The African Clean

Let me begin by coming “clean” that I have my own shower with hot water 24/7 and that I have access to a washing machine in the evenings and most of the weekend. This isn’t a post about cold bucket showers and hand-washing my clothes but rather about dust.

I have been walking for 45 minutes or so first thing in the morning. The first day I wore my running shoes. By the time we returned, my fairly white runners were the colour of the dust on the road. No biggie. I took them off and discovered the toes of what had been white socks were also that colour. Again no big deal - it’s not like I brought any new or special socks with me. I then peeled off my socks to reveal toes that looked as though I had walked down the dusty road barefoot! Since then I have been wearing my hiking boats and dark socks on the daily walks. My toes still manage to get grubby by the end of the day and there is no going to bed without washing my feet (if not my whole self). I’m glad I brought a nailbrush.

As a teacher, I have long been in the habit of washing my hands at frequent intervals whether or not they appeared to need it. Here I wash them at least as frequently and the colour of the water that comes off them each time matches my grubby toes! The books in the library seem to have a fine coating of dust and after shelving for even a short period of time my hands are filthy.

The cleanliness of my clothes is a different issue. In Singapore if I wore something for more than an hour or two, it needed to be washed before it was worn again. By the time I walked home from school, my clothes and me were so sweaty we both needed washing ASAP. Here it’s so much cooler and less humid that I have to relearn how to tell when clothes are in need of a wash. Pants (trousers for the British) are easy - the hems show the dirt – but then again the hems get dirty about as quickly as my toes so should I just wear them that way? The washing machine isn’t the most effective one I’ve ever used so the line between freshly washed and not is a bit blurry on some items which compounds my issue. I’m hoping I can trust a colleague or two to say something if I start to push the boundaries of cleanliness too much. Then again, the yoga mats we use each week have a coating of dust and the instructor confessed that at first she washed them weekly but then she gave up.

The next rains are scheduled to come in October and I’ve already been given a head’s up that I will need to acquire some rubber boots to wear into town and even on my two minute commute on some days! I suspect I’ll look back on the dust with longing when we are surrounded by mud and damp laundry that never fully dries.