Things we think are Icky in the United States of Plenty

Cement floors are the norm here.  No rugs, no wooden floors.
Wet cement floors are quit uncomfortable.

Mosquitoes are vengeful bitters.  Can not see them but you sure can feel them.
Malaria is rampet.  The local people take it for granted they are just going to have to live with it.  They have pills to help them get well faster but not to keep from getting it.  There are not mosquito nets at the school where I live.  I slather myself with mosquito repellent every day along with my sun block.

Electricity going out every day or so.  One learns to dance around it with charging all the devices we in America are addicted to.  We also learn how to keep these devices from frying when there is an electrical charge.

There is no such thing as a fast computer here.  It is either dial up or motems which are just as slow.  There is no Wi Fi here.

No good tools with which to cultivate gardens or mow the grass.  Gardens are cultivated and weeds removed with big heavy hoes by the students at the school.  There is not even a push mower here.  They use sickles, big and small to swish, swish, swish their way across the large lawn.  Also the students come out every morning and pick up everything that has dropped on the lawn from the trees so that everything looks perfect every day.

Riding on dirt roads with really big holes after a rain and no room for ones feet.

No running water All water is carried in by the girl students every day.  Hot water for my bath in the tiny stand up tub every morning.   Cold water to flesh our toilet every day.  Boiled water to drink.

Washing clothes with no washer or dryer.  The students get our cloths on Saturday and wash them by hand in a bucket and hang them out to dry.

Fish with heads on.  I have seen enough of them.  They even have a sardine that is very tiny (one inch long) that you put on your plate by the hundreds. They eat very little vegetables and a lot of starch. Potatoes, plantains, yams, rice sometimes all at the same meal.

Bugs in ones hat.  I put my hat on the other day and felt something crawling on my heat.  Hat and bug went flying as I let out a yell.  It was a harmless beetle but still I dislike it crawling on my head. 

When you think that you need more or do not have enough think of how these people live.  And they are a lot more joyful and happy then most of us our.  I would like to bottle their joyful laughter.

I have pictures but I can not get them to download here in town at the computer cafe.  Will try later.