The longest day

Saturday, March 16, 2019- The day finally dragged on until 1 a.m., by now the state of not knowing what day it is has become permanent - and we still have a lot to do.

In the morning, with all the students of the school, we rushed through the Sans-Fils quarter (it was a miracle for me that we didn't leave anyone on the way) as a bustling crowd, to an impromptu "soccer field" in a relatively large empty area full of trash, cows, sheep and geese, vendors, where they organized a football match in our honor.

Students of the school also played under the flags of Mali and Hungary. Well, at the beginning of the match, a huge cattle walked to the middle of the field and indignantly barked at the soccer ball that had invaded its pasture area, during the match a caravan of donkeys trampled through the audience (we couldn't get the children out of the way), but apart from these local peculiarities, organized and everything went smoothly. Jim made a video of the game and embedded himself on the field like David Attenborough - sometimes, like a two-legged grasshopper, he jumped big from the ball and the children running after him or with him. The result: first it was a draw, then Mali won with penalty kicks.

After that, everyone rushed onto the pitch to celebrate and kissed the cup as if they had won the WC! What happy energies were released! Returning to the school, the teachers distributed to the teams and themselves the one orange they asked as a reward for the participants (Andi then even asked back: "Really just one orange?" This level of poverty is unimaginable...) Jim returned to the to finish the work at the small center for disabled children he visited earlier (supported by the AHU), and Andi finished discussing with the director the fate of our old supported children already participating in the program.

In the late afternoon, we ventured out to the big market to buy local draperies for the Foundation's events. The director's daughter was our very kind helper. It was an intense experience: a huge crowd (pedestrians, vendors, cars, motorbikes, all rubbing against each other - you couldn't even perceive where the pavement was and the roadway), honking, shouting, some horse racing broadcast from loudspeakers at many stands, unimaginable smog, the stench of diesel and dust . We bought the draperies in a "store by the meter", where Andi immediately fell in love with the selection, and Andi is the owner of the store, and between 2 draperies he quickly proposed to Andi as his 3rd wife. But since Andi's unlucky number is 3, the wedding was postponed, and the suitor remains on the loose. With great difficulty, we managed to convince Andi of the more-than-wonderful selection, and we headed back to school with the loot (just to note: Ági, who didn't want to buy anything, left the store with 5 materials, and of course she fell in love with the one at the bottom of the 5-meter pile... just that the picture should be complete).

We returned to the school, thinking that the trucks had arrived and we could start unloading. Instead, it turned out that they were traveling at 10 km/h on a potholed road where they could only choose which wheel went into which crater. So, for lack of a better choice, we finally returned to the accommodation in the light.

In the evening there was a concert in the garden room of Sleeping Camel (a local band performed, they created a great atmosphere), but even so, we settled down to work with the laptops. Then our unexpected guests arrived: although we rescheduled the joint dinner for tomorrow, they still set it up for us tonight (the headmistress, her daughter, the school administrator and her 2 wives). It was no fairy tale: we rushed in to change and went to dinner. The dinner was filled with a great atmosphere, we went to an Arab restaurant, we had a lot of laughs and the food was also very delicious. However, the evening was not over yet: by the time we got back to the accommodation: the trucks had arrived! We were extremely happy! We did have to wait for the end of the concert, and they were only allowed to enter the courtyard of our accommodation afterwards, but when that was over, we could all finally fall asleep peacefully. We have only one day left to furnish and operate the IT room and library for Monday's big, nationally televised opening ceremony...