The End is in Sight

After yet another sleepless night, it felt like I spent the day clawing my way through a haze of exhaustion. Fortunately things are going well in the workshop so it was not too bad.

This morning Kamardine came to collect me at the hotel. He caught a mini bus to my hotel but would not allow me to go in one of those because he thinks it will not be safe for me. According to him someone may either try to touch me inappropriately or try to steal my bag. Not much faith in his own people! The taxis here also operate as the buses i.e. when you get in a taxi it is not yours exclusively but it may pick up other people. So Kamardine also insists I always sit in the front so that I don’t have to come into contact with anyone else! The good news is that work has started n the road and the section in front of the fisheries school will be finished tonight. Even that little section will make a huge difference to the daily trip back and forth.
Road repairs get underway

Today was money day. Finally I could get rid of the cash I have been carrying for three weeks. First though, Kamardine and I had to go into town to exchange all the Euros for Francs. For about half an hour I was a millionaire before handing over all the Francs for our various expenses. It was nice to go into town and see a bit more of Anjouan. I always ask myself if I could live in the places I visit and the answer for Anjouan is a resounding “No!” While I am not really a mall person, I do enjoy the convenience of them and the cleanliness. The following photos were taken on our little trip into the town centre of Moutsamoudou.






Lunch was really fantastic today. We had two tuna steaks, one cooked in a coconut sauce and the other in a tomato sauce, served with a huge pile of rice. I couldn't manage all the rice but I did enjoy a portion of it. Dessert was a nice tasty banana.

This afternoon I had a meeting with two representatives from a Japanese organisation called the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to explain to them what WIOFish is all about. Their organisation is the funder of the Fisheries School here in Anjouan and I think that this is the first time they have hired the school to outsiders for a workshop. They just wanted to know a little about WIOFish and what we thought about their facilities. Apparently they are not quite able to meet their financial needs through their funding and want to market the school as a venue for workshops and meetings to bring in some cash. They were very pleasant and it was good to meet them.

We finished all the updates of the fishery profiles just after lunch and then began the process of reviewing all the data. This should be finished by lunch time tomorrow.

We have all clubbed together to rent a bus to go for a small tour into the interior to see how the rest of Anjouan live. This should be very nice and I am really looking forward to it.

To end today I have two photos of the groups working. It was so hot in our venue so everyone moved outside.


To all my South African family and friends, I hope that you had a safe and fun (and relaxing) Human Rights Day.

Take care everyone!

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