our humble abode(s)...

This is the annex building in which we live. Our first room was the door by the blue bucket (we lived there for 2 weeks). Now we live in the last unit by the green bucket (we'll be here until May 25th or so). The silver garbage cans on the roof are the rain water/solar heated shower systems, so a "hot" shower is dependent upon 2 things: rain to fill the buckets, then sun to warm them!

This was our first room... talk about re-living college days! Tom had to sit on his bed to use his side of the desk.

Ahhh, the bathroom: the water heater tank mounted in the corner heated water for a shower when the solar rain water system was lacking in either of the crucial components; but that was just in theory... we never could get it to work! Then the blue pitcher hanging on the tank hose is the toilet flushing mechanism (fill with water, then pour down toilet). The red bucket was our laundry machine. And finally, the blue basin on the floor was our dishwashing machine. In the end, we found that we had everything we needed to do our chores as long as we had the time to them!

Our new place has a kitchen!!! And the white box mounted on the wall (on the right side of this picture) is our very own water purifier. In our last room, we had to take our bottles and jars up to the main guesthouse to get safe drinking water. But when you see women and children lugging 5 gallon jars, sometimes more than a mile, just to get water, then to have to take it home, cut branches from a nearby tree (out of which a lot of them fall and break arms and legs), build a fire, and boil the water before they can drink it, it made us feel like our grumbling on the way to and from the guesthouse seem really trivial and quite unnecessary!

The living room with plenty of seats to welcome guests as well as an extra bed (aka the couch).

The bathroom (much like the last one except I can actually wash dishes in the kitchen sink now), and the bedroom. The bedroom has an awesome view out across the valley to the neighboring town of Bagnas. When lightning storms roll in, it's quite the place to watch the amazing show!

We must say that God really has blessed us with a very comfortable and safe place to stay during our time here in Tansen. As difficult as it has been to adjust to the absence of modern convenience, seeing and learning how the people in this area live and take care of their daily chores has definitely put things into perspective! We are grateful to have this opportunity to live in a manner that allows us to appreciate ALL of God's blessings (like wearing a clean shirt after hand washing it, or enjoying a cucumber after "sterilizing" it and then peeling it, or even just watching a lightning storm for an evening instead of the television). Praise God for all of His many blessings!