Well we’ve been through traffic and garbage removal here in Freetown, Sierra Leone, now let’s go into the home and discuss two daily duties - cooking and bathing. Cooking here is primarily done by the women...the journey usually begins with a trip to the local market – although for a greater selection one must travel downtown – after acquiring your daily goods (remember no electricity means no fridges means shopping everyday) you return home and start preparing to cook…this includes lighting your stove – a cylinder shaped cement object that you place coals in (unless you haven’t the privilege of affording a stove and coals then you would cook over a wood fire) most people do their cooking outside as their homes do not contain a space to cook indoors - although my family does cook inside where there is space between floors in the stairwell. Once your fire is lit the daily meat/fish is steamed or fried while the rice is sifted through to remove stones then placed on the stove to cook (we have two stoves here – but we also have about 15 mouths to feed). While this is going on the sauce is prepared, this can vary from a sauce made with oil, greens, and spices, to a peanut sauce, to a tomato like gravy with onions – everything spicy hot! The meat/fish that began cooking on its own is then cooked with the daily sauce…once the rice is finished cooking it is then distributed amongst various dishes – each member of the family having their own dish – then the sauce is distributed beginning with the parents getting the majority of the meat/fish followed in order by the eldest getting the next greatest amount of protein down to the youngest who will get maybe one bite sized piece of meat or fish (although no one other than the parents really get much more than that). This repeats each day. In my home the children are lucky… they get rice and sauce (no protein) in the morning, and then once again in the afternoon they are given a meal like what I just described - being fed twice a day makes them better fed then most the children in this neighbourhood, actually in the whole country.
Now let’s discuss bathing…it is a pretty simple ritual here. Being there is no real running water in the homes (most homes here are made out of tin roofs – never mind indoor plumbing – in this case a more communal outhouse-like structure to bathe in would be used) and even in my home made with concrete walls and new plumbing there is not enough water pressure to send the water up to my second floor room…so the ritual begins by filling a bucket with water from a larger tub of water stored in my room (I am being pretty spoiled, no one else in our home has their own washroom other than the parents – and we live well off compared to most people in our community) – everything is room temperature…never hot water, never cold water…using a smaller cup I pour the water over myself, which usually is a welcome relief to my body after being in the hothothot African sun, but not always…then I proceed as usual using soap, shampoo etc. and when I am ready I once again pour water over myself until I am all shiny and new**** Washing has become a ritual I look forward to each day…I don’t quite know if its to get relief from the heat…partially, but there is something peaceful to this quality of washing…maybe it’s the time to myself, maybe its knowing I’m only using a bucket of water to clean and feel good about not being wasteful…no matter - what I do know is that each day I look forward to pouring that cool water over my body…taking some time to be with just me reminding myself to feel thankful for the abundance I have.
No comments:
Post a Comment