An early end

It is the last day before exam week and it seems like we are ready for it. In this photo some of us are at the local 'doughnut' shop. We finish early this year - there is a government 'request' to do so, but for us it is the realities of children not being likely to return after Eid on 9 December; and the need to finish classes before the elections that are scheduled for 18 December.

Every winter someone will set up shop outside the gate to serve these local cakes called pithas. There are two varieties here; steam cooked rice with molasses melts and dry fried plain. There is also a choice of toppings; molasses and spices. Later there will be another variety, deep fried with coconut. The steam fried one is 'healthy' because it doesn't have oil and the deep fried because it doesn't have sugar. I will probably try to get one of each for a balanced diet.

One benefit of a long Christmas holidays is that there will be more time for the painters to work through both school buildings. They are due to start this Saturday morning and we hope they will be able to finish before we start back up again in January. The challenges will be to juggle Eid holidays for the painters, Christmas holidays for the teachers and elections for all. Many will have to travel to their ancestral village for their vote to count.