Imagine sitting in a three-person swing seat, moving gently. The sun is shining and there is a slight breeze. Two little boys (one American, one Ethiopian) are sitting beside you as you read a story. No Supply teachers are available here so when a teacher is absent requests are made for volunteers to use their planning time to cover classes. On this occasion it was 'learning support', hence the small number. We had completed the comprehension exercise that was set, and read a play. The final instruction was a story. Teaching in Africa has its perks.

The story line was simple so I read it again to the group of girls that come from the local area (the 'Tesfye Birhan' girls) with an interpreter. Despite the wide age range they all listened well. The Social Worker from the church next door has made enquiries about the new girl who tells me she only has four people at home - herself (13), her sister (12) and her twin brother and sister (14). She told me  this because they don’t have a home of their own, or a mother, or a father. They live in a place with other families. There is a grandmother but we don’t know the strength of that relationship.

In the six years since I was last here organisation has moved on a lot at Bingham. I now have three targets for the rest of the year resulting from a meeting designed for the purpose and my teaching was observed (for an entire lesson rather than OFSTED’s twenty minutes!) Maybe the next thing will be planning/assessment. However the school draws its teachers from all over the world so moving from class to class I’ve seen many different approaches.

During our working lives in St Albans we rarely had time to entertain guests in the middle of the week. This is now possible as Seble, our house worker appreciates the extra hours of work  and will buy ingredients and prepare a meal. It is however a surprise what form this will take as the language challenges prevent an explanation. She worked for two years in Dubai so the menu has Middle Eastern flavours.

Seble wanted to help us out with our ‘biting insect’ problems in the lounge, so I came home one day to find that she had washed our carpets with dilute bleach. Despite a rather damp evening we are not yet sure whether the problem has improved. I thanked her and told her that I had heard distinct rodent-like chewing sounds from behind the shower curtain the night before. Fortunately these were coming from underneath the bath. She sympathized and told me that her son sleeps on the floor of their bedroom and that recently the tee-shirt he was wearing had been nibbled  full of holes by the morning. She was sad that she couldn’t prevent this. I felt very humbled.

For the first time in the two and a half months since we've been here it has started to rain. I'm told it's the 'little rains' that have arrived early. It bucketed down yesterday while Phil was on his way home from work and the ring road turned into a river. No yellow triangle weather warnings here though.