jifunza, angalia, hitaji, ongelea... our heads are buzzing with Kiswahili verbs and our minds are muddled from trying to make sense of how to read a clock in "Swahili time"- a very confusing challenge for me, although Andrew copes well with this more mathematical task! The weekend provides us with a chance to take a breath before we start lessons again at a bright 8am on Monday. Our teachers are enthusiastic, with quite a gleam in their eyes as they present us with verb tenses, sentence structure, negatives, question words etc etc!!
The first week has been a challenging one. It has been a difficult one for Esther, who has been unwell and still has a bit of a fever, and for Ben, who hates the separation from Mum during lessons and has not bonded with our young Tanzanian nanny, Emma. Esther has had a mystery illness, which the doctors in Dodoma could not explain on the day we left for Iringa. She came up suddenly in spots all over her chest and face, a fever, conjunctivitus, sore throat and has been listless. Not at all like her usual sunny self.
Ben has been most indignant about Mum and Dad disappearing into a their small thatch banda for lessons from 8am until 1pm. He has cried so much this week, and gets upset at the mere mention of "Emma". The crying has even continued into the night and most nights have been disturbed, by Ben's tears or Esther having nightmares- which could be a result of the larium anti-malarial pills. We are therefore changing the anti-malarials we use, which should really help little Esther.
Hopefully, next week will be a little more settled- we will keep you posted from our campsite where we are staying and where the lessons take place...
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