Skip to main content

Varieties of village housing

The elite houses of the village are concrete buildings - roofed with corrugated tin, or "zinc", of course - with decorative but functional bars on their glass-paned windows. Now, windows here do not mean one pane of glass covering the opening; instead, it means louvered horizontal slats 2-3 inches tall running (hopefully) the majority of the opening. The likelihood that the size of the glass matches the size of the opening is low unless you've gotten the glass cut especially for you, so there's often a gap at the top and possibly at the sides. This type of window apparatus allows light and air to flow through but keeps the rain out.

The next most luxurious option in village housing includes the missionaries' houses in the village. These are also concrete and zinc with the same bars on their windows which are screened but have no glass. Yes, this means the rain gets blown in at times, but it saves you washing the floor, right? You just need to make sure you don't leave anything important by a window when it's raining.

Wood houses with zinc roofs are probably the most common. Not all of these are created equal as some have concrete floors while others enjoy the same dirt inside to which they are accustomed outside. The window openings may be covered by a curtain by day, wooden shutters closed tightly against fauna and two-legged intruders by night.

There are also some grass or thatch houses. Bamboo poles usually provide the frame while palm leaves or woven grass comprise the walls and roof. Some wooden houses also have thatch roofs. Also, some wooden houses have a thatch cookhouse; other have a matching wooden cookhouse.

Finally, one can't neglect the walls. I do not refer to walls around the village but to half-built houses, of which there are sufficient to warrant a category of their own. Money is preferably invested in buildings, not left in the hand, nor in banks which are too unreliable. If you have money, you start to build, regardless of whether you anticipate being able to finish. Piles of moss-covered concrete blocks not even taken shape before funds ran out, and forlorn-looking walls sans roofs are a common sight.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Living stones in the holy land

I met Jesus in Israel-Palestine a few years ago. I found him not in the rocky, desert ground he trod, nor in the ancient stones of the towns and cities he visited; not in the subterranean grotto in the Church of the Nativity, nor in the mammoth Church of the Holy Sepulchre, encompassing the traditional site of his death and resurrection. No, I met him in the lives of Palestinians who incarnate his spirit, in humble, passionate people who are convinced that love is the only way. I met Jesus in people who spoke like this: “We need to be soaked in the love of Christ. Love is not a hug and a kiss. Love is to seek the life of the other that the cost of one’s own.” --Labib Madanat, coordinator of the Palestinian and Israeli Bible Societies “Love is not an opportunity to overlook justice. Love is an opportunity to pursue justice…. [But] we want to resist any form of evil with the heart and mind of Jesus Christ.… There is no love without justice. And there is no true justice without lov...

Broken people...

After reflecting with one coworker on how often churches in all their forms really mess up and hurt a whole bunch of people in the process -- and how "we gotta do better" -- I stumbled into another conversation with a coworker which highlighted our brokenness, and I suddenly realized what was wrong with my take in the first. I wanted the church to be better at fixing our mistakes, or better yet, at not making them in the first place. But maybe this "fix-it" attitude is partly the reason we keep blowing it again and again! My friend recollected an experience when a church community was in a terrible place: compounded mistakes, hurts, and frustrations had blown up, spewing pain all over all parties. (I'm sure anyone with a long history in the church can think of one, if not several, such occasions in their past.) A new Christian who observed all these goings on responded in an unexpected way. Instead of "you people are a bunch of screw-ups! How could this pos...

Flights

I've got tickets! In faith that all the money will come together, my tickets have been purchased. So now I have to go! There was a significantly cheaper flight option with Air Maroc that involved an overnight in Paris and in Casablanca, but I opted for the same Air France flight from Paris to Douala that Dan and Lisa will be on. Frankly, I'm somewhat relieved the latter option was available. Obviously, I must have some sense of adventure to be willing to spend 10 months in Cameroon--and I do--but it's not quite up to the former challenge just yet. I'll likely be quite wound up as it is--the last thing I'll need in my state of excitement and fretful anticipation is to spend three days alone trying to reach my destination, getting no sleep, dealing with unfamiliar languages, and arriving alone to spend a half-day cartrip down roads in less than perfect condition with a local stranger. Now I'm not saying I'm unwilling to be challenged or that any one of these ...