HR day

So, yesterday was a day for contemplation and spiritual renewal. Monday must mean it's back to work and the delights of checking up on job contracts and making sure that all of our recently appointed staff have a job description and contract. It's a necessary evil making sure that we comply with employment law and good practise but it's very tedious. Fortunately I did the real spade work on it a few years ago, so today was just a case of making sure the details are up to date and that all the staff concerned have got their own printed copies of the documents. This being Africa even my printer seems to have developed a TIA, (This Is Africa), functionality – stopping and going slow seemingly at random.

In need of some fresh air at one point this afternoon I had a walk around the farm to see how we're doing now that we've had some rain. Duncan, our farm manager, told me this morning that the maize we planted last week has already started to germinate so I was keen to see for myself. Sure enough we have lots of little green shoots poking through God's Blanket, (our mulch). Having been cooped up in the office all day it was nice to be reminded how nature quietly gets on and does the 'new growth' thing. It's amazing how much food is wrapped up in a tiny seed – that a huge plant can develop from such a tiny shoot. We are hoping that successful germination is a good sign for a bumper crop. It will encourage the students so much to see the fruit of their labours. All that remains in the preparation stage is to plant our sweet potato plot. The rest of the farm is looking good as well. The goat enclosure will be ready for occupation very soon.

Now that they have broken the back of the heavy work on the farm the students will be free to get their own plots of land planted. Working in pairs they each have a small six by six metre plot for growing whatever they think will make them the most profit. We've told them that we will buy all that they are able to grow on their plots at whatever the current market price is at harvest time. We are hoping this will encourage them to hone their entrepreneurial skills and develop a healthy spirit of competition amongst them, (without creating the kind of rivalry that exists amongst village fête gardeners in the UK). It will be interesting to see how the students respond. I'm sure we have some budding Richard Bransons amongst our little group – all they need is the incentive to unleash their entrepreneurial spirits.