Nyumbani Yangu

This is my home now. Slowly but surely the house that was provided for me is becoming a home. I have a bed frame, a coffee table and some seating, and I will hopefully soon be acquiring a kitchen table, bookshelf and some sort of shelving unit for my clothing. Until then, I will continue to live out of my suitcase, which has become something that I’ve almost gotten used to during my time so far here in Africa, seeing as I have been moving from place to place so often. But hopefully now when I am able to fully unpack, I can really begin to see myself in this place as my home.

To explain the pictures:

This is a view of my front room as you enter into the house. It’s a really long room, so there are a couple of angles to show. The sink in the corner is basically a decoration, since I don’t have running water, but I’ve come to use it as a storage spot for now. The large empty area next to it is where I’d like to have a kitchen table(more of one to work on) made and put up.

The opposite angle is the sitting area of my house. I had already bought the plastic chairs, so when I finally found a fundi (carpenter) I just got the sofa and coffee table made. Overall the room is a pretty large space, so it has several uses for me.

Next is a view of my corridor, which is sort of awkward, but serves its purposes. You can see here how the rooms all attach now.

Here is my bathroom. Used for going to the bathroom as well as bucket bathing. Yes, you are correct that is a western toilet! But again, no running water, so you have to fill up the tank. No big deal, makes you realize how much water you actually use to flush the toilet. It’s kind of ridiculous.  Notice though that there is no light in the bathroom. Therefore I usually just leave that door open.  The beginnings of being a person who lives alone right? Haha.

Move a few feet to your right, and you see the random area that was supposed to be deemed my kitchen area. Well there are no windows, or a light, so I would not want to cook in there. And now that I eat with the nuns, hey why bother. So it is now dubbed the storage area.

Turn 90 degrees and you have now entered my bedroom. My bed is one of my favorite things in my house, now that I have a quality mattress, and an awesome bed frame. It may not be noticeable in the photo but the headboard area has small shelves, and a lock bock in it. Awesome!

Change your perspective on the room and you now see where I am living out of the suitcase. This is where I’d like a shelving/dresser unit to be placed.

Last but not least, here is a photo of a view from the outside, as you can see, its made of concrete, and is sealed up pretty nicely. Sometimes at night, you hear interesting noises on the roof. Sometimes there are flies and other creepy crawlies inside. But overall its pretty bug free, and its a nice place to live.

Anyways, that's all for now, mostly because my electricity is out, and my computer is going to die soon. Hope you all get a better feel for where I'm at now! Soon to come: pictures of my MANY cow friends here on the compound and the few activities I got to do this past week.