Washing our Clothes by Hand

Back home in Switzerland it’s rare to find a household without a washing machine. Here in Ghana it’s the opposite: it’s rare to find a household with a washing machine. The reason being the cost of the machine itself; however, more importantly it’s more effective to wash out the dirt when washing by hand. The surrounding we live in has a lot of sand and wind, therefore the sand/dirt tends to stick to the clothes like glue. In order to keep the clothes clean and wash out all the sand/dirt, it’s easier to wash the clothes by hand. It’s not as easy though as it might seem. Ibi’s sister Samira showed us how the wash by hand. When she does it looks really easy since she has been doing it for years! But when we tried we struggled at first. However, after practicing it a couple times we are slowly but truly getting the hang of it.
Here, Asia (Ibi’s niece) does the washing for most of the house. It’s quiet impressive watching her do it. She does it fast and effective. She is 18 years old and still goes to school, however, she washes the clothes every Sunday and cooks for the whole house sometimes. It’s admirable how she manages to do all of this, while still going to school.
It takes us a lot longer than her, but we will continue practicing until we will perfect our washing skills!