Know your Easter Place

 

Last weekend Malcolm celebrated Easter. As usual he went to the Fellowship (church) that Ben and Katy hold on Sundays in the SAFI workshop. As an English speaking service mainly white ex-pats attend with a few local Tanzanians. The services are fairly informal.

After the service Malcolm enjoyed 2 gifts – a home-made Easter egg made by Ben and Katy’s elder daughter, Alessia, and an easter ‘cookie’ sneaked into his suitcase by his wife, Irene. Lucky man.

A couple of weeks ago Malcolm moved house to allow Katy’s parents to stay with their family for a 3 week visit. Fortunately Ben and Katy had recently bought a partially refurbished 2 room cottage which they intend converting to their 4 bedroom, 2 storey family home, subject to raising funding. This indicates their long term commitment to continuing to work to support those with disabilities to earn a living in Tanzania.

The cottage is situated on a large, 2 acre plot. It is of typical construction of better buildings with brick walls, concrete floors and corrugated metal roof. Though basic by UK standards it is far better equipped than the homes of most East Africans.

Like most homes it doesn’t have mains electricity of mains water and sewage. However, it does have a solar electricity system. Solar is becoming  more popular in East Africa, though many people can't afford to install even a basic system.

Washing water is supplied by pumping river water into a large tank, whilst drinking water is bought in large, refillable containers costing about £1.50 a refill. This is better than most Tanzanians in rural areas who collect water by hand from a hole in the ground, or, if they are lucky, buy it from a village pump and carry it home in buckets or jerry cans.

Both rooms in the cottage are large. One is a kitchen / living room. This is well equipped with cupboards and a sink, but Malcolm relies on a large camping stove for cooking (boiling water for coffee, porridge for breakfast and the occasional beans on bread). 

This is easier for him to use than the common charcoal burner that Tanzanians would use for cooking – not in the kitchen but outside at the back of the house. 

Fortunately Malcolm gets his other meals from the SAFI Café, or has invitations to meals from Ben and Katy. Like most homes there is no fridge or washing machine, or many of the ‘necessities’ we take for granted in England. Washing is done by hand, and Malcolm hangs it to dry in the Living area. This is to try and avoid 'Mango flies' from laying eggs on the clothes -  the larvae that hatch have the annoying practice of burrowing into your skin!!!! To kill the eggs  clothes need to be ironed -if you have an iron!

The bedroom is another large room ‘with potential’! The floor is concrete, which is better than those Tanzanians living in basic mud houses, with earth floors. Posher homes may have tiled floors, cheap lino or a few rugs. In their 7 years working in East Africa Malcolm and Irene have not been in a house or office, with carpets.

 

The bedroom has an ensuite shower and toilet, which is a luxury here. Most homes in rural areas will have an outside loo and washing facilities, if they are lucky. 

There is a method of heating the water, which relies on the guards lighting a fire in a brick built boiler. Again, a luxury if you don’t have mains power for an electric heater, and easier than using a kettle.

Overall, this is a decent fairly comfortable place for Malcolm. Ben and Katy have great plans for converting it to a family home when they raise the funding, which is a challenge for those living on the allowances of Mission Partners. And they plan to move into the house as it is in a couple of months!

Malcolm's use of the accommodation has been useful in identifying problems. Readers may remember that over the past 18  years he has  had a variety of challenges with African plumbing and toilets. Nothing changes! The house has been empty for some months and since moving in, despite Malcolm replacing the leaking valves and flush mechanism in the en-suite and exterior 'guards' toilets the 3,000 litre tank has twice emptied in about 5 days. This suggests there is probably an underground leak in the low quality and dated plastic pipes used to get water from the water tower to the house - a repair job outside Malcolm's capabilities!!!!

PS In honour of 'Death in Paradise' Malcolm has named the house lizard Harriet - it must be a she as there are lots of baby lizards