Preparing for Winter

The two gas tanks I use for
cooking and heating.

Living without electricity obviously means there are a few differences in the way things get done here versus what I was used to in America. Cooking and heating the house would be two major examples. I have two small gas tanks in my hut that I use to accomplish these tasks. My host family, on the other hand, has a small, paraffin tank for cooking, and a medium sized, old-fashioned looking stove for occasional cooking and to stay warm in the winter. The stove they have now is different from the one they had when I first arrived (they upgraded in May of last year), but either way, they need something to burn to make it work. For most of the year, if they decide to use it, they collect dried cow manure, small amounts of wood, and any other paper products for burning. When winter comes, though, they rely on a much larger source of fuel: a big pile of wood.

The wood burning stove my family
uses for cooking and heating the kitchen.

The tractor pulled up with the wood for the winter.

Late yesterday evening, this winter’s fuel delivery arrived. As the sun began to set, a tractor pulling a large trailer of wood drove through the front gate and up into the yard. The source of the wood was the next village over. Apparently there is a “forest” where people chop down trees and sell them. Since trees in my area appear to be few and far between, it is hard to for me to imagine that there is a forest anywhere nearby, but they had to come from somewhere relatively close, so I suspect there are villagers that plant trees rather than maize on their farms. The cost of the wood plus delivery was a R750 (about US$75): a huge sum of money by all accounts here in the village. And the order 

About 45 minutes later, the pile is nearly complete.

was placed only early that morning. When I asked my host sister how mama knew whom to call (it is not as if you can google “wood delivery” on the internet), she said, “Everyone knows that these are the people who bring wood.” Of course it is – here that explanation actually makes perfect sense. It took about thirty minutes for the three guys to unload all the wood, by hand of course, by tossing it into a big pile in the yard. My host sister said it should last through the winter, until about September. I won’t be here to see, but I have a feeling they know what they are doing at this point.