Chores

The chores here are the real deal. So for this I thought I'd just share some of the many things I've been learning to do here with my host family the past month I've been living with them. 

My host family's home

One thing to keep in mind when looking at these pictures is that as a generalization,  the gender roles here in Liberian culture tend to be very traditional, where women are taking care of the home/children while men are working or socializing. So, for me as an adult male, seeing me do these types of chores looks a bit out of place. Sometimes men who do these chores might be made fun of by other men because they are doing "women's work" and it is socially unacceptable to do this. Women who see me do this sometimes exclaim, "That man can WORK!". Overall though, my family has been great with giving me the opportunity to try these new things because they know I'll be living on my own soon and need to develop these skills. 

Cooking is one that I've gotten many opportunities to watch, but not always do myself. I'm working on learning the recipes though! Ive also been lighting the coal pot before we cook regularly. My host mom is a great cook! I've eaten all of her food. This might surprise some of you since back home I eat a mostly vegan diet, but I wanted to really experience the food and culture here. (I'll be writing something about the different foods I've tried in the near future) Also, my host ma butchered our pet duck the other day. It's amazing to see and be a part of sustaining yourself off of the food that is grown around you.

Smashing benne (sesame) seeds to put in our cooked meal

The coal pots we use to cook meals

Washing clothes is much more difficult than I thought it would be. For the first 2 and a half weeks I was doing it incorrectly until my family taught me. It's a really long process. You really need to dig into it and wash your clothes inside and out. My hands were raw with a few bloody knuckles after a couple hours of using the wash board.

Struggling to correctly wash my clothes

Below is the iron we use for pressing clothes. Once opened, we put hot coals in the inside. Luckily the fabric is pretty thick so there isn't a huge worry about burning the clothes like you would need to for something thin or silk. Also, we don't have an ironing board so you might notice there is fabric laying on the floor that we iron out our clothes on. 

The iron is ready to go! 

There's so many more things to do like sweeping, taking care of the animals, hauling water, cutting grass, and many of the standard chores you find at home just without the luxury of having fancy (or what we might consider basic) appliances and things used to do them. It takes a lot of time to keep things clean and boy does my family work hard!