My hut is made of local materials such as mud bricks which have been baked in a homemade kiln. Then they are cemented together into three rooms.
Wooden poles serve as rafters and thatch is laid over for the roof. Because of the rain, Peace Corps requires a layer of plastic over the thatch and another layer of thatch. Cement floor is in my hut but traditionally the floors of Zambian huts are packed dirt.
It didn't take long to realize that the termites were going to literally eat me out of house and home so my first major project was to smear cement over the inside of the walls and then cover that with a layer of lime (or whitewash). I am happy to say that that fixed the problem on the walls.
However, they still climb up the interior of the bricks and eat the wooden rafters. I had the poles treated with black medicine but they are so tiny they eat the untreated area facing the thatch. Periodically, I bang on the poles with my broom handle so they fall off into my face, hair, floor, clothes. This is a "spring cleaning" project which I don't enjoy.
Chitenge material covers the inner door openings. These were my first sewing project with my new treadle sewing machine purchased in Lusaka.
My couch was made by a local carpenter with hand tools while I sewed the cushion covers. The living room also contains my sewing machine, two chairs, and my bike.
In the bedroom, the bed is sealed with an ITN (insecticide treated net) to keep out malaria mosquitoes. At the foot there is a suspended dowel rod for my closet. Over the top of the bed net and closet is more plastic sheeting to keep out the rain of termites and water.
A wooden book shelf hold supplies, shoes, and books while a plastic stack unit holds the folded clothes. On the floor is a strip of linoleum which helps to keep dust and cold out but makes dirt visible so I can easily clean them.
The storage room hold all my supplies for cleaning, cooking and eating plus my water tower topped with a filter. Drinking water is treated with chlorine and run through the filter. An additional tank holds cooking water. Two 20 liter gerry cans are used to pump water from the well and store the cleaning water. It is in one of these containers that I distill the banana mango wine.
Outside are separate structures made of bush materials: a kitchen where I cook and receive visitors (Zambians do not enter one's house). The kitchen is called an insaka. I built a small brick oven so my charcoal brazier is off the ground while I sit on a low stool and cook.
Next tocharcoal is also used to filkl the iron w\for my clothes. it is a big bag of charcoal which I buy from the locals. They are good at making charcoal from the forest and transporting it on their bicycles. I bought some stools for my visitors from a local wood carver.
the outhouse, I have a very nice outhouse. It is big and light and airy. I even store the garden tools there.
and a bathing shelter which is just walls and a floor. You can read about my bucket baths taken under the stars in other posting. Attached to the bathing shelter are the grass walls of my kitchen garden.
This consists of 6 small rows of plants which I double dug, and use my grey water to maintain during the dry season. Here I have successfully grown bananas, pawpaw, okra, tomato, pumpkin, watermelon, basil, green beans, green peppers, and pineapples. The chickens are constantly poking their way through the thatch and digging nests in the soft wet earth. GRRR. The door is a lean-to which closes the opening to the garden. Both door and walls are always needing repair. Bush materials are cheap but don't last very long.
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