This is my blog. It's been going for a couple of years now. I'll keep writing in it from time to time, often for no particular reason.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Happiness is free

Those are the words of our 21 year old communal lunch cooker and Friday food shopper - Aggie - or Agatha Christie as she now likes to be called. A kind, intelligent and hilariously entertaining single mother and member of the FWS team, Aggie is one of those people that we all feel privileged to know and have in our home every day. Fleeing from Kenya only a week after marriage that became nightmare, somewhere inside her is the memory of terrible pain and humiliation. But all that seems to exist in her is an enjoyment of every moment.

Nancy. 3 years old. With two lovely sisters and a delightful big brother. All within 7 years of each other. She can perfectly parrot your English back to you. Is forever dressed in tracksuit pants and a shiny (yet ripped and stained) satin/polyester pink party dress - always with a bead of sweat on her forehead. Loves to play chasing games and always joins her sisters and brother in running out to the street to wave whenever our car passes. Her mother Elizabeth was on death's door with Malaria and Typhoid when we arrived - but now is one of the hardest working and most dedicated mothers in the group. And Nancy as always, just runs and runs with a big smile on her face

Roger Moore. Also known as Moore Technique, Rasta or Zambia, but seldom his real name - Abel Lota. Held a burial for his dreadlocks not long before we arrived - burying the rasta lifestyle. But still continuing to be a vegetarian and gentle Bob Marley loving soul. Providing for his 5 dirt encrusted children and his nieces and nephews after his wife-beating brother ran away. He'll gently ask to have your gumboots if you aren't taking them when you leave Tanzania - or if he can drive the car down the road. But never does he ask for more money or complain that work is too hard.

Just three of the characters that make every day interesting, funny and inspiring.

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