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19 Dec 2001

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Hum is a slim looking guard with a smiling face and a twinkle in his eyes. He was the first to approach Andy to practise English and has improved in leaps and bounds ever since. He has great interest in things and such an inquisitive mind - he has asked to talk about politics in our next English lesson! Two days ago we taught him the word 'corruption' when we saw him accepting money from a man in return for the bags of scrap cloth from the factory rubbish bins. He doesn't see that as corruption! We laugh about the many excuses he has for not inviting us home yet - his house is small, the road is too bad for our car, he has no fruit to offer as it's not the right time of the year etc. Well, he did ask us once! He talks about his seventy eight year old father living on his own farm and about what he grows. His mum is looking after their baby while his wife runs a stall in the nearby market. She buys her clothes cheap in another market and sells them for five times the price, so if she only sells two shirts a day it'll cover the rent for her stall. Hum also has a sister working in the factory and she too is a guard. She has the same smile and twinkle in her eyes...