Harvest in the desert

So much has happened since the last blog and this one is long overdue. Suffice to say it has been and incredible time, lots of travelling and as we look back a real sense of satisfaction.
It was in mid April that our travels started, first in North Africa where we immersed ourselves in the life and culture of the locality. Bartering is always fun, well for me anyway and the food is delicious, especially the Tarjine. I also made for the stalls where you can get a really spicy hot ginger drink. One glass of that and all your coughs and colds are dealt with.





Rita keeping us all tanked up with tea







From there we went to England, taking time to visit our friends Phil and Diane Pawley and family who joined us in 1990 and are heading back to their homeland of New Zealand over the summer. We had a typically Phil BBQ with them and said our goodbyes. We will miss you guys lots, you have been great friends over the years.



It was so good to catch up with family and friends in Brighton. We had the best week visiting, relaxing and helping mum with a few odd jobs. At 84 she is amazing, she continues to drive, has a very busy social life as well as keeping up with emails and Facebook!

After the time in the UK, Rita headed back to Spain and responsibilities there and I headed back to North Africa to meet up with the school. The next eight days I don’t think I will ever forget.

We travelled during that time deep into the Sahara Desert camping each night.( No we didn't see snakes or scorpions which was a dissapointment for some)As I look back I have a collection of wonderful memories like sleeping under the stars, beautiful sunsets, washing our eating utensils in sand, not showering for a week!! Crossing areas in our vehicles that seemed impossible, getting stuck on sand dunes and sharing a bowl of sour goat's or camel’s milk with Nomads we came across.



All that and would you believe, helping some Nomads to harvest wheat in the desert by hand. It seems that they had enough rain earlier this year to make that possible.
















The most important tent(the cook tent)









a donkey waiting patiently for someone to give him a drink.




Crossing a dry river bed. It took us about 2 hours of digging before it was possible and then another 2 hours to cross a second one.





Self explanatory













Maybe we should have taken this mode of transport











The team






We are truly grateful for the safety in travel and health during this time and for the many prayers that have been prayed on our behalf