Welcome to my world

Storms in France on Sunday led to early morning flight cancellations, but being in a group with other volunteers made the delays much easier to bear, and gave us plenty of time to start getting to know each other. Air France's "involuntary reroute" took us via Casablanca and we flew over the Sahara in the dark - so much dark, no light pollution here!
Arriving in Yaounde past midnight, our welcome by the local staff was warm and immensely helpful, easing us through customs formalities and delivering all 12 of us safely to a hotel. Hot and humid, an impression of smoke in the air, ramshackle industrial buildings on the road from the airport, reminded me of Greece.
Amazed to find an ensuite bathroom with W.C., fridge, TV, aircon and a fleecy blanket! It's not luxury but better than I expected of a volunteer organisation. Another woman mentioned that her room door seemed to have been jemmied at some time - yes, so has mine. I put the chain on the door, did my best to fasten the windows shut and hoped nobody would climb on to my balcony.

Disturbed dreams of mosquitoes woke me early, and from my window I watched groups of smartly uniformed children walking to school. Adults stopping at a street stall, some women in traditional brightly patterned frocks, a man carrying a large bundle on his head, people shouting at a car - what was that all about?
On the shady side of the hotel, I will soon find out just how hot it is out there today!