ANNOUNCING OUR NEWEST GRANDCHILD

We interrupt this blog, and our Very Important Work, for a very important message: We are pleased to announce that Evelyn Marie was born to Christina and Dave Quekett on February 18 at 9:02 p.m., weighing seven pounds, 19 inches. Or as we learned the news here, she was born February 19 at 7:02 a.m., weighing 3.18 kg, 47.88 cm. It is yet unclear to us if the 19” is her height or her length. Through the magic of 21st century technology, we were able to see her 14 hours later, here, over 10,000 miles away and somewhere in the 1940s. Thank you, Skype.
From our vantage here, deep in Africa, we recognize the blessings of the accident of her birth. She has proud, loving, healthy and well educated parents, in a land of plenty; she can expect a long, healthy and productive life with her personal rights guaranteed and gender equality. As one of our correspondents wrote, “…she could become president of the Peace Corps”. To contrast this with a newborn in Africa, see the statistics included in a recent blog we published.
To celebrate the event, Debbie baked a batch of cupcakes, I added an American flag to each one, and I distributed them to our neighbors with the announcement that we were celebrating the addition of a new American. (I went on to convert the seven pounds to kilograms but multiplied in my head instead of divided. When I came up with over 14 kg, I was met with blank looks until our next door neighbor said their babies were usually three to four kg. I quickly corrected my error.)
Evelyn Marie, we send you our best wishes and all our love; siyincaba, hamba kahle.