i first i gathered my dirty laundry together. while waiting for the water to boil, i checked my mail, hauled a few buckets of water from the tap to the house, and swept my bedroom out. to sweep we use a handful of little twigs tied together. nice. so when the water was hot, i added some detergent powder to my clothes and poured the hot water over it. then comes the scrubbing. i typically do this outside next to the water tap. i sit on a small wooden stool and rigourously massage the clothes til i'm sure their sore....at least my arms say they should be! i realize as i'm washing that mosquitoes have overtaken my body in various small red locations. i have to break for bug repellent and then back to work. i usually drain the dirty water and rinse them 2 or 3 times...wringing them out like twisty noodles each time. then i hang them to dry, displaying the white man's intimates for all to see. and due to the disturbing smell of my linens, i decide to wash them as well. bug repellent and sweat just don't let things stay clean long. i hope it doesn't rain.

(note: when it does rain...you have a bit of nature's own aura. a white mist that resembles ash starts drizzling from the sky. the first time i saw this i started to cover my face and squint my eyes. i tried to reach out and wave it away. my friend laughed and explained the situation. it's as if the entire town is encapsulated by cloud. and then the winds come, howling against the banana and mango trees, rattling the pans against the pots and blowing the african dresses to the ground. and then the rains come, sometimes in floods...as if God warmed His own pot of water and decided to do some scrubbing.)

after laundry, i warmed another pot of water. the dishes were stacked and begging to be washed. i'd leave them, but ants and gnats would have a festival and overtake the place thinking we invited them. as i washed, there's another pot boiling in preperation to rinse. and after rinsing i spilled some extra water on the ground to mop the traffic residue from the cement floor. then i filled up 8 of our water bottles with water from the outside tap. these fill my own water bottle and the doc boils them to use them for drinking water and lemongrass tea (some sort of malaria preventative).

this might seem like a lot of work, but it's normal for the average person. and probably it's easier, because many women have to do this for their entire family...AND they have to cook! (which i have not excelled at yet. my one attempt led to a smokey house and disgusting, unreparable mixture.)

the real work comes with washing myself! i typically boil some water, unless i'm in a hurry, in which case i suffer beneath a showerhead spewing less than comfortable cold water. with the boiling water, i dilute to make a larger amount of rinse less scalding. i use a bowl to pour it over me, washing and rinsing as i go. i've learned i have to scrub VERY well to get all the bug repellent residue off of my skin. ...and then i reapply after i return to my room (but not before i squeegee out the bathroom floor) i can't wait for the day i don't have to wear bug repellent.

so, that's what a work morning looks like. i have these maybe once or twice a week. surprisingly, my favorite thing to do is laundry. my least favorite...is doing the dishes. some things don't change.

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written by  theresa on November 12, 2009 from Douala, Cameroon
from the travel blog: to africa
tagged Africa and Morning
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You go! What a day ....I hope your wearing out your camera....Do you need more of anything? Love ya I sure do like your post!

written by  Mom on November 13, 2009

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