June 11 Dinner With Francois and Alice

Dinner with Francois –  Valerie was gracious enough to come to dinner with us tonight and be our translator again so we could actually have some semblance of a real conversation with Francois.  Francois is our cook and helper at the home where we are staying.   We invited his whole family, but only his youngest child could come.  She is Alice (say Aleece), she is four years old and is in kindergarten.  She speaks Moba, and is only just learning French now.  It costs about $10 a year to send her to the local Catholic school. She is very cute and quiet as are most of the children here when their parents or other adults are around.
 
Francois lives in town during the week to work for Mr. Bouk (where we are staying) and the Fluegges, and goes home to the village on the weekends. He met Mr. Bouk and his wife through the local Catholic church and it was Mrs. Bouk who taught him to cook.  He enjoys cooking, but is ready to be done with it.  He would prefer to go back to school and learn modern agricultural techniques, but the loss of income during school and the cost of school itself prevents him from doing that right now.