13th June - Imogen

 Tuesday was characteristically hot. We started the day off with another Swahili lesson, with Charlie requesting all the key phrases such as ‘do you have a lighter’ and ‘beautiful woman’.  

Our lesson was cut short by the call of the coral. This sounded poetic until we arrived to realise that we were to spend the morning  making bricks. I loved making the bricks. Katana was very patient with teaching us how to use the moulds and mix the cement so as to correctly make the correct shapes upon which coral would eventually develop. A few hours and many brick jokes later, we had become quite attached to our attempts and were rewarded for our toiling in the sun.

After lunch we made our way to Timboni to help out and explore their permaculture gardens. We were welcomed very warmly and made our way to one of the first and most developed gardens - developed by a lady who is 90 years old (!) but seemed to have personal access to the fountain of youth. She looked 70 at most and had maintained a distinct twinkle in her eye. 

The gardens were a brilliant demonstration of how all the methods that Leah showed us at the Oceans Alive office could be successfully replicated in the community. 

By late afternoon we were all whacked and ready to return to Popes for some cracking scran courtesy of Godfrey. He never misses. The day ended on a mellow note and an early night to prepare us for a busy Wednesday.