December 17th

Dear Heidi,

Oh dear Heidi, what a shocking experience for you all in Cape Verde! To have two groups of your shipmates attacked so senselessly and violently must be terrifying, and I can quite understand how insecure you feel. The whole visit must seem tainted with horror, and yet, as I understand it, nobody was seriously hurt, physically, which is a blessing. To be robbed of your possessions so abruptly and with guns and knives threatening lives, is an invasion of your sense of self and of your equilibrium, let alone the actual loss and the inconvenience caused by the losses.

You must all, as a team, pull together and learn and grow from this event. You will all come through tougher and wiser, I hope, and sadly, a little more cynical about the world.

Now, I understand that the teaching staff are going home. For Christmas? You said two other teachers are coming from Aplus staff to take the Optimised Learning course, and that your new history teacher is joining the Ship soon, but none of you know these teachers. Are none of the actual teachers staying on board? Who, then, is responsible for 60 teenagers over the 10 days you are in port, and over Christmas? It seems a bit odd to us, here at home, and not ideal, to say the least, in the light of what has happened. Hmm.

Back home, we are again four; the snow is crisp and powdery and about ankle deep, with minus 8 at the moment. The birch trees are frosted white, and the mist hung low over the fields when we came home. The sun an orange disc through the branches or pale yellow where it was obscured by the mists. The house was tidy, the animals mad with delight to see us all (well, Miss Smudge was a bit standoffish to start with!) and the kitchen was scattered with dirty dishes...oh well. It was good to be home, even if I had to pull on my apron and rubber gloves immediately.

Today is the third Sunday of advent! Three candles, burning in the night, for Hope, and Faith and Joy.
Take Joy, my dearest girl, in what you can, and give thanks to God, for all is not lost. There is still so much goodness to be found, if you can only look for it.

Know that you are loved, so very much.
Your own Mamma.