Hand Wash

Yesterday I finally broke down and washed all the clothes that have been accumulating for the last several weeks. It didn't take me as long as I thought, it wasn't as painful as I was expecting, and it felt good when it was all over. When I went to get everything off the line I noticed that all the clothes in the last load were covered in white splotches from the detergent... I shouldn't have pushed it... I should have gotten clean water when I noticed it was gettin' too soapy. I sighed and put them aside to wash this morning. This morning, right before work and right after tea, I went to hang everything on the line. It felt like it was going to be a scorcher so I knew it wouldn't be long until everything was dry enough to put away. I went to work, came home at lunch to eat, eyed the clothes, decided they would be fine, and went to an afternoon meeting just a few minutes away. My whole walk I kept hoping it would rain and was so excited to see a dark cloud hovering over the whole area. As soon as I got to Kodumela and stepped underneath the big outdoor shelter, the wind started picking up, and within seconds hard rain started to fall. It was then that I remembered my clothes. I sat for 20 minutes and watched as the rain made little rivers in the dirt, shook leaves off the Acacia tree people sit under at tea time, and then I came back to my yard and assessed the damage. The clothes were soaked... but more importantly it had dropped 10 degrees in my room! It was a nice and balmy 93 for afternoon tea. We'll just try again tomorrow.


This is where I get my water... for drinking (I boil and filter) and for washing. With all the rain, the barrels have managed to stay pretty full. When the barrels start to run low, then we move on to the water tank behind them which has been collecting and storing rainwater for months. So when I'm running low on water in my room, or it's time to wash clothes, I get a big ol bucket and fill it (sometimes multiple times) right here.


And this is how I wash my clothes! The first green bucket is the soapy water for washing; I use rubber gloves because both the detergent and the scrubbing are really abrasive.
The second one is for rinsing.
The third is really MY wash bucket, but it doubles as a place to keep clean clothes and take them to the line when I'm all finished.


And then the clothesline. This is what my washing looked like just yesterday.