Camping in skirts

Lots of people ask what life in Korr is like. This post is for them.

So I wake, I shower, I get dressed, I have breakfast, I walk to school, I teach some lessons, I walk home, I cook tea, I email/read/watch a DVD, I go to bed!! Similar to back home.

What's different? I heard it recently described as 'camping in skirts'. Many aspects are like camping...always having a torch handy, dirty feet, walking outside to the toilet, bugs, camp food, limited electricity and water...but accordance with local customs we wear skirts. Here are a few more details (in no particular order).

• The choo (toilet) is outside the back door. It doesn't flush (it's a long drop latrine). The shower is next door and fed by water from a borehole. We are careful not to waste water and don't leave the shower running for long. It is not heated so morning showers are cold, although by evening water the tank has been in the hot sun for hours and so water can be quite warm.  
• We don't have a fridge and you can only buy certain foods in the dukas (small shops) in town so we eat a lot of dried and tinned food. We have a counter-top double burner hob with a gas bottle, and a safari oven that goes on top of the hob. We bake our own bread and getting meat like chicken is different (I killed and plucked a chicken last week for the first time).

• Ngurunit, a local lady, comes twice a week to do some cleaning and do laundry (we don't have a washing machine).
• I share a house which is new for me but it is going really well. We see God's hand in how he has selected us to live and work together. Their arrival in January was a real encouragement to me. I share a room with Misha. We used to sleep under mosquito nets but there are fewer bugs at the moment.
• Sunrise and sunset are at the same time every day (around 7am/pm) and the transition from light to dark is really quick. At the moment I am missing the long days! There are no street lights and it is really dark so we have to take torches if we are going to stay out, to light our way and also highlight snakes/scorpions/spiders/hyenas. But the night skies are amazing with loads of bright twinkling stars and when the moon is full you can manage without a torch.
• We get free lunch and chai at school, brought to us by someone from the kitchen. Lunch is either rice and beans or maize and beans with occasional vegetables. Not very exciting or particularly tasty but filling.
• The school day starts at 6am for students who have an hour of independent study before school. Staff prayer  meeting is at 7am. Most students are boarders. There are ten lessons, 40 minutes long. Most classes are over by 4pm after which there are sports or clubs on a Wednesday. There are lessons on Saturday mornings.
• The walk to school often takes longer than it should because it is customary to greet everyone you pass and stop to talk to people you know. Children call out 'mzungu' and come over to shake hands, ask for sweets and practise their English.
• It is hot all the year. Even though June, July and August is the cooler time of year it is still around 30 degrees much of the time. We must be careful to keep drinking water and include extra salt in food to avoid dehydration.
• The windows of our house don't have glass or curtains, just safety bars and shutters. We don't shut the shutters as we welcome the light and movement of air but recently it has been very windy at night and I have been making full use of a blanket as well as a sheet.