What a nasty shock we had yesterday when Ben fell, fully clothed, into the nearby swimming pool, rapidly disappearing head-down, feet up, straight to the bottom of the water! Three of us mums sprang into action and our neighbour hauled him out, feet first, fortunately none the worse except for the shock and a mouthful of water! There were lots of tears (not just Ben, but his shaken mummy as well!) but all is well and hopefully he and his sister have learnt a valuable lesson about never playing too close to water!

On a happier note, Esther and Ben enjoyed another birthday party this week, heading to a friend's 4th birthday party on Wednesday, with the theme of Prince and Princesses! Esther wore a dress from material she had chosen herself on our trip to town a while ago and a Tanzanian friend made the dress for her at home- a great skill, of which I am in awe, as I can only just about sew a button on, but could never make such a pretty dress!

At home, I have been continuing my Swahili language studies. A very helpful lady called Margaret comes each week to sit with me and go over grammar, vocabulary or help me with my conversation skills. This week, we had a go at translating a local newspaper- a very difficult task for me, as spoken Swahili is much easier than the more formal written language. Ben lent us his moral support, tucking into biscuits as Margaret and I got to grips with some very political articles in the lead-up to next month's General Election:
Andrew, meanwhile, has been out and about flying doctors and medical teams into rural areas and making friends with villagers and children, drawn by curiosity to get a good look at the plane and the foreign pilot and delighted to pose for his camera: