1. Water:
We are becoming remarkably good at conserving water. Previously I tried to contain the water while I bucket showered, as it got everywhere with the lack of a curtain. Now I make an effort to splash so that I can use the water to mop afterwards. Now, I ask questions like, “Hmmm… I wonder what I could use this dirty dish water for…” or “I wonder if I can rinse my mouth and make it land on the toothbrush to wash it out at the same time.”
2. Trash Disposal:
In America, we throw something away and for all know, it is never seen again. It goes to “trash world,” wherever that is. Here, when we throw something away, we have to ask ourselves if we are comfortable with all of our workers and neighbors seeing it. We just have a big trash pile behind the workers’ quarters. There is no where else to put it! It is either burned or taken away very occasionally. I always put our trash in the little brown shopping bags the market gives us on top of the trash pile. I have gone back several times to see if they are still there after I leave them, and they never are. I see certain parts strewn about, but never the entirety of it. There is a split in the fence where, I have heard, people from outside come in and go through the trash.
Now, I want you to stop and think of all the things you throw away and how much of that you would want others to see!
3. Germ Categories:
I have noticed since being here how stingy we Americans are when it comes to germs. The brush or sponge that washes the dishes would NEVER be used to wash anything else (except something else in the kitchen, possibly the counters), the toilet brush is STRICTLY for the toilet, the washing detergent is only for clothes, etc etc etc. We have both separate chemicals, and separate appliances for cleaning almost everything imaginable. We have dish soap, body soap, face soap, hand soap, detergent soap, car wash soap, mopping soap, comet (toilet) soap, and so on.
Here, as far as we know, they use two types of soap for everything. A blue body bar of soap which they use for washing themselves, dishes, etc., and this powder detergent called “Omo”. They use that on clothing, floors, toilets, and most other projects.
As I observed our cleaning girls’ methods, I have seen that they use the “toilet” brush for the toilet, shower, sink, and parts of the floor. I’m not condoning that type of cleaning method, in fact, in the future, when we get the money, I will make sure there are adequate cleaning supplies so that they can AT LEAST keep the toilet brush separate from everything else. My point is, it fascinated me that they seem to just see dirt as dirt and grime as grime no matter where it came from or what the composition of it is, whereas in America we are all germaphobes and have every single type of germ in its own category down to a science.
It seems as though we all live in our own separate boxes and keep every part of our life and everything we own in its own box too. There is the bedroom box where only bedroom things go in, a bathroom box, a kitchen box, etc. I can see my boxes getting smaller and smaller, and some even nonexistant anymore. For example, our room is a bedroom, sitting room, kitchen, dining room, closet, office, and den. I find myself using the bed for a table while I cook, using it to put bowls and vegetables on it, which would have been unthinkable to me two months ago. There is so much more I could say on the “box” issue, but I’m sure it will come out further in the future.
Julianna
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