Post by Lara
4 February 2012
This is one of those stories I know I’ll be telling when
people ask me about the 2 years I spent in Peace Corps, and I figure it’s best
to share it while it’s fresh in my mind, so please enjoy!
A few months ago, I was on the phone with my dad and he
related a story to me from my grandma, his mom.
Apparently she had been talking to someone who had a relative who is a
Peace Corps Volunteer in Africa somewhere, and this friend told her that the
volunteer she knows is living in such primitive conditions, she has to launder
her clothes with a rock! Grandma relayed that story to my dad, who
relayed it to me, who laughed heartily and responded by explaining to him that,
at least in Sierra Leone, no one has
to launder their clothes with a rock. It tends to come down to personal
preference. We personally choose to
launder our clothes by hand, scrubbing stains out manually and occasionally
resorting to a plastic brush that we bought for about a quarter in the
market. We have noticed people here who
take a rock to their clothes, mostly just the one or two articles that don’t
come clean after soaking and being hand-scrubbed, but clothes that have been
laundered that way tend to get thin, stretched out, and un-wearable a lot
faster than those you hand-wash, so we have never resorted to it.
 |
| Teaching Kevin's mom and sister how to "brook," or wash clothes by hand |
A few weeks after this conversation, my dad sent me a text
telling me Grandma had been out to play cards with her friends and told them
all about her granddaughter in Peace Corps.
I texted back, asking him, “Did she tell her friends that her
granddaughter is in such primitive conditions that she doesn’t even have a rock
to wash her clothes with?” Dad responded
with, “Oh—she didn’t know you don’t have a rock to wash your clothes with!”
Fast-forward another week, and we were informed that we had
a package in Freetown from my family.
Knowing one of the closer volunteers to us was going to Freetown the
following weekend, I arranged to have her pick it up for us. When she got to the mail room, our friend
called us and said, “Ok, I’m bringing your package to you, but I can’t believe
how heavy it is. Did they send you a rock?”
Kevin immediately exclaimed, “Oh no! Did your Grandma send us a rock to
do laundry with?”
Of course the package was not actually a rock. It was, among other wonderful things, two cans of
Skyline chili, which is one of the best gifts we’ve ever been given ever.
To those of you who are wondering, rocks are plentiful in Sierra Leone,
and free to boot. If we ever do decide
that our clothes need a good stoning to come out fresh and clean, we will have
no problem supplying the stone, so please, do not send us a rock. Love, Lara and Kevin.
Although we never used a rock to wash our clothes, we did, when available, use them to dry.
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