Mary's average day...

The question has been asked… “So what does the average day look like?”

Well usually the mobile phone alarm will go off around 6:20am and the snooze button will be hit numerous times, before we realize that it’s definitely time to get cracking for the day.  Getting out of bed involves weaseling one's self out from underneath the mosquito net.   We eat the breakfast of champions here in Mukinge – Weet-Bix!  Dave will leave home around 7:27am to do a mad dash to the hospital for the 7:30am devotions.   By now the morning is well and truly in full swing…both Toby and Zeke are up and smashing down their brekkie.  Around 8am our wonderful gardener arrives and begins to rake the lawn (dust) and to water the veggie garden with buckets.  It is wonderful to have his help and he always has the place looking ship shape.  Zeke loves to assist our gardener and is making a garden of his own, growing tomatoes, cheese and carrots.  I’m looking forward to his harvest of cheese, as cheese is hard to come by here.  

The day includes various ‘mum’ jobs: making beds, washing dishes, changing nappies (cloth), washing clothes, ironing, more dishes, washing grubby hands, wiping up spills, picking food up off the floor and meal preparation.  Most of which are very normal home/mum chores wherever in the world you may live. 

Most days I am very blessed to have the help of a wonderful Zambian lady.  Wow, do I feel the pinch when she is not able to come for whatever reason!   I have noticed a huge difference in the amount of time it takes to do things here around the home.  Boiling water for drinking, hand washing the clothes, making all of the meals from scratch, searching for recipes that include the ingredients that we have here in the pantry.  It makes for a good challenge.  

The hospital lunch time is from 1300hrs to 1500hrs (they use 24hr time here), so most days Dave is able to be home for lunch.  Dave’s usual sanga involves peanut butter and strawberry jam, although the little fellas & I prefer the vegemite.  Unfortunately the supply of vegemite is on the decline, so we spread it rather thinly these days.

Afternoons are sometimes quieter if the boys have an afternoon snooze, otherwise Zeke remains occupied with drawing, gardening, or keeping up with his dvd collection.  Bath time is always a bit of a scream.  Literally sometimes.  The boys have a great time playing in the bath together and Toby always splashes more than Zeke, much to Zeke’s frustration.  This is usually the time of the day where I close my eyes and pretend that they aren’t swallowing the water that may contain entamoeba, giardia or any other nasties.  Thankfully so far so good. Usually this is the time of the day where the power will go off.  On occasions I have found myself scrambling around the house, boys in the bath, transferring veggies from the microwave and electric cook top to the gas stove, whilst trying to find the matches to light all of the candles.   This would be a good laugh for anyone watching! 

Evenings are often the quieter time of the day where we can sit down and take a breath once the boys have gone down to sleep.  There is a great collection of dvds that we can borrow from other folk here at Mukinge, so sometimes we will set up the home theatre system (the laptop) and sit down with the “yummy box” and choose a chocolate or packet of chips from our precious stash!  

Life here is enjoyable and we’re starting to feel more settled as the weeks roll by...still in many ways I feel like I have my trainer wheels on.  There is so much to learn and at times I feel well and truly in the deep end.  I’m feeling very thankful today for our family and friends that are praying for us! -m