Africa is, in the phrase used by my friend Birgit, a rollercoaster of emotions. It is full of extremes and contradictions: either one feels in the depths of despair or one is elated- it doesn't perhaps bear too much scrutiny- one has to walk the tight rope. It works, somehow, if only one doesn't look down at ones feet...
This morning I woke up and went into my lovely garden where petit Baba were helping old Boubakar with the watering wearing his new outfit (see above). Napoleon neighed when he saw me, and Papa was already in the kitchen preparing food for the full house tonight. Twelve labourers were at work building the new weaving and bogolan studio and beyond them the new land I have just bought lay shimmering in the dusty morning light like a unopened sketchbook full of blank pages. I have set something in motion here, and it will continue- it has almost got a momentum of its own which is bigger than me. I just need to remember not to look too closely at my feet.