Daily Life

One part of our "household" is our family's workers.  With few modern conveniences available, even the simplest tasks take lots of time.

Preparing a simple meal means an early morning trip to the market, followed by hours spent in the kitchen.  And once the meal is prepared, there's still the clean-up!

Mama Lydie cooks for us, and her daughter, Mama Sindi cooks for the visitors and other missionaries who choose to eat their main meal together.

No washing machine or dryer means that all clothes, sheets, towels, and anything else needs to be washed by hand and hung on the line to dry.

We have laundry done four or five days a week.

It's interesting to try to explain life in the US to some of the women here.  I told one of my friends that I didn't have anyone to help me in the house when I was in the States.  She was surprised, so I tried to explain that I do less work cooking and keeping house by myself in the States than I do here with a whole team of people.  It was hard for her to believe.

We're glad to have a chance to build relationships with some special women, while finding ways to make our daily life possible!

If you are interested in reading more on the subject, Debunking 5 Myths about Expat Life talks about some of the realities of household help, along with some misunderstandings people can have about living in another country.