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Published: August 10th 2011
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Many of the people I am keeping in touch with have asked me about my living conditions. I assure you they are quite nice…
I live in a 3 storey building that is surrounded by a very high wall. We have a security guard 24 hours a day. He opens the big steel gate when we arrive and leave. He also keeps the compound clean. (Compound is a good word to make it much grander than it is.)
We have the first floor. The second and third floor are occupied by other volunteers/employees of NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations). We rarely see them.
I share this 3 bedroom/2 bathroom apartment with Hanna. She is a Graphic Designer who is also on a 2 year stint with VSO. She works at Femina HIP as well. She is from Kelowna, British Columbia and she is so easy to live with.
My other room-mate, for the time being, is Nora. She is a graduate student from Switzerland who is here gathering data for her thesis on African Studies. She is staying with us for 10 weeks. She is also a very good room-mate and very easy going.
Now to the
accommodations…
The floor is tiled throughout the house. There are no carpets due to the dirt and dust. Tile floors make the cleaning that much easier.
The living room/dining room is a quite large. It provides enough space that we never feel cramped when we are all at home at the same time. The couch and chairs are relatively new and quite comfortable. The couch is big and comfortable enough for a nap. There is no air conditioning, but there are ceiling fans throughout the house to make things cool & comfortable.
In the dining room, our fridge sits. I don’t know why it is in the dining room. It was there when I arrived and will be there when I leave.
The kitchen is a decent sized room with a counter and sink and plenty of cupboards. We have all the utensils, pots & pans, and dishes that we need. There are not the extras that we all seem to acquire back at home. Here, it is all about the basics and that seems to work.
We have an electric stove as well as a gas cooktop. The power goes out in the neighbourhood
quite often as they ration on a daily basis. The gas cooktop allows us to continue to cook in the dark. I am sure some of you will be shocked that we have a propane tank in the kitchen, but this is how everyone does it here. We actually thought about putting it outside, but figured it would get stolen.
We cannot keep a ton of food in the house since the power goes out so often. We usually buy what we need for three days or so and then we head back to the grocery store for more. We eat a ton of vegetables and fruit, rice, beans, eggs, etc... We haven’t cooked meat or poultry yet, but we will eventually get to that. I bought some great spices in Zanzibar so I will be making curry chicken, beef or fish in the near future.
Off the kitchen is the laundry room. To have our own washing machine/spinner is a luxury. We do not have to handwash our clothes and we can get a load done in about 40 minutes. Once the clothes are washed, they are put into the spinner (kind of like an electric salad
Side of the Building
The back-up generator is way at the back for when the power goes out. spinner) and it spins 95% of the water out of the clothes. Everything is hung to dry. There are no such things as dryers here. We have and ironing board and iron, so we won’t look so crumpled.
My bedroom is simple, but has everything I need. The bed is decent and there is a wardrobe in the corner that houses shirts, shorts, toiletries, etc. It also has a lock on it for when I need to lock away the cameras, computer, music, kindle, etc. There are not closets so I have a rack that my work shirts and pants are hung there.
The frame above the bed was built to house the mosquito net. We all have one over our beds, but I don’t use mine very often. I cranked the ceiling fan on high and the mosquitoes don’t have a chance to land… They just get sucked away in the wind of the fan. Every night after walking home from work for over an hour, I hang my clothes on the frame and crank the fan. The sweaty clothes dry in no time.
Last but not least is the bathroom I share with Nora. Hanna
Living Room - Front Door & TV
TV gets no channels. We use it for DVDs only has her own ensuite bathroom. She has been there the longest, so the master bedroom is hers. Our bathroom consists of two rooms. The outer room consists of a pedestal sink and mirror. Here I shave, brush my teeth, etc. The inner room consists of a toilet and shower. No shower curtain, no tub, just a stall with no walls. Not much more to say about this room… As you can see, there are no loofas, body gels, conditioners, various shampoos, etc. It is just the basics.. which is all we need, really.
The best part is that we have a housekeeper who comes once a week to do cleaningand laundry. Her name is Rachel... Tuesdays are Rachel days. We pay her 10,000 tsh ($8.00 cdn) a week.
This now concludes the tour of my home. I hope you enjoyed it…. Please hold onto the handrails and you can exit through the gift shop.
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Cath Lawlor
non-member comment
Plenty of Hot Water?
Utilitarian is good. . . tell us there is hot water. Rachel sounds like a peach!