Baking Cake in the Heart of Darkness

I recently got the great news that I have giardia, an intestinal parasite that prevents some food stuff from being absorded by the body. I was actually quite happy because I was flipping out at the thought that the malaria was back. I don't think I could have handled that. I got a fever and a really bad headache. This time I went to the Bolivian base's doctors, who are complete sweethearts. They ran just about every test they could and figured out that it was giardia, which is treatable and not very serious. My German friend Anja has it too, so we are thinking of forming a Giardia Kindu Support Group. The downside is that I can't drink on the medication and I could really use a beer. Last night Anja and I sat with our friends, who brought two bottles of rum, and needless to say, drank without us.

Today I went through our warehouse where we keep our tools and other things we distribute. The South African base had donated to another agency a bunch of food that they brought, because they had too much. This is a perfect example of dumping inappropriate goods and expecting people to receive them with open arms. Really, buckets of cherry jam aren't the solution. They were like, "we can do a food for work project." God help them if they are going to make people work for cherry jam. There is also pudding mix and cake. Not just a few packets. I'd say about 500 lbs. So now I'm thinking about organizing the Congo's largest bakesale, cause really, what else can one do with 500 lbs of cake and pudding mix? Thank goodness this stuff isn't ours.