Back in Papua New Guinea for the second time we saw things with older eyes. We saw a new area, made a new family and visited the old. More footage, more focused on the heroes that bring it all together. Next time we will continue to grow.

It's not Somalia. It's Somaliland and they like peace -

I was there for almost 3 weeks it was good for me. I met a lot of interesting people and talked about philosophy while chewing Jaad all night (Friday tradition).

I did not want to leave but I had to get back to finishing other things where they were.

I am in Kenya in the North East, staying in a smallish town called Garrisa for one month with my father (haven's seen him in a year prior to this) who is working with G-Youth.

It's a nice hot, dry place (though being rainy season, occasionally it's wet.) The residents are mostly friendly tall Somali's who love to walk. I am back to being "small girl."

There will be a Youth Day (formerly known as a summit) in two weeks. 700 are invited but it's "expected" that only 300 will show up! Everyone is excitedly worried.

In the frenzy we are playing ultimate frisbee (despite a confusing start), strategically planning construction of a volleyball net with tires/ pole/ cement, drinking milk tea, camel milk, fresh lemonade, whilst discussing the projects and aspirations of the younger generation.

We start major shooting tomorrow. Bring it on G.

Pete Dicampo is in Ghana now and just spent almost a week with my village buddies. He said Abdualai is actually getting paid to shoot videos! But he still doesn't know how to edit so he has to give up a cut of the pay. Abdulai told Pete that I taught him how to edit but that he isn't sure how to turn the computer on! Perhaps Pete will give him his old laptop.... thrilling.

I am now in Hong Kong. Recently returned from Papua New Guinea. We were there for 5 weeks, shooting a documentary. We chewed alot of Betelnut, the local "drug," or "coffee," as some say. Our video shall profile it. Soon, we'll have a preview up.

This is what they call culture shock. Tall building galore, like a graphic novel. But I am editing Africa footage so it's like I am there too. It makes the transition -fade- if you will. The fact that it wasn't cold here until the chinese new year hit was great. It's similiar to NYC except I can reach the hanging handles in the subway.

Utter Fear;

Upon arrival to the city slum we had to get permission to shoot. Similar to the customs at the village we had to go around to different elders and opinion leaders to present our identity and cause. Everyone accepted until we got to the "mafia man." Like out of a movie he threatened to impound the camera if we didn't comply with him so we did what he said.

The first time we met him was next to a bus at the main station for exporting goods abroad (his job-area and terrain). When he didn't offer us shade I knew something was up. He said we were rude for not greeting him at his house and that we would need to come back in an hour. An hour later he is nowhere to be found. The next morning we go to his house and back to the station. We had to wait outside a fast food place more than an hour for him to let us in. Then after talking at him and his goons he said he had to go to a baby naming and we needed to come again.

At this point we had wasted quite a bit of shooting time waiting for his permission and everyone knew it. We were told to forget him. But how? When one is surrounded by people in a market, who surely work for him? Finally, divided and confused, we run into an NGO worker and fluent English speaker. He explains that this man is just a "youth leader" in a certain area and we can "forget" him. The camera will not be imploded and we have rights and this man just wants money.

So we start shooting. We didn't trust anyone anymore for leading us to this trap.

Hilariousness;

As we are starting to prepare the first shot in the Slum some men call David & Abdulai over to ask them what the hell they think they are doing. I decided I would watch from a distance, and as the crowd and voices grew I was scared and took out my fear on the kids getting too close to the camera I was guarding. It ended and I frantically asked David what happened. He said there was one guy who was really angry and the others were yelling at him. In the end they said "we should do a really good job."

This website is really great.

We have posted a project! We are trying to finish editing the WhatTookYouSoLong Africa journey. We are a half to one thirds completed! The truth is - I am moving to Hong Kong no matter what to edit, but this funding will secure it.

http://www.friendsofghana.org/Friends_of_Ghana/Newsletters/Entries/2009/8/18_Fall_2009.html

You probably need to cut and paste it for whatever reason.

This is what I am doing now. Starting tomorrow. No time for chatting, but go there and you'll see.

whattookyousolong.org

I said goodbye to the village. I packed up bags and took them away gradually (not even all). It took awhile. Weeks. I have a lot of stuff. I am a stuff person. But we are talking about nice jars and paper and crayons and string and hooks. And the occasional strip of cloth. So it was a mess but I got through it.

(So, of course I gave a bunch away and much of it was unwanted but I'd always ask, so we get to an empty yellow container that has a small handle- it was used for pancake mix, mailed to me, and Abdulai said it was The Best Thing. Like how could I not know he would love that? Haha, I love it.)

They are putting a new Peace Corps Volunteer in "my house." It's good. I am glad, but I am also sad. Some people told me they are worried the new person will not have a character that matches them, the village, like I do. Well put.

Alidu said I have done 2 good things and one bad. He kept me in suspense awhile.. not revealing that one bad thing. The two good things are the movie and the bikes. The bad thing is, of course, focusing on my own ideas of how to do things and not others (specifically the 'ones who brought me'.) He said he'll be sad when I am gone and he wanted to get into my suitcase. He acted it out, so funny.

We scraped it through at the last minute, much credit to the crew that goes around and does this in Ghana. They sell bikes half price. Good bikes, and teach about them before letting them go. We signed up 60 people, mostly ladies, yea.

There were rumors we were going to run off with the money (before the bikes came) but now it's the best thing I ever did (I was 'warned' that would happen). The funniest part is that people yell my name when they see these bikes riding around, and some people don't like being yelled Puumaaya at (now they Know), but the people yelling say - hey - it has a good meaning. It means happy stomach but also when you want something and then you get it. It's not just a name, it's a word.

I am also being told I have finally lived up to that name, I brought development they can see every single day. Super.

I met them when doing Mango work and they made us a boom pole for our movie and lent us lights we never used. I like them. They have a video editing and sound recording studio - rugged but functional. Razak, the guy who made the place, practically lives in his edit booth. He has about 30 siblings and they are all somehow involved in some aspect of production. I'll put up pictures soon.

His father was the first guy to shoot video in the North. For television, a long time ago... Razak went to school for Electronics, a vocational one upon his father's insistence. He wanted to go to normal school and is still upset about it but likes that he can build amplifiers and wire things. He has a lot of dreams. He wants to make a computer factory in Tamale and a film school too.

The filmmakers here are mostly uneducated, some making scripts without knowing how to read or write. Some of the acting is so good they are wanted in other parts of the country and Nigeria but they can't 'cause they don't know english. But mostly they look up to Indian movies.

Razak wants to learn more effects, maybe in Hollywood, so he can make movies about the traditional stories - how horses climb trees and dwarves turn into any shap or size (like ghosts). He believes in the power of movies, not just for entertainment, but for development. They have a booming business. BUT there is a Stigma about filmmakers I just found out about! They are seen to be bad people and prostitutes. (Probably because of music videos and some of the Nigerian ones.) But really cause people can't seperate the people from the charachters they play. They think they are real.

I just spent a few weeks with them editing a video for the Ghana Danish Communities Association (GDCA) - about the RIGHTS BASED APPROACH. It's a neat and sensible idea. I'll try to upload some of it.

We screened in the Chief Palace, two nights. With my portable projector, village amplifier, generator, and a big sheet. It was great. Wish everyone could have been there. (Thank you Cheri for riding your bike 4 hours through a wind storm and bad directions (not from me). The village was though and that's what counts. Below, their comments.

"You made a true story."

"Can you show it every night?"

"I like the whole movie. Every part is good. You won't fall asleep."

"We aren't educated and we can't read, but this puts something in our minds we can think about."

"I was planning to go (south), but now I won't. I would like to go for a visit to know our capital city, but not to stay."

"Some people used to think others were making it up."

"I like the juxtaposition between Accra (capital) and the Village."

"I now understand how girls can get seduced by boys."

"I like the message the movie has, especially sickness and stigma."

"The movie starts out funny, but then it gets serious."

"The station (in our village) looks nicer than it is."

"I am not planning to go anymore, I would suffer more than the characters!"

"I was worried about the character at a certain point."

"The movie is educative about what to watch out for and steps that can be followed."

"I had heard of fire (destroying buildings in the south), but now I've seen it."

"Even though we are discouraged from going, people will, because of poverty."

"Nowadays people have changed. Youth move around and our children do whatever they want without consulting us. This movie can advise them like we (elders) can't."

"Our minds now tell us not to move."

"I like seeing Accra in the movie since I've never been there."

"I see using condoms is good, or we could abstain."

"I don't want to go south but if my husband asks me to I will. I do want to see the nice buildings."

"At night we can think about the movie instead of negative things, which is especially good for us elders."

I was showing a 7 year old how it's done, rather - how it's not done. There was a huge popping noise as my pelvis hit the floor, I went down toooooo fast... it really hurts, increasingly.

I think I've spent about three weeks in front of the computer subtitling. First our movie and now the Mango Movie. It's liberating to finally know what people are saying. But also frustrating to be sitting in front of a computer for two weeks. Luckily I am not dreaming about it. I used to dream about editing and there was no escape.

I awoke the last day of the festival missing the village and wanting to leave. I flipped a coin and stayed, but the next day made it home in 7 hours - before dark. I hadn't been to Voggu in close to 3 weeks and everything was dusty. Usually people "yell" at me for "keeping long" but they were okay. The most okay I ever saw them after being gone so long.

At the beginning there was bread. Then there was french bread. Goat cheese, soft serve ice cream, yogurt, cotton candy, chocolate croissants, crepes, steak sandwiches, and last but not least strawberries. It was a tasty time. There are men walking around with big boxes on their backs, guess what their carrying? Fresh baked bread and President's butter. 50 cents will get you a full baguette with butter in a piece of brown paper so you don't dirty your hands. Why didn't I learn French?

(Feb 28-March 7)

We had a screening of our movie, but it was bad. There was a sky light! So no one could see the movie. Just the subtitles, which had to be changed at the last minute cause they were too long. I was still burning the disc the night before the show when the others managed to get us free badges to get in to all the movies.

Me and Daria and Cheri shared a bed in our new friend of a friend, Lucy's room, a model and freelance interpreter who loves movies. Unfortunately Nash (Director) and Kari couldn't come at the last moment because Nash's father fell sick. I didn't invite Abdulai (Producer, Writer and Star) cause we were going into the unknown and he can be a baby.

One highlight was a meal we were invited to by people in the Burkina Faso/ French film/ TV industry. The waiters and waitresses were on roller-blades and they juggled, ate fire, contorted, and flipped. They served us salads and a slab of meat cooked by hanging in fire - we all ate too much and felt sick after.

I got to watch Real Films. My favorite one was 20 minutes. Shot on 35mm, sadly showed on video, called Nora. It was about a real modern dancer from an African village. She tells the story of her early life in surreal scenes cut with brief text. The main characters speak in dance and everyone else acts "normal." The filmmaker was around and I heard she organizes an artistic film festival in Russia, where she is from, but lives in the US. The modern dancer is living in New York but from Africa.

While I didn't talk to her I did talk to a bunch of Kenyan filmmakers who came with a nice short called "Killer Necklace." It was shot on the Red, borrowed from South Africa. They also had an unfortunate screening with skylights in the room! I was interviewed by BBC and that's what I told them about when asked about movies I saw. I actually heard it the night I got back to Ghana! (I had a brief identity crisis and introduced myself as a Peace Corps Volunteer, but maybe that's why they aired it.)

I knew the festival was a big deal, but upon meeting people from around the world there, learned it was the "biggest" in Africa. Mostly I hung with an Ethiopian/ French couple who lives in Amsterdam. Others included a group of Scottish and British living in Ghana, a Ghanaian journalist/ filmmaker, a German graphic designer, a Malian/ German couple, an African/American filmmaker with a funny movie about an after school program, a couple with a Ghanaian Beach Resort, a Global Film Producer (former PC Volunteer in China), and a German film festival rep. We also got a tour of an impressive production studio by locals.

Hilariousness:

Our ringleader in the city slum, Mohammed, was put to the task of finding and dressing 2-3 school children on a Sunday while we were shooting with the lead actress, Asana. At an interim between scenes with her, Mohammed tells us to hurry and shoot with the kids. Because of his tone of urgency I reluctantly said okay.

David entered the room where he keeps the equipment and was totally surprised when more than 25 three year olds dressed for school started crying! David and I had to hide behind a corner with the camera because they were afraid of us (common at their age). Finally the kids calmed down, after given candy, on a bench. Of course the bench topples and they all start crying again!

Type of Confusion: Asana disappeared after shooting with the kids and we thought the mafia man took her only to realize later she fell asleep while waiting for us.

Dec 10 - Jan 9

It was planned, researched, re-planned, interrupted, refreshed, then finally - it happened. There was a lot going on. Abdulai was in recovery, I was in re-entry, and new people on the scene; Nash Imoru, a friend (and Kari's BF) living in Tamale as a teacher for the deaf, and David Kavanaugh, a friend from learning film. They both appeared like magic as the clock almost stopped ticking and wound it up.

We had a wild ride of utter fear, hilariousness, generosity/ bribes, role confusion, mis-communication of all kinds, theft, fire, hunger/ thirst, depression, alienation, jubilation, realization, and companionship. Too bad we didn't shoot it but then we'd have another list. I'll try to share some highlighted examples.

They like me. I like them. They are my new parents. I am making a seasonal technique video for them and they are making me a volunteer in Ghana that gets to eat and sleep without worrying about how that would work otherwise. But I still stay in the village. It's hard to edit without electricity so I move around a lot. On motorcycles if I want to.

www.itfcorganic.com/

I Love obama. Like a Super Hero.

By the way I am in the USA temporarily...

and I have witnessed the sudden transformation of the nation.

America is now Cool.

Except for the gay marriage ban. Not Cool.

Just wait, Super-Obama is in the white house.

(Knock on wood x3)

I got 157 pieces of candy. My sister got less but evened it out a little with a game of poker. My sister and I drove a few blocks to a better neighborhood and went around as guests of Clue. One lady told us we looked like midgets. It was great to celebrate my favorite holiday.

So after being sent to the USA and "early terminating" peace corps, my good friend and counterpart, abdulai, rode a motorcycle and ran into a sheep that "jumped out" in front of him driving along without a helmut on. He almost died.

So peace corps has a rule against riding motorcycles. This makes sense in the city where there is pavement and crazy drivers. But how about the bush? A lorry is just as dangerous when it's filled and stacked to the seams with people, animals and cargo. I am pro-choice in this matter of how you want to risk your life best. Just wear a helmet and watch out for the stupidity of sheep ...

We - 6 volunteers & sometimes Abdulai - biked around the District to 5 villages for 6 days. Each village made quick "educational" videos about HIV/AIDS & then at night we showed them on a big sheet with a projector and amplifier. Most began with an introduction by the respected Chief & Elders whose faces look great on the big screen & People loved it. Then students or youth would do short dramas... a few even had more than 7 scenes. Quick scenes. Then we shot people trying to put condoms on wooden penises correctly. Always fun.

We had some strange technical problems but got through most of them. Why will my camera not export audio properly? Doesn't make sense. I got feverish toward the end too but I just need sleep I think.

We have seen it to believe it. We lived it for a small time. It's a microcosm of the north squished into several blocks of wooden shaks with small passageways. Girls, small and tall, sleeping 16 to a small room. The community is called Sodom and Gomorrah. Today it's not but perhaps yesterday it was.

The girls told us they are happy to be making money for themselves and not just their parents. But the families are not so happy when the daughters get pregnant and the men disappear and not knowing really who to Blame.

Economically speaking, which it what it is all about, I heard it's the highest source of income the north has. I think it is call for Revolution. Peace, love, and rock and roll? perhaps I am being optimistic...

Today (or yesterday depending who you ask) I have been in Ghana for a year. Not sure I've stayed in one country this long. Though I certainly move around the country. But this is my first time back in Accra, the big huge city we flew into. It didn't look so big then. But now this is like Europe or the USA. Except still no movie theater. Someone needs to change that. I should write letters. They could make lots of money. Lots. But I celebrated with a strawberry smoothie and real whipped cream. MMM.

I am fasting with my people. They appreciate it plus I'll cross it off the roayl to do list. But it's kinda normal-ish. It's harder when it's sunny and I am thirsty. But no water no food until sun down at 6:15pm. Then most people get up at 4am and have a meal but I prefer to sleep. We were at a workshop in Kumasi for a week which made it easier since we weren't moving.

and still living in the lands of some milk and honey.

Though not going to have it in the day time... it's Ramadan. And I am trying, starting now.

Too busy to write. oops.

From a Nice & Old Film Camera

I like feet.

One of my favorite singing women.

No chopping the candy.

This was dry season. Now it's green.

I spy with my little eyes

a Super 8 camera & radio Walkman.

Art by Susan Belle

(we know each other.)

-I want to paint this in my village to encourage sanitation. I think it's a super piece of poo.

Today was actually lucky. I found this treat in the store. I asked the price and they said it was expired. I exclaimed. I begged and pleaded. They laughed and said I would get sick. They could see it in my eyes, I was deadly serious and not leaving without it. Finally the big boss lady said ok and this little piggy ran all the way home. It was a little freezer burned and I shared it with one person and it was sublime. Flavor Brownie. I need not say more. I am speechless.

So here we are. It's about August. We want to shoot October-November. We need money honey. I am writing a Pepfar proposal for the making and showing. But the big money- the one for the film stuff- it's not enough... sooo... I was thinking to set up something where people can buy DVDs of the short.. and there's gotta be another way of raising it too. So let's think it up. Get up to speed aaaaand aaaaaction.

http://kayayoo.blogspot.com/

This is 20 minutes. It's the dialogue version of Puumaaya. So the same but more... much better credits tooo

Feature Film?

They watched the short one and said it should be longer. So, if I am applying for a grant and why not make it real? Seriously, celluloid. If I can get some help. I'm working on the details. But we better hurry up. Trying to get this shot and edited a little by December so we can go to the Burkina Faso Film Fest in February. And take a side trip to see their circus.

We just finished subtitling! I am impressed with our 22 minute cut. I thought it'd be much longer.

There is no translation for Naa. It's just a response to everything.

e were editing every night at a friends Video Show. Feeling seriously productive for a change... when... someone cursed the generator. Why? No one knows but the curse has been confirmed by an elder who didn't want to get involved in the Why. The word is that this Generator must be traded since it will never-work-here-again. But even after the trade they don't want to use it here. What will we do? It makes me question it all...

But guess what - I got a text message while at the art show. "Thank god we got a generator. When are you coming?"

Update: They have a new generator. Video shows are back on to every ones elated cries- and they have competition. Which is why the generator was cursed. The curser has started his own video show. It's only a matter of time before he can get enough chickens to make another curse...

June 28-July 6

Some may recall the day I heard that I wasn't going to be an art-teacher-of-the-deaf as my job in Peace Corps. It was a sad day.

The past two weeks I pretended I was one. I also taped a whole lot. I must must edit.

I just returned from the annual Art Show- this year at Cape Coast School for the Deaf. Every PC Art Teacher brings 2 students (of which there are 6 -all at Deaf Schools at present.) Cape Coast is one of my new favorite places with its decrepit old buildings and littered beautiful ocean.

Kari, my good friend teaching near me at Savelugu School for the Deaf unfortunately fell ill so I took her students down down this country- (though I intended to go to make The Video anyhow). Before leaving I spent a bunch of days with her students so they wouldn't freak out when traveling with a stranger who doesn't know sign language - and I taught the 2 lucky ones to "Dance A Painting," from which I made a small video.

To understand the video you must also realize that the talented students here are being taught to do drumming in dancing for 2 hours every afternoon by a professional from the Tamale Cultural Dance Troupe (Kari & Nash set this up). It's quite exciting - they are getting good and will some day come to a Theater Near You...

Seriously. I will edit.

Featuring 12 Deaf kids between ages 12-19, Six Peace Corps V. teachers, an Art Show with work from each school, The Ocean, SilkScreening T-Shirts &anything else you happen to be wearing, a lot of Meals where everyone got Fat, Blind Kids Singing and playing Soccer, Batiking, Kakum Canopy Walk where one girl is very scared, and Fireworks in the Rain.

Right now I am preparing my return to Voggu & my divorce from my two pseudo kids. I'll visit them. Maybe even teach a little.

I have started making cheese. Starting with fresh and soft we have attempted Mozzerella and Bondon. Lactic Cheese will be ready in the morning. Apparently good on crepes.

I got a kit. Thank you papa! It has two cultures for soft + hard cheeses and rennet tablets. Plus the needed cheesecloth. A friend going to France will pick up more Rennet... and we can multiply the Cultures ourselves.

So far I've confined my laboratory to the controlled environment of the Peace Corps Tamale Sub-office where there is a refrigerator, stainless steel and other enthusiasts.

In fact my imagination has created a future cheese cave, herd of goats, cows, and everyone as a cheese maker, including the Ghanaian guards. Endless supply. We'll have people of all sorts from far and wide trying to get there hands on a wedge of our unique recipes that we will create once we master the art. If you're lucky we will export.

So I've started graphing and making signs. I am detailing the subtleties of what makes each cheese it's own. Heating and cooling at different rates to varying degrees, pressing with certain amounts of weights, shaping to tasty sizes...

This week I am experimenting at home. Next Chapter- cheese made in warm temperatures...

"a cheese may disappoint. it may be dull, it may be naive, it may be over-sophisticated. yet it remains cheese, milk's leap toward immortality."-clifton fadiman (motivational excerpt from my cheesemaking textbook)

I heard it on BBC in the morning...and I felt somethin.

I'll vote from here & Excited to Be.

Do I smell tasty BarakO cookies in the future?

You add the sugar and I'll add the butter. We'll both beat.

Let's Bake and share.

Close your eyes and take the biggest bite...

So I had an epiphany the other day. Everything became clear and I was floating. As my cloud landed I realized it wasn't a dream. We can do this. It doesn't have to be my whole life future... instead of girls and boys traveling south for work how bout they join the circus?

We'll spread messages of young girls caught in the ropes... boys caught up with the girls and everyone caught up with the money for their farm or their bowls... and the sad donkey that works so hard (Alidu just got one and I am elated). Monkeys and Clowns who are dirty and clean house and build sanitation facilities that they can't figure out the reason for...

and elephants. (one can hope)

Mole National Park isn't actually that far...

JAN 8,9,10th 2009

You should visit... This is a good time... Buy your plane ticket now...

HISTORY

Created in Jannuary 2001, the "festival au désert" is held every year in Essakane, two hours from Timbouctou in Mali.

This Festival seeks its origin in the big traditional Touareg festivities, as Takoubelt in Kidal and Temakannit in Tombouctou, which represented for long time a place for decision making and exchange of information among the different communities. At the beginning, there were songs and touareg dances, poetries, camel rides, games, etc.

Today, the Festival is opened to the external world and welcomes artists from other Malian regions, other African countries, but also from Europe and from the whole world.

During three days, around 30 artistic groups are invited from all around the world to present their art.

Due to the attention of the media and to the huge logistic effort that it is mobilizing, the Festival is now included among the Big Modern Festivals, though it maintains its traditional cultural aspects.

MAIN

http://www.festival-au-desert.org/

LISTEN

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/soundcheck/episodes/2007/07/03/segments/81493

ARTICLE

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2007/07/malifestival200707

So it has rained a few times now. Today being one - and it's not just rain that comes, it's wind- and plenty of it. There is lightening and thunder too but wow that wind - it's like a hurricane! A part of my roof has actually blown off, a small part and not in my bedroom so it's ok - and it's supposedly getting fixed tomorrow.

I got a cold because I was still sleeping outside but that wind! It just about knocked me off the bed - well, the makeshift bed as mine had bed bugs (may-be scabies) - man, it was awful - but I got rid of them by pouring boiling water over my bed, washing the creases, leaving it in the sun, washing the sheets with treated stuff, and spraying the house with strong repellent. The procedure was rough and involved plenty of bites, sleeping on a row of chairs with a towel sheet- and cursing. But now how I appreciate my lovely bed and soft sheets! It makes me think about the wonders of whipped cream.

April 21-26

This was about a week of flashback to training but we all got to bring our counterparts so that was fun. We should have/could have had this at the beach but for some reason our organizer is tired of having it there!

We ate enough protein to last the year I think. Got to go swimming and stay in a fancy hotel room with fancy tile floors that feel nice under the feet. I jumped on the bed and did flips too (so I could get hungry then just for fun). I lost my beloved change purse I have had since I was 12 and admired the stylish front desk woman's short tie.

It was a great bonding experience with Abdulai and I think he got a lot out of it all. Not just swimming in a pool which he had never done and playing Marco Polo (he kept saying Michael Polo). Or seeing me drink beer, which in my village of muslims who don't drink I never let on that I did...

We interviewed him and he said that he thinks we were all put in the right communities and he is happy with his Peace Corps Volunteer- compared to the rest. Ok - so I asked him the question but I think it's true. And it's true for me too! We shared experiences and ideas. I got paler from all the sitting inside. We got a lot of papers on proposals we could write... and the small print.

Yea! I have a newly built Net for my veranda to keep all those nasty little bugs that would have eaten me away. Since I live in a corn field...

I will make a local fridge to make local cheese... and I will eat more vegatables.

Buddy Abdulai says I will die because no one will visit me or be able to do anything because everyone will be at farm. Haha. Can't wait! Some school kids will still be in school sometimes and I will finally Paint. Oh and I will buy a hoe for 2 bucks so I can try to farm though Abdulai again says I will die. It's just a jokey expression, don't fret.