first blog missive

hello all
I have decided to embrace new technology whilst sweltering in my tropical office. It seems a bizarre thing that one can be sitting in a reed building at the edge of Lake Malawi and communicating with the rest of the world (well a few people who live out there.)
I feel a bit shy using this thing - what if someone ghastly reads my waffles and finds them inane and take the time to tell me? It would be a bit of a dampener on the delicate spirits, really!
However, I am plunging in and using this as an easier way to email you all and an easier way to show pics - sending them via the ether can be a long process and I am always forced to choose only one or two whereas my day is full of visual feasts! As I sit here, just outside my office all the boatmen (dressed in very bright orange shirts) are erecting every (bright blue) tent Kayak Africa own in order to check for missing bits. Even that is a picture against the reed walls of Jurie's house and the green of the ancient bwemba (tamarind) tree. Sadly for them , when they went to have lunch, Ben, Buji, Java and Eddie were delighted to find 10 tents to play in and proceeded to decorate the interiors with plant seedlings in leaky black bags and to have a war with the carefully counted tent pegs! Had to rush out and have severe words with them and entice them away with promises of juice.
Have to say, it is quite a thing dealing with four kids now! Two was busy enough, but even just trying to pour four cups (all must be argued over and specially selected by each child or it will only cause more whining!) of juice becomes a bit of a frenetic exercise. I am not the world's calmest mother and tend to grit teeth and become snappish when confronted by four children all yelling their needs at me. Am constantly muttering "Say please!" and "Now, I am just not going to give you anything if you don't ask politely!", but, let's face it, sometimes that just exhausts one more! Still, most of the time they are out and about, playing and swimming and drawing with Felix and Zoda. Today I discovered them burrowing about in all the wooden offcuts of Liinu's house "looking for snakes". "And what were you going to do with the snake when you found it?" I asked. "Kill it with our spears!" they joyfully responded, brandishing blunt little bamboo sticks. My heart did a bit of a lurch and I turned back into the harridan mother from hell as I told them how long it took to die of a snake bite and how fast a snake could strike. They were unfortunately riveted by my tales instead of being scared into submission which was my proposed outcome!