‘SAINTS’ HONOURED WITH THEIR OWN AIRPORT AT LAST

CAPA Centre for Aviation, 16^th November, 2011

After years of vacillation the British Government has finally agreed to underwrite the cost of an airport on the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena and has issued a Design, Build and Operate (DBO) contract for USD340 million. The 4000 islanders, known as ‘Saints’, who rely on an infrequent mail ship to leave and return to their British Overseas Territory home, will within four years have a much more frequent method of access and egress, as long as airlines can be convinced of the value of operating there. But the fact the DBO contractor is a South African company speaks volumes about the UK airport industry’s inability to finance and build infrastructure, even on its own ‘turf’.

It was in April 2005 that Airport Investor Monthly last reported on the proposed new airport for the 16km x 8km island, at which time it appeared that the project might be about to enter the construction phase. But with the onset of the recession, it was postponed on several occasions.

One of the world’s remotest islands

St. Helena is one of the 13 remaining UK Overseas Territories, 16 degrees south of the equator, between Brazil and Angola, and one of the world’s remotest islands, presently accessible only by sea from African ports or from Ascension Island, another British territory, 750 miles northwest. Located 1900km from Africa, Ascension Island is its nearest neighbour.

The passenger and supply ship RMS St. Helena was due to reach the end of its working life in 2010 but its service has been extended out of necessity, operating between Cape Town and St. Helena. The objective has been both to replace it, and to boost the island’s economy, which presently is merely one of self-sustainment by providing an airport.

UK assistance to St. Helena was then about GBP13 million per year but has since risen to GBP35 million out of a total of GBP60 million allocated annually to the South Atlantic Territories, which also comprises Ascension Island (which is populated almost exclusively by military and support personnel) and Tristan da Cunha to the south, which remains virtually inaccessible. These amounts include budgetary support to meet essential public services and to subsidise St. Helena’s dedicated shipping service.

...to take the island “off the books” of the UK taxpayer...

Although it is never publicly stated, the intention of the present Coalition Government, which has taken a renewed interest in St. Helena since it was elected in May-2010, is as much to take the island “off the books” of the UK taxpayer, as it is to provide overdue transport infrastructure. Fortunately, in this instance the two objectives are in unison as it is anticipated that the airport will multiply visitor numbers from around 800 per annum to 29,000, thus creating a self-sustaining tourism industry. Britain is almost as indebted as any of the economies currently making the news (Greece, Italy etc) if one takes into account the hidden amounts of debt in private finance initiative (PFI) transactions and collapsed pension funds, hence the need even to save amounts as relatively small as GBP35 million.

2250m runway called for

The original plan, put together by the London-based consultant Alan Stratford, called for a 2250m runway at Prosperous Bay Plain, on the eastern coast of the island; sufficiently adequate to support safe operation of A320 and B737-800 types. The British Department for International Development (DFID), which typically supports education and infrastructure in the Third World and war-torn countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, and which is the only Department of State to have had its budget ‘ring-fenced’, was given the job of providing funding, subject to satisfactory bids for a DBO contract and an environmental impact assessment. According to the DFID at the time, “All private sector interest in St. Helena will be considered on an equal footing.”

The project also included technical advice to help establish regular scheduled air services and to support St. Helena in reaping the economic benefits of air access for the island. Increased tourism and inward investment was expected to follow in the wake of the much improved access arrangements.

DFID clearly takes the project seriously...

DFID clearly takes the project seriously. Within the last three months it has advertised for and appointed a “Private Sector Advisor” for the three South Atlantic Territories, with the clear implication that he or she will be expected to ensure St. Helena at least begins to ‘pay for itself’ within two years, which rather runs contrary to its usual ethos.

For some time the frontrunner for the contract was an Italian company, Impregilo, based in Milan, and which has become the leading Italian construction and engineering business operating in the environmental sector, with a track record that includes the Kariba Dam in Zambia and Zimbabwe (1959) and the salvage of the Abu Simbel temples in Egypt (1968). That record does not include many airports, just four contracts, in Italy, Argentina and Bolivia and all in the 1980s/90s. The other bidder was South Africa’s Basil Read but Impregilo won on the basis of ‘best overall value’.

But then the British Government pulled back in light of the recent global economic turmoil. In Jan-2011, new design, build, operate and transfer bids were sought from both Impregilo and Basil Read, but only the South African group actually made an offer this time out.

DFID is funding the entire USD340 million (GBP200 million) project from UK taxpayers contributions...

DFID is funding the entire USD340 million (GBP200 million) project from UK taxpayers contributions, which will now involve a 3500sqm airport building and a 1800m concrete runway (down from 2250m), with, as previously proposed, a taxiway and apron able to cater for aircraft of a size equivalent to an A320, or a Boeing 737-800.

Impressive logistics

As with any airport development on a small island the logistics are impressive. The works will also include an eight-million cubic metre rock fill embankment through which a 750 metre-long reinforced concrete culvert will run, air traffic control and safety systems, a bulk fuel installation for six-million litres of diesel and aviation fuel and a 14km access road up the mountain to the airport site.

Temporary harbour facilities will also be developed to allow a roll-on/roll-off vessel to bring in materials from South Africa and Basil Read would also develop a temporary runway to enable the use of a C130-type aircraft to facilitate quicker access to the site. That runway should be developed within 18 months of the commencement of construction.

The contractors will need to bring in everything from food to the building materials needed for the development of the airport building, which, it is understood will be modelled on another airport of a similar size - that at Nelspruit in Mpumalanga province in South Africa.

New technology enables larger aircraft

A new technology, engineered material arresting system will allow the airport to receive larger aircraft on the short runway...

A new technology, engineered material arresting system will allow the airport to receive larger aircraft on the short runway but does not explain the delight currently being shown in the Falkland Islands that the inhabitants there (who are largely self-sufficient now even though it is still a British Overseas Territory) will be able to reach the UK in 7.5 hours, about half the length of the current journey time. It is difficult to imagine any aircraft that is capable of flying ETOPs operations on that length of journey (approximately 7000 km) being able to use such a short runway, new technology or not. The originally conceived 2250m runway might have been more appropriate. There are approximately 400 ‘Saints’ in the Falkland Islands but any air service would clearly not be designed specifically for them.

There may be some truth in the theory being promoted in the international media that the renewed desire to build the airport is somehow linked to the perceived need to have transport for British troops to the Falkland Islands again in the event of a second invasion by Argentina, which has been belligerent recently. There is no merchant marine left to do it by sea as in 1982.

...construction could begin in May-2012...

The design phase commences immediately and construction could begin in May-2012. Most of the expertise will be derived from South Africa, but Basil Read has indicated that it will employ as many locals as possible in the building and the operation of the facility. (Impregilo had also sent senior representatives to St. Helena to assess the capabilities of locals in that respect.)

Construction will take place over a 48-month period and operation of the airport will continue for 10 years in a contract valued at approximately USD57 million. The award has increased the size of Basil Read’s order book to USD1.6 billion.

Lanseria Airport offers useful expertise

Operational support will come from Lanseria Airport, the privately operated Gauteng province facility to the north of Johannesburg, which, after languishing for several years, has been building up both domestic and international LCC services, as well as acting as a private/business jet airport for Johannesburg and Pretoria. It is unlikely St. Helena will see many business jets, unless Sir Richard Branson decides to buy it, having lost some of his Necker (Caribbean) island to fire, but Lanseria’s expertise will be useful for the type of commercial aircraft that it will see. Basil Read has a joint venture relationship with Lanseria Airport.

...it’s most important goal is to tempt at least some of that diaspora back...

The St. Helena Government itself sees the airport as key to improving logistics for its population and the diaspora that has moved overseas (mainly to Britain) that is greater than the indigenous population; and supporting economic development. It’s most important goal is to tempt at least some of that diaspora back, either permanently, or occasionally with transferable funds.

St. Helena will have to battle to attract tourists

There is much work to be done.

After that, the secondary goal is to increase tourism. But who will come? A 1800m runway will not support intercontinental flights, especially as the nearest alternative airport is so far away. Tourists will, almost by necessity, come initially from South Africa (where St. Helena will be pitched into tough competition with Mauritius and the Seychelles to attract them), possibly from Namibia, and then from Europe (even possibly Asia in time) via either of those places. It could feature as a two-centre vacation location, or a side trip, or as part of a fly-cruise programme. There is much work to be done. In the longer term it may be able to attract traffic from Latin America, especially Brazil, though again runway size will count in the equation, and the Government will be encouraged by the emergence of a ‘string’ of vacation islands down the western side of Africa, including the Azores, Madeira, the Canary Islands and the Cape Verde islands, that St. Helena might possibly tap into.

The tourist infrastructure is of concern. There are hotels, bed & breakfast, guest house and self catering units available already, but they cater for 800 visits per annum not 30,000. Growth in residential infrastructure has to come rapidly and outside assistance will be needed.

St. Helena? See Our Comment, below.

The island is certainly an attractive place though it has little in the way of beaches, even fewer roads and its tourist offering momentarily centres on ‘relaxation’ far away from the daily throng, walking in the gentle hills. The attraction of more than 30 times the present level of visitors is almost oxymoronic to the aim of offering a ‘get-away-from-it-all’ island. Its principal feature, for which it is known globally, attracting many visitors despite its remoteness, is the tomb of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, who was exiled there. Current plans call for the airport to be operational by 2015, on the 200th anniversary of Napoleon’s arrival into final exile.

With that sort of pedigree it is perhaps a little surprising that Aeroports de Paris, through one or both of its engineering and management units, is not more involved here, or perhaps one of the smaller French airport operators that dabbles abroad, like Lyon or Nice. There is certainly the potential for quite a few French tourists to make the journey each year.

A nation of shopkeepers, but not airport builders

...most notable in its absence is the UK...

The country most notable in its absence is the UK itself. During the last five years, British companies have declined somewhat in importance on the global stage where airport construction is concerned, though it is still surprising not to read of companies such as Mott McDonald, Amey or Lagan having any involvement, even if some, like the aforementioned Stratford, and Atkins, which undertook an environmental audit in 2004, have been. As for British operators, they have virtually disappeared off the radar altogether where foreign projects are concerned, which surely must be a worry to the UK Government’s Trade and Business departments.

As Napoleon himself famously said, ‘England is a nation of shopkeepers’, but he might have added not of airport builders or operators. At a demanding British Overseas Territory new build, green field airport, where skills could be put on show for the world to see, just where are the British?

Background information:

The British Government Project Memorandum can be found at: webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk & www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/st-helena-proj-memo.pdf.

Our Comment

The island is certainly an attractive place, but we’re not convinced that the ‘photo they’ve used to illustrate that was actually taken on St. Helena! We’ve only been here seven years and haven’t explored absolutely everywhere, but we’re sure a spectacular rock promontary like the one in the ‘photo would have come to our attention. If you know the island better than we do and that is here somewhere, please contact us - we’d like to visit it! Otherwise you might want to contact the CAPA Centre for Aviation and ask them about it.

DORSET SHEEP BOUND FOR ST. HELENA ON ROYAL MAIL SHIP

By Laura Kitching, Dorest Echo, 18^th October 2011

Vet Joe Collins with one of the sheep

Sixty chickens and a flock of sheep were loaded on to the Royal Mail Ship St. Helena as it made its final voyage from Portland Port.

The 6,767-tonne vessel, which is one of only two Royal Mail Ships left in the world and is a lifeline for its tropical island namesake in the South Atlantic, marked the end of an era as it departed borough waters.

Veterinarian Joe Hollins said the cargo of animals aimed to rejuvenate St. Helena’s economy.

He said:

“The flock of sheep and 60 chickens are designed to transform the island.

Six breeders brought the sheep in three trailers, they are Dorpers - originally Dorset Horns and Persian Blackheads - which were developed by the Department for Agriculture in South Africa for arid lands.

They’re tough, hardy breeds that forage well.

St. Helena has historically imported British breeds because it’s an overseas territory but it’s a tropical island with a lot of fly strike.

This breed is self-sheering so they will be more resistant.

We also had 60 lohmann brown chickens, which are specialist egg layers.”

Mr Hollins, who previously ran veterinary practices in Andover and the Falklands Islands, added:

“We’re trying to make the island more sustainable; the island used to fill three ship holds a day with produce now it doesn’t produce much.

I’m the island’s first vet and it’s such a challenging role - it’s rare to get virgin territory so there’s a hell of a lot to do.

It encompasses conservation, public health and pest control.

It’s a fantastic and beautiful island with laid back and friendly locals but it has severe economic problems because it doesn’t produce much capital and relies on grants and UN aid.”

Mr Hollins said the island had a rich history and had played a key role in the abolition of slavery and the French territories but now suffered from strong and healthy young people leaving to work abroad.

The average salary is £5,000 a year, despite a high cost of living.

RMS St. Helena was docked at Portland Port for a week before making its final scheduled voyage from the United Kingdom last Friday.

The 128-berth cargo and passenger ship, which celebrates its 21^st anniversary next month, will instead make more regular trips between Cape Town, Ascension Island and St. Helena to improve island access.

Our Comment

Not a baaaad idea?

PRESTON BUS STATION [AND ST. HELENA] ON UK MONUMENT ‘AT RISK’ LIST

www.bbc.co.uk/news, 5^th October 2011

Preston Bus Station may be demolished as part of a redevelopment scheme in the city. The “brutalist” style building, earmarked for demolition, is one of seven monuments being placed on an “at risk” list by the World Monuments Fund (WMF). Its 2012 World Monuments Watch list also includes The Hayward Gallery and Coventry Cathedral.

These latest entries mean the UK now has 30 sites on the WMF’s list. Others include Birmingham Central Library, Quarr Abbey on the Isle of Wight and the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena.

Launched in 1996, the list of monuments at risk is issued every two years and has identified 67 monuments from around the world in its latest report. The WMF has included 688 sites in 132 countries and territories on its nine watch lists so far.

The WMF says its list “seeks to draw international attention as well as local community support for some of the world’s most treasured locations”. It also says that a monument or building’s inclusion on its watch list can be crucial in raising awareness and funds for its preservation.

[For brevity we have omitted information on the UK sites listed]

The report also lists the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena, once home to the French Emperor Napoleon in exile. The WMF notes the island “is not eligible for most conservation funding available in the United Kingdom, even though it is a British Territory”. The watch list adds: “If more resources were made available to the island, the conserved built heritage could be used to bolster the economy through tourism development, especially after the construction of a planned airport.”

WMF chief executive Jonathan Foyle said:

“For a decade and a half, the Watch has reminded us that no country is immune to man-made and natural disasters, and the casual degradations of its built environment. We can never afford to take for granted our irreplaceable and enriching cultural inheritance, but in an age of greater austerity this Watch further reminds to be vigilant, look after and enjoy historic places, many of which we could not afford to build today.”

Our comment

We’re a little disturbed to discover we’re living in a monument . . . but if anyone’s offering funds to help maintain the island’s wonderful collection of historic buildings we’re sure that would be most welcome.

A LONG JOURNEY BEGINS FOR COMMONWEALTH ATHLETES

three.fm, Isle of Man, 23^rd August 2011

Five weeks away from home for St. Helena team

The first team of athletes to begin their journey to the Isle of Man for the Commonwealth Youth Games - St. Helena - have already begun their journey.

St. Helena is a tiny volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean and is part of the British Overseas Territories, which also includes Ascension Islands and the islands of Tristan da Cunha. Saint Helena measures about 16 by 8 kilometres and has a population of just over 4,000.

The four athletes - 15 year old Jessica Sim, and 17 year old Sarafina Yon, Tyrel Ellick, and Myles Henry - are joined by two officials, Jeremy Roberts and Wendy Benjamin.

They are travelling some 1,200 miles south to Cape Town by ship before they can begin their 11hr flight north to the UK, where travel will then be by coach and ferry before they reach the Isle of Man.

Because St. Helena has no airport and it is serviced by only one ship, the RMS St. Helena, the team is destined to be away from their island home for more than 5 weeks in order to attend the Games.

FOLLOW UP: ST. HELENA DJ SENDS BEST WISHES TO TEAM AFTER 2 WEEK JOURNEY

three.fm, Isle of Man, 3^rd September 2011

He said it’s been a major effort for the teenagers due to a lack of facilities on an Island a third of the size of the Isle of Man.

After a journey of almost two weeks across the South Atlantic Ocean, the Commonwealth Youth Games team from Saint Helena arrives on the Isle Of Man this evening.

The four athletes - 15 year old Jessica Sim, and 17 year old Sarafina Yon, Tyrel Ellick, and Myles Henry - travelled 1,200 miles by ship before flying from South Africa to the Isle of Man.

In an exclusive interview with 3FM, Mike Olson from St. Helena’s radio station SaintFM{2} said everyone on St. Helena has been touched by the games.

He said the people are urging the young athletes to perform to the best of their abilities despite it being a major effort for the teenagers due to a lack of facilities on an Island a third of the size of the Isle of Man.

The first day of official competition will be Friday 9^th September.

FOR GADDAFI, A HOME ON ST. HELENA

By William C. Goodfellow, The Washington Post, 3^rd June 2011 (Reproduced in the St. Helena Independent, 3^rd June 2011)

In an effort to break the stalemate in Libya and avoid further bloodshed, President Obama asked Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last month to tell Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi that he will remain alive if he leaves Libya. Medvedev, in a news conference, said Russia would not take him in.

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Gaddafi and his son Saif al-Islam, who certainly belong in The Hague - but at what cost?

Obama wants to avoid a repeat of the four-month battle to dislodge Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo. Thousands of civilians were killed, at least 800,000 were forced from their homes, and that country’s financial capital and largest city, Abidjan, was laid to waste.

Neither the United Nations secretary general nor the French military was able to talk Gbagbo out of his bunker. Facing the prospect of life in prison, he felt that he had no choice but to fight to the bitter end. Had they been able to offer Gbagbo a way out, the standoff might have ended months earlier. The way out would have been permanent exile.

Is it possible that the international community could send a dictator such as Gbagbo or Gaddafi somewhere and ensure that they never return? What is needed is a place so remote and well guarded that these unsavory characters could never escape.

In 1815, Europe had a similar problem. Napoleon Bonaparte was responsible for 17 years of devastating wars across Europe that took the lives of as many as 6 million people. He had escaped from his exile on the island of Elba, in the Mediterranean, and was able to raise an army of 200,000 before his final defeat at Waterloo.

To ensure that he never again returned, Britain exiled Napoleon to St. Helena, a territory in the middle of the South Atlantic. One of the most remote islands on the planet, it is more than a thousand miles from the nearest land.

St. Helena remains incredibly isolated, with no commercial airport (although one is planned) and just over 4,000 inhabitants, a 20 percent decline in the past decade. Blue Hill district, on the southwest part of the island, has an area of 14 square miles with only 153 inhabitants and seems like an ideal spot for what might be called a retirement village for exiled dictators.

Britain, which still owns St. Helena, could lease a parcel of land to the United Nations, whose blue-helmeted guards would be in charge of security. The United Nations could erect a comfortable cottage, or perhaps a large tent, separated from the rest of the island by tall stockade fencing. Gaddafi could get snail mail (which would be read by guards, as is the case in most prisons), but there would be no Internet or phone service.

Gaddafi could bring along immediate family members: his spouse and children. Napoleon arrived on St. Helena with a small cadre of supporters who were forced to sign a document committing them to remain on the island with him indefinitely. (Napoleon’s wife chose to stay in France, where she had a well-publicized affair with an Austrian count who was her escort, much to Napoleon’s dismay.)

Of course, dictators such as Gaddafi should not get a free pass. Exile to St. Helena should be offered to break only the most intractable sieges. The U.N. Security Council has the authority to prevent the International Criminal Court from prosecuting a case. Justice would be better served if Gaddafi and his ilk ended up at The Hague. But the international community has an even higher obligation to protect the lives of innocent civilians and to prevent unnecessary suffering and destruction.

St. Helena could work with Hotel California rules: You can check in but you can never check out. Gaddafi would be destined to die there in quiet retirement. For sure, it would be a great place for penning memoirs, and following in Napoleon’s footsteps would lend a certain cachet.

Another requirement would be total divestment of financial assets of dictators and their family members. Every offshore account and every piece of real estate in London or Dubai would be forfeited, with the money going back to the treasury of their home country. St. Helena would be all-inclusive, so there would be no need to carry cash.

Gaddafi might turn out to be the only dictator to end up on St. Helena. With so many worthy candidates, however, and doubtless many more to come, it is possible that St. Helena could get a much-needed economic boost from new residents.

The real objective in all this would be to avoid the kind of bloodshed and devastation the world witnessed in Ivory Coast. Unfortunately, it continues in Libya.

The writer is executive director of the Center for International Policy in Washington.

NAPOLEON USED YEARS ON ST. HELENA TO LEARN ENGLISH

Vicky Buffery, Reuters, 31^st May 2011 [taken from the Baltimore Sun]

Greying, inkstained notebook fragments showing Napoleon Bonaparte’s efforts two centuries ago to grasp the English language go on auction in Paris at the weekend, alongside some 350 other Napoleonic artefacts.

Captured by the British at Waterloo and held on the remote Atlantic island of Saint Helena until his death in 1821, the French emperor used his time in captivity to learn English -- although the scraps show the military mastermind to be a less-than-model pupil. Written in Napoleon’s spidery handwriting, the remnants of his lessons from a French count also in exile on Saint Helena show how the headstrong leader doodled to combat boredom, and struggled with the intricacies of English grammar.

“Even learning English, he couldn’t shake off the soldier, the army man inside him. His doodles are of walls and designs of military fortifications,” said Jean-Pierre Osenat, chairman of Paris-based auction house Osenat, which is handling the sale. The auction house expects the paper scraps, mounted on three framed boards, to fetch up to 9,500 euros ($13,660) in total at Sunday’s auction.

As ruler of France from 1804 to 1815, Napoleon established a powerful military empire extending over much of Western Europe before being defeated by the Duke of Wellington’s forces at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815 and taken hostage. It was while being transferred to Saint Helena that he voiced his shame at never having learnt English, and his companion in exile, the Count of Las Cases, happily obliged by giving him lessons over the subsequent years. “It’s incredible to think that after fighting the English for his entire life, Napoleon only decided to learn English at the end. He could have thought of it before,” said Osenat.

“RUN, RUNNED, RUNNING”

But the fearless leader and military strategist, who successfully invaded Egypt and Italy and famously escaped exile in Elba, appears to have stumbled over the idiosyncrasies of irregular English verbs, like many before and after him.

“Run, runned, running,” Napoleon wrote on one piece of paper. On another he translates the French "Qu’est-ce qui etait arrive?" as "What was it arrived," rather than "What has happened?"

Also up for sale on Sunday will be a rare document from the French Revolution, a handwritten record of Louis XVI’s death sentence by the newly formed parliament or National Convention in 1793, a move which was to pave the way for Napoleon’s rise. The document lists the names of all Convention members along with their choice of sentence for the fallen monarch, who was tried for treason after his flight from Paris in 1791 and capture at the town of Varennes in northeastern France. Some members voted for imprisonment, others for exile, but a small majority, including famed revolutionaries Maximilien Robespierre and Jean-Paul Marat chose to sentence the king to the guillotine.

Bertrand Barere, another Convention member, added a particularly damning verdict, transcribed in the record:

"Only the dead never come back, I vote that he die."

Later annotations, added in 1818 in the right-hand margin of each page, show the fate of each member of the Convention, and are testimony to the bloodthirsty turn the Revolution was about to take with the onset of the Reign of Terror. Many of the names in the list, including Robespierre and the Duc d’Orleans, died at the guillotine, while Marat was assassinated in his bathtub by Royalist sympathizer Charlotte Corday.

Also featured in The Daily Telegraph.

Our comment

This reminds me of a more recent event along similar lines.

A few years ago two stowaways arrived in St. Helena, having fled from The Congo. The circumstances of their arrival are rather sad, and their attempt to gain asylum failed so they were eventually sent back to The Congo, with unknown results. But there was one amusing aspect of their time here.

They arrived speaking only French, and learned English during their stay in the local prison (there are no other facilities to house such arrivals). They left feeling confident that they had grasped a new language that might prove useful to them in the future (perhaps in their next escape). But what they didn’t realise, and nobody had the heart to tell them, is that the ‘English’ they’d learned from their fellow inmates was actually broad Saint.

After six years here I can understand many of the local words and phrases, but only as long as the speaker has a relatively light accent. I would certainly need an interpreter to talk to some people on the island (as per the previous post on the subtitling of the Tourist Office video) unless they were to moderate their speech for my benefit, which fortunately most Saints do. How our two Congo boys coped when they discovered that the ‘English’ they’d learned was near incomprehensible to most of the English-speaking word I don’t know.
JT 1^st June 2011