Email to Mum and Dad, December 31st

Dear Mum and Dad

Am loving it up here in the mountains. They are just beautiful and there are helicopters flying around all day and UN and Red Crescent and Oxfam and all sorts of NGO and INGO cars going everywhere! It’s very exciting! Tomorrow I go out into the field on my own for the first time. I just filled in my vehicle request form! My own UNICEF logo-ed land cruiser! I am going to some camp schools to talk to teachers and parents and see what they think their needs are. Its a bit of a joke really as we can't meet al of them and it makes it seem like we can. Still, we have a great thing called School in a Box. It’s got all the resources and stationary supplies for 80 children for 3 months in a big tin box that the teacher can unpack and use as a blackboard.

It says in the newspaper that there will be snow and possibly heavy rain this week, so that is a bit scary! The tents are fairly precarious still and some aren't waterproof or winterized. Our ten is luxury! There are seven of us on stretchers down the tent with a massive tube that pumps in hot air! Its soooo warm! We are also close to the loos so it’s not such a horrible thing to go and find the loo at night when it’s freezing, and the showers aren't so bad. A garden hose with a faucet on the end that has luke warm water. But then they fill that room with hot air too, so it’s a bit like a sauna so the water feels warmer! We have two kitchens; one does Scandinavian inspired western food (lots of fish in jars!) and the other Pakistani food. The office is in another big tent with desks everywhere and people lugged into cables that trail around the skirting. Its just like M*A*S*H

Lots of Love

Dion