And finally....

A brief respite. The rain is gone and the sun has been bathing us in heat and sunlight almost all week long... it's been hot mashallah. And for a couple of nights the children have actually been in their bedrooms. We're enjoying the brief spell of spring before the rains come down again some time tomorrow but from Sunday onwards things look like they'll clear up a little. Things always seem better in the sun don't they?

A few months back we had local elections and we got ourselves a new Mayor for our district. And things are being spruced up a little... we've actually got a garbage removal system in place now and the rubbish. is not only being collected regularly, but there are also allotted times now for leaving rubbish out. Small steps hopefully reaping big results long term inshallah.

We're also being decorated... look at our beautiful walls mashallah.

I mean it's not fine art, and if you look too closely the perspectives are a bit out of whack....

But it's happy, and cheerful... and it means someone is starting to make a difference.

There are lots of improvements that could be made to make life more pleasant for people here, we have a long way to go.

 I'm enjoying my daily walks back and forth to school and it's interesting to be involved in conversation with them... It's nothing that will shake the world, but it's real and profound in it's own way. Women sharing snippets of their lives and the daily struggle they go through to keep their families afloat.

Sometimes I walk through this place I call home and can't imagine being anywhere else.