Chores, chores, chores!

Housework in Congo?!? For sure! 

Chores are a bit different though than they are here in the States... let's take a look friends :-)

The first chores in the morning were sweeping and mopping. Here's a photo of one of the girls mopping the patio outside- something that was also done again in the afternoon...

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Laundry- There's no throwing in the detergent and pressing "wash" in Congo! That's right, it's ALL done by hand... I eventually had to start wearing gloves because I was scrubbing until my knuckles bled. The girls were great, the always helped me - while teasing me of course ;-)

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Preparing the food- Yes- the girls got many laughs this summer and watching me try to grind food was just another reason to laugh. Let me just say that this is a GREAT upper body workout and also a great way to get out frustrations! (Thinking of ex-boyfriends while doing this really gets the job done!) Here's the before and after of what we were doing:  

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Nothing like making dinner over a campfire, right?!? Try every meal, every day, cooked outside on coal. While I was there the director did purchase a microwave... I tried to explain to the Mamas and girls how to use it- wonder how they did after I left... They did enjoy watching me use it!! 

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After cooking and eating there are many, many, many dishes to wash!! Here we find the girls having fun in the lean-to where the dishes were washed. Dishes are washed like clothing in some regards- start in one bucket with soap and keep rubbing, scrubbing and putting the items into the next bucket of clean water until everything is clean! Yes- I was usually a mess after helping with dishes and yes, often dropped clean dishes in the dirt and had to start over... 

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But wait- where does the water come from for cleaning, cooking and doing dishes if there isn't running water? Well... yup, that's where it comes from, the well! There's also a cistern and in the photo about you can see girls and some neighbors gathered at the cistern to get water. But wait- I know you're wondering- Rachel, what do you when the cistern is dry and the pump to the well breaks?!? Check out the photos below...

There were a few days in a row when the pump on our well broke so we walked to a local school and had to wait our turn to have our containers filled... It was so cold that day!!

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Now what was missing in these photos... oh yeah, babies!! Babies have to be taken care of while all the chores are being done- but "how?" you ask...

 

That's right! You strap those kiddos on your back and get to work!!

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Guess I should get a few things done around my place... I could vacuum after I toss my clothing in the washer and while my dinner warms in the microwave...

Love & Peace