Washing Clothes By Hand

Since electricity is so expensive (and similarly, so are washing machines), pretty much everyone here washes their own clothes by hand. I’ve brought enough clothes so that I only have to do mine once a week (I could probably get by with twice every three weeks, but it’s easier to have a day to do it). I’ve done it five times so far, and I’d like to think I’m getting better at it.

Normally, I take about two hours to go through the clothes I wore in a week (plus any sheets or towels). Some of my friends here say it takes them only 30 minutes to an hour to do theirs. They laugh at me when we talk about how long it takes. I have, however, been getting better and sometimes I finished within an hour and a half. I was pretty proud that week.

Anyway, it’s a pretty simple process, involving three bins or buckets. The first two with soapy water (using the laundry soap I brought from home) and the last filled with just water.

No one really showed me how to do this, though Maka helped a bit the first time and I have had many offers of help from the ladies of the house (which I have politely declined, since I want to do the work myself). My first step is to put about 5-6 items in the first bucket and the soak them and wring the out several times. This gets all the dust out (the water is very brown by the end of all my clothes) as well as any other sweat or other non-stuck-in-there dirt. When one piece of clothing is finished, I transfer it to the next bucket. For socks, I put one on each hand and scrub them with each other. They are often very dirty and I made the mistake of only bringing white socks.

The second bucket is for spot cleaning. I do all the trouble spots (the waist, the collar, any places where I spilled food, etc.) by taking a part of the clothes in each hand and rubbing fast. Once finished here, I wring out the dirty water and put the clothes in the third bucket to rinse them. I do the same thing with the socks as I did before. I usually have an assembly line going for all of my clothes, transferring one set of clothes to the next bucket as they are finished. When they clothes have been in the third bucket for some time, I wring them out and hang them up.

Since it is so hot here and not very humid, the clothes generally dry within a few hours (a bit less for the thin material and a bit long for thicker things).

I also scrub my shoes (they get very dusty here) at the same time.

I’ve found that washing clothes can be very time consuming (there are clothes hung out almost every day at my house), but the work is somewhat rewarding. That being said, I probably won’t be doing this a lot at home, but maybe if I am bored and need to fill a day (and want to save a bit on the electricity bill).

More Pictures

Here are a few more pictures from my life in Morogoro. They are somewhat random and definitely not in any sort of order, chronological or otherwise. 1) Some strange mists coming off of the mountains (it rained shortly after I took this picture). 2) Peter, one of the little boys who lives at my homestay. He does not seem to like me very much. Usually when he sees me he cries or runs away as fast as he can. Notice that he is wearing a fleece. If the temperature drops below 25, it's apparently winter time here. 3) A lizard. 4) Gasto was mad at me because I didn't do his homework. Luckily, someone took the machete from him soon after they took this photo. 5) Some dark and ominous clouds slowly coming over the mountains. This was a few hours before the first rain of the season. 6) An inspirational t-shirt I saw someone wearing at one of our events. 7) Ants. 8) The mosquito net/bed in my homestay room. Notice how I am keeping many things nearby when I sleep.

Hope you enjoyed these pictures. More posts should be coming soon (loading pictures takes a long time, but I have a few posts ready to go).

Pictures!

I finally found a replacement for my USB cable for my camera and am now able to share some pictures that I have taken. Most of these are from my homestay family. 1) Maka in the sitting room (I'm not sure who that is beside him), 2) Looking from the back of the house to the front, from just outside my room, 3) Looking towards town (and the mountains) from the yard where I brush my teeth, 4) A stampede through a street near my house, 5) the view down the street in from of my house - usually it is not this desserted, but full of children, adults chickens, bicycles, motorcycles and cars, 6) James and I, 7) A friend I had in my room for a day or two, 8) The outside window of my room (if you look close enough you can see the brick sized rectangle they cut out on the bottom of the right hand side).

My Homestay

Since I’ve been in Morogoro, I’ve been staying in a homestay with a family and eating most of my meals at the home. The place here is very different from something that you would find in Canada. For starters, the number of people living here is much larger. Though I have not counted, my estimate would be about 15 to 20 people in this house.

The main people that I live with are Maka (He is the English speaker of the house, though he is still learning and communication can at times be difficult. I’m also pretty sure that he doesn’t really live here), his mother a.k.a. Mama Maka, and Eva (not really a sister, but that’s what they call her). There are also several people who rent rooms, but I don’t know their names (remembering names has been a problem for me here, since I have met so many people and don’t interact with them frequently or in situations where I need to know their names). There are three little boys in the house: James (the oldest at about 3), who smiles at me and will answer me if I ask him questions in Swahili, Peter and Abdul (the last two are pretty much terrified of me). Generally everyone here is nice and when my stuff was stolen, they were very supportive.

The house itself is large, but very basic. There is a wide hallway down the middle from the front to the back. At the front of the house there is a sitting room where I usually eat my meals. Along each side of the hallway are the rooms. Mine is at the back of the hallway. As I was told before I saw the room, I have a roof, but not a ceiling. In theory, I could throw a ball all the way to the front room of the house, since the walls do not go all the way up to the ceiling. I have a lock on my door and since the robbery I have think wooden boards on the windows (which were previously just mesh and cardboard).

I have a soft bed and a fan, table and chair in my room. The floors and walls are just concrete, but not too dirty. I have a light and a power outlet, though we get frequent outages (which often come at night and are annoying since I don’t get a breeze in from the window anymore).

Across the hall from my room is where we store the buckets of water (the water shuts off around 2 or 3 I think) and the washroom and bathing room. The washroom is not what one would expect back home, but it’s passable. The bathing room is really just a room with a tap and a drain (not even a shower). It’s been bucket baths (actually not that bad, and it saves a lot of water) since I’ve been here.

Beside the bathroom and bathing room is a side door to an outdoor area where all the dishes and clothes get washed (hand washing will be a whole other post) and hung. It’s also where I go to brush my teeth (“at least you have a bathroom sink!” – there’s a good inside joke for some of you). All in all, I’m dealing with the conditions here, and am able to feel clean and rested.

I wish I could add some pictures but so far I have not solved the mystery of the missing camera cord, so that will have to wait.

Karibu Morogoro!

Written: October 3rd, 2009

Before I begin, I should note that free time is at a premium here, and often I have other things I need to do to stay sane, so I am sorry in advance if I miss some time. I will do my best to keep people up to date, but if my schedule this first week is indicative of my future schedule, the entries may be less than stellar. I will try my best though.

I guess it has been a while since I last wrote (not including the previous entry which I probably posted at the same time as this one. A lot has happened since then. To keep things interesting, I will use this post as an overview and then go through one by one the major things about my life here.

We (assume I mean Nicole, Melissa and I, the three YCI volunteers here) arrived in Morogoro on Wednesday night and were brought to our homestays. I will be as honest as I can. My first impression was not one of being happy about my situation. I'd be lying if I said this was the worst place I've stayed, but it is definitely the worst place I've stayed more than a few days. The house is basic, though we do have electricity (when there is not an outage), running water (sometimes, I think only in the mornings, but I have not asked). I have a bed and a lock on my door. I also have a fan (not the first night) to keep me cool while I sleep. The Hilton it is not, but I should be able to survive here for the next 7 weeks (me having already completed my first week... well almost). The facilities (i.e. the washroom) are not what one would hope for, but I will say that it's suprising what can seem normal when you don't really have a choice.

The family I am staying with is very nice, though basic English is a bit of stretch. Still, I am learning a bit of Swahili and we understand each other mostly (my Swahili-English dictionary comes in handy often). The food they make me is edible and tastes good. I probably won't be seeking it out often when I return, but I am pleased. There is a strong emphasis on white bread and white rice, but surprisingly I am feeling mostly healthy and energetic (this might be the multivitamins at work).

Mosquitoes are numerous (I've killed 7 today... I really should have started with a tally), but they don't seem to bite me. One of the other volunteers (not sure who) has a theory that the malaria pills make me less enticing. Any medical professionals (or soon to be medical professionals – I know I should have both reading this) want to comment? I've been bitten a few times, but so far I have had no signs of malaria, yellow fever or Japanese encephalitis (or any other mosquite-borne bugs).

Morogoro is definitely very different from any other city I've lived in (since I get this question a lot, you'd think I'd have an easy time explaining things, but I don't, so specifics will have to come in bits and pieces over time). Some big things that are noticeable: 1) No traffic signs (rules?): for those of you who live(d) in Korea, this place makes Seoul look like a well ordered city when it comes to traffic. And they drive on the left, so I'm always forgetting which way to look for traffic. Hahaha. It's all ok though. 2) Buildings are very basic. This is hard to elaborate, but as I post pictures, you will see over time. 3) There is sand/dust everywhere. I have to clean my feet when I come home. 4) People talk to/greet each other much more often than those in any city I've lived in. Honestly, there are more differences to list and I could probably write a blog post on all of them (maybe I will if I have time, tough I think that is unlikely.

As for what I did the first few days in Morogoro. Orientation and tours of where we will do our projects was the first order of business. Things are coming into focus and I've actually been assigned some of the projects. The only ones I'm not doing (see the post about the projects) are the Secondary School HIV/AIDS club and working with the older PLHIV kids (though I probably will help with them). I will be busy planning I think, but it does look like I will have a good time and be able to use my skills to help people. There will likely be much more (perhaps I'll do a very in-depth post on each project I am working on) at a later date here.

We have met many people here (I have forgotten most of their names) but as time goes by, I'll probabl do formal introductions of all the important people in my life here.

As for now though, this post is getting way too long (congratulations if you managed to get this far). Sorry, but I don't have many pictures of Morogoro now (you'd understand why if you were here – more on that later), but I will try to get some shortly (the post after this will have some). Thanks for reading and keep on keeping on!

Tutaonana! (See you later – yes, I am a language snob, get used to it).