Help Us Wash Our Clothes!

So, we have to wash our clothes here in Africa, too. I know, crazy right? I’ve been an adult for a while now and washing clothes is one of those “adulty” things that is sort of expected. Because this is the case, I, like many of you, have spent many hours of my life washing clothes. Even Benj had been known to throw a load in the machine once every couple of years.

Here’s the thing though, this necessary task (that we really never spent much time dwelling on in our American life) has become a household chore that takes up about two full days to complete here in Uganda. It can take even more time if it is raining because the clothes take significantly longer to dry.

 Hanging the clothes inside because of the rain.

To give you a better understanding of the quite tedious process, I’ll break it down for you. We wash all of our clothes by hand here. They have to be soaked sometimes for a whole day depending on how dirty they are. They are then vigorously scrubbed with detergent that could also be used to degrease an engine. We then wring them out by hand and hang each article (each top, bottom, undergarment and even every single sock) with a clothespin on a clothesline to air dry. Because the clothes are wrung out by hand, we are unable to get a lot of water out of them, which contributes to the amount of time (a lot) they take to dry.

This process would take time for laundry for a single person, but multiplied by the four of us living here, the time becomes significant. Especially given the fact that two little family members seem to spend a lot of their time competing at who can get more red Ugandan clay on themselves, and one adult family member (not naming names, of course) regularly gets covered in grease, oil, dirt, sweat and numerous other unidentified substances. Our clothes take quite a beating when hand washed and they spend more time in the sun to dry so they don’t last as long.  Handwashing also requires the use of more water and soap, which contributes to the cost of each “load” of laundry.

We understand and accept the realities that come with moving to Uganda and giving up many modern conveniences we enjoyed back in the US. However, washing machines exist in Uganda! And, with a little help from our family, friends, and supporters, owning a washing machine could be a reality for us and would allow us to free up our hands for what we would consider more important work.  

Christina and Goretty (a young lady who lives with us) would be able to focus on gardening, baking, cooking and spending more time working on various tasks together, allowing Christina to be more immersed in the Ugandan culture. Christina will be able to join Benj more in the work he is doing in the village and doing more “school” with Ellie. Each of these things also helps contribute to our relationship building in the local community, which is very important to us. For example, we love to share harvests from our garden or freshly baked breads with our neighbors and friends.

Would you consider helping us raise the necessary funds to purchase a washing machine? A machine here costs around 1.4 million shillings, which with the current exchange rate is around $400 USD. We know that is a lot to ask of those already supporting us on a daily basis. We are so grateful for how God has moved in each one of you to support our journey. We are doing our best to steward wisely and direct that support to our daily living and ministry here in Uganda, as well as to support the medical expenses we recently incurred. That is why we are interested in building a separate fund for this purchase.

Please consider helping us raise funds to purchase a washing machine. Here’s how:

1.         Keep track of each load of laundry you do in the month of November – that’s each time you start your washing machine. We suggest a little Post-It by the washing machine or maybe a quick note in your phone. If you want to send us a message each time you do laundry, we can even keep track for you!
2.       Donate $1 (or more if you are so inclined) each time you wash a load of clothing in your washing machine. (For example, at the end of the month if  you have done 20 loads of laundry, you would donate $20.) 
3.          Click here: bit.ly/kragts to send your donations by December 5, 2016. We are making a trip to Kampala in December and would need to have secured the funding by then to make our purchase.

Thank you so much in advance for your consideration. We would be happy to answer any additional questions you might have.