Categories: days-out, life-in-general, chisomo-community-trust
Tags: Friends, Village Life, Cycling
Date: 15 July 2011 12:57:52
I'm having a lovely, lovely long weekend - the only thing spoiling it is the concern over the car. It's been in the garage since last Friday, and the Garagiste seems rather vague about what the problem is. He thought (or the diagnostic computery reader machine told him) that it was the injector (? Don't ask me) was the problem. But today I learn that having replaced that, there's still a problem. Ho,hum, it's sounding more & more expensive. Then we face the decision of whether, having spent however-much-it's-going-to-cost we then live with it for longer, or we buy a new car. This one is starting to go wrong more times than we really like - it's been in the garage for fairly major things twice in the past year, and now requires 4 new tyres, and the cruise control is becoming less reliable. It has done a lot of kilometres, and trolls up and down the motorway most days. Maybe it's time to think of another one...
Anyway - yesterday was Bank Holiday here in France, and today is le Pont (the Bridge) So a lot of places are closed today, including the Language school where I work. Yesterday I went out on the bike (fairly reluctantly, I must say!) and added another 28 km to the total. I'm now within 7 km of reaching three quarters of the 1,000 kilometre target. News about Chisomo below. We then went up to Alison & Gèrôme's for a barbecue. I'd not seen Alison for ages so it was good to have a natter and to catch up. The food was yummy and the atmosphere relaxed. We went out for a walk with Marvin-the-Puppy and the kids and had a lovely time. I was knackered when we got home and spent a good hour and a half dozing, before watching the first episode of "Torchwood". Which, I think on reflection, I enjoyed. I'd eaten so much at lunchtime that my tea consisted of a couple of handfuls of peanuts!
News from Chisomo, the Community School, is not good. Or rather, news about Richard, our friend and link to the school, isn't good. I can't - both because I don't know details and because I'm not sure how wise it is to do so - go into detail but Richard has been arrested, falsely accused and is standing trial for, amongst other things, drug dealing and money laundering.
On consideration, I've edited this post a little. Maybe it's best not to be quite so open with details about an ongoing trial.
Suffice to say, Richard needs your prayers, so if you are of a praying frame of mind, please pray for a swift and just outcome to the trial.
Apparently, when he was being questioned, the police said "You're the kind of foreigner we don't want here."
"What?" Richard replied. "The kind who spend their own money helping the poorest members of the community?"
One of the saddest things for me is that there are church leaders who appear to be opposing Richard in his work, and who may well be implicated in his false arrest.
Anyway, let's hope that when I finish my ride at the end of August I'll be able to celebrate not just raising money, but being able to give it to Richard in person. It will be a terrible thing if he is found guilty.