Saturday Post -- 15/05/10

It’s been a long time coming, but winter finally arrived in Trinidad this week, with a strong south wind howling through the city on Saturday morning and only really dying down over the last few hours. Temperatures are pleasantly 20-something as I type, despite a blazing sun and a sky that several European airlines would doubtless currently kill for. If any of you ‘northerners’ fancy a trip to Trinidad some day, our winter is about as offensive to Caucasian sensibilities as a Last of the Summer Wine DVD boxset.

And from that northerly direction has swept into town another force of nature: American ENT specialist Dr Richard Wagner, along with three medical students from the States. Since Monday, they have been hard at work with Diego and FT’s nurses in the new operating theatre for the Fundación’s annual Campaña, during which time many of the more complex surgical cases to have been observed by Diego are addressed. Of course, Amanda has been at the coal-face with the others and will be fully engaged there in the afternoons (and evenings, if necessary) up until next Wednesday.

Meanwhile, upstairs in the Fundación’s education headquarters, I’ve been engaged in the not quite as exciting (though no less important!) task of kicking the library into shape. Poor library. It is not lacking in high quality reading materials in health, education and Biblical education – it’s just that they’re currently as easy to locate as a Masonic surprise birthday party. As well as this, it’s fair to say that, considering the wealth of resources to hand, usage among FT workers is minimal – awareness needs to be raised. Furthermore, storage is an issue, with new shelving urgently required for bigger books. So the challenge is not a small one but I can imagine worse tasks than being blocked at every turn by literature.

Thoughts of work, however, will take a back seat over the next couple of days as we begin the process of occupying our new home. The kitchen is finally completed (due to the time restrictions imposed by the Campaña, I’m afraid we raised the white flag after the first coat but the Fundación’s manual labourers have done an excellent job) and tomorrow we will go on our first Saturday shopping trip in which, for the first time, we have to buy a kitchen’s worth of grub. Sounds a worthy investment to me. By Sunday we hope to have all our household goods in place and the time will have indeed come to start making a house a home. Will endeavour to post the requisite cheesy snaps next week.

Prayer
• For the house-move, that we would be guided as we start to live independently for the first time since arriving in Trinidad (no Co-op round the corner like in Tollcross, y’see).
• For concentration and energy for Amanda (and everyone else, of course) in the final days of the Campaña.

Praise
• For a successful transition to our new schedules – good to be busy!
• For the change in climate and the brief, welcome respite from the heat that it brings.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda