Meanwhile, the extra work has been piling up quickly. I have been given lots of help by Pendo to hand-wash much of our laundry. In Tanzania, it is considered very inappropriate- in fact, it is offensive- to ask other people to wash underwear (understandably so!) and so there are many items which I either handwash myself or put by for the times I can use a neighbour's machine. I also prefer to have sheets, towels, tea-towels and dish-cloths machine-washed, along with Andrew's pilot uniform and any new items of clothing we picked up in England, as hand-washing tends to wear clothes out much faster than machine washing.
The lack of independence to wash dirty laundry quickly when I want to is frustrating. However, I feel terrible complaining about it here in Dodoma, where so many people do not possess and probably never will possess a washing machine.However, having been used to having a machine, it is now difficult to go without!
Friends have been very generous in letting me run many loads through their machines, but I am really looking forward to getting our new machine in my own house to wash towels, sheets etc as and when I need to, without inconveniencing others.
On the plus side, since my machine's insides were fried by the dreadful power surges we regularly experience in Tanzania, the staff at MAF have become very pro-active in ensuring that our MAF compound homes are now equipped with voltage-protectors, to prevent the same disaster from happening again!
So the attack on my machine has not been in vain, as we are now the proud owners of a "fridge guard" surge protector on my super-useful freezer:
Now all I need is the new washing machine to plug in!
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