This is the way we wash the clothes, wash the clothes… by Sheila

Clothes washing might be a bit of an issue on Kilimanjaro.  Every bit of water has to be carried up, so will be in short supply.  When I ask people who have done it before, they tend to say that they wore the same outer garments most of the time, but rang the changes with inner garments, and tried to keep something clean to sleep in.  I hope to get enough into my bag – 15kg max – to allow for some changes.

I did read on the internet of one guy, who recommended putting any damp garments into your sleeping bag, on the basis that they would be dry in the morning.  I find it hard to believe that that would be a comfortable way forward!

The washing of clothes has gone through a complete transformation during my lifetime: nowadays it is hardly a task even worth mentioning.  However, it used to take up an extraordinary amount of people’s time and energy.

I remember my mother having a wash board, when I was a child.  She had to stand at the kitchen sink and rub each garment on it, before rinsing them out, putting them through a wringer, and hanging them outside to dry.  Many people did not even have the facilities in their homes to do that, particularly people who lived in tenement buildings.  When I was a small child it was a common sight to see women pushing prams full of washing to and from the “steamie”.  The one near where I lived was next to the swimming baths, where it was not only possible to wash your clothes, but also to have a bath.

A Steamie - note the pram and washboard
A Steamie – note the pram and washboard

When I was a student and during the early years of marriage, I had no laundry facilities of any kind – certainly not for bedding – and used to take my dirty washing to the “bag wash” in the morning.  Later in the day it could be collected, either washed or washed and dried.  I think they tipped everything into a bucket of bleach, as everything would come back a few shades lighter in colour, but passably clean.

We were pretty chuffed when we were able to afford a “twin tub”.  This was a washing machine of sorts.  There were two bits to it: one for washing the clothes in, and another for spin drying them in.  It was not a tumble dryer – the stuff still came out wet at the end of the process, but at least they were not soaking wet.  I think it was the mid 1970s before we first had what we would recognise today as a washing machine.

A twin tub
A twin tub

It is salutary to think that there are many parts of the world today which don’t even have running water, let alone electricity.  The people in Tanzania around Kilimanjaro are extremely poor, and generally have neither in their homes.  I have heard that some of the porters who queue for jobs carrying stuff up the mountain are practically dressed in rags, which have been repeatedly washed, probably by the most basic of methods.  A quarter of the money we are raising by climbing will go to the Kili Porters School which is supported by Exodus Travels.  I hope that will result in making life easier for a few people in that respect.

Washing clothes in Tanzania
Washing clothes in Tanzania