Banda Life
 Customizing Disaster Canoes, Doi Pleys For Me, Cap Neck Pieces, Marine Dogs And Another Tornado

Philemon is finishing Dom's disaster canoe. Over my first morning coffee I see him measuring and fitting. He nows earns double wage: I also continue to pay him, to let him save for his $1000-Dar-es-Salaam course "Captain degree 5", also called Deck Officer. He needs to catch up because he is in quite some debt (to his standards ) with me.  He does not know yet, but if he succeeds in saving 500, I am ready to pay the rest, even though I will have to miss him for half a year and he learns nothing there I could not tell him. But the papers! I feel so good about myself that I can sit for hours watching him work without feeling guilty. If I would spend the 500 on  new spectacles (would not be a bad idea though...) I would have enjoyment only after parting with the money, now I am already enjoying before I spent it!
Doi was, according to plan, given the message after he spent two of the planned six weeks in Uganda. That was close because he had not contacted us since his leave and seemed to have changed his Tanzania mobile number. Fortunately we had his twin brother's cell phone number so I sent the message in Swahili.

Kurwa this is Bert. Tell Doi I cannot reach
his cell phone. May be he changed the number.
Here, I am going to change everything.
He should find work in Tanzania right now,
and not return here. Philemon will bring
his things.

Then, I switched off my phone for a few days. The whole procedure of remote notification was to have him go through the emotional hours of questions as to why...? Why not...? Etc. in his family environment, where it would be useful to refresh the bonding, instead of here, where my real reasons are of no use to him and hence we would have to set up a hypocritical theatre. Of course now others got the burden of talking to him. He spent 10 000 /= to call Philemon about possible money problems, threatening me with a court case, and also Peter and my sister Willemien in Entebbe got their share. But he recovered remarkable fast. After only two days I got this message:

Why? Ok you have to pey me all days and all years
wich i was living on,de boat if not ok I pley for you.
I am coming to uganda also I can get a job no ploblem
nice life and good years forave and evar I hope so.

After which I thanked him by SMS and told him that whenever he would have a problem he could call me, may be I would be able to help him.

Gradually my designs of cap neck pieces are, I feel, going to enter the stage History will deem "classical"

One morning, Miss Brown had been invited to the captain's breakfast (cheese crusts). This changed her life. She used to be weary of swimming... [� Video]

Miss Brown. Left swimming to the dhow begging to be lifted on. Right: consolation for Miss Brown, not admitted

Tsetse fly on my keyboard

This tornado reached the lake surface on a totally quiet place, far from the storm centre, 5 km South of us. Upward (not shown) its long trunk led over our heads to the pitch-black clouds of the storm centre in our Northwest! We did not get the tornado, but wind and water we got, a few minutes later (middle photo: our steering deck). It was close, but Philemon succeeded to enter the canoe (photo right) without making it sink, and bail it out

Fortunately we now have the experience to deal with these things - while this happed, I was studying the peace of Amiens (March 25, 1802).