Construction Season

Just a quick update...

I'm having a new house built! (see pics) It is going very quickly and I should be in by Easter! It is brick w/ a metal roof. It will be hot but it won't leak!!!! It's not cheap to build a new house but I can do it for less than one standard monthly mortgage payment in the States! Not bad, huh?

I'll now be called bwana (boss) b/c I have a nice house but in a few years when all the volunteers are done in my village the community will have a nice house. We all win.

Other news...I finally started working. I'm working on some HIV/AIDS projects and I've met some new potential fish farmers. I probably won't be able to read entire books in a day now but sometimes life is tough :)

I'm in town this weekend to welcome the new volunteers that will be joining us in a couple weeks. It's nice not to be the newbie anymore but it's a reminder of how quickly time is going and I will be back on that big bird to America in no time at all.

It also makes me think about what I'm doing here. Can I really make a difference in 2 years? Some days I'm confident that I will have an impact and other days...not so much. I just keep remembering that 20 years from now the children I hang out with will tell their children about the crazy m'zungu lady that was old and not married and she would do flips in her yard. (To be 27 and not married in this culture means there is something wrong w/ me.) I must remember the small victories!

Thanks for work on the iPod to those that are contributing. I appreciate it more than you know.