Can't get away from Rex

The picture you're looking is that of

the theatre troupe featuring Rex the 

dog. 

This was taken after the group's 

second practice. The kids are very

fortunate to have a teacher at their

school who studied theatre. He is

also volunteering his time and I am

feeling that this is going to work out

pretty good.

It is the first activity of it's kind at that

school and it is giving these kids a 

great opportunity to express themselves.

Always good to help develop teenagers

(I think).

As we took the picture Rex had to be part

of it. I've figured how to ditch him when

I'm traveling out of the village. Of course

it's without making a bizarre scene. I

start out on my bike in a direction. I see

if Rex is following. If he is, I turn around 

and come back. I take off again and if

Rex is following, I turn back again. I can

see that the dog is kind of like ... what's

up? Then I ride in and out of a few 

buildings and if I lose him then I take 

the nearest path and off I go. It's just 

that there is usually no less than 5 

people at any one time sitting there 

and watching this happen. I feel safe 

to say that they're probably amused.

Another good thing this week is that 

we're inching closer to having a girls

soccer team. There is a colleague of 

mine in a village about 6 or 7 miles 

from here and she's organizing a team

there. 

The plan is for the match to happen on

8th of March the International Women's

Day. The girls are in the range of 13 to 15

years old. It will be the first match for girls

soccer around here so 8 March sounds

like the right day to try it out.

The girls have never played soccer and 

they have about 3 weeks to learn. Should

be fun and both teams are on equal 

footing so it will be fair.

Again the school is lucky they have a 

new Physical Education teacher who is

motivated and open to almost any 

decent idea.

So far for myself, I'm lucky and my part

is to support in any way. It keeps me busy.

Other than that it's been weighing babies to see

if there is any malnutrition and this week

it's been good, no problems.

This has been a good week overall and now

it's time to end this post and head out to 

take a shower outside under the moon-

light. 

Kind of a nice way to finish the week.

A little lucky this time

It has been a pretty good week since

the last posting. 

So far I've been to 8 schools out of the

11or so that I am attempting to work 

with. Added 4 to the list this week.

It is a process though and doesn't 

mean that I'll be active in the schools

any time soon but it's about building

the connections at this point.

We started a theatre group at the 

the local school with the older kids.

Basically teenagers and they seem 

like a really good bunch. A teacher

at the school has a degree in theatre

and he seems really good at it. I'm

just helping out and will do camera 

work and video editting if it gets to

that point. The first practice was just

incredible and it is exactly what the

kids of their age need. It gives them

a way to express themselves.

I'm thinking if it goes well then maybe

the group can practice at some of

the other schools to create interest 

for theatre in this area.

In the picture above you can see specks

of people in the background. That is the 

beginning of the new soccer field and

track at the same school as the theatre

group. There is a new younger teacher

who arrived the same time I did and 

he's the physical education guy and 

is having a lot of energy and ideas.

In the past I've pushed for girls soccer

teams ... going for it again here. The

girls are limited to handball only but 

that may be changing. The younger

teacher has talked to the girls about it

already and he has a friend in a town

over who can organize a girl's team 

there. It just may work out.

Also talked to a couple of the schools

out of the 8 and a few have interest

in starting girls soccer also.

Plus talked about a spelling bee and

again, some interest there.

I am working in the health sector and

we planted 2 moringa trees (leaves 

full of nutrition) in the back of the 

maternity building. This will be to 

demonstrate and hopefully create 

interest before the rainy season arrives.

If the people are sold we will pass out

seeds when the rains come.

In general it's been a good week except

for the stress that Rex the dog creates

as he starts chasing the goats ... even

in front of their owners.

One lady was really mad as Rex started

going after her goats. She had some real

nice words for me. Don't blame her as she

thinks that Rex is my dog.

So, it takes ten minutes in the morning 

before I take off trying to get Rex closed

in somewhere before I can leave. I'm 

finished with Rex tagging along out 

of the village. It's hard enough being

the only white person around let 

alone having a dog that chases people's

goats around. Could slow down the 

integration process a bit.

But I am really lucky that the theatre,

sports, girls soccer and spelling bee 

are becoming possibilities this early

in my tour here. Usually it all starts

happening a year or more into it.

Despite Rex, it's been a great week.

It's all just the beginning and some 

of it might not happen but ... it 

just may. 

If it all does it's going be fun around

here.