vl - house of bamboo and sago

One night I lay on my air mattress, underneath my mosquito net, wide awake.  Some noise had woken me up and I wasn't able to go back to sleep.  Around me the creatures were singing in the jungle; making noise regardless of the time.   Then in the distance I heard the rain.  It was a downpour headed our way.  The raindrops hitting the trees echoed into the distance and as I lay there I could hear the rain approaching.  It got louder and louder until all of a sudden it washed around the house, surrounding us in its encompassing presence. 

Pictures don't quite do justice to what it is like to live in a "bush house" in the middle of the jungle.  The house we lived in was recently completed for one of our village sisters, Lily, who had her first baby during our first week in the village.  Her husband is a teacher in a different part of the province, but comes home on holidays.  Lily and her baby lived in the house with us.

Looking out from the "yard"

Our village family has a collection of houses and buildings.  1) The big house, where the family and another family that is staying with them lives.  2) The boy house, where boys (over 10ish) and young men live.  3) The house we lived in, which belongs to the oldest daughter.  4) The "haus kuk" or kitchen.  5) The "haus kakaruk" or chicken coop.  They also have a fermentri, which is used to process cacao which they grow.  Within sight are houses that belong to uncles and aunts, grandmothers, and cousins.  Family lives pretty close, generally. 

Coming into the "yard," straight ahead is the Boy House.

On the left is the "haus kuk" or kitchen and behind and down some is the house we lived in.

Farther left than the haus kuk, but luckily right next to our house is the chicken coop!  There were approximately 20ish chickens wandering around all day long and clucking/crowing away all night long.  Occasionally the chickens would try to come inside our house to lay their eggs! :/

So what is the house made from?  The roof is made from the leaves of sago palm trees, which have been sewn together using bush rope or vines.  Despite torrential downpours and big storms during the five weeks we were there, there was absolutely no leaking!  It was amazing!  Well, I should say no water leaking.  The copious amounts of geckos and lizards left plenty of offerings on every surface.

Part of the roof.  The leaves are gathered and dried after they are sewn together,  This, along with the layering, allows them to last longer in the sun and rain.

Some interesting creatures visited our house.  Including this bug, a bat, chickens, the pet cockatoo, kittens, the cat, a hideous rat that tried to eat me (a story for another time), geckos, lizards, ants . . . oh, the ants, fireflies, etc.!

The walls are made from woven bamboo.  The bamboo, which is a long cylinder, is cut and flattened and then strips are woven into different patterns to form walls.

The floor is made from planks cut from what is called a limbom palm tree. Sometimes you'll find floors made of bamboo or just logs that haven't been cut into planks.  There are pros and cons to each.  Regarding sleeping on the floor, the planks are better than the logs, but not as forgiving as the bamboo.  I did have an air mattress with me, but it is less than 1 1/2 inches thick and while it was quite comfortable, the floor was still hard. 

Our house was built for people who are not quite as tall as I am.  That meant that I had to duck to walk through the house.  I counted five beams or doorways I had to avoid . . . or not avoid as the case may be.  My poor head gained a few bruises during our village living.  I would duck, but sometimes not quite enough!

I'm standing in our porch/common room with the window and door behind me. 

One of the highlights of the house was our porch/common room/I have no idea what to call it space.  The room for cooking and three bedrooms had doorways off of this space, which was where we spent many, many hours.  At times there would be 15-20 people on our porch with us!  We had no chairs, so the majority of the time on the porch was spent sitting on the floor.  Even now, weeks later, my back has something to say about that!

Part of our porch/common room.  To the left and back are doorways into the three bedrooms. 

Looking into our small "haus kuk" or kitchen.  We used a piece of metal, cans, and a grate to keep the fire off the floor and also create a surface for the pots or pans.

This is my room! There was a screen on one window, although seeing as there was a gap above the wall, beneath the roof, I'm not sure it kept out a lot. : )  Yes, there is a piece of cloth covering my mosquito net.  That was to help catch lizard droppings so they wouldn't come into the net, only partially successful!

It was beautiful to sit on our porch and feel a breeze coming through the trees and be able to look out at nature all around us.  There is a path that runs along side the house so we could visit with people passing by. 

This is part of the view, looking to the right, from our porch.  In the distance to the left is the Big House where the most of the family lives.  Closer on the right is the Boy House.

Another part of life in the village is the outhouse.  From our house, you walked up some dirt steps, across an opening, up some more steps, outside of the yard, across a mud pit and the "road" and down a couple more dirt steps.  And you really hope that you don't need to make that journey in the middle of the night when it is pouring rain!  For the record, can I just state how much I despise squatty potties!

You can see the roof of the outhouse beyond the hill.

And the "door."

There was a significant gap below and above the walls.  It was my policy to try to make sure no one was around because the walls didn't necessarily provide privacy. 

Although, I do have to say that despite its many flaws and the large sections of gaping holes in the walls, there were four walls (made from old tin roofing) and a piece of cloth covering the door.  And a roof that didn't leak.  That's more than some.  One of the first things you want to do when visiting an outhouse in the middle of the jungle is make sure you are aware of what creatures are present.  I only saw spiders, but one friend had a snake in hers! 

To end on a happier note . . .our first day there, our village sister, Georgina brought us this red flower to decorate our wall.  It definitely was a bright spot of my day!

Beautiful flower!