3. Our humble abode

I use the word humble here with my tongue firmly in cheek. Where we stayed in Ibumu was actually quite comfortable and more than adequate. It also exceeded the expectations of most of the team members, me included...

What we expected was a very basic building. We were told that there would be no ceiling in the building, thought it would have no windows and knew there would be no running water or electricity.

What we got was this...

Yes, it was true that there were no ceilings, but that provided the perfect place to attach the mosquito nets. There were doors that could lock (though there was no need for locking - we, and our stuff, were very safe) and windows that could open and close. The panes were made from plastic sheeting over the frames and not from glass but did the job. Throughout our stay, there were very few mosquitoes or other flying divebombers to bother us.

I expected candles or paraffin lamps but we got electric lights! They were solar powered, but very effective. Every room had a light with a switch and the communal area had two. The switches were a bit high... you either had to stand on a chair or get James to be the team's high-light! James' height was a demand on quite a few occasions during this trip and much admired by many!

The village hall and offices were temporarily cleared for our use. They are normally used as offices or storage space for the stoves made by the fuel efficient stoves group. But they sacrificed their space so that we could have the building to use. We are thankful, even though we did not sufficiently express our gratitude.

The sleeping arrangements

What would have been offices, were turned into bedrooms for us. There was one room with 6 bunk beds (for all the team members of male persuasion), one room with 3 mattresses on the floor (for those young and agile ones of female persuasion), one room for the... erm... more mature ladies of the Ibumu Snoring Club (yes, we had our own choir going every night) which had 4 bunk beds and a mattress on the floor. Two more rooms were used by Andy and Angela and the cooking team, though Jesca and baby Emmanuel also slept there. Andrew and family pitched a tent outside, as did Benny and Ajery.

The boys' bedroom

Our bedroom. I was on the top bunk by the window

When we cleared the building on the last day, packing everything up and dismantling the beds, we were once again reminded about the amount of work done in preparation for our arrival. The bunk beds were on loan from a local Bible School. The EITZ team had gone to fetch them before we came, dismantling them at the school and rebuilding them in Ibumu. They set up the solar lighting system. They brought food and furniture. They built the kitchen, the showers and the loos. They added the doors to the offices. I am sure there is a lot more that happened but we were unaware of.

Communal space

Here the team had meals together, had our evening recap of the day, planned the next day's activities, met with the villagers and church members for worship, and spent our leisure time (some serious games took place, with fierce competition). We had many a satisfactory (or not so satisfactory, depending on how early in the game you were eliminated) games of "Gorilla" or "Good day, Bruce". Not to mention "Bungalow"! I am afraid that no words can describe the fun we had as a team with those!

"Bungalow" in action... We have taken it outside into our 'garden'

The shower arrangements

I really dreaded the idea of showering in a half bucket of water. I needn't have worried. As it turned out, half a bucket of cold water was more than I needed! The washing system consisted of two buckets and a beaker. You fetched your wash water in the smaller bucket (half full) and stood in the larger bucket to wash. The idea was to use the beaker to pour water over yourself... but I could not manage this. The water was COLD! I used a facecloth to wet my body, lathered the cloth and washed and then rinsed with the facecloth and clean water. I found this to be a perfectly sufficient cleaning method which did not freeze me to death and used even less water than expected!

The showers were close to the kitchen area, where the lovely cooks had water on the boil, pretty much permanently. If you were lucky, they would top up your bucket with a little bit of warm water, to just take the chill off the icy stuff. I was lucky only once...

The challenges were unexpected: one being finding the time to shower and the other staying clean! With nearly 20 of us using 2 cubicles and with a very tight daily programme, it was not so easy to find the right time. I did manage to have a 'proper' shower at least every second day and discovered the wonders of wet wipes in-between. STAYING clean was perhaps not so easy to manage... With having to put on your dusty clothes again straight after a wash, and with dust devils whipping up every now and then with the dust sticking to the sun tan lotion, I think I was perhaps not as clean as would have been ideal. But I still think I did better than most of the teen boys who boasted about a 'triple' or a 'quad'! I shall leave the explanation of that to your imagination!

Not a tan but a dust layer!
(Not my foot, in case you wondered)

The loos

Toilets in Ibumu (or wider Tanzania - I am not so sure but we certainly saw some outside Ibumu) are of the squat variety. There is no porcelain bowl, just a hole in the ground. OK, our 'hole in the ground' was a bit more upmarket. The hole is covered with a sanplat (which I assume stands for sanitary platform). This means there is a concrete platform over the long-drop, with a hole and a lid. The concept is quite clever. The lid covers the hole, limiting the flies' access to it and the possibility of smells escaping. There is a pipe sticking out the side, which allows fumes to escape and if any flies should make it in, they would be drawn to the light but not able to escape through the gauze. The loos were sanitised twice a day and I never smelled a whiff.

The new loo building

The ladies' loo (with a rope to help yourself up from squatting position)

The loo that was in use before we came

We had a hand washing station set up outside the loo (and one in the communal room) so that we could keep our hands clean and hygienic. This worked as nobody go an upset tummy.

My take home

I was struck by the fact that we were able to live so comfortably with so little of our normal creature comforts. We often get so attached to our possessions, deeming them to be essential. Perhaps it is true in our circumstances - I cannot imagine life without central heating, and I am the first to admit that my mobile phone is almost physically attached to my hand or that Facebook is a vital link to family and friends overseas. But we lived for nearly 3 weeks without phones or internet, without running water and sharing a very small space for sleeping.

It reminded me of something David Bendell (previous Chair of the EIUK Board of Trustees) once said. He had gone to visit a similar village and was taken by how joyful the people were, in spite of lacking so much in material possessions. When he asked how they managed it, he was given this answer: "You have things and God. We only have God." Their faith is so strong because there is nothing to distract from their relationship with God.

What are my priorities? Do I focus too much on my worldly possessions instead of collecting a treasure in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21)?