Monday, January 27, 2014

African life

In the area under the house, the kitchen fire
is open and unshielded.  The preparation
area is a small table off to the side.
The kitchen area overflows with the
family crowd ...  everybody pitches in.
I get kid duty, usually.  Sometimes, I
make the salad.
This family's laundry area is just outside the door.
Usually, folks have to walk to the river.

Curious what a typical kitchen looks like?  Or a typical laundry area?


Welcomed into an African family, we spent Saturday together.  Shopping in the marketplace, cooking over the charcoal fire, and sharing a meal together.

The kids took all these pictures, by the way.  They meet me joyfully and run off with a camera to photograph everything; thousands of pictures over the years of our relationship.


Kids take turns with the camera, posing for each other.

They bring the camera back and excitedly show me what they've captured.  I'll print the non-blurry ones and deliver them next time I'm in country.

These are the fortunate in their world.  They have a home and family, the kids are in school, most of them.  Some family members buy produce in the countryside and sell it in the city marketplace.  And they have water at their home, just steps from the door.  They don't have to spend hours each day carrying water like most folks do.

This is the real world, of course.  Around 80% of the world looks something like this.  They work harder than I, long hours and difficult tasks, every day.