Fertiliser

I am sure you are all sick of my refrain' "It's sooo hot!!", but God, it's sooo hot!!
I thought October was as hot as it could get but today takes the cake. Melting, solid, thick heat.
It is so hot that I am spurred into taking a daily morning swim to the yellow boat and back every morning for some exercise and to move the flaccid frame after the long night snuggling up to the fan. I sometimes find Ben upside down in his bed because he has tried to move closer to his fan - not that it blows cool air, but at least it moves the stultifying night air around. I have avoided Mumbo hosting duties because there's no electricity out there and thus no fan. Can't be done! The poor guests - though none seem the worse for it.
Eddie has a heat rash around his neck, on his forehead and down his back - he very sensitive to it. Ben is fine - I think because he swims such a lot.
After I wrote that, it rained during the night and has done for the last two nights - a joy and thrill! Eddie got into a bit of a panic about the accompanying thunder and lightning and the roof leaked over his head, so he came to sleep with me and Bush had his bed (he did move it.) I have to say I loved having his little body snuggling up to me all night - I have always been so adamant that children should sleep in their own beds, and mine always have, but it really is a treat to have that tiny little chap snuffling away next to me on occasion. (But did once make the mistake of having them both share my bed on Mumbo one night - and it was pure hell. Didn't sleep a wink as they tossed and flung limbs about and kicked each other and me in the face and did 360 degree spins and fell out of the bed three times each!)
It is still scorching during the day, but I can see a glimmer of hope. I think the rainy season might be a delight. I will keep you informed (though I can't imagine a tropical weather report really fills anyone's heart with excitement - but it helps to share the enthusiasm!)
We have begun preparations for Christmas. The children collected seed pods on Mumbo ages ago and yesterday they began painting them. Then I had what I have to proudly say was a brainwave. Amos, one of the carvers, came to see me about buying some of his things because it is nearly planting season and he needs to buy fertiliser and it is so expensive this year (I will go into that later). He makes mobiles, so I ordered just the wooden flying birds from the mobile, minus the frame, and we have painted them for Christmas decorations. They are delightful, though I say it myself. And Hyco, another carver, made some lovely wooden stars and we bought some painted monkey apples in Lilongwe and the children are painting the rest at school this morning - now all we need to find is some sort of Christmas tree....
There is a fertiliser crisis in Malawi this year. Last year it cost K4000 a bag and this year it costs K10 000. Apparently it has to do with the price of oil. So that means that the average rural farmer cannot afford to buy it. But, as always in Africa, where people become resourceful because they have to, there is a plan. The government gives the poorest people fertiliser coupons to exchange for a bag of the stuff. A lot of these people live in areas where the soil is still rich mainly because there is only one planting season in the year and the land lies fallow for the rest of time, and of course this is because it only rains once a year here for three months. So they then sell their coupons to people from areas with poor soil - like Cape Maclear. We have given all our staff K5000 towards it, and they have had advances on their wages to get more. So now there is a frantic rushing around to find a village selling coupons. Planting will begin as soon as the rains do - soon now. All the fields are prepared - all hoed and cleared by hand and the season of fires is over at last so the hazy air is clearing. I really hope there were enough coupons to go around the whole country, otherwise there will be another famine. Scary - if your one crop fails, there is no hope of another. This is one of the poorest countries in the world and at times like this, you can see disaster looming.
Anyway, that is to worry about next year, I suppose, and perhaps if the oil price comes down, as it now has, next year will be a boom year.
Too hot to write anymore and have made myself anxious now!