hardcore

missionaries are the most hardcore people i know. missionaries and moms. but really. my friend and her husband are missionaries in cameroon, africa. here are questions they have been asked about there lifestyle. seriously. hardcore. and i dont think i will ever change my opinion. most wouldnt be able to do this for a day. just getting my facts from facebook statuses by how waiting in line or getting a sub par dinner out could ruin someones day.

Q: How do you manage without a refrigerator?

A: Managing without a refrigerator isn't too difficult – it just takes
a little practice and a little extra “planning-ahead”. We usually only
make enough food for one day, and if there are any leftovers we reheat
them at night so they don't spoil. There are no dairy products to
worry about. And the eggs we buy have never been refrigerated, so they
keep quite well without refrigeration. As for meat, we only buy a
little at a time, and we make sure to bring it to a full boil every 12
hours, which keeps it good for several days. And if we want any items
that would require refrigeration (ex. cold drinks, yogurt, etc), we
simply buy them in town and eat them right away.

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Q: What is the blue barrel in your living room used for?

A: Well. . .it depends on who you ask. . .if you ask Kelsey, she would
say that it is her source of water. . .the place where she goes to get
water for washing, doing laundry, flushing the toilet, bathing,
cooking, etc. . . . .but if you were to ask Sammy, he would say that
it is his exercise program (since he is the one who hulls buckets to
keep it full). . . .so take your pick. . .a water source or an
exercise machine. . .either way, it comes in really handy :-)

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Q: How far do you go from water? What is its source?

A: Sammy carries water by bucket from an outdoor (public) faucet that
is about 200 yards from our house. We have a barrel in our house which
he fills a few times a week (it takes him about 20 trips to fill the
barrel -- 40 buckets).

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Q: How safe is the water? Do you treat it?

A: The water is generally safe. But we do filter all our drinking
water just to be sure.

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Q: Do you have something rigged up for showering?

A: No, we don't have anything "rigged" for showering, we just take
bucket baths, which suit us just fine, and is rather refreshing,
especially after a hot day.

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Q: How do you do laundry?

A: Kelsey washes all our clothes by hand and hangs them on a clothes
line to dry. We buy laundry soap in town, and we have a couple large
basins that we use as laundry tubs. Any garments that are really dirty
are rinsed first (or left to soak in bleach water for a while), then
they are washed in soapy water, and beat out on the cement slab or
scrub them with a brush if need be (which does wonders at getting all
the dirt out). Once the clothes are clean, they get a second rinsing
(to get the soap out), and finally they are wrung out and then hung up
to dry. It usually takes about an hour and half to do laundry. And
depending on how hot it is that day, the clothes are usually dry in a
few hours.
For some this may sound like a rather tedious and strenuous task, but
Kelsey actually quite enjoy it, and since all the women here wash the
clothes in this same manner, she has found it to be a really great way
to build relationships and relate to the other women in our
neighborhood.

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Q: Are there any danger of bugs or snakes with such an open house in
the country?

A: I won't say there aren't dangers, since there are snakes around, as
well as scorpions. We haven't seen any snakes as of yet. And the
scorpions here are not aggressive (unless you were to step on it, I
suppose). We did kill two scorpions this past week. . . .and we keep a
machete on hand for just that purpose. But we do have screens on all
the windows, and ceilings in all the rooms, which keep most critters
out. And mainly it's just ants we have to fret about. But we
habitually keep an eye out, just in case.

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Q: Do you have a sewing machine, or did Kelsey do all that pillow and
curtain sewing by hand?

A: No, we don’t have a sewing machine. Kelsey does all the sewing by
hand. To save time, she doesn’t always bother to do a complete hemming
job on the curtains. But they look great just the same.

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Q: How do you travel in Cameroon?

A: Our means of travel very much depends on where we want to go. We
walk when we don't have to get somewhere urgently (and if it's under 6
miles). We take motorcycle taxi for most of the other times, unless
we're traveling a great distance (or with a lot of luggage), in which
case we would take a bush-taxi (an over-crowded van).