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COVID-19 is pressing my grief button

“Go and give Mama some gentle touches,” said Arthur to Callum. “She’s feeling sad.” Callum came over to me. “I know why you’re sad, Mama,” he said. “It’s Auntie Red Twin.” Well, it was and it wasn’t. Actually, I was sad because I’d just received the news that some friends […]

The stresses of home

I sprained my wrist cleaning a cupboard. I’m not normally one to clean cupboards but a layer of mould had permeated our house while we were in Australia. 4 days in to our return to Tanzania, I had a stress injury. And I say stress injury, not just because it’s […]

Why we don’t have house help

When we moved to Tanzania I was told that we would need house help. So Mama Velo did our cleaning. (I cooked. I enjoy the creativity of it, and it gives me some headspace – like how some people do their best thinking in the shower.) And she was great, and we kept […]

We can only ever be visitors

Djibouti Jones recently mentioned her fear of becoming one of ‘those’ expats – the types who ‘struggle to communicate with people in the home culture because our tongues are tied and our minds so thoroughly exhausted after years of balancing cultures and world views.’ Every day I feel a bit […]