I'm now safe and sound in my new home in Banfora! Through the church I contacted a guy who rented me a truck for the move. Michel, the driver, came by the Sunday before to see how much stuff I had, and we agreed that he'd come back on Wednesday afternoon so that we could load the truck, and then be good to go on Thursday at 4am. So far so good.

Wednesday

1700: no sign of him. I try to ring him but his number is "temporarily unavailable". I try again several more times only to get the same message...

1900: he rings to say he's broken down & that he'll come on Thursday morning between 8 & 9.

Thursday

0920: I ring to see how far away he is, and he says he'll be there soon...

1030: He arrives with 6 keen young blokes, who proceed to cart my stuff outside and then onto the truck. (All of my furniture came from Eileen, who retired a couple of weeks ago.) The truck is really old and well used although not that well cared for. It's a flat-bed with sides but no roof. That's OK since rain's not expected for at least another month.

1130: We're good to go. Willie & Mark pray for me and we're away. Michel and 1 of the keen young blokes in the front with me, and the other 5 blokes in the back with all my stuff.

And just after 4.30 we arrive in Banfora. Caroline (one of my team mates) is there to let us all in. The apprentice welder (a teenager) and his helper (about 10 years old) are there putting a lock onto the gate. The 6 keen young blokes quickly but not very carefully unload everything. Then they get back in the truck to head straight back to Gaoua. Caroline is chatting to the welder, who by this time has turned up, about the state of the mosquito-netting door which the apprentice fitted – it doesn't stay shut. That kind of defeats the purpose! While she sorts him out I start the unpacking job. She has got clean (filtered) water there for me, as well as 20L of dirty (tap) water. At about 6pm the guy turns up to switch on the electricity – yay! Caroline's also got dinner there for me – bonus. The next afternoon the guy turned up to switch on my water so now all set.

On Saturday afternoon Caroline & I went to the Dioula literacy class. It was amazing to see how much they've progressed since my visit here in October! While I can read OK I don't understand much yet, they understand heaps but find reading difficult. It's good for my pronounciation and comprehension, as well as getting to know women from the church.