The matrons have a big job. There are 3 full time matrons who are with the children 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They are the cooks, cleaners, and mothers to these 20 children.

Before we left Tacoma, the TLC board met with us and asked us if we would be “hygiene and sanitation experts” and do some work to encourage the matrons to use the new washing machine, to shower the kids instead of washing them in buckets and to encourage the children to use the toilets instead of using the ditch outside when they needed to relieve themselves.

After observing the matrons for many days, I sat down to have a meeting with them. Rethabile acted as my interpreter. I asked the women why they did not use the washing machine. They told me that they were just used to doing it by hand and did not want to use the machine. As I reflected on this, a light bulb went on. When the woman are hand washing the laundry it is a break from being with the children. It is a meditative task, a time that gives them a little space to themselves. Using the wash machine does not give this kind of break. You put the clothes in and turn on the knob and then are available to go right back in to caring for the children. As a mother, I know that those breaks are so important for maintaining ones sanity.

When I asked them about the showers, they told me that they wished that they had a bathtub, instead of a shower. The showers were too difficult to use with the small children. Of course they are! If you have 15 young children to shower, you will be completely drenched by the time you are done. Niko came up with a solution to this problem. He suggested that they get a shower head that is on the end of a long hose, so that it can be brought down to shower the little ones as they sit in the plastic bucket. Monies have been set aside and a plumber has been called to put this into place.