Internet - Am I an optimist?

Now, you may not believe me, but I really have tried to post in the last month. We have had major internet issues and it seems that mostly the internet is 'functioning' when I am busy, or the kids are in class. Last week one of Melanie's classes was finished before she managed to load the web page - she was able to get the audio channel on one network, and we were trying to load the web on the other network on a second computer. It worked on Monday but not on Wednesday. On Friday, Philip was struggling to get his text class to load so Melanie went to the office!

On Thursday (just before the internet moved from snail's pace to zero), I called the 'more user-friendly' of our ISPs and held the following conversation after I'd identified myself.

ISP: Your internet is slow, right?
Me: Yes.
ISP: I'm sorry, but by the end of this month you will have no further problems.
Me: (Heart sinks, thinking they are going to stop providing a service) You're upgrading?
ISP: We will have ALL our problems resolved and you will never have any more issues.

I don't know how many times we have been told "this will fix everything" on the subject of internet, electricity, water and appliances (our water heater still doesn't work), but I was encouraged. I just hope it's true!

It has finally rained! Too late for the maize crop to be much more than a remnant, but some of the rice may survive, and the peanuts and sweet potato should make it, if the rains continue. Food prices on staples are high, and I don't know how people are managing to survive if they didn't store enough food for their family and had to buy it. We are paying three times the usual price even for this time of year.

At least eight people were killed (mostly women) and twelve severely injured by beatings during witch-hunts in the suburbs and nearby districts, in an effort to find the culprit who was with-holding the rain. Those who recovered found that they had no homes to return as they were burned and their possessions looted - assuming that you would want to return to live in a community which thought you were responsible for its ills.