I have spent four hours on each of three days this week working with three young women, two of whom completed the sewing course last year. The idea is to move towards setting up a women's craft workshop here, and it's up to me to make the first move. We have cut out cushion covers made from Masai blankets (shukas); one is completed and in use, and three more are on the way. Also we have hemmed sheets - sewing parallel lines at a given distance from a given edge proved an interesting teaching experience, but they understand now how to do it, and I think why. They have no experience of making items for sale or finishing things off in an acceptable to purchasers way so it's hard work.

They learn quickly and will repeat what they are shown. The other issue is the language problem - their English is very limited and my Kiswahili even more so. So far we have developed a shared glossary of technical terms for sewing covering two A4 pages of narrow feint! The one I use most is 'hi kamahi' which means 'match this to this' - essential when working with Masai plaids and ties on the back of the covers, and hems on the sheets. I won't end up fluent in Swahili, but I'll know a lot of sewing terms!

Numbers of volunteers are going up. Katie Richards and Alex Crichton arrived two days ago, with Caroline Johnston, back to take up her role of TEFL instructor and teacher. Peter Watson, who will arrive on Sunday, will be teaching. Then, next Wednesday, Drs Paula and David Hayes will arrive to observe and help in the Health Posts.