Moving in with the Hamalubas

Sunday, July 18, 2010

We checked out of our hotel and moved in with Tommie and his family for one night before traveling north for the Malaria Campaign. We ate lunch and watched his daughters playing in their yard, singing "Waka Waka" by Shakira.

The house is located on the Gaborone Secondary School campus, where many teachers and staff members live. Their home is medium-sized with 3 bedrooms, a kitchen, dining room and living room. The bathroom has no shower, and currently their hot water is not working. In order to bathe, we need to boil hot water and carry it in a large bucket to the bath tub, where we cool it down with cold water. Then we pour the water over our body with our hands. This is not easy, and washing one's hair is impossible.

After lunch, our bus for the campaign arrived, so we loaded up the bed nets and toys. Then we took the bus over to the school to load mattresses for the trip. The whole family helped, including Tommie's four-year-old daughters.

Then Tommie took us to run some errands and we stopped to have a beer when we finished. We had left some laundry for Tommie's housekeeper to do for us, and when we got home it was hanging outside to dry. Unfortunately, the sun went down before our clothes could dry completely, so we had to try a new method. We hung our socks and underwear on the coils behind the refridgerator and freezer to dry overnight. It worked, but our clothes were very stiff in the morning.

That night, we helped Moono, Tommie's wife, cook dinner. We cut vegetables and made beef stew. We also learned how to make pap--an African staple. It is made from ground cornmeal, mixed with water. It is a very simple, yet filling dish, and it is served with almost every meal.

We looked at a few family photo albums with the girls, packed our suitcases for the campaign, and went to bed, knowing that tomorrow would be an early and long day.