Ramblings about life

Okay, so it’s been a long time since I’ve had time to sit down and write about life. Not because I haven’t wanted to – I’ve just been busy doing… I’m not sure what. So, I’m going to ramble…

Did I mention that I’m now in charge of the “cash box” for FATER? It doesn’t seem like it should take all that much time but somehow, it does. First off, counting money is tedious. The highest denomination is 5,000 francs which is less than $10. All the students pay their school fees in cash. So I have to count all that money. And I pay everything - salaries, rent, electricity, taxes, miscellaneous expenses – in cash. That’s a lot of cash counting. Then I have to record it all into Excel which is fine until something messes up – which happens often it seems because I’m learning Excel as I go along. Excel is getting used to me and is cooperating more but it still hiccups sometimes. Oh, and then I meet with Elias once a week. He is an employee of FATER and I give him cash each week which he uses to pay incidental expenses at the college. We meet to reconcile his accounts and for him to give me any fees he’s received. More counting. I think that every week so far there has been a problem and we have had to get together a second time – his printer was out ink and he couldn’t print his reports, his printer was broken (Mark has set the school up with a new printer), he made an error on his report that required it to be redone, he forgot to bring some documents to the house (when he has come to my house), I have forgotten a payment book when I have gone to the school to meet him, etc. After we get our weekly reports figured out, then I send them to Margaret in the UK. She is the real bookkeeper and she inputs it all on Quickbooks. She usually has a question or two that needs figuring out. Then, it’s Monday and time to do the whole routine over again!

As I write this, I’m listening to the thunder and steady rain outside. We went for 2 days straight without rain! Previously we had filled our tank about 1/3 full with rain water and then the city water came in and topped it off. The next day we had oodles and oodles of rain but we had to let most of go because our tank was so full. Now we are down to about 2/3 of a tank. Today’s rain will not fill it again but will add some. We have to let the first of the rainwater go because it is dirty from the roof. Once the roof is cleaned off, then the water is quite clean.

Getting back to what do I do all day… Daily life takes time as well. Take laundry, for example. I have discovered that because the water from the tank to the house is gravity fed, there is not enough pressure for the washing machine. It is a European, front-loading machine. Unlike the washing machines in the US, this machine has a timer for adding water to the machine. When the time is finished, it continues with the next step, whether or not there is enough water in the machine to adequately do the job. I couldn’t figure out why the clothes seemed soapy after being washed and I kept using less and less soap. I watched it one day and realized that there was hardly any water in the machine for washing or rinsing! I also figured out a way that I can add water to it. The problem is knowing how much water it is supposed to have. Do any of you have front loading machines? Can you give me an idea of what the level of water is in the machine for a normal load? Anyway, now I spend time with each load of wash, watching the machine and adding water. If I’m not out in the laundry room, I’m jumping up every 10 minutes or so to check on it. I miss my twin tub machine that I had in Nairobi! Very basic and simple but conserved water and got the clothes clean. I’ve been looking but haven’t seen one for sale here.

Once the clothes are washed, then we use the solar dryer (aka clothesline) but with the sporadic rain, we sometimes get the clothes hung up and then after a couple of hours bring them back in. An hour later, or the next day, we hang them back up. Or, if they are fairly close to being dry, I spread them out in the spare bedroom. With just the two of us, there isn’t that much laundry anymore so we manage. It just takes time.

Of course, there’s the milk that needs to be boiled and then refrigerated and then have the cream removed the next day. Vegetables take longer to wash. There are bugs to kill occasionally. The power goes out multiple times each day. I need to stop at 2 – 3 different places to find everything on my shopping list. I wouldn’t say life is hard – it just takes more time. Mama Fifi helps out a lot – especially with washing dishes, hanging clothes, ironing, etc. But, she’s been sick quite a bit and one of her daughters was sick so some days I’m on my own.

We also spend 8 hours each week in language lessons with our helpers plus study time which, for me, is not consistent. To study we listen to the recorded vocabulary and sentences that our helpers make for us each day. We also write out sentences and try to repeat the sentences we’ve been learning. Mama Fifi is a great encourager. She gets so excited when we try to say something in Kinyarwanda and even more excited when we get it right! I turned on BBC last night and discovered they were broadcasting the news in Kinyarwanda. I listened for a little bit was pleasantly surprised to realize that I could pick out a few words here and there. I had no idea what they were talking about but at least it didn’t all sound like one jumbled-up mishmash of words.