Winter setting in

Those days as autumn arrives, the scent of burning leaves, cool evenings and mornings, warmer clothes hustled from the backs of cupboards and a new school term starting.  Migratory birds long gone, the stalwarts left behind settling into their winter routines; especially keen for any scraps of food available as extras.
This is Zambia and many people are surprised to realise there is such a thing as a winter here. The sun is hot as the sky is blue and cloudless as the rains are long past and won't come again until January 2014.  But the days are shorter; sunrise at 06.10 and sunset at 17.50 and in this climate buildings are constructed for keeping cool rather than for keeping warm.  An outbreak of scarves, gloves, sweaters and woolly hats occurs and the shade-seeking of summer inverts to everyone standing in the sun in the mornings to allow the sun to warm them.  The air is so dry that the difference in temperature between sun and shade is very marked; children try to extend playtime not only because they prefer it to classes but to extend their time out in the sun.
Our clinic patients are early starters, turning up for the 08.30 clinic sessions as early as 06.45; maybe they were offered a lift- some travel some distance to attend here.  In summer they relax in the shady clinic waiting area but these days they are more likely to be seen facing the rising sun, looking like a rather muffled up set of meercats. 
To see photos at the clinic, look on facebook

Mother of Mercy Hospice and Health Centre, Zambia