Living a Western Life with an African Twist: Laundry

After noticing how little I have blogged this year, I decided to have a theme for my blogs this summer to share different aspects of my life here in Nigeria. I hope you enjoy reading!

Doing laundry is something I don't take for granted. For most of my years in Nigeria, I have not had a washing machine in my house. Then, when I finally got one a little over a year ago, I still had to time it right because there wasn't always adequate electricity to finish a load at one time.(Occasionally I would have to rewash a load if it sat for more than a day waiting for electricity.)

These past months, my challenge has been water. There is serious road construction going on in my neighborhood so a few months ago we stopped getting water pumped through the city pipes. Now it that happened in the US I would probably just call the city water management service desk and my complaint would be heard and corrected within hours. In Nigeria it's a little different. There probably is a place to file a complaint, but it's a whole lot easier to just get the phone number for the local water tanker guy and then keep his name and number on speed dial so a delivery can be made by the next morning. (Not long ago I though we were going to have a neighborhood battle when two men on the compound called the same water tanker guy and the driver had to confirm whose call he'd gotten first and who should get the first load of water.)

With the water challenges, my husband as not wanted me to use the washing machine because it uses too much water. First we were sending wash to the guest house; one of the manager's perks has been laundry services, but that too can be a challenge if the guest house doesn't have adequate light or water. It's also hard when my husband travels and we can't easily get the laundry across town, dirty or clean.

Then it happened that my  brother-in-law came back while his school is between sessions so he started washing our laundry by hand. That worked well until the guest house grass started growing faster during the rainy season and his help was needed to man the lawn mowers each day.

For a time we were back to sending our wash to the guest house, but those last weeks of school, during the height of the rainy season, it was awfully challenging  to keep school uniforms an PE clothes washed and dried before they were needed again. (The dryer at the guest house is rarely used so a sunny day is needed to dry everything, but they are not as frequent if the rains fall often.)

As the school year finished I remembered that I could have access to the washer and dryer for direct hire staff at school. The lone set of machines can be pretty busy when the other teachers are around, but once the first group left after school closed I jumped at the chance to use the machines.

I've developed a system of washing twice a week. I start about 7:00 am, put in the first load go walking/jogging for a few miles and then move it to the dryer and start another load in the washer. Then I go home, shower, get the kids off to soccer camp and maybe eat breakfast before the next load is ready to go in. I don't always stay to dry the last load, if it's a sunny day it can dry on the line at home. Usually I don't have more than three loads.

There can still be hitches, one day I came to find that the storm the night before had burned the plug-in and I had to call the school electrician who was still in staff morning devotions. There is a sign up list for both machines so if someone gets a late start it may  be hard to stick to the schedule. I had another hitch the other day when the electricity supply was cut off for a short time. When that happens, even for a few seconds, the wash cycle has to start over again. (Good thing I was washing a blanket that could use some extra wash time!) Usually it takes me about six hours to wash three big loads, sometimes over eight!

So next time you do your own laundry, appreciate the method you have and give thanks for the light (electricity), water, and your ability to leave the machine to wash without interruption. If you live like I do where you may not have easy access to all three then you can understand why I don't mind spending half my day on laundry when I have the time. I guess time is the other commodity one doesn't always have. For now, I enjoy washing with relative ease and folding warm clothes fresh out of the dryer.