Maryann's Musings

  With water swishing in the buckets on our heads and dripping down our arms, Tristan and I walked unsteadily down the rocky, dirt road leading to our backyard. Kicking the gate open, we trudged up to our 'reservoir' (a burnt-mustard, fifty-gallon plastic container).  Then we slowly poured our prize inside. Why? Because right now we don't have running water! Our routine has looked really funny the past few days: the water kicks on for literally five minutes and everyone runs around like maniacs filling empty buckets and washing their hair. So trust me, we all stink . This is how we take baths right now....  Doing the dishes and washing our hands is hard enough, but doing laundry is especially difficult. We have to manually pour water into the machine until it works. Drinking water is pretty much taken care of. We have a big bucket next to our sink filled with clean water. If needed, we just buy bottled-water or boil tap water for 6 minutes, although this is our l...

  CRUNCH - BUMP!  Mom and I clapped and cheered from the back as our chauffeur, Marcellin, navigated the treacherous dirt roads.  We were in our tightly packed van and though no one had leg room the air was on full blast and no one was hot - yet. We were on our way to a village with a pastors' school that my dad was going to teach at and that my mom was going to do women's ministry at. Evangelist Samuel and Pasteur Edouard were also going with us.  A view of our car Skip back: early Sunday morning, everyone in our family got up early and scrambled around in pajamas to finish last minute tasks. Then our team mates arrived.    M. Samuel, le evangelist :) M. Marcellin, le chauffeur  Aidan and I were the photographers; Mom wanted someone else to take pictures so that I would be in some of them, which is funny because Aidan's camera ran out of battery power right after we got settled it. Photographer #1 You...