What I Wouldn't Give for a Hot Shower

Of all the adjustments we have had to make in PNG, for me, bathing has been one of the hardest. Here are a few humorous stories about what it is like in the village and on our center at Ukarumpa.

You may recall a post from about a year ago in which I described an incident that happened after I had hiked several hours to a village, arriving sweaty and tired. Some women in the village led me and the other ladies with me to the spot in the river reserved for women to wash. The river was so shallow that we had to lie down to submerse ourselves! We didn’t have any containers with which to douse ourselves. Our village guides sat on the bank and watched us—probably laughing to themselves about the crazy women who didn’t know how to bathe properly!

In the village where we lived for a month last year, mercifully the water was deep enough for full submersion. It was quite refreshing on most days to cool off in the river. However, on cloudy days, I often found it too cold to bathe, shivering through my “bath,” the 5-15 minute walk from the river to our house (depending on how many people stopped us to talk), and as long as it took for my hair to dry. On those days when I didn’t go down to the river, the neighbors usually stopped by our house to inquire if I had bathed! They didn’t seem to think my excuse of being too cold was a good reason to skip a day.

At POC (Pacific Orientation Course), we had hot showers—sometimes. A family was assigned to “fire duty” each week, which meant getting up at 6 in the morning to start a fire to heat the water. Each shower stall had a bucket that we filled with the water that had been heated (sometimes lukewarm, sometimes scalding!), which then functioned as our shower. In Ukarumpa, we have modern plumbing, so theoretically warm showers are available...as long as the sun is out to heat the water! In our house, we use water pumped in from a nearby river for the hot water in our shower, but occasionally something happens that shuts off the river water for a period of time. A few weeks ago, I prepared a mixture of apple cider vinegar and water to apply to my scalp because I have been having issues with dryness. After massaging my whole head with the vinegar solution, I turned on the faucet to start my shower...no water! There I was with vinegar-scented hair and only cold water available for showering. So, I used a squirt bottle to dump cold water on my head so I could shampoo. It was still quite cold, but a bit better than the alternative!