The guesthouse and more guests than expected

At the guesthouse I am welcomed by a few chickens and Ann, lady of the guesthouse who lives across the guesthouse in a traditional house (round, grass roof). The exception to tradition is that her walls and floor are from stone instead of mud, wood and cow stool. The place looks very peaceful and in the bright sunlight looks even more cosy than the guesthouse.

Ann allows me to accommodate in the presidential suite, a 3x4m bedroom + 2x3m bathroom. Here I shall spend the coming weeks during my internship in the Kumi Hospital. For my monetary input I will be rewarded with daily breakfast and dinner (and accommodation). The food is pretty tasty.

I make a short walk to the Kumi Hospital, here I meet George who is in charge of the energy supply to the hospital. I complement him with his nice mango tree outside and he manages to find me a ripe mango to eat, delicious! The medical director and my contact person are not in unfortunately, I can meet them tomorrow at ‘the assembly’ at 08:00. I walk back ‘home’, enjoy dinner with two doctors who come to the guesthouse to eat and I rush off to bed to prepare for ‘the assembly’ tomorrow morning and my first day in the hospital!

At night I find out I am not the only guest to the house. In my room I find a small frog, I grant him his piece of the house. At night more guests arrive. The quick fluttering of wings against the windows and some high pitched sounds make me believe that little bats join my company, separated by glass luckily. Indeed the next day Ann asked me if I noticed bats, “yes I did”. Later in the night the rapid footsteps over the floor gives me flashbacks to both my research-time and time in an old house in Groningen; in both instances the sounds belong to mice. Indeed, as I snap on the light a tiny mouse dashes in front of my feet underneath the door to the living room. I guess he prefers a bigger space for himself. Apart from some mosquitos, a night butterfly and a spider, no other guests arrived this night. I wonder how the next night will be.