I love the calm and space of the university campus – a glorious collection of colonial, peeling, French buildings set around a huge sports field. On the surrounding pavements very old desks are scattered where students study in the shade of the trees.
Staff and students are delightfully welcoming. Students work unbelievably hard. Lecturers earn approximately 100 pound a month. Is this because in a communist country there is a commitment to the leveling of peasants and academics? The lecturers are talented and dedicated. They need to be able to lecture in their subject in English; in a subject like Information Technology with these skills they could be working for multi-nationals on ten times the pay but the commitment to their county's education and development is pervasive.
I feel bonded to our living quarters; a huge bedroom with desk, wardrobe, and now an easy chair to boot which I have 'borrowed' from the deserted communal lounge plus a huge communal kitchen which no-body uses apart from us. There is a two burner cooker but nothing to cook with and no crockery. We go to the local market and buy a few essential items. No-one else cooks here despite the fact that there are four other bedrooms on this floor. Where do the residents of rooms 302-307 on our floor eat? It is a mystery, as is the regular ryhthmic banging of spoons in the communal garden.