HOW DO THEY DO IT!!!!!!

The alarm goes off, we get up, turn on an electric coffee pot for our morning cup of coffee, step into a warm shower, turn the air conditioner to the temperature that is comfortable for us, pop a slice of bread in the toaster for breakfast, and begin our wonderful day in paradise.  This is our life as we know it.

The rooster crows before we want to get up, we walk to the bathroom and pour water in to flush the toilet, walk to the kitchen to start a fire on the charcoal cooker to boil water for coffee, wipe our head of sweat with a cool rag, heat up a bowl of rice from the night before, and off we go to the bus stop to begin our day.  This is the life of an African.

Rooster on death row!

Monday we experienced a full day with Goodluck, Maomi & Esther as they know it.  Julia goes to school and works a full time job.  She leaves in the morning at 6:30 am, walks to the bus stop which is about 1 mile from the house and catches a bus into town.  She attends college until noon, then goes to her job.  She teaches computer skills, bringing home 150,000 schillings each month, which is the equivalent of approximately $75 USD after the African government takes out their taxes.  To supplement this household income for Goodluck & Julia, JSM contributes $200 USD each month, which equals to 280,000 schillings.  So their total income, with our support, equals to approximately $275 USD per month.  (And we complain about our salaries - shame on us)

Goodluck is a full time Pastor, so his responsibilities require all of his time tending to his church & others that call constantly for him to pray with them.  Maomi & Esther are up early to begin the daily chores.  The first thing that is done is washing the dishes from the night before.  They don't have the luxury of a dishwasher.  The dishes are stacked in pans and are washed outside.  You see three pans of water, one for washing, two for rinsing.  No hot water!  This is hard to imagine isn't it?  They have no concept of sanitation.  When we mentioned the word to them, they looked at us clearly not understanding.   The faucet you see in the picture is not hooked up.  There is no running water anywhere near this place, trust me!  Once the dishes are washed, you stack them neatly in another pan to dry.


Janice & Esther washing dishes

Next it's time to wash clothes.  You guessed it - no washing machine and no dryer.   Clothes are washed in a bucket of water - cold water of course.  You then wring them out and hang them on a clothesline to dry.   There is no such thing as "fabric softener".   Our clothes feel as though they have been starched!  They do have an iron, however.  Imagine that.  It is electric, so we plug it up, place a sheet over the dining room table and iron our clothes. 

Maomi washing clothes

The girls take turns doing the laundry & dishes.  They never complain, or whine.  You can hear their beautiful voices singing as they are washing the dishes or the clothes. 

Maomi hangingclothes





 Since there are no faucets of running water, they go to a well to "fetch" the water.  It is carried in 5 gallon buckets to the house and poured into a huge bucket in the kitchen.  They get water from this well for the bathrooms, kitchen, and for the clothes to be washed.  These tiny little girls carry these 5 gallon buckets filled with water by themselves!  They can carry one on their head and hold one by the handle.  They are completely self sufficient.  I, on the other hand, would be yelling for the man of the house to come quickly and "fetch" me a pail of water!!!!  I have observed this daily activity since we have been here.  The women do ALL the work, while the men sit around under the trees laughing and talking about what they are going to wear the next day, I guess.  I can see I've got a lot of work ahead of me for these women!  They need to be updated on some things.  Seriously updated.  This could get ugly before it gets better.  This Sunday Eddie and I are doing a marriage seminar.  I can see clearly that the women are going to be very happy, but you can only imagine the men will be a different story....

Yes, this bucket is filled with water.  I just don't get how they can walk with this thing on their head and it doesn't fall off!  Maybe it's the hair texture, or just a God thing.  It didn't work for me, I can tell you that.  And to be honest with you, I don't WANT to learn how to do it!  My prayer for them is that we will be able to get running water for them soon.  Having something that heavy pressing on top of your brain can't be good for you!   It's heavy, you hear me?  And they carry two at the time!!!!!  This is one of the wonders of the world.  You don't just see women carrying water on top of their heads, you see baskets of bananas, potatoes, charcoal - you name it.  And the strangest thing - I've never seen a man carrying anything!  They push their stuff around on bicycles!  There's something seriously wrong with this picture.  Eddie has been working with Goodluck regarding this very issue.  He has been encouraging him to cook & help around the house.  Imagine the concept of him having dinner ready for Julia when she comes home!   I see nothing wrong with that, do you?

In between all this cleaning, the girls are preparing lunch and dinner, just to start this cycle all over again tomorrow.  At the end of the day, everyone is still smiling and happy.  Me, on the other hand, after following them around all day, my tongue is hanging out and I am ready to step into that hot bucket of water and go to bed early!

As I sit here and write this, it's 9:00 am and I can hear Esther singing praises to the Lord as she sits on her little stool washing dishes.  Maomi is outside washing clothes.  We are going to town to today and the first place we are headed will be the market.  We're coming back with a mop!  The least we can do while we are here is make their jobs a little easier.  It hurts my back to watch them mop the floor, bending over using a rag!  When Eddie asked them about a mop, they had no idea what he was talking about.  Maomi said "you mean I can stand up and clean the floor?  Wow!" 

Our passion for this country has increased after observing and participating in the lives of these people.  We will surely go back home with a greater passion to increase the support for this ministry.   Together we WILL make a difference!