Life in Kenya

My faithful readers, I know I promised you I would write and tell you about life in Kenya.  I’m sure you are wondering what has been keeping me from regularly updating my blog.  Well if you will indulge me, I would like to teach you about life in Kenya.

Water

The essential element of life.  You would think water would not be a problem- since we live on Lake Victoria, the second largest fresh water lake in the world.  The problem is that we have access to gallons and gallons, but we can’t drink it without filtering first.  As a matter of fact, we have to filter it two times to be sure we have gotten rid of any parasites or amoebas.  Trust me, dysentery is not the way you want to lose weight.  I had a touch of something a few weeks after arriving here.  For three days, I had to constantly be close to a bathroom.  Not trying to be graphic, but it was no fun.  Tracy has also had her experience with dysentery recently and had to go to the hospital to be treated for amoeba.  So, we have to filter water before we drink it.  The first filter goes fairly quickly.  It takes roughly ½ hour to filter about five gallons through.  The second filter takes more time as it drips the water slowly into the jug.  This process takes about three hours.  You have to keep your eye on the jug, or it will overflow all over the floor. (We learned this from experience.)  This water filtering is done daily because we drink so much water here, as it is hot and dry.

Laundry

The wash is done by hand out at the faucet in front of my In-Laws house.  Then, the laundry is hung on a clothes line to dry.  Since doing the laundry is such a time consuming process, Tracy has our friend, Mouline assist us with the laundry twice a week.  Mouline is a young widow supporting two children, so this arrangement helps us both out.

Ironing

The ironing is done by a charcoal iron.  Basically it is as its name says, you flip the lid up, add charcoal and light it.  After a while, the charcoal gets hot and you can iron the clothes.  It is a far cry from plugging in the electric iron back home and having it hot in a minute or two.

Dishes

Like filtering water, doing the dishes is a two-step process.  We have two wash tubs.  One is for dish soap, and one is for bleach.  We have to use the bleach to make sure any parasites/amoebas are killed.  We have a large tea kettle which we use to boil the dishwater in (no hot water in the kitchen).  We pour the water in the tubs and do the dishes by hand.   Sometimes if we have company over for supper, we later have to go through 3 tea kettles worth of water.

Mosquito nets

We have to sleep under a mosquito net to keep out the bugs (of which there are many).  This is one of the best ways to ward off malaria.

Showers

We do have a heated, indoor shower, praise God.   However, we have a creative way of getting hot water.  We have a water tank outside our house and beneath that is a jiko, which is a charcoal stove.  Basically, the night watchmen put charcoal in the jiko around 3 AM and light it.  When we wake up, we have hot water for our showers.

Bathrooms

The word for bathroom is Choo (pronounced with a long o).  Let’s just say, it’s always an adventure using a public choo.  You see, a choo is a hole in the ground.  You definitely don’t want to be caught with dysentery when you are out in public.  And in Kenya it’s BYOTP- bring your own toilet paper.  Tracy always keeps some in her bag when we go out.  I thank God every day for the seated toilets we have in our house!

These are just some parts of our daily life here in Kenya that keep us busy.  I am not complaining, as I love our life here.  It’s just a little like living on Gilligan’s Island, you know?

No phone (we do have our cells), no lights (well, solar), no motor car (we’re able to borrow Baba’s)

Not a single luxury (not true- our family, friends and church have been keeping us supplied)

Like Robinson Crusoe

It’s primitive as can be (not entirely true either)

Ok so it’s not like Gilligan’s Island after all.  It’s just home.