Water, sort of

Water straight out of the tap, is something we appreciate, knowing it's a luxury.  We have a pretty consistent water supply at our house, because we're fortunate to not be on city water.  Since we're a bit out of town - in a "suburb", if you like (ha!) - the school compound on which we live has it's own private pump.  Sure, it breaks down sometimes, but at least the person in charge of fixing it also lives on this compound, which likely helps in his motivation to fix it quickly.

For electricity, however, we do depend on the standard grid.  This past weekend it was down for repairs for two days.  With no electricity to run the water pump, everyone on our compound was using the water that had already been pumped into the storage tank.  It was enough to last us all for the whole time, which was really wonderful.  The pressure was pretty low by the end of the two days, but there was still water there.

When the pump was able to start pumping water out of the lake again, a lot of dirt had accumulated in the pipes.  We're used to this sort of problem and know to just turn on lots of taps and let the water run out for a while.  After a few minutes, it's clean.  This time, however, a lot more dirt than usual had gotten into the system.  I let the water run for a long time, and this bowlful was what I collected after all that!

In fact, the water was dirty enough to clog the little filter on our washing machine not just once, but twice that morning (and I didn't even try to run a load until after I thought it was "clean"), and the drain in the shower.  I'll grant you that the drain in the shower has some other issues affecting it, but the dirt made a noticeable difference for the worse.

By the next day, though, all was clear again and we're happily washing clothes, dishes, and ourselves once again.

The daily grind

I've been feeling rather overwhelmed by housework lately.  Usually I can keep up with what has to be done, with some help from Andrew and Rose, a woman who comes to help me a couple mornings a week.  Last week and this week, however, it's starting to be a little much and my grouch-o-meter has been nearing the red zone at times!  A few things have been contributing to this flood of work:

• Dust.  I cannot believe how DRY everything around Musoma is right now, and the lack of rain coupled with all the roadwork going on (a good thing, but it creates a lot of dust when they grade dirt roads!), the air is positively thick with dust, which then settles on everything in our house.  Zarya helps me clean every day by volunteering her shirt as a dust mop.  As she crawls around the house on her belly, she leaves little dust-free trails behind her.  Effective as her method is, I do still try to sweep and mop regularly.

• Death.  When somebody dies, the family of the bereaved all gathers together for a week or two.  Last week Rose's aunt died, so Rose has traveled to the other side of Tanzania to go be with her family.  I feel petty for pointing out that I am now overburdened by housework when she's grieving the loss of her aunt, but it does fit into this list.

• Diapers.  Really I mean all things baby-related, not just diapers, but I wanted to keep my 'd' theme!  Zarya is as sweet as can be and I love her to bits, but wow, is she ever time-consuming!  I don't think I need to say more on that note - if you've ever been around an 8-month-old, you know what I mean.

• Dinner.  There is no such thing as whipping up a quick and easy meal around here.  Musoma is fresh out of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and canned tomatoes theses days, not to mention that Wendy's is closed and the supermarket doesn't carry baby food.

• Dishes.  We have two dishwashers at our house.  They are named Misha and Andrew.

I'm learning something through my doldrums of drudgery, however.  The other day when I realized that instead of sitting down at my computer to work on checking Zanaki and Ikizu Acts, what I really needed to do was make baby food and clean the house, I remembered a job I had in grad school.  For one year while working on my Master's degree, I had a job cleaning the washrooms of the linguistics building on campus.  I spent about ten hours a week scrubbing sinks and toilets and mopping bathroom floors.  It was the best job I could have had that year - it occupied enough of my mental energy that I couldn't think about classes and I got a total break from all the brainy stuff I was doing, but it left enough of my mind free that I could pray.  Never before or since that year have I had such an amazing prayer life.  For at least five or six of those ten hours every week I chatted with God as I cleaned.

And so, instead of running through my mental list of gripes and complaints about poor little Misha, having to sweep the floor of her own nice house and wash the dishes in which she'd just cooked a big meal, I thought I'd revisit my grad school days and hang out with God while I cleaned.  You know what?  He was happy to help me work.  We swept and mopped together, we washed dishes together, and when I sat down to play with Zarya after it all, I was feeling quite happy and energized instead of angry and exhausted like I'd been a few days earlier after going through the same chores.  I am once again reminded that one of the few things I can control in this world is my own attitude.

Little Fish

A lot of folks who move far away from their homes to live in developing countries feel that they are giving up quite a few things that they love and are important to them - houses, access to easy-to-prepare foods, malls, etc.  For me, the biggest thing I've had to (mostly) let go is swimming.  The nearest pool is about four hours away from Musoma.  Once or twice a year we're near a pool, and I try to seize every possible chance I have to enjoy the water.  We were recently at a conference held in Kenya at a place with a pool, so I was very excited about that!

I have great memories of swimming as a kid, and I hope Zarya will grow up loving the water, too.  I wasn't going to let having a little baby keep me out of the pool, so thus Zarya was "required" (you can see how very upset she was about this regulation) to play in the water with me for at least an hour every afternoon while we were there.  She worked hard on her paddling, kicking, and floating skills.  She also spent a fair bit of time just enjoying being held for a long time - it's much easier to carry her in the water than on land, so my arms didn't get as tired and I had a lot more endurance for lugging her around.