Anna Visited

This post is actually not going to come from Maria because she would like the opinion of her guest, me, her sister, to be heard. I arrived in this country exactly a week ago, although it feels like a lot longer than that. I cannot even really describe most of what I have experienced because it is all so unbelievably different from home. There is a difference between reading about African villages without running water and electricity and actually experiencing the lifestyle. I had a lot of trouble adjusting for the first few days, but I started to adjust soon after. As a follow up to Maria's last post, we worked on the solar fruit dryer. Dad was smart enough to realize that screws would solve the problem with the slipping nails, so I brought some with me. It's hard to imagine that they do not have tools as simple as a screw here! Screws are certainly not as modern as cell phones, yet they all seem to have phones. The fruit dryer was almost at completion when we realized that the hinge was not going to work, but at least the only task remaining is to attach the door.

And then the power went out.  The only thing reliable about Tamba’s power is that it will reliably cut out every day.  So I guess you’ll never know how the rest of Anna’s trip was, unless you ask her that is.  I will continue to update you about the solar fruit drier.  Caveat, they do have screws here, I have seen them, but not in a store.  As she said, we finished everything except for the door since we had the incorrect type of hinge.  When I returned from our vacation from South Africa I bought a hinge that would work much better. But then I returned home and once again my relationship with the fruit drier was tested.  All the clear plastic we had attached to the metal slide was ripped from the supports by the wind in my absence.  Now I have to find more clear plastic and attach both that and the door.  TBC.