A visit with friends from home

    Some of our closest friends from Denver came to visit us this past weekend.  We went with them to a beautiful farm B&B near us, where they recovered from jet lag and we all walked the beautiful grounds. 

Saturday was Katherine's 65th birthday, and we celebrated with a cake our friends had made and brought,

and cards and messages from many of Katherine's friends.  Many, many thanks to those who sent the messages; they were thoughtful and clever, and deeply appreciated.

   A local Swazi festival celebrating the Marula harvest leading to each homestead's production of a sweet home-brew was happening nearby, and our friends wanted to see it; it was kind of like the county fair at the end of the summer.  We encountered other PC volunteers, all dressed in traditional costume,s one carrying a placard urging condom use, as the effects of the home-brew are thought sometimes to result in many, ah, trysts. 

     We spent a night at a nearby game park for some more bird-watching and game viewing.

Monday we went by our hut

 and then to a primary school where we teach, where we introduced our friends to some of the children who are most important to us.  They were very interested in why Fred looks Chinese, but is from America.

      At the High School we showed our friends the library to which they had donated.   (Books For Africa note:  we held our breath as the tally came in a few weeks ago after the deadline for receipt of each school's contribution to transportation to Swaziland of their new library from Books For Africa, fearing this country's deteriorating financial and commercial situation, coupled with the drought in the low-veldt farming region where we are located, would jeopardize receipt of a critical mass of funding, but every single  school came through with their contribution on time!  Libraries are really, really important, and communities have great pride in establishing new ones.  I'd also say, however, that keeping those libraries open as the months turn into years, requires some prodding; that's what PC volunteers do.)

      This is our last visit from friends from back in The Real World.  We are really touched they would take the time to come see us.  It was very, very nice to relax and just be ourselves with our close friends.  A little hard to see them go, but fortunately we had a tutoring class that afternoon with our High School Refugees, which is always a kick for us, followed by a few weeks of classes in the primary schools on the male and female parts of the reproductive system - from what we can tell for many of these kids this is the only detailed, organized instruction they ever receive in this area from an adult.