Couscous, billions and babies

John is still quite jetlagged. Yesterday he made couscous at 2:30am and it was delicious!

I'm getting back into the swing of things at THQ. I'm trying to implement a project that we got money for before I was here - it's training people in using puppets to teach about HIV/AIDS and other social issues. It's a taboo to talk about sexual issues in mixed generation situations, but no one seems to mind if puppets talk about them. I put together a budget for 15 people to eat and sleep for a week and buy some basic supplies to make the puppets - $1.5 billion. I never in my life imagined I'd be working with this kind of money! I brought the budget to the finance secretary and she asked me if I was serious. There's a cash shortage, and people can only get $5million/day, and here I am asking for $1.5 billion. But this is only for basics! I guess we'll see...

I also got to go see a brand new baby in the hospital yesterday. The mother was really expecting a boy, so this (their 3rd girl) is wrapped all in blue! A friend was expressing sympathy at the birth of another girl, and offered to sleep with the new mother's husband (since she has had success herself in producing boys). Generous...

Life in Canada is easier, but life in Zimbabwe is more interesting.