Back to Fountain of Hope today, hoping that the Internet connection would be done in the morning, but actually it became the afternoon. Meanwhile the Rewired team got 9 laptops ready for a couple of schools that we will be visiting later this week. The Internet Cafe was being gloss painted around us, so it was rather smelly. Back in the classroom a teacher put a memory stick into a desktop and completely infected it, so we decided to reduce the risk of this happening to all the other PCs it would be best to disable the USB ports (apart from the mouse & keyboard, of course).
The drive back to Chamba Valley for lunch was punctuated by stops at traffic lights where we were offered all sorts of things: the usual mobile top-ups and football caps/tops, but also a couple of mallard ducks, one under each arm of the seller – he offered them to us at 350,000 kwacha - £50 each, most definitely mizungu (white man) price!
This afternoon we visited a Vocational Training Centre (run by the Evangelical Church in Zambia) where they provide training for young people in carpentry, tailoring and knitting (with machines).
I was touched by the desperation of the young women who start the Tailoring course but then find it hard to find the fees for the 3 or 6 month courses, or even for the exam fees at the end. The Centre allows such women to complete the course and repay their fees when they begin to earn, and this is something that I'd like to support somehow.
As I'm writing, we're seeing the end of a thunder storm and heavy rain – it is hard to think what the conditions will be like for those in the shanty towns or even the boys on the streets.
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