cleaning is very messy.

I feel like TB had to have gotten in my body somehow. Four of the
TB patients and I moved all of the beds out of the ward. Then we
scrubbed all of the walls with brooms and soap. One of the guys was
throwing soapy water up on the walls, three of us scrubbed with
brooms, and another rinsed with a hose. The water ran brown off the
walls and soon we were standing in these lakes. We started using the
already dirty water to loosen who knows what off of the walls. They
let me have the job of throwing water for a while, but I was so bad
at it and I kept soaking everyone. It's so hard to hold onto a
soapy bowl when you are flinging it in an upward motion to soak the
walls. One time especially, I just totally missed and water went all
over the guys. Good thing they know how to laugh. They took it
away from me at the point.
After everything was scrubbed (even the high ceiling), we shoveled
the water out of the sanctuary. It felt like shoveling snow off of
sidewalks. We were filthy by this point. Just soaked in the mess
of the trashed TB ward.
Part way through I ran over and filled two jars will water and then
put some drink mixes in them. Jacob (an SM from Southern) left a
bunch of these "Greens to Go" drink mixes. They have all these
green pieces of....maybe lettuce....I don't know....and look really
questionable. But they have tons of vitamins and so with this
argument, I got all of the workers to drink the stuff.
We finished and it was beautiful. "Proper" as they liked to call
it. The men asked if they could pour my precious bleach down the rat
holes. They hate the rats. I've never seen so much disgust and
expression coming from their faces as when they were explaining to me
how the rats come in the middle of the night and run around their
beds and across their chests. Sarah suggested we buy a cat to live
in the sanctuary. Anyway, it was absolutely clean and while I
wouldn't have licked the floor, I probably would have slept on
it...which is saying alot.
They men worked so hard. They didn't stop once. If it so happened
that one of their jobs came to a close, they would come take my work
from me before they themselves would stop working.
In the morning, I had asked Augustan to help me hire some of the
patients. He came and we hired the people not giving them a
wage...just saying we would give them a little something if they
helped. So now it was time to pay. I went back to Augustan and
told him that they worked really hard, that I wanted to pay them
well. How much? He said...."Two dollars...they will be blown
away." Two dollars.... that's double a days wage. So I went back
and gave them all the 1000 francs. They accepted their money with
two hands. I love the gesture. Afterwards, they said, "Emily, can
we have the extra soapy water to wash our clothes?" Yes. Yes, you
most definately can. So all the wives came with their buckets and
filled their buckets with soapy water. They'll be all proper for
tomorrow. Tomorrow we start the painting. I still haven't taken a
shower. I need to. I feel like TB germs are all over in my ears and
nose and eyes and mouth. I feel like these little air-borne bugs
are hovering around me! I'm having so much fun. Today I felt so
energized. It was the hype of working with others who were also
working hard. I loved it.