My helper got mugged

Young George has got the job of helping me.

He's cleaning storm drains out at the moment, so that I can record the size and depth of the services. It is a horrible job, as some have been used a toilets and contain human turds, dead rats etc.

George's moral is therefore not very high, this is not helped by him not being used to using a shovel, his hoe (mattock) was stolen and he regards manual labour as being below his station in society.

He showed up on site late yesterday, sporting a grazed chin and a cut inside his mouth. My Portuguese is very limited, as is George's English, so I thought he had been mugged on his way to site and sent him home to clean up.

I found out afterwards that it happened the night before, and his mobile phone had been stolen.

Word among the expats is that a big crowd (the figures spoken were 2 or 3 thousand) of street criminals have recently been released, to cure overcrowding, and because they were originally locked up without due process...

Word among the Angolans is that if the Police think a criminal is dangerous, they shoot first. So perhaps there is a permenant cure for overcrowding in the way...