A cross country run was held at Bingham for the whole school during the course of a day recently. During the afternoon I was a marshal on the track at the back of the school in what is loosely termed ‘the forest’ .Before they reached me at the narrowest part of the course the runners had to descend quite a steep hill. It was when the fastest high school runners were due that a giant tortoise chose that moment to approach from the opposite direction. I wonder how many marshals have had to yell up a hill “Tortoise ahead!” The terrified creature had withdrawn all appendages inside its shell creating a substantial obstacle.

This week in Kindergarten we introduced bird watching. Armed with a laminated printed sheet of common birds seen around Bingham and binoculars made from the cardboard toilet roll tubes (you can use them here!) groups of children were enthusiastically searching the skies. That sort of made up for the rats getting into our tent-making materials. After they have been laundered the children will have some extra windows in their tents.

Fireworks were also a feature this week. On the 5^th there was a huge bonfire behind the school basketball court; in fact I wonder if the eucalyptus tree nearby will ever be the same again. Some fireworks still come hand-held here and the older boys really enjoyed this. The Brits got together for a further off-site bonfire night two days later. The bonfire was lit by means of a catapult and a burning ball of cloth - more fun than a match. Also the ground fireworks were certainly more vigorous than those normally used in garden displays, with sparks flying in all directions and over quite a wide area. It reminded us that we really are in November as the warm sunshine and blue skies during the day still make it feel like mid-summer.

The significance of November for us is that it is a few days off one year since we arrived here in Ethiopia. I have just agreed to continue to work at Bingham for a further year from next August. I now realize that by educating their children I can often enable both parents to work on a variety of Gospel and humanitarian projects that benefit the Ethiopian people - that really is a privilege.