HAPPY EASTER PEOPLE.....
I have added a new feature to my blog which allows you to follow me so that when I post a new blog you will be emailed.....isnt that nice of me!
It should be in the tool bar on the right hand side of the screen.
I will be posting a new blog shortly about going to a football match this weekend in Zimpeto. I was amidst a riot!!! I will tell you all about it so tune in to more adventures of Mozam Kam.....
Im actually going to a dance performance now at the local theater. I will not be late so Im going to go RIGHT NOW!!!
Ciao
xxx
Boys in Boots.....
Ingrid Chawner has been good over the last few weeks and yesterday we played BINGO! All the boys love it and we had prizes for them all at the end. In the afternoon we played word Bingo which was also good but a little harder for the ones that are not able to read and write but the idea is just to help them familiarise themselves with everyday things. I also took one of the houses to the swimming pool after lunch which was hilarious because the weather has been a little ‘cold’ of late, 19oC, as we are now in Winter. The difference is horrible being used to 40oC so Ive wearing cardigans and water proof attire as its also been raining a lot. I really can feel the difference. Anyway, the pool was freezing and so there were only two soldiers in the pool, Samuel and Edilson. They only lasted about 15mins before they had to abandon ship.
Francisco is a new recruit into Ingrid Chawner having been there only 3 weeks now. He is another of my favourites and he has the cutest face ever. He cannot read or write and so I have taken it upon myself to give him at least an hour of my time while Im there practising his ABC and his numbers. I was so proud of him on Thursday as it seems the work is paying off. On Tuesday it was almost impossible for him but it seems he very good at retaining information and so he was able to complete writing the alphabet in order and then when I called it out randomly. Joanna had also informed me that she had been practising with him so I think the combination of us together is really working. There is a need for some specialist people within the centre who are skilled in assessing the needs of children like this. Tomas for example is about 10 and I think he has ADHD or some mild hypo attention disorder because he cannot and will not sit still for more than 3mins. When he is sitting down he’s very manic about the way he does things and extremely fidgety. I think he wants to learn but doesn’t know how he can make himself sit. He cannot read or write and doesn’t know his numbers. It makes me a little sad to know that these children didn’t have people around them who could give them these basic tools for their lives. The literacy rate in Mozambique is very low in itself so most of these children’s parents probably have the same problem and so the cycle continues. I guess I can only do by bit and write about what Im seeing. I think the centre is doing an amazing job with these boys in trying to provide them with the tools to help them in the future however whats missing is what they need on an emotional level. I think it should be a standard that they have counselling and assessment of basic needs but maybe that’s my Western view and the way I think that things should or need to be done. Its also difficult to broach this subject when Portuguese is not your first language and also I don’t have the qualifications to really make these judgements and advise others. I do think that I understand a little about this having parents in the field and having fostered many children with my parents over the years.
On Saturday night we went to a bar near Baixa with live music and dancing. Before we went inside were were hanging out with some friends on the street and 5 street boys appeared ranging from the ages of 8 to 11. The strange thing about the encounter was that they all had womens boots on. The best pair were some pointed white knee highs sported by the 8 year old Gashpar who used to be at Ingrid Chawner up until a few months ago when he ran away. I was trying to ask him why he doesn’t come back to Ingrid Chawner but again Portuguese isn’t my first language and so it just didn’t work. His older brother is still with Ingrid Chawner and in fact last week his brother ran from Ingrid Chawner to be with him but came back. The few hours we spent with those boys before entering the bar showed me that these boys are happy in the now. They have fun collecting money from tourist and they earn a sweet little penny let me tell you! They are all like brothers and they all look out for one another. They have no adult telling them what they can and cannot do and are just free. I don’t know what dangers they face on the streets but I can only imagine. You could see that they hadn’t washed for weeks because their hands were covered in dirt and they smelt of wee. Gashpar remembered me from the centre and roped me into buying bread for all of them. It was so funny….me, Nastasia, 5 boys in women shoes and a security guard walking to the bread shop at 12am in the middle of Baixa. It was nice and they were appreciative of the gesture in a boyish way and what was also nice was that Gashpar didn’t ask for money from me just food because they were hungry. Mozambique has a huge problem regarding street boys and I don’t know how they will get on top of it. You’ll see some really small little kids begging and sleeping in the streets and I wonder how they got there in the first place at the ages of 5 or 6. I think another problems then arises when these children have been on the streets for a year or two I can imagine its difficult to be ‘contained’ within a place like Ingrid Chawner, however, what they don’t realise is that when they hit 20 and they can’t read and write what prospects do they have. I really don’t know but Im glad that I am seeing this and have an opportunity to share it with you and possible make a difference to a few of their lives.
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| Here are the boys in the ladies shoes......despite my camera being broken Jan managed to capture the moment! ENJOY! |
The place Im calling paradise....
Im back, it feels like its been a while since my last chat! In fact its been nearly one month but Ive felt I have really had anything eventful to say. I think Im settling into life here and so I have a little bit more of a routine now. Ive found my feet and am just getting on with each of the projects at hand.
This blog is a little bit of a mish mash of things although I might create a few seprate blogs as there are a few topics I wanted to disscuss that have come up over the last week or so. I start with our little big adventure to Tofo (pronounced Tofu like that veggie dish) last weekend….
Last weekend was the magical trip to Tofo. I fell in love with the place and when I retire Im going to live there forever in a beautiful house made from wood. Im going to kick the man that currently resides in it out or we could share it….I dunno its something I’ll have to negotiate with him. We left on Thursday as it was a public holiday in Mozambique celebrating Women, ‘Dia de Mulher’, so I took Friday off from magical Mozarte (hmmm) and stayed at Nastasia’s house in Opica with her host Mum who is 75. Apparently she had made a cake for us but decided that because we had arrived home far too late, 9pm, she was not cutting it for us which was heart breaking because I could see it on the table and the cakes here are sooooo good however on the flip side you know how the saying goes ‘a minute on the lips a lifetime on those old hips’so I just let it go.We woke up on Thursday at 3.30am to start the 8hr bus journey to Tofo. We arrived at the chappa station at 4.45am in order to catch the chappa at 5. It was still dark and Jan and Salome arrived shortly after. We hopped on the bus with all ourtravellers rusacks….mine was sooooo heavy and it had nothing it. I think it was giving some breathing issues but noneless Ive not yet learnt to pack light and so I guess that’s the price I have to pay! Joing us on the bus journey was a man that looked about 65 years old if not older and he looked like he had been drinking non-stop from the night before. He was singing, whistling and talking so loudly with the Coprador and the people at the front (poor them) along with his wife who he called Mama who sat behind him. From 5am when we entered the bus till 12pm when he exited at his paragem this guy did not stop…. I thought he was very entertaining and him dancing to Rihanna ‘Whats my name’ using his mobile phone after removing his shirt at around 10am was probably one of the highlights. During the journey all passangers were asked to write their full name and end destination on a sheet of paper along with a contact name in case of an accident. I laughed so hard because if there was an accident I think that piece of paper would be lost amongst all the bags of rice, clothes, live chickens and people so I just found it very strange that driver would bother with something like this. I was willing to believe that if you entered a chappa you are putting your life into the hands of the driver so if something ‘happens’….well…..you shouldn’t have got on a clapped out, overloaded, 40 year old bus in the first place.
Anyway, we arrived in Tofo at about 2pm and checked into Fatima’s Nest which is a backpackers ‘resort’ on the beach. I really wasn’t looking forward to staying in a hostel BUT this was no ordinary hostel people! It was sooooo nice and Ive attached pictures of our lodgings below including views from inside my mosquito net….woooo. The room slept 8 people and we paid 500 metical’s per night which is about £10. The showers were magical as I haven’t had a shower since I arrived in Mozambique as Ive been doing the manual bucket shower for the last 3 months….the shower even pushed out hot water (actually lukewarm but It felt hot to me) It was heaven! The toilet flushed and there was toilet paper in each cubical no drip drying required at the place…eeeekkkkk! The bar area was really nice with deckchairs everywhere and the whole place was like sand village. The restaurant menu was written on a chalkboard and featured pancakes, yoghurt with fruits, curries, noodles and the list goes on it was marvellous! I couldn’t wait for breakfast in the morning! The view from the bar/restaurant was brilliant with white sand and blue sea everywhere. We chilled out at the beach for a few hours before it got dark and I really felt like I was on holiday. I felt asleep on a table in the bar at about 10.30pm so Nastasia sent me to bed.
The next day it was sunny but a touch windy. Jan wanted to go diving and or snorkelling but the sea was really rough and the instructor didn’t think it was safe to go out to sea. He was a little gutted but we took the best walk ever along the beach. I haven’t seen anywhere in the world as beautiful Tofo beach, the white sand dunes, blue sea and clear skies were fantastic. We walked for about and 1.5hr and just took it all in. At some points of the walk we were the only four people strolling the day away. The waves were ridiculously strong so it wasn’t the nicest for swimming but the surfers were out in full force. We met a lady who looked about 50 who had been surfing for 30 years. We first saw her after we climbed a mountain of rocks which gave us a brilliant view of the sea and the surfing. The lady who looked 50 was brilliant….Ive never seen surfing in ‘real life’ so this was so really amazing to watch. She came and spoke to us after her wave gliding tricks and flips and we gave her a massive cheer and a very corny thumbs up. She then explained she had been surfing all over the world and let me hold her board which she told me was very special because it was so light and then she started to get a little technical.… it was light and I just nodded to the rest of the conversation like I knew what she was going on about. Anyway, she was a teacher is South Africa and was in Tofo for a short break. We told her that were were all volunteers working with children and she was very impressed. People always seem to be impressed when we say we are volunteers which is strange but I guess it’s a big deal for people. 
I think Im getting more and more lazy these days. I want to go into more detail about the trip but I cant be bothered to type….sorry! I will do my best though to keep the momentum going….right. Overall the trip was fab. We ate at a restaurant called Tofo Tofo and food was DELICIOUS. We partied at Dino’s on Friday night and Turtle Cove had drumming around a log fire and then we went to Inno’s on Saturday night. Turtle Cove is another backpackers resort and it was LUSH! For an extra £2 -3 you could stay in one of these really lush cabins. It’s a surfing and Yoga resort so you can borrow boards at a good price and or do Yoga for about £4 a day for 1.5hrs. I think when I go back to Tofo I will stay there as it was soooooo nice. The beach is about a 15min walk away which is not far but I suppose it is really nice being on the beach like at Fatimas Nest. There was no sleep from Saturday through to Sunday as the bus back to Maputo was leaving at 4am. We got a little chappa from Tofo beach back to Inanbarne and it was one of the most funniest journey Ive had. This might fall into my ‘Chappa of the Week’ section as I havnet actually completed any Chappa of the week stories. Ok, so we got on the chappa with all our bags and the journey is about 30mins so along the way we picked up more passengers. I think at one point we had approximately 25 people in a 15 seater mini van with 3 people holding on to the outside as we speed along this long snady road. We had a man that we picked up from Inno’s who had been drinking Larintina Preta (local Beer) all night because we stopped twice along the way so he could through up. On the third stop we just left him at the sideof the road it because I think he was so drunk he really wouldn’t have been able to find his way back onto the chappa. Anyway then the driver loaded on a giant sack of something and had to move Nastasia ginormous travellers rucksack in order to squeeze it in. We heard him shout ‘Whooopppa’ and hand then hand us a bunch of Nastasia tampoons which had fallen out of her bag into the road. She was so embarrsed and we both laughed so hard for about 10mins….
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| Partying atv Innos.....the ceailing was a little weird but cool all at the same time |
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| I can see a rainbow.... |
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| Drumming round the camp fire......sooooooooooo nice! |
So many things happened so I’ll just break it down really quickly:
The bus from Inhanbarne to Tofo was a mess and the cobrador wanted to charge us and extra 10 meticals for our bags….I lost it as I was tired of people always thinking that we were made of money. He wasn’t charging all the people with onion and potato sacks extra for their enormous bags which filled the isles and were only passable my walking over them….I told him that all for off us would get off the bus along with our bags and the 375 meticals that it was already costing us if he even dared to add a single penny to the price…..
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Arriving in Maputo I had to get on a little chapa with all my stuff. I actually had to fight to get on which Ive never done but after waiting a bout 40 mins I had to do what I had to do. I banged my head on the door and lost my favout=rite earrings in the process. I almost cried but im an African worrior so I kept it together
· Arriving home I had the longest sleep of my life…..it was bliss!
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| Beautiful Sunset! |
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| The crew! |
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| INside the belly of Innos... |
Just to add my camera is BROKEN......sand got into when I was in Tofo and so I might have to buy a new one. Im sooooooooo gutted!
Sabastio, Elias and the poor Grasshopper.....
Yes, here I thought I would just show you pictures of a giant grasshopper that fell into the hands of two of the boys at Ingrid Chawner a few weeks ago.
Im not sure what happened to it after these pictures but I did urge the boys to let it be free....
Underneath the sea, far away from land, that's where I will be, laying on the sand......
I have been sooooooo lazy this week and just haven’t mustered up what little energy is needed to upload a blog. This is why there are three blogs all in a row so I hope the flow makes sense and I know they have been a little random. This week most days have been between 35-40oC….and yes I am complaining about it! Im sweating like a trooper day and night and I have turned into a human water fountain. The sweat is just raining down all over me and at night its even worse.
So its 10.13pm here and I ate dinner at around 9ish but this time its my fault as I came in at around 8.45. I thought I would ‘quickly’ tell you about my trip to Inhaca Island which as MARVELLOUSLY BRILLIANT! I woke up on Saturday morning at 5am in order to dress, eat and wash so I could be out the house at 6am and on a chapa so I could reach the ferry to Inhaca at 7am. The boat took 2.5hrs and I cannot tell you the amount of people that were drinking beer at 7.30am. Hard back Mozambicans who clearly had not slept the night before and were just lacing themselves with more alcohol to stay awake. Im surprised, actually wait there, am I really surprised that they let people drink alcohol on this boat…..errrr no. Im in Mozambique! Im thinking about it and the sides of this boat were sufficiently low enough for a drunk person to just idly fall over board. It happened on the way back and everyone was shouting “Just leave him in the water….” This was only some 30mins into the journey. Anyway, we arrived with Inhaca just in our sight. The boat doesn’t take you all the way to shore so you have to get in a speed boat (for more money) which almost takes you to shore. You then have to walk through water infested with star fish, crabs, sea urchins and Nastasias favourites - crabs. Nastasia and I did the walk in together screaming like proper girly tourist all the way. People were staring at us and at one point we just stopped with water up to our knees and just laughed to the point of tears. Reallllll city girls. It took us ages to walk to shore….when we finally arrived we quickly by passed the ‘island security’ (don’t ask). You have to pay 100 metical’s to these men as an ‘entrance fee’ to the island HOWEVER if you are from the cruise ship you pay nothing….out of order. Nastasia and I didn’t see these men so we didn’t have to pay…..in your face! Next….more drama! Where to stay? We had planned to make a weekend of it. Apparently the four of us had said we were going to stay on the beach…..I don’t remember that conversation but none the less I thought maybe it would be cool to be in a hut on the beach. The area of the Island we wanted and had heard from other volunteers was a really beautiful was a place called Santa Maria. We managed after a length negotiation to borrow a tent as apparently there were no beach huts where we wanted to go and sort out a ride there. The tent cost us nothing but the ride there was £50 spilt between 4 people there and back. Apparently this was waaaaaaaaay to much and we really should have only paid about £20 between us but when you are a ‘tourist’ the price of everything triples and we have not yet mastered the art of bartering. We will get there don’t you worry about that.  |
| THE TENT! |
So to cut a verrrrrry long story short we ended up camping on the beach and it was really lovely. Frenke, who lent us the tent, came along for the drive and helped us set it up. We paid the driver half the cash and then RAN to the beach which was literally 2mins from our tent. I felt so relaxed and it was just so nice. We got to the beach at around 3 and went back to our tent just before sunset at 6….. I decided to be a brave solider and partaking in a little snorkelling. I was convinced I was going to see a shark and parts of my body were going to be found washed up on the shore but Jan said I should stop being so stupid! It wasn’t stupidity Jan I call it ‘keeping it real’. He said the opportunity could not be missed as he had seen Octopuses, puffer fish (poisonous….another death threat) and a plethora of other sea life. The Octopus really did put me off but when my fearful friend Nastastia plucked up the courage I followed shortly after. I was cacking my bikini the whole time but I did see some amazing fish….it was like being in the film finding Nemo. The coral was so beautiful and there were clams and rainbow coloured fish and it was really amazing. Im glad I did it. My heart was beating double time the whole time I was in the water and at some points I couldn’t wait to get out but despite all of that I really enjoyed.We bought some tomatoes, samosas, bread, water, beer and biscuits before we arrived and that was our breakfast, lunch a dinner. Our camping neighbours we two couples from South Africa who looked like professional campers. They had soooooo much food and camping equipment we really did look like 1st class amateurs despite Jan being a scout! We were hoping if we told them our plight about being poor volunteers they might give us dinner that night as a tomato and samosa sandwich wasn’t looking so appealing after all. Anyway, Nastasia and I were getting ourselves freshened up after the beach and we were fantasying about what sort of meal the South Africans were going to cook for us (despite not having been asked)….then we said we shouldn’t get our hopes and we started doing really poor South African accents and saying there was no food at the inn and laughing our arses off. Then there was a knock at our tent door and one of neighbours appeared with a bag full of apples, milk, cereal bars and cereal. Of course it wasn’t dinner (tear drop) but it was food so we were royally grateful for the donation. Nastasia was convinced he had heard us but I don’t think so and grabbed the bag smiling.
We had a really nice night but sleeping was my idea of hell. As you know Im no animal or insect lover and the noise from these insects was ridiculous and it was HOT. I thought that sleeping on the sand was going to be more comfortable then sleeping on that concrete floor at the apartment in town but no….sadly I was very mistaken. I think in my head I had a vision of the sand moulding around my body so I would be cocooned within it but it was as hard as sleeping on a rock especially when the heavens opened and it started raining. Overall it wasn’t a really bad night sleep but it was no Holiday lnn.
The next day at Santa Maria was very over cast but still VERY hot. We had more tomato and samosa sandwiches mixed with an apple and a cereal bar. Delicious! The tide was out and there was a ginormous (spell check is telling me that’s not a real word….is it enormous then? Or have I spelt it wrong?!?!) school of fish at the waters edge. It was amazing. The coral that we had been swimming in was no longer underwater and was an amazing sight to see. Ive taken lots of pictures for you to have a gander over.
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| Arriving at Inhaca Island |
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| Speed Boat Chappa to shore..... |
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| The walk into shore from the boat with star fish and crabs at our feet |
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| Santa Maria |
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| Chilling out on the beach watching the sunset......aaawww lovely! |
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| The tide was out so the coral reef was clear to see |
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| The Coral.... |
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| More Coral.... |
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| Jan the scout man holding a Sea Urchin....the spikes are extremely poisonous so touching them is a no no.....but not for Super Man Jan! |
The weekend was a nice change from partying all night into the small hours of the morning. It is defo a must if anyone comes to visit.
Starving like Marvin....
Please allow me to be the Drama Queen that you all know and love for the 10 mins that you read this....thanks in advance!
Today I will attend another African Dance class…..I was exactly like a rabbit caught in the head lights.
In fact I think I might have even been hit my that car because I was an absolute MESS on the dance floor. I am no dancer people and despite me being black and all that stuff it made no odds. The routine was HARD! I have a memory issues as many of my friends family and ex-co workers can testify and so remembering a whole routine is a nightmare! A few weeks ago I met a girl from Norway who is a choreographer and we were watching some of the ladies practicing the routine before the class started. I got a little scared but she was like ‘nah Kamilah, don’t sweat it “we’ll” pick this up, no worries’. Zeze is her name and she is a choreographer so of course she’s going to say some junk like that! When she said “we’ll” pick it up, no worries’ I think she was concussed because when everyone was dancing on time Miss Bryan was trying to find her way to the back of the class while Miss Zeze was steppingto every beat! As I found the back of the class I discovered it was no safe haven and even the people at the back had the routine down…..first I thought sitting out was a little attention seeking as I was the only one out of about 40 people to sit out but I then realised it was ok…..its not attention seeking its more a case of you don’t want to shame yourself up as you will have to see these people again!
Im absolutely friggin starving….Its almost to the point of I cant be bothered to type. The time is 8.55PM and no food has arrived on the table. Im not allowed to prepare anything myself and to be honest I wouldn’t know where to start in the kitchen. I smelt and saw some chicken being BBQ when I arrived but now I don’t see the chicken and Im just really confused because Im hungry. I went out the house at about 6pm for a drink and some fresh air with some friends as the house is soooooo hot. I arrived back at around 8pm which is not late and I thought there might be something ready but NADA! Im not sure if I should ask as maybe they think Ive already eaten but maybe Im going to ask now because I think Im going a little bit crazy….so I went to ask and there is no one to ask…..Im going to cry! I had breakfast at 7am (Weatabix) then I had some pao (bread) when I got to work at about 9.30am…then lunch was at 12pm and that was rice and xima (xima – pronounced che-mah, its like a green sauce that’s made from vegetables. Its nice). I didn’t have any small change to buy a snack on the way home because I only had 500mtcls which is the equivalent to £9.50 and NOWHERE has change of such a large note. So I couldn’t buy anything from the street and so here I am STARVING like Marvin. Maybe I should just go to sleep and sleep through the hunger and hopefully wake up tomorrow morning (if Ive not passed out from lack of food) even more hungry than when I went to sleep……ooop…..there is light at the end of this looooooooooong tunnel. Melita, the house helper, just dragged me into the kitchen…..she said sorry for the delay but she didn’t have any serving bowls available to put my food into. WHAT! Just put it on a plate love….no need for all that fancy shizzal. So my people… food is on its way and all things in the world are good and great once more. Thanks for allowing me to talk about my lack of food….time check of eating was 9.24 PM….yes PM and I have now finished at 9.50pm. If I continue to eat this late it doesn’t matter how many Africana Dancer classes I go to Im going to blow up like a balloon….OMG! Just one last thing about the dinner tonight….there was chicken and then as like a side dish there was chicken feet. I never know what I should do with the chicken feet as I just cant eat them as its too real and very claw like…..but also what meat is there on a scrawny little chicken foot. Its no Gordan Ramsey restaurant so there is nothing on the plate justt for decoration so I dunno…..maybe one day this year I’ll give it a go. Im not there yet......I think you have to suck the flesh out.....too much information! Sorry x
Adobe Illustrator Melt Down....
I wrote this blog on Monday....just too lazy to post it!
I feel like my whole world has come to an end. The Illustrator programme, CS4, that my cousins husband downloaded for me was on a trial for 60 days. For those that are not in the know, CS4 is a design programme that enables designers to design or draw on the computer CAD (Computer Aided Design)’. To continue using the programme after the trial date I require a serial number (this is where the problem started).
This morning I logged into my email to find that my cousins husband had found me some serial numbers (Im not saying his name just in case the Illustrator people come after him so your alright Jonathan). YEY, I thought, and entered the first one on the list. A green tick came up beside it….wooop wooop however when I clicked continue, and as if by magic, the show was OVER….a little box came up saying that that serial number had expired and the whole programme closed before my eyes. THE HORROR! I now no longer have CS4. I could try to downloaded it again and I probably will but by the time its downloaded I will have return back to the UK, found a new job and Illustrator CS12 would have come out! This seems to have come on a day when William the Director has instructed the girls in the ropas (pattern and making section) to start making some of the designs that I have created. Its really annoying and really frustrating but I will just have to put pen to paper instead…..back to the old school. It will be good for me I think to get the pen out again….Maybe someone at Adobe is reading this blog and as they read they are thinking ‘you know what, lets give Kamilah Bryan in Mozambique Illustrator CS4 for FREE because all she is trying to do is make a cool little design facility in Mozambique into something amazing’. Yes, this is true Mr/Mss Adobe person so PLEASE find it in your heart to give me a legal copy of the programme with a serial number so I can continue my good work. Thank you in advance…. Kamilah
