but to bid for funding, the team have to consider how the lives of the children will change, and how they will measure the results. Its hard work. The Parkin is a success alongside Mandases (doughnuts) with our tea. Fred has hot, wet, sugared tea! We finally have a draft logframe and decide to stop and rest our brains.

On the way back to our office we pass a girl who's come to see David. I shriek with delight. She's sponsored by one of our friends. She didn’t know we're here and it’s a real treat to hug and chat and give her a gift and letter from her sponsors.  She's delighted, and reads the letter carefully, then says I must take back a hug.  We have the warmest hug I’ve had from her in 10 years. Its coming with me. She tells Brenda excitedly about the gift of soap and clothes. Golly I’m lucky to be able to do this.

Tom and I go to the Ark and spend time playing and chatting, watching the staff give Physio and number and alphabet lessons to the children – see drtomgoesglobal for more.  We’re given the children’s files – records of the targets they’ve been set and their progress. I can’t imagine having to only have written records – and prepare reports from them. Fred asks me for help with report writing as Mrs Boring loves a report as much as a spreadsheet. 

Lunch is posho and beans then its back for another logframe. This time the team want to buy garden hoes for a school. Tom sits back and tells Fred it's his turn to lead the discussion. It’s a team effort. Its still hard work, its hot, we’re tired and thirsty, my skirt is sticking to my legs with sweat. We don’t quite get a draft – but make a good start. I wonder how the team are going to find time for this as well as all their other work. All day children and guardians arrived at the centre asking to speak to someone. A sick relative was taken to hospital.  

We agree a programme for the next 2 days then Charles brings us back to the hotel.. And aircon and a shower.

Our friends will have gone home on a motorbike or boda-boda or walked.  Most days Fred and David leave nearly 2 hours after us.  Once again I'm in awe of the dedication of the team. They work hard physically and mentally in airless heat. They have difficult decisions to make every day. Some of the team visit families, schools and children, others work in the Ark or at the Centre, and the kitchen team beaver away in the background.  I’m beginning to understand how they achieve so much – they’re always looking for new initiatives to change vulnerable children's lives for the better-and they want to make an impact for whole communities, always looking at  self-sustainability. We have another logframe tomorrow.  I must be positive and supportive and not own up to being logframed out.