update

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Back in Tanga for the weekend where we are stocking up on shopping. Yamba is still wonderful and have got used to everyday life there. Teaching is going well and the children have calmed down a little after all the excitement of having a new teacher!
Only about half the kids in the village go to school and only 5% of these will go to secondry school, there is a huge shortage of teachers in tanzania and some kids walk 3 hours there and back to school only to have no lessons. It has been quite cold and rainy so they are getting to school wet and hungry, its really sad. The 4 teachers at the school are all really fed up they are all alhoholics and rarely there, they had to close the school yesterday as no teachers turned up.
Has been a sad week a lot of the villagers are sick and 4 people have died. Our nightwatchmans sister died giving birth and the baby died a few days later, apparantly from starvation. Has been very strange to be teaching as they carry a body down and come past the classroom. Our housegirl esters dad died yesterday, we would have liked to go to the funeral today but we had to come to tanga. The charity 'village africa' are trying to raise money for a new car that they can use as an ambulance so they can bring people to hospital here in tanga.
The charity does really good work, they employ the housegirls and watchmen to take care of the volunteers and they employ drivers, carpenters, builders and nurses. As it is so remote there is no other opportunites for jobs and the villagers seem to really like having us there.
There are some wonderful characters in yamba and everyone is so welcoming, one of the volunteers left this week and all the villagers came out and had a big farewell party it was lovely.
Everything is going really well and time is going very fast, school is good even though a big gekho fell on me when i was teaching the other day, wouldnt get that in Wigan.
will give you another update in a couple of weeks xxx

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