And here we are, settling into our new home in Pèdè (North Benin). So far, so good! We are being well looked-after by Grace, a Canadian missionary who has lived here for years (but will retire in May), and the pastor and his family. It does help when you already have friends around!
I do occasionally have a moment of feeling tired of moving and starting all over again – after our fourth major move in two and a half years. But then I remind myself that – God willing – this should be the last move for some years, and that this time I can enjoy decorating the house the way I want it, and get to know people with the perspective that these can be daily friendships that will last!
Life here is different again from life in Parakou. Our water is pumped out of our well into a huge plastic storage tank on the roof. Some of it then goes into a solar water heater (basically pipes heated by the sun), giving us lovely warm water for our evening showers. The rest is piped into the house, and some of that we put through a sand filter then a Katadyn filter for drinking water. It is hard to convince our boys that the water coming out of our taps is not for drinking!
Our electricity is provided by solar panels on our roof. We are being eased in gently, since Harmattan is the best season for solar power – plenty of sun during the daylight hours and then cool nights which mean the fridge doesn't use too much power overnight. We were hoping to use a borrowed kerosene fridge during hot season, but it is proving hard to get it working properly. Marc has some tiny solar panels my Grandpa gave him which are powerful enough to charge our mobile phones! We try to make sure we remember to charge the laptop, and run the bread machine or the food mixer, in the middle of the day, when we have plenty of power.
Having had to get used to a limited range of food products available when we arrived in Parakou, now it's time to get used to having even fewer things on sale! The only Western-style cheese we can get is “La vache qui rit” (soft spreading cheese), and fresh fruit and vegetables are scarce, as it's hotter and drier here than in Parakou. I did manage to buy onions, tomatoes, okra, cabbage, carrots, bananas and oranges, so that's better than nothing! And I have some vegetables I canned in Parakou, and some fruit I dried there too.
I make my own granola, yoghurt and bread (Grace is selling us her bread machine) and if we want cake or biscuits I have to make them too. Almost all meals have to be made from scratch. Fortunately I enjoy spending time in the kitchen! (And it's a good thing we like the taste of “scratch” - haha!)
We have help with the housework, as we did in Parakou. The pastor's wife worked for Grace when Grace was living in this house and she is now working three days a week for us and two days a week for Grace in the smaller house Grace has now. She comes highly recommended by Grace! We have also taken on a younger girl to do the clothes- and nappy-washing, since we have such a lot and it all has to be done by hand. I did find it a bit strange when we arrived in Parakou to have people working for us, but it helps us enormously, and the provision of jobs is useful for the local economy. The side benefit is that it means we get to know some of our neighbours very well. Esther, who cleaned for us in Parakou, became a good friend. Here it is also good to hear Monkolé spoken and to be forced to use our own Monkolé, limited though it is!
Our house:
I do occasionally have a moment of feeling tired of moving and starting all over again – after our fourth major move in two and a half years. But then I remind myself that – God willing – this should be the last move for some years, and that this time I can enjoy decorating the house the way I want it, and get to know people with the perspective that these can be daily friendships that will last!
Life here is different again from life in Parakou. Our water is pumped out of our well into a huge plastic storage tank on the roof. Some of it then goes into a solar water heater (basically pipes heated by the sun), giving us lovely warm water for our evening showers. The rest is piped into the house, and some of that we put through a sand filter then a Katadyn filter for drinking water. It is hard to convince our boys that the water coming out of our taps is not for drinking!
Our electricity is provided by solar panels on our roof. We are being eased in gently, since Harmattan is the best season for solar power – plenty of sun during the daylight hours and then cool nights which mean the fridge doesn't use too much power overnight. We were hoping to use a borrowed kerosene fridge during hot season, but it is proving hard to get it working properly. Marc has some tiny solar panels my Grandpa gave him which are powerful enough to charge our mobile phones! We try to make sure we remember to charge the laptop, and run the bread machine or the food mixer, in the middle of the day, when we have plenty of power.
Having had to get used to a limited range of food products available when we arrived in Parakou, now it's time to get used to having even fewer things on sale! The only Western-style cheese we can get is “La vache qui rit” (soft spreading cheese), and fresh fruit and vegetables are scarce, as it's hotter and drier here than in Parakou. I did manage to buy onions, tomatoes, okra, cabbage, carrots, bananas and oranges, so that's better than nothing! And I have some vegetables I canned in Parakou, and some fruit I dried there too.
I make my own granola, yoghurt and bread (Grace is selling us her bread machine) and if we want cake or biscuits I have to make them too. Almost all meals have to be made from scratch. Fortunately I enjoy spending time in the kitchen! (And it's a good thing we like the taste of “scratch” - haha!)
We have help with the housework, as we did in Parakou. The pastor's wife worked for Grace when Grace was living in this house and she is now working three days a week for us and two days a week for Grace in the smaller house Grace has now. She comes highly recommended by Grace! We have also taken on a younger girl to do the clothes- and nappy-washing, since we have such a lot and it all has to be done by hand. I did find it a bit strange when we arrived in Parakou to have people working for us, but it helps us enormously, and the provision of jobs is useful for the local economy. The side benefit is that it means we get to know some of our neighbours very well. Esther, who cleaned for us in Parakou, became a good friend. Here it is also good to hear Monkolé spoken and to be forced to use our own Monkolé, limited though it is!
Our house:
1 comment:
A photo! :o)
I've recently got a breadmaker, has yours got settings for cake? Let me know if you want any recipes. I haven't forgotten to send you egg free recipes. x
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