Saturday Mornings

When we arrived in Khorixas more than 17 months ago, women would stop us on the street to ask if we needed help with our laundry or with cleaning. It happened almost daily, and each time we'd smile, say, "No thank you," and continue on our way. We were on a tight budget, so paying someone to do what we were capable of doing ourselves seemed like a waste. We were still sorting out how to occupy extraordinary amounts of free time (hand-washing meant at least a couple of those extra-long weekend hours would be productive), and it felt incredibly strange to be asking community members we were supposed to be working for, to instead, come and work for us.

But over the last year and a half, that's somehow changed. Our hand-washing technique started to look a lot more like soaking in soap suds, and the once too-long weekends seemed to instead fly by. We also started to realize that with so few jobs in Khorixas, we might be helping the woman who worked for us nearly as much as she'd be helping us. So after a bit of discussion, Jessica put the word out at school, and a week later, Katrina's mother showed up at our door. Sure, it was uncomfortable at first--having the mother of one of our learners scrubbing away. But over the past few weeks it's made for some of the best Saturday mornings yet. Mostly because it's given us a chance to spend time with one of our favorite learners, her mother, and her too-cute siblings.

We make sugary sweet tea for Katrina's mom when she arrives, and while she fills the basin outside, the kids fold origami, play games, color--or in the case of Johanas, run around like a maniac. It's absolutely hilarious and while it means our flat is a madhouse for a few hours each Saturday morning, it's totally worth it.

We end up with piles of fresh-smelling, clean clothes, and best of all, memories (and photos) that leave us laughing for days.


Johanas All Dressed Up


Johanas AKA "Woody"


Emma


Emma & Johanas