I have spent the week working away in Tanzania this week. It was a really wonderful week on many levels. The most important reason was one that I would never ever have guessed. For the first time in many years I was actually appreciated. WOW!! I am not sure how many people work in an environment where much is expected and very little is shown in return. My job has been like that for some time but this week was different. Here was a bunch of people who had no idea if I could help them or not. Yet they took me in like a long lost family member and really looked after me. This may be the ex-pat way but it really made me feel part of something special! In the end I am not sure that I told them much that they did not know and yet they were gracious enough to tell me it was wonderful!!! Them appreciating me really encouraged me to the extra mile.

The learning for me is once again about taking people for granted. This must be the simplest and most common of human mistakes yet most frustrating. I cannot wait to get home to my wife and family and tell them how much I need them in my life and how proud I am of all of them. Being away really makes one appreciate home and what you have. I cant wait for my kids to whine in my ear and fight with each other and cause much havoc. They are my children and I will do my best to ensure that they know they are well loved, even when they behave poorly!

Any minute now, I am going to sort out the couple of mails that have slipped into my inbox in the last week of my corporate "working" life! Thereafter another plane trip to Cape Town and home. It is going to be a fantastic weekend!!!!

Next week - lots of stories and thoughts about the world of Africa....