Housing Woes

Today we came to Boke, our regional capital. When we got here, Yama said she needed to talk to me and took me into the courtyard to chat. It was about my site. My house, more specifically.

I am going to be living in the same house I stayed in for site visit. The only differences are that the old woman has moved out and the village has built me a latrine in the back yard. When I first heard this news I was very distraught. I really did not like that house and wasn't comfortable there at all. I had also mentally prepared myself to live in the OTHER house that they told me I would be living in and in that preparation didn't buy several things I should have bought in Conakry to prepare for this. Like screens.

I have moved from anger and disappointment to acceptance and am trying to think of all the ways in which I can try to improve my situation. I can use bamboo mats to replace all the ceiling tiles with water stains on them Or maybe just cover the whole ceiling in colored pagnes. I can get Sajay to come and draw outlines for murals on my walls and paint them in with brilliant colors. I can ask to have a couple more windows knocked into my walls (I really hope I can make this happen). I can get a cat to kill the carpentry rat. I can have a gate put on the entrance in the fence. I can use Neem to kill all the insects living in my house. I can buy a huge bottle of bleach to douse the whole place. I can daba (hoe) the heck out of my yard and start planting right away. I can build a star-gazing area in my backyard. I can do this.

I am SO GLAD to have my dog to help me through this. Taking care of him and having him as a companion will be very important especially in the face of what I feel is a momentous task ahead of me in making myself comfortable in my own house.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I didn't do this because I expected it to be easy. I didn't do this because I WANTED it to be easy. I wanted it to be hard.

And it is.