A day in the life of an escapee teacher...

Thought I'd blog today about a typical day in the life of an escapee teacher from Plymouth living in the African bush.

I am woken at the crack of dawn by numerous cockerels letting people know it is approaching morning.

Unfortunately my body cannot and will not rise at that time so I fall asleep again until around 7am.

I get up, feed the chickens, fetch water from the well, water the garden (that takes at least an hour and is back-breaking work) and sometimes go and fetch firewood.

I then take a bucket shower and walk to the local market to buy fish, bread and fresh vegetables.

This is all local produce and helps the villagers to eke out a living.

The availability and price of fish depends on the wind, sometimes it is too windy for the boats to go out but sometimes when the fish is plentiful it costs just 2p for one fish.

A bit cheaper than Perillas but without the gorgeous batter and the chunky chips (gosh I miss that!).

I go back to the compound and open up the school until lunchtime when I have a short break to cook lunch and wash up.

After lunch the children come back and I teach and play with them again until about 6pm when some of the older ones help me water the garden again.

After this final task of the day, Modou and I sit round the camp fire and reheat any leftover food from lunch which we share with anyone sitting with us.

It gets dark very early (around 7.30pm) so I usually head for my bed at about 9pm, read for a bit by torchlight and sleep under my mosquito net (there are no mozzies at this time of year but I like to feel protected from any flying visitors!). So that is my typical day.

You might wonder what Modou is doing whilst I'm juggling my daily tasks. Often he goes to the bush before I have got up, he fetches grass or sticks for fencing.

He has been building chicken huts, walls, has started the school loos and is currenty building a guest house for visitors (sounds posh but is a simple mud hut, but we will make it comfortable for any intrepid explorers when they arrive).

He works from dawn till dusk too. We also spend our time planting the garden (loads of bananas and fruit trees and vegetables coming along nicely) if we have any "free time".

The last time I went to the beach with him (only 10 minutes away) was on 28th November, my birthday. We never have time off and that is a difficulty but I am sure we will manage to have a bit of respite when the building work is finished.

We desperately need to be able to pump water from the well for the school and so that we can have some reasonable sanitation as the dirt gets everywhere especially when the wind blows and we are hoping to raise enough funds to instal a solar panel and battery as then I will be able to teach in the evenings and provide computer training to the locals.

I have set up a library scheme which is running really well and some of the teenagers lucky enough to go to secondary school about 10 miles away are helping adults who never had the opportunity to go to school to read.

I can only do so much so it makes me so happy to see the people helping themselves too.

I hope to be able to employ some local teachers very soon.

If anyone would like to help towards the cost of the loos and the solar or would be willing to sponsor a teacher's salary, I would be happy to hear from you. Teachers are paid around 30 pounds a month.

You may recall that Modou's Mum passed away just after our arrival here. His sister, Fanta, died last Wednesday after a long illness.

This has hit Modou particularly badly and I am trying my best to support him through his grief, having to contain my sadness to stay strong for him.

Thank you again to all the readers of this blog and to our supporters.

We couldn't have done this without you. Best wishes until next time, Debbie Williams