Stories from the notebook of Esther, 2006

WHAT’S IT LIKE LIVING IN AFRICA?


My first story November 2006

Where we are staying there is no fridge, no stove, and no oven. There is no heater for hot water in the bathroom. So if you want hot water to take a bath, you need to boil the water first, and to boil water you need to learn how to light a paraffin stove. At first I was afraid to learn how to do this as it looked a bit dangerous, meaning it looks like you can get your fingers easily burnt, but once I got the hang of it, it was fine. However, it takes a long time for the water to heat up, and so what you do is buy an electric kettle so you can boil water fast. This we did and I truly am grateful to the guy who invented electricity.

My first experience of inconvenience is taking a bath. There is no hot water, and if you want a shower you do it in the bathroom outside, just behind the kitchen. I decided I could survive without taking a shower. So a couple of days later after we acquired a kettle, and that was the best investment we could have made, I was preparing to take a bath when no one was home. I was boiling the water and Alan said he’ll go to the internet café and I’ll go ahead and enjoy my bath. I had already turned on the kettle twice and was boiling the third pot, you see I wanted to wash my hair and decided I needed that much hot water! I had my shampoo, conditioner, towel, soap etc. everything ready for my bath, as I went into the bathroom, the light went out- no electricity, so the kettle stopped and I decided ok, I have to make do and have my bath without the third pot of hot water, so I got my flash light and lit a candle and off I went to the bathroom for my bath. I had just started when I heard Alan calling me, “Esther are you alright?” Guess he was worried and I said I was fine, it was lucky that the electricity went off before I started my bath, better that I had less hot water than be caught in the dark whilst I was washing, that would have been worst, and I thank God for this blessing.

Talking about electricity, this is something that sometimes might be cut off suddenly, so what you do is be sure to have a flash light with you wherever you go during night time, I mean like when you go to take your bath, bring the flash light with you. For sure, when you go out after dark you need the flash light so you can see where you’re going; here there are no street lights. This advice you must heed or else you might fall into a ditch, and I am telling you this from experience, because this is what happened to me one time even though Alan had a flash light but I was walking in front of him, and I thought I was walking on solid ground, but suddenly I was screaming as I fell into a very muddy ditch, as it had been raining quite a lot the last couple of days.
In Malawi when the electricity fails you really feel it because your fan stops and you wonder how long you can last in the heat without it. While we were there the electricity failed only every day, but not for too long at a time.

Cooking takes double time to do as you know there is only one paraffin stove, so to make a dinner, I need to cook one thing at a time, I have to try and cook just enough for the meal and have no left over. Not having an oven is something I miss too. What I really miss is not being able to have a cold drink or a nice cup of tea when I want, because sometimes there is no milk. Come to think of it, this is just the simple things in life, but if you live in Africa, the simple things are a luxury.

Water is another luxury item, here there is water rationing, usually its supposed to be cut off during the week-ends, so you stock up on water on Fridays, the water gets turned back on Mondays, but sometimes it doesn’t come back till Tuesday or Wednesday, or it gets turned on Monday and then on Tuesday you have no water and then it gets turned on again on Wednesday. Sometimes you might be washing your laundry, by the way I have been doing our laundry the old fashion way, by hand, and in the middle of your washing you run out of water. So this can be quite annoying, you just have to leave your washing in the wash basin and finish doing it when the water comes back on.

Transport in Nairobi is like nothing else I’ve experienced in the world. There are so many people in the city, all walking any where and crossing anywhere and everywhere, people pulling carts carrying stuff here and there, and the roads are just always filled with cars, trucks, matattus, bicycles, all seem to be going at a fast pace and trying to cut each other out and turning whenever they can, stopping only when it looks like you’re going to hit someone,
I’ve lived in Hong Kong for over 20 years and when you travel on the bus it can get very crowded, but in Malawi it’s something else, imagine being in a mini-bus fitted with 14 seats for 14 passengers and you are in it with 23 others!

So what’s it like in Africa?
My biggest trials would be the mosquito bites I am getting. The first week I would say that I was not bothered at all, I made sure the mosquito net was properly put in place, I burned the mosquito coil in the bedroom before we go to bed. By the second week we noticed that the bites swelled up and some bites are worst than others, they turn red and get very itchy. Alan enquired at the pharmacist what would help me and he suggested that I take antihistamines. I told Alan he should just get me some lotion/ointment to put on my bites. We delayed getting them, I am always reluctant to take any form of medication, and I just used an antibiotic ointment that Alan already has, they seemed to give me relief even though they didn’t last, I survived, till we got to Mombassa, I seemed to be getting more bites and I felt more itchy and more discomfort, I started to put the mosquito repellent on me before we go out, and then before we go to bed. Finally I started taking the antihistamine pills and they seem to help me. So, before I go on, I must say that this trial is really not a burden at all, even though Alan can see that I am bitten all over, like I have the measles, I am well in body, mind and spirit. I remember coming out of the bathroom one morning and told Alan of my triumph- I said to him, you know what life’s little pleasure is? It’s killing a mosquito, and I wrote a reply to Trisha who sent me an email that morning, and I told her that I have turned into a killer!




Thomas

Thomas is a peanut vendor that we often buy peanuts from. The first time we met him, alan struck up a conversation with him and one of the things they talked about was why there were so many different kinds of churches. Since then, every time we see him we buy some peanuts and alan would have a chat with him. Thomas has been asking questions and Alan soon gave him a bible. Before long we also met his wife, Ruth. Then we found out that she had had a miscarriage and was hospitalized, it was very frightening for them as it was very serious, and Thomas even thought she might die, but thank God she recovered.

On the last week of our stay, alan told Thomas that the coming Sunday, it would be our last Sunday here and that he would be speaking. Thomas said he would come with his wife. He knew where Restoration Miracle Church (RMC) was. So on Sunday, January 7th, 2007, our last service at RMC before our trip back to Toronto, Alan gave his testimony and I took some pictures of it. At the end of the service Pastor Laz had an altar call and Thomas and his wife and a couple of others came forward. Tears were in Alan’s eyes as he watched Thomas speak. He said, it was Alan that brought him here, he befriended him and now he wants to have Jesus again in his life. He had not said the word Jesus for many years because he had lost his faith. But today he knows Jesus is here and he wants to start over.
We prayed for them and we prayed for some other people who wanted prayers. It was a very happy ending of our time in Africa.