Dust

One thing that you cannot escape from here in Dodoma is the dust. 

Today during sports day at school, we got to experience some of Dodoma's finest dust first hand!

It really is everywhere. 

You see it swirling around on a regular basis.

Everything in the house has a thin layer of dust and requires constantly wiping down ... yes it really is that bad! You put a piece of paper on your desk one day and it's covered in a grainy layer the next.

In the background, you're always aware of the sound of someone sweeping the dust from one spot to the other on the side of the road. It seems to be a pastime of local people!

Naomi has already got into the habit of 'asking' for the car windows to be closed when we drive on the roads that have no tarmac by bellowing 'DUST ... close windows ... NOW'!

It often gets in your hair and sometimes in your mouth and everything just gets SO grubby as a result of it!

There are times when life goes on and you just get on with it. There are times when the dust just drives you crazy. But it is there and there is nothing you can do about it! I'm very grateful to have help about the house because dusting has never been a favourite pastime and to have to do it multiple times each week (you do really have to!) would drive me potty and there are so many other things to get on with.

Dust is part of our reality here, not something you first think of when you prepare for life overseas ... but the girls are making the most of it, they love to draw pictures in it with sticks, check out what patterns the sole's of their shoes make, Abigail practices her spelling words, the list goes on! It seems that not everyone finds it frustrating ... there really is a positive side to everything!