THE COWS REVENGE

Today the cattle have hit back. Obviously annoyed with their temporary imprisonment yesterday, they completely wrecked my grass fence. I don't know if it was the same cows but there were five cows in the garden. Eye witness say there were brown with big horns, which matches the description of yesterday's offenders. As I was in Kafue with David Wicks (heading home we saw a herd of hippos on the banks of the Kafue River), then Kennedy my next door neighbour came over and tried to chase them out. Apparently they went a bit hatstand and ran straight through my fence demolishing it on the way by. Now since that time I have had about 500 cows (slight exaggeration!) in the garden as they have created a opening for their cow mates. It's becoming a real battle on wills.

David Wicks is the father of Annette, who is the Asst Nursing Officer. He is here on holiday but as he is an electrical engineer, I have had him working on our electrical system. He reckons he has only found about three years work so far, which is actually better than the five years I expected. His baseline assessment is that it was a fine installation but it is nowhere near big enough for the amount of people using the system at present. Having just received word that we have been given funds to completely upgrade and renovation the ageing and rather unhealthy water system (cheers Duncan P), the electrical system seems a bit more problematic. We shall see!

On the building front, things are progressing well. We are working hard to have the three self-contained units for single nurses in Sweden house ready for entry on Sunday. The roof is definitely on the NTS building (see picture) and the walls inside and out will be fully plastered by Saturday (binge drinking is even a problem for buildings now!). The Seminar Centre we are hoping to complete in two weeks. Supplies and finances have been a continuous problem but we are nearing completion. The way the local guys use their resource in such a creative way has been quite inspirational. It's been a very interesting time but now we are getting excited.

Yesterday I met the local headmen with Colonel Radar. The USA Territories have given the money to renovate our hospital radio studio and turn it into a fully fledged community radio station. This is a great development and one which will mean we will be able to communicate with people in our catchment area in a much more direct manner.

Incidentally, when I was in Kafue I met an Indian shop owner who used to run a shop in Mazabuka. He told me he remembers being taken to the Hospital where he was treated by Captain Gauntlett. I only told him I was from Chikankata as I was trying to get discount on 80 bags of cement and ended up staying for about 15 minutes AND he still wouldn't give me anything off the cement. Anyway we had a good chat about the Hospital and his experiences. I was also able to tell him that Colonel Gauntlett's grandson will is undertaking his medical elective here at present and doing fine. Then I went to Mazabuka to meet the Bank Manager, where I met somebody else who asked about Capt. Du Plessis (now Commissioner). In the last few days, I have had e-mails from both the Gauntletts and the Du Plessis'. I still marvel at the history and the rich heritage of Chikankata, which is difficult to describe unless you know the place. I am grateful to be given the opportunity to serve here and hopefully I will be able to play a small part in its development. (It's highly unlikely I will ever be a Colonel or Commissioner but you never know!) What a joy it was to officially present all the ex-pats who have arrived in the last 3 months to the new Cheif Mweenda, Mrs Kalichi ( I definitely won't be Chief Mweenda). She was presented with a goat, which Pete and Lars carried in, as is the tradition. There were 10 of us there plus 5 children from England, Scotland, Sweden, Denmark and Australia. Rachel and Heidie were the only absentees as they have not arrived recently.

Oh and by the way, I was interviewed today by a reporter from the Los Angeles Times about the Hospital and in particular, its work in the community. We made a quick visit to Ngangula to meet the Headman there too. All in a day's work!