Life in Kpando

I do not start work until tomorrow and so I want to write about daily life as I’ve experienced so far in Kpando. It has been quite a shock to my system. We take for granted all the luxuries we have in the US. I can think back to this summer when I stayed at a hotel in Chicago and was so mad at hotwire for claiming it was 3 stars when I truly felt it was a 2 star hotel. Little did I know, I be wishing for accommodations as nice as that!

The house I am staying at, I believe from looking around the village, is one of the nicer houses. They have a good sized front and backyard. Grace, Isaac’s wife keeps an immaculate house. Their living room is very tidy and neatly organized. Next to the living room is a dining area separated by a curtain. I guess they haven’t been exposed to the open concept look yet. Then there is a hallway that takes you to a kitchen, a backdoor, 4 bedrooms and a bathroom. Size wise it is probably similar to the basic American ranch home. The walls are stucco and the floors are cement. It is very dry here, being the dry season, but there is minimal dust in the home. In my room they layed down linoleum flooring in order to make it more inviting for volunteers. They have a TV that gets 1 station. It had not worked for 8 months, so they are very pleased to have it again. There is electricity, but all of the lights are bare bulbs so the lights seem very harsh to me at night. They make me somewhat blue, and so I really do not care for night time here yet. I will be thankful once I have more stuff to do to make the evenings go by faster.

The kitchen consists of an electric stove, some shelving containing nonperishable foods and cooking utensils and equipment. Also, they have little fire stoves they cook with on the floor. All of my meals are prepared for me and they haven’t let me help clean my dishes yet, so I have yet to really see how the food is prepared. I haven’t disliked anything yet, but everything is unfamiliar and so if all tastes similar. They usually give me some sort of stew like dish that I eat with yams, rice, or spaghetti. The stew has fish, meat, and/or beans in it usually. I brought black pepper and Lawry’s season salt with me and so I can make the food taste a little more like I’m use to by adding that. I would describe the food as having almost a paprika taste or curry taste. The pineapple, oranges, and bananas all taste amazing though! I’m still getting my appetite back so I haven’t needed to eat any of my food from home yet. I will continue to go in more detail about the food as I continue to try more things!

My bedroom consists of 2 beds, a small sofa, and all of my stuff I brought from home. There are no closests or dressers so I tried to lay my stuff out as neatly as possible. I sleep on or in my little sleep sack. It is basically a sheet like material in the form of a sleeping bag with a pocket for my pillow. I have a need to be covered and so it suffices since it is hot here. They have screens on the windows that are always open in order to keep the bugs out but allow air inside the house. I’m getting use to all the things go bump in the night. Also, the Isalmic Mosque is nearby so I am awoken by the calling for prayer at dawn. Hopefully soon, I will be able to drown it out and stay asleep until I have to wake around 7 am. The women here sleep in a wrap that acts like an night gown, robe, and blanket. I bought one for myself at the market yesterday. I just need Millie, Isaac’s daughter, to show me how to wear it so it won’t fall off of me. Haha!

The hardest part of living here for me is the bathroom experience!!! The plumbing only works a couple of times a week right now since the town rations water during the dry season. When the pipes are open, they fill the 2 huge water barrels with water. The pipes have yet to be open so Millie had to fetch 9 buckets of water from the well yesterday! She carries them on her head! In order to flush the toilet, you must fill the bucket full of water. There is a small can that I use to take water from the barrel and put it in the bucket. I have figured out it takes 7 cans full in order to flush the toilet. I am trying to get myself on a water schedule to avoid going to the bathroom at night. Hopefully, I will succeed as not to wake everyone every night. Also, to shower you use a bucket and can. The water is room temperature, but to me it feels freezing when I poor it on myself. I have to stifle screams! I’m resorting to shampooing my hair every other day in order to make the shower easier. I am so glad I chopped my hair short. It would have been horrible to dry and shampoo my long hair!! Also, I am not using any conditioner. The worst thing is I’ve realized I probably will not be able to shave my legs! I’m just going to embrace it. However, I will not be able to embrace it for my underarms and will dry shave there. Men, I’m sure this is TMI, but I want everyone to get a good grasp of life here, so deal with it! J

I have yet to do laundry yet, so I will elaborate more on that at a later date. This post is already very longs, so I will also tell you more about walking through the market and town in a later post! I hope this was insightful. While, this new life is definitely culture shock, since my one night where I sort of had a freakout laying in bed, I am adjusting pretty well, I think! I’m very excited to start work tomorrow, after all that is the reason why I came here!

Love and miss everyone!

Love, Kari