Before I could get going on breakfast, there was a knock at my door. The lady who comes occasionally to hand wash things that don’t go in my washing machine was here. For five years, I’ve had people asking me regularly for work. There are countless requests to nanny my children. There are many offers by passersby to do my laundry as I hang it out on the line. Many request to weed my garden. I’ve had people come to the door, stop me in town, ask me quietly as I pass them along the road. I’ve turned down so many people for “piece jobs”, as they are called here, and it is hard. It is hard to know whom to help and how to help. I couldn’t possibly employ all the people who come by asking for work. I usually turn them away saying I don’t have any work to be done (which is true, I do it :) ). Truly, what would I give all these people to do and what would I do if I had all my jobs covered? But sometime last year, this little lady came to my door. She had a baby on her back. She asked for R12 (less than $1) to buy paraffin, which is used here for cooking. She asked if I had any laundry that needed doing. I prefer to wash things in my machine. Maybe it’s my culture or the way I was raised, but I think they are good and clean that way and they feel softer than when they are hand washed. But some things don’t fit in my machine or don’t belong in my machine. Rugs and coats are two major ones. So for whatever reason, when this lady came by, I offered her a few things to wash. She did such a thorough job, I told her to come back any Saturday and I would find her something to wash. She doesn’t speak a word of English and my Sesotho is atrocious. I usually have to get Detay or Joy to translate for me so we can communicate. So, she comes by every so often (amazingly not every Saturday….) and I always find a rug or two for her to wash. Today she washed my two biggest rugs. I paid her generously, by Mokhotlong’s standards, but to me it’s still hard to stomach someone working for as little as they do here.
This morning I cleaned the entire house. I spend my days sweeping. Africa produces a lot of dirt. Children produce a lot of dirt. Even so, every week or sometimes less, the house needs a thorough going over, from top to bottom. I love a clean, neat, sweet-smelling house. It’s like a visual sigh of relief. I love clean, wind-dried sheets and can’t wait to go to bed tonight. I also love clean kids which means this every night.
During the girls’ afternoon rest/nap time, I went for a jog. Ruby needs the exercise and so do I. I enjoy the fresh air and sunshine. It’s a great time to just clear my head. I pass by lots of kids and they make me smile. The little girl in the picture below (can you spot her?) is so spunky. She’s so thin, she looks like she could blow away in the strong midday winds. But she’s full of herself and she swings her tiny hips and jabbers to herself as she walks past me. I see her regularly. Everyone asks for my dog. She isn’t actually mine…. She’s on long-term loan from a friend. I appreciate her for her companionship and protection. For some reason, even though Basotho are terrified of her, they all want her. Then when I say I’m not giving her up, they ask for her puppies. You should see the confusion on their faces as I tell them she won’t be having any puppies…. A very foreign concept here.
Sadie Kate and I did yoga before dinner. I am not any kind of yoga fanatic, but I started doing some short videos a couple months back. I’m still suffering mightily with my aching head and neck and thought maybe I could stretch out some tension. I am using Yoga by Adriene videos which a friend downloaded for me. The jury is still out on if it’s helping or not, but I continue trying regardless. At least I have a cute yoga buddy.
For dinner, I pulled this recipe to try out of my favorite cookbook — Taste of Home Country Cooking. I like the older ones because they use a lot of “from scratch” ingredients, which I need in Mokhotlong. There’s no canned soup, ready-made biscuits, jars of enchilada sauce, bottles of teriyaki sauce, etc etc. I had some ground pork I wanted to use and decided on this recipe. Because I didn’t have “pork sausage”, I added a bit of salt, paprika, sage and garlic to my ground pork. Everything else I kept the same. It was seriously so easy and so good! I served it over rice with stir fry on the side. When I make it again, I will reduce the sugar some because it was pretty sweet with the ketchup and brown sugar. But otherwise, it got two enthusiastic thumbs up from my clan. Give it a whirl!
The rugs are dry now and back in place. The big one spent the afternoon on top of Rocky so as to keep it good and clean while it dried. Thankfully there weren’t any bird droppings on it when we pulled it down tonight. Ellee’s rug had horrible grease stains from where she spilled a bottle of baby oil on it some time back. I’ve washed it since then, but the stains remained. This morning I treated it with Shout and Dawn dish soap (my two prized American cleaning supplies) before the lady took it to the river to wash it. I wish I had a before picture! It came out so beautifully, I can’t believe it!
Overall, a productive Saturday for Mrs. St.Clair. I’m tired, but it’s a good tired. I am hopeful that 2018 is going to be a great year! At least with a clean house and yummy leftovers, I know tomorrow is going to be a great day. Off to bed I go.
~Abby
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