Home Sweet Home

At long last, these are finally words that I can utter!!  It has been a long 3.5 months since I arrived in Niger.  It has been a long 3.5 months since I, along with my family, were evacuated from High River just before I left for Africa.  And a long 3.5 months of feeling unsettled and longing for a place to call home and to be surrounded by the feeling of “the familiar”.  It will be longer yet before the rest of my family are in their homes as well and surrounded by their “familiar” and acquainting themselves with the unfamiliar they have had to purchase as replacements in the damage.  But the joy and peace of being in a building to call home is indescribable!!

I’ve been living in my house now for two nights.  I’d say that I was sleeping here for two nights – but, because neither the fan nor a/c were working in my bedroom, technically, my first night I spent tossing in my sweat on the bed (‘tis hot season after all!).  But last night, after the a/c technician came to install a new a/c unit – I slept wonderfully.  In fact, it worked so well, I wished for a quilt, but settled on turning the temperature up.  The fan is now also working, so that will keep me comfortable after hot season is finished!

The last two weeks have been busy with frenetic activity …. it takes much to move into an African house!  And this all after waiting two months to upgrade the electrical outlets (add grounding wire to all the plug-ins), install windows with mosquito netting, fix walls and doors that were bashed apart, spray the house to eradicate termites, and paint. 

Much work has (and will still) go into making my kitchen “western style”.  I am still waiting kitchen cabinets for dishes, and eating off Ikea kids plates for now!  We also decided to make the outside guest room, which was off the wall to the kitchen, into an indoor pantry – this required bashing a hole in the wall between the existing kitchen and the outside room.  A mason came and cemented the hole to an open doorway and laid tile on the floor between.  So, now I have a kitchen and space for my freezer and pantry cupboard!

 

            my kitchen                                                new entry to pantry

These final last two weeks, my teammates have helped me install curtain rods, wall fans for my kitchen, and my gas stove (after a return visit to the store for a replacement part of something broken!).

Last weekend, I hired a “mover” and a big truck came to bring all my stuff out of the container and to my new house.  All in all, the move went well with only one hazard – they dropped my washing machine and broke the control panel. …. We’ve reattached it and no wires were disconnected, so hopefully it will still work – the plumber is coming tomorrow to connect it to the water pipes.

The other tragedy is that termites somehow found their way into the container and past all the insecticide powder around the inside circumference of the container!!  It could have been much worse, as the majority of my furniture is untouched (uneaten!) …. only two pieces were worse for wear and will need to be repaired and replaced. 

 

My desk took the brunt of the termite jaws – the drawers even became the “home” of the termites.  But, a carpenter is able to salvage the top and redo the drawers and put it back together again!

 

Amazingly – they did not attack all the cardboard boxes – only three were eaten, and thankfully did not contain inside things which the termites would eat. 

My books I was grateful to have packed inside the barrels where they were safe and sound!  Only a few books did not fit in the barrels – and thankfully, I packed these in rubbermaid containers …. oh the termites were so close to these books – but stymied in their path. 

You can see the dust of their tracks and path on the top of the rubbermaid lid - If only they knew how close they were!

After the movers were finished, I was left with a living room full boxes and barrels to unpack!!  This became my staging area and from here I unpacked and took parcels and items to their appropriate rooms! 

 

I discovered along the way another casualty:

 

I guess even a hot water bottle can only withstand so much heat!

A few friends came over to help with the task, and by Saturday evening, my living room area was looking more normal!

Although there is no pizza delivery in Niger …. one of my friends prepared a pizza for the evening and my teammate next door graciously baked it in her stove for us ….

“It’s not delivery, it’s delissio!!”  … er, close enough!!  But it was delicious – topped with chorizo sausage and cheese!

Over the next few days, friends and teammates came to help with the task of unpacking …. my kitchen was mostly arranged (all except the glassware), my living room and my bedroom all arranged.  Though some unpacking needs to be done in each area – I’ve declared it liveable.  Indeed – with the coffee pot being the first installation – I’m good to go … the essential taken care of!! 

Next room to tackle – my office!  I am looking forward to getting out all my Fulani materials and starting on some work again! 

And looking forward to this next week of slowly tackling all that needs to be done until the house is completely finished and all the boxes are put away!

Finally – scrapbooking stickers come in handy in Africa!!

Now I can remember which switch turns on the kitchen light and which the outside light ….. and also I hope this will help me remember to turn off the outside light in the morning so it does not run all day long!