We finally go water back after going three days without it. I had to use buckets to haul all the water I needed for showering, washing clothes, and flushing the toilet from these big storage tanks on the ground up four flights of stairs. Flushing toilets is the worst - they take an entire bucket of water, which is sooo much effort to carry up to the 4th floor! Bucket showers actually work quite well for washing up to get clean. It was quite an adventure . . . apparently losing water is a common occurance.
One thing that really gets to me here is the way trash is treated. There is no organized city waste disposal service, no recycling. Trash ends up being thrown in creekbeds or ditches alongside neighborhoods. Even when we visited a nice neighborhood, there was trash all over. It's not like the US where our garbage gets tied up in neat little bags and toted away to a far-away landfill. We are so distanced from the reality of our waste back home. The cleanliness of the environment is not a top priority in the city. Granted I do see university workers cleaning up the litter, but in general it is a big problem. Here I feel acutely aware of the trash I throw away. I see the trash in the ditch and realize that mine probably ends up there eventually. So I try to reuse containers as much as possible.
On the lighter side, I saw a giant land snail that was as big as my hand! I can't believe that snails would ever need to get that large! Also, our group went out clubbing at Mango Garden last weekend, and a picture of us dancing ended up in one of Dar's newspapers! Kiswahili classes are going well, a little overwhelming at times but I feel like I am learning so much every day! We start research methods with Dr. Roberts today.
No comments:
Post a Comment