Day 9 - Attack of the Killer Ants

Monday continued with more day-long meetings with the committee. I was really pleased with their commitment and engagement with the budget-setting process. Sadly Joseph (finance worker and committee member) seems to have decided not to show up today, but fortunately everyone else (including the area chief) was really engaged. Some key decisions were made by the committee to close the gap in the budget.

Since most of my blog followers won't be too interested in budget-setting details, I'm going to spend the rest of this blog post focusing on the wildlife that I live with. A key concern when I stand outside in the evening is the killer ants. (I don't think anyone else calls them killer ants. Me? Overdramatise?! Never!) On the weekend I was talking to my parents when I had to abruptly end the call to take my trousers off and beat ants off my legs. They bite, and while one bite is just a harmless sting, the ants seem to come in packs and being bitten by several dozen of them is definitely worth avoiding. I'm told that these ants have been known to kill a snake or a dog by eating them alive. I don't think they've eaten a human before, but I'm not willing to let me the first!

The latrine and the place for bathing are adjacent brick structures some distance from the houses. Here are some animals that I have shared my shower/toilet with (sometimes I might not be sure because I'm generally there in the dark)

Spiders - including one in a cocoon
Bees and wasps
A bat (once - briefly)
Mosquitoes
Grasshoppers

My toilets at work ask users to leave the toilets in a state that they would expect to find them - I wonder if my expectations will be appropriately set when I get back to the office?