We were not able to talk for quite a while. Several days there was no phone reception at all, but today Rachel is in the banking town and reception was excellent. She biked there for meetings with WCS.

The night of the 13th, Rachel had made herself some miso soup with Japanese seaweed (from our packages) and fresh Malagasy greens. Mesido and Stella, 5 and 8, were still there, although the other kids had already gone home. Rachel didn’t want to eat in front of them, so she let them try the soup, thinking they would probably not like it. They thought it was delicious, complimented her cooking skill, and the three of them ate dinner by candlelight.

Rachel says she is always astonished how these village children “find pleasure in little things�. She says that she uses an occasional Trader Joe’s balloon to reward a child who has helped her. She realized that when she does, she puts the balloon in one hand behind her back, then holds out both closed fists and lets the child pick. If they pick the empty hand, she shuffles the balloon around and they get to try again till they get the balloon. She remembers her dad doing that when he would bring home a treat for her when she was little. The kids love it.

On her way to the town this morning, Rachel stopped to buy a cup of manioc cooked with coconut milk and honey or sugar—warm and delicious. The woman who was selling it had a one-year-old named Bellarussia (almost like the former Soviet state). Kids seem often to have Russian or Italian names, she says.