It is interesting how things that you take for granted in countries where electricity and water are a normal fact of life become indulgencies where they are not.
One of these things for me in Ghana is hot showers. This is strange, as in the previous places I have lived, and when I was in Ghana for the first time, I never even thought about them and was grateful just to have water and was not concerned about it being hot.
In PNG in my first posting to Dogura in Milne Bay Province we were lucky to have water for most of the year but there were certain times when we would have to make the trek to the river and bathe there as well as doing the weekly wash. This developed into a social event and I loved spending the time with the girls from the school.
In Ghana my water supply was a drum filled by the students everyday and I bathed in just a bucket for over 3 years.
Back in PNG I lived for around 8 months in a bush location and my shower room was a thatched hut overlooking the ravine where the water came, via a pipe, from the local water supply. The views were fantastic but the water was often cold and bracing.
Now here in Ghana we have the luxury of having hot water in our bathroom, but to me using the system is an indulgence as it is hot enough to bathe in cold water, but I look forward to my one hot shower a week, usually on Sunday.
The strange thing is that my partner used to relish hot showers and even in my PNG posting we had a portable solar shower system that you left in the sun and then hung it up and it provided a hot shower when you wanted one. In Porgera in the Highlands were it is cold he had long hot showers every day. Now here he is quite happy showering in cold water and rarely puts the heater on as he doesn't think it necessary.
I have just had my hot shower and look forward to next week!
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