Writer, EFL teacher, trainer, and translator, I was born in Tanzania, have lived in a dozen countries over three continents, and describe myself as an ‘expatriate sin patria’. Wherever I go I make it my business to learn the language, get to know the local people and customs, and discover the country’s remotest corners. I became interested in writing in mid-2006, did a short Open University creative writing course and a Writers’ Bureau course, and began getting articles published in 2007.

=> Read more!

My goodness, it's Shrove Tuesday! But I haven't made pancakes in nine years! They just wouldn't have been right in Tanzania or Uruguay...open the fridge - I have eggs and milk. Open the cupboard - I have flour and a pinch of salt...so there's no excuse. But pancakes? When do you have pancakes? I forgot at breakfast time. And I had yesterday's leftovers for lunch. Husband gets home at 7, so it's a bit late to have them with a cup of tea...I suppose we could do pancakes with honey or jam or lemon and sugar for dessert...but I was planning pasta for the main course - with courgette and mushroom...that would be way too heavy a meal if we have pasta AND pancakes.

Brainwave...

=> Read more!

Over twenty-five years ago, when I first came to live in Belgium, I met Chantal at Dutch classes at my local commune. I was busy with my two, then three, young children, and Chantal followed art classes locally. We met occasionally, but when, a couple of years later, it was time for my family to pack up and move on, we lost touch.

Then recently, Chantal found me on Facebook.

=> Read more!

Half way through my month's no-to-low cholesterol diet, I have lost 3 pounds and am feeling great. I'm not really missing anything. I even managed to buy tarts and biscuits yesterday because a bunch of kids were coming to tea, and I was quite content to just sip my herbal tea and eat nothing.

I thought I would share with you a couple of dishes I have made, one pasta and one salad:

Spaghetti alla Puttanesca

This means 'Spaghetti as a whore would make it',

=> Read more!

My dad came across this newspaper article about the opening of a clinic in Musoma in 1957. He translated it from Swahili into Italian for me, and this is my translation into English. It's not seat-grippingly exciting, and sometimes perhaps not totally politically correct, but it's an interesting slice of information for my family history. It would be interesting to know what became of the Ikizu clinic: at least this was on the mainland. It was heart-wrenching when we went back to Ukerewe Island and saw the 100-bed hospital my dad had built virtually abandoned, with only 20 beds left and no mattresses, still with no water or electricity...

‘The day has come to eradicate witchcraft and bad habits,’

=> Read more!