JUST A LITTLE COMFORT

C H A P T E R E I G H T

Once we landed, I had to book a connecting flight to my city and once I was there, the familiarity of my old life hit me. My parents picked me up and everyone was so excited and welcoming. I was so emotional. After a long bus ride back to my house deep in the village, I felt different. Even though the house felt smaller now, it was still home, right?

My phone was dead and then I realised, the adapter here wouldn't work to charge it. I was so busy catching up with my cousins and the rest of my family. Alot of the catching up revolved around what was happening in the village, not what I was up to all these years. No one brought up any stories from the country I was in, so it looked like nothing really got back here, especially LEO.I just laid down on my bed after a long day and fell asleep. I was awoken by my mother, for early rituals and things I hadn't done in years. Life here was always busy. There was always something to do and time would just pass by because everything took longer to do than it would take to do in the country, I stayed in all these years. The infrastructure wasn't that great here. There was alot of resources that the village didn't have. Like for starters, something as basic as electricity that was a necessity in the Country and city I worked in, was hardly accessible here.

 Even if I found the right adaptor to charge my phone, it was going to be tough because sometimes the electricity would be out for days. Plus, no one had cell phones here... well no smartphones, so there was no Wi-Fi connection here either. Laundry needed to be washed by hand. Food was cooked on a gas stove. Dishes and other chores had no fancy appliances to assist in getting it done. Plus, we cooked alot at once and then had to wash those huge pots after. I left here in such a hurry after I had just finished school, I didn't experience life in the village as an adult. I'd be up at 5am and help my mum with some tasks around the house, especially cleaning because it always gets so dusty since the roads were not paved, it was just sandy. Then her and I would make breakfast for my dad and brother. My dad would not even try and work, he would just sit on the couch and listen to the radio or read a newspaper then eat and leave to wander around the village, talking to all the other men at their shops. I wondered why he didn't just work. He had never changed. I had nothing to say to my dad growing up and I still felt like a stranger to him now.

My brother seemed ambitious. He was eager to help. He was quite bright and determined to make something of himself. He'd set out to help with odd jobs. He was good with his hands, so he'd assist people in fixing things in their houses. I'd have to go with all our laundry in a bucket and carry it down the end of the street that had our water source. They set up these laundry scrubbing boards and places to sit there for all the ladies who would come and wash. I had to sit there, and scrub clothes and it would take me almost two hours. I'd come back home, and my mum would ask me to help her with baking biscuits because she would sell that to everyone. Then I'd take a walk around the village and try to sell it. It was so hot at the moment; it was actually exhausting to do this. I realised I hardly exercised in the city I worked in, so I was so unfit.

The plumbing had got a lot better here since I stayed here, so we had bathrooms attached to the back of our houses now, . The baths were still with buckets. This is why people shouldn't leave the village and stay where I did. You'd realise you were living in a whole different world and would need to adjust again. It's easier when this was all that you were used to, not knowing another world existed. Talk about irony. I always wanted to come back here thinking life was so hard there, not realising life was harder here. The village was poor. That's why my salary made such a huge impact on my family and that's why they took forever to call me back. 

I had even forgotten about my phone. I hadn't been in the city since I got here since you'd need to take a two-hour bus ride just to get to a place that would sell something like a phone charger or an adapter. I only unpacked my suitcase after two weeks of being here, until then I was living out of it and some family members gave me more traditional clothes because they said what I was wearing was inappropriate. No one wore jeans and Tops. It had to be decent, like long tops and baggy pants. I was surrounded by many people, but I didn't feel like anyone really knew me. I was a stranger in my own village because of how long I was gone for. The connection between everyone was a little broken. It was going to take some time to reconnect with all my neighbours and cousins.