Bath Time

Bathing: Showers are for the elite; no peace corps does not consider me to be elite. So no shower for me. Bathing is an incredibly involved process that makes me seriously consider how much I care about my own personal hygiene; however, Malawians take it very seriously and take around 3 baths a day. Although here they call them passport baths, meaning you just clean what could be seen on a passport photo (so clever)!

For me to bathe it requires getting my 20 liter bucket, walking uphill to my neighbors house and using their spicket, and then managing to haul the 20 liters of water on top of my head, and carrying down a very treacherous path back to my house. Once home, I have to start a fire using a baulo, there is no equivalent to it in America, so just picture a clay pot with charcoal in it. I’ve gotten the fire making down, finally. I was told in my first “fire class” that I may not survive because after 2 hours of trying an explained to my teacher that I didn’t really need to eat hot things in Malawi. But, no worries I just use a WHOLE TON of kerosene and charcoal, and cloth and plastic. The only danger is that I may not come back with eyebrows. But lets be honest, I had too many of those to begin with!