It was my birthday 2 July 2006

Hello all,Sorry I haven't updated you for a while and I know some people get a bit nervous when they don't hear from me and imagine all sorts of nasty things have happened, but all is well here. My dad came to visit me and if you think it's only me who has adventures..... listen here.He flew to Uganda and then tried to get on a UN flight the day before my birthday. On the day, he was on the plane, engines revving and suddenly the ambassador of China arrives and so the flight was grounded and the whole bleedin airport comes to a standstill coz this oak is like real important!!! Dad gets off and is assured a place the next day. Next day, goes to the airport, gets on the plane but in true Afreekan style, they don't bother to mention to him that he isn't actually going to reach his destination, but hey, at least we got you on the plane. So, it's my birthday that day and I am feeling pretty sorry for myself, am at the office and the phone rings and he is stuck in Bukavu and the helicopter to Goma is only 2 days wait. I start to worry about my poor dad having to deal with that stuff, getting a cab, getting a decent place to stay and he doesn't speak French and everybody screws mzungus and so I didn't really enjoy my birthday lunch alone, coz I kept trying to phone someone I know in Bukavu to find this lost old mzungu and try to help him get a visa. On a UN flight you don't have your passport checked. Someone in Bukavu told me that it was a serious offence not to have your visa and I had images of my dad at the border, cuffed and ready to be manhandled to a prison somewhere nobody would ever find him again. I was miserable. Also, I had missed my one and only birthday call coz I was outside with the chimps and running inside, I whacked my leg and missed the call by 1 second. Turns out....... daddyo has caught a lift with the UN oaks, he is sitting in one of their fancy hotels drinking Primus and is having a fine time. By that time I have located my contact and she meets him at the hotel, takes him to the border, gets his visa no problem and all is hunkey bloody dorey! He caught the luxury speedboat the next day and I met him at the port. We have been catching up as I haven't seen him for a good many months and we had a lot to talk about for AWARE and how it is going to move forward. He has been a great support. Yesterday, we went across the border to Rwanda to the Kivu Sun and had a brilliant lunch and swam in the lake. Very holiday like indeed. He is leaving on Monday morning with a UN flight..... hope they don't bump him off again.Anyway, sorry not too chimpy this time but the kids are doing great. Gari is settled and his face is calm and he plays well with the others. He still bites a lot but for every time he bites hard I take one for the assholes who put him through all his trauma and every time he gives me a love bite, I take one for all the people who have and will support him in his future life. Will write again in a while. PS sorry no pics, the damned computer is playing up..... aaaahhh afreeekaaah!speak soon xxxl