Well, as you can imagine, walking around dusty rural roads can make for quite a stinky pile of laundry. But, I haven't just been walking--the past 2 weeks I have been on packed taxi vans for hours, private hire cars with windows down, private hire with broken windows and no ac (the car got broken into... sorry Richard), motorcycles, running in the morning and even a ride on the back of bicycle for 50 cents. There red dirt covered my clothes... not cute. So, Saturday was laundry day. Women work HARD in Africa. I told them, in the states we say, "Behind every successful man, is a powerful woman." (I think that is how it goes :) ) Anyways, the women of my house are up by 6, sweeping, cleaning dishes, getting the fire ready for hot bathing water, making breakfast, and lord knows what else. Saturday was my day to help, especially since my sister Irene (23) was just tested for malaria and the test came back positive. So sad, luckily the clinic had medicine. But, it's scary.
Saturday we did 4 hours of laundry- by hand. I know I am a wuss, but I think that I did the most out of everyone because as people came to visit the house (milkman, maize seller, friends stopping by to visit) Irene and Helen would stop to greet them and take care of business. Me? I kept scrubbing. Well, turns out the first 2 basins went fine. But, I didn't know there was bleach in one of the basins with the whites... and then we used Omo- a strong detergent in the other basins. Son-of-a-B@*&! HURT like hell! So, I was getting more clothes to scrub- and looked down and my hands were bleeding! Soo gross and painful. they are all puffy and blistered now. My hands hurt like hell -- everything I touch- even water burns. Plus, they barely bend. Serves me right for trying to prove I can hack it... from here on out- I will do my laundry every week so I never have to do 4 hours again!!!!
In the evening I made dinner for the family, as Irene was sick. Unfortunately, they decided to make a supplementary meal as well so they didnt go to bed hungry lol. But, at least I tried. I must say, the egg/onion/tomato burritos were sooo good. And, it was the first time in 2 weeks I didn't have beans. Yipee!! Afterwards, I went with the neighbors and my brother Brian (13) to watch the US v. Ghana game at 9:30. We went to the bar next door, and out of about 100+ people I was the only girl! And, the only white girl at that. AKWARD! lol.
Oh lord, a mission trip just walked into the cafe. Gag. sorry... had to say it, God is great, but the white population here is seriously skewed in representation! People must think all Americans are evangelicals.
Or,at least, all bad at laundry :)
No comments:
Post a Comment