Dear Father,

Your kind letter of 09.8.01 came through today and I hastened to deposit the cheque at our bank. Despite the invention of telex and suchlike, it still takes 45 days to clear a sterling cheque, but there should be about 45 Million francs eventually, and that goes a long way here.

I am most grateful to all our friends at Saint Mary's for this tremendous encouragement. We have recently bought two plots of land for Dominique and Tombozara respectively. Neither can walk at all, so we were careful to buy them land adjacent to a tarmacadam road, and now we can get on with the planning permission and find a reasonable builder. In the case of Tombozara's plot, it must first be levelled, for clearly at one time it has been a tip. Dominique is here in my house and is overjoyed with the news; I shall send a message now to Tombozara, who will be equally thrilled.

As this is our dry season, I am more away than at home, and thus I shall leave tomorrow for a trek into the west coast hinterland, paying my annual visit to as many of the Diocese's church as may be possible.

With warm regards and our deep appreciation of this generous gift,

Sincerely yours,