By ther way on the way home from one multi-storied air conditioned mall I just so happened to be sitting in the back seat of a car with a local person. I asked her where is the money coming from that people are gaily spending in shopping malls, old money or new? New she said. Wages have gone up considerably. And not only that but women have jobs too. Now people go to work in cars they own, the old taxis are gradually being replaced with new vehicles and the company making the taxis is no longer able to compete with the imports. There is much more congestion on the streets because of the increase in number of privately owned cars. Some households own several cars to cater for the needs of family members, she said.
The new consumerism is imperialism in new garb she agreed.
Ki korbo I said.
I hope that as well as catching our consumerism they do not catch our bad morals.

I am regularly challenged by questions such as if someone washes a plate or cup in well water and then puts your food on it will you catch anything that is lurking in the droplets of water that remain? How much polluted water does one need to ingest to catch a lurgy?  Then there is the rat which helped itself to the guava in my room when I was away for a couple of days. I thought the girls said the guava went rotten but no the R word was rat not rotten. Why didn't the rat eat the biscuits also? What will I do if the rat returns? If I shift the fruit to the other end of the room will he run over my body to get to it? If I leave my balcony door open at night to let in the cool breeze will rat think I have left it open for him?

I am feeling very sorry for little Chris Cairns. It is not looking good for him. Guilty or otherwise it all seems very tragic.

Today I started teaching about cross-cultural communication. Such fun.