Paper, Paper Everywhere!

Well yesterday was quite a busy day as I got stuck in about all their invoices and payments. It really was back to basics for me with a pile of receipts, invoices, cheque requisition forms to name but a few! They tend to pay for a lot of things in cash so tracking the audit trail back to the cash withdrawals and tying it all up was proving a little difficult. So some process improvements are required there, which I am already formulating – I think! Poor Vivian was feeling quite weary even by lunchtime after all the questions I was asking her. She has actually only been in the role herself for a few weeks so she has only just learnt one system for me to come along and tell her she needs to change it!! Poor girl.


I am actually back in the village typing this on word again – in the flippen dark again! It has to be said I am not feeling the least bit humorous about it this time. (Not that I was splitting my sides last night either). I had my dinner made for me tonight, before the power cut, which was some sort of fish, some tomato and onion sauce which they call soup and their infamous nshima, which is a bit of a cross between a lump of hard porridge and semolina. They keep making me two big lumps and I keep politely eating about half a lump! If you are lucky I will bring some home for you all for a treat!! Anyway this time I had eaten but I had just flopped down on the couch to relax in front of some America home show rubbish on TV when the power went. I hope those South Africans are enjoying our Zambian power!!!

I was feeling quite tired but fairly positive on the way home tonight and decided I definitely need to come in to Kitwe during the day on Saturday to try and see more of the town – not that there is a lot to see. I thought I might even ask Vivian to come along – not sure if you can ‘do lunch’ in Kitwe though. There are lots of dodgy fast food shops but not much else. I am also contemplating a trip down to the falls, although it is quite far and not sure how I would get there, or how much it would cost but for sure I would be booking in to a really nice hotel for a couple of nights!! Oh just think, running hot water, hopefully a shower, no exploding power sockets!! The luxury of it! Might need to take all my laundry with me! Although I am probably going to have to try and boil wash my towels at the weekend – only brought the one set!! Ugh! :-( Well I guess that is something to look forward to!!

Just need to keep reminding myself this is what it is all about!!  This little chap got some money to get the things he needed to go to school here in Kitwe.  He had been given a place at one of the Government schools but his mother couldn't afford to get the clothes and jotters he needed, so without them he wouldn't have been let in.   His mother was given the money to buy the stuff and should have come back with the change.  But apparently she spent it on cooking oil!  As Vivian said - what am I meant to do?  Hmmm, how do you put that through the books??