Shopping, cooking, ironing, washing, eating

Monday 27 February 2012

Kananga near the air freight office

We went into Kananga this morning, Jacques, Francois driving, Jim and Sue.  The 6 mattresses, flat wear, dishes and glasses have arrived by air freight from Kinshasa.  The freezer, 1000 liter (about 350 gallons)water tank, toilet, water pump and the gutters are still on the way. 

At a wood shop run by the Catholic Church we stop and order 6 wood bed frames, then buy 18 bags of cement, paint, and paint brushes for the guest house project.  Jacques and Francois do the shopping while we wait in the car, so the price doesn’t go up with our presence. 



Hand cart traffic, Kananga

 

  

The cement and mattresses won’t fit in the Toyota 4Runner, so hand cart delivery is arranged.  Five cements go into the Toyota and the rest into the hand cart.  Three men push the cart to the freight office and pile the 6 mattresses on top. 

The cart traverses the 4 kilometers, about 2 miles, and is soon at the compound delivering the goods. 





Laundry day is generally Monday.  The Maytag, two tub wringer washer sits on the patio where people gather to talk, wash, iron and cook meals over charcoal fires.  Soak, wash, wring, and a quick air dry does the trick. 

Victor ironing with the charcoal iron

Ironing is done with a charcoal iron on a low table with a cloth spread over the table. 





All cooking is in a small room off the patio, no electricity for the stove in the kitchen. 

Georgette feeding future meals

The meals are very good.  Breakfast, about 8 am, varies from ricemeal – very tasty and sweet, scrambled eggs and ham, bread and jam, papaya or pineapple.  Lunch is about 1 pm and is the main meal of the day.  Chicken, or beef, or spaghetti or a tuna salad, usually rice, sometimes fu fu, the local maize grits like food, and cassava or other green vegetables from the Akasa’s garden.  Dinner, at about 7:30 pm is smaller and is the same type of food served at lunch.  The pineapple here is the sweetest we have ever tasted.  It melts in your mouth.



Cassava shrub at the compound



Cassava is grown in the compound all over the property.  It grows in large clumps taller than a person. 



Carrying cassava home to cook





As we go about town we also see it being transported home in huge bowls, carried on women’s heads.