African adventure: using a choo

I moseyed over to check out the choo (rhymes with go) closest to our tent. It consisted of nothing more than a yellow tarp around a hole in the ground.

A yellow tarp around a hole in the ground!

Our choo (pit latrine)

Dave and I had just arrived in Eleng’ata Enterit for phase two of Kenya Safari, our orientation to living and working in Africa. On that first afternoon, under massive fig trees alongside a stream in a desert, we had scurried to clear a space and set up our tent.

While we did that, Brian, our orientation director, assigned several men to dig holes to serve as two outhouses—but no, they would not turn out to be outhouses. They were those dreaded pit latrines.

So far on Kenya Safari, I had found ways to avoid using pit latrines, but now—now I was doomed. That choo was my only option.

How could I ever use such a toilet? At my age! Day by day I grew closer to—er . . . day by day my husband grew closer to carrying an AARP card in his wallet.

Someone my age

should not have to squat over a pit latrine—a choo—

and fumble with a bulky skirt and a roll of toilet tissue

(and sometimes a torch—a flashlight—

which would prove to be prone to falling into that pit),

all while watching for scorpions!

And I would have to use that choo for six weeks!

Six weeks!

I hurried back to our tent and rifled through my backpack to find my one little chocolate bar. This situation required a chocolate fix!

Dear Joy outside the choo

Jesus said that even before we ask, God knows our need (Matthew 6:8). In this case, He answered on the spot through one of our fellow campers, Joy.

She cut a circle out of the bottom of a red plastic basin and turned it upside down over the hole. It was only about six inches high, but it helped! Oh, yes, it helped! God bless her!

That’s Joy in the picture, standing outside the choo. All these years later, I’m still so thankful for the little red plastic potty seat Joy crafted.

Praise for Grandma’s Letters from Africa from President/CEO of Wycliffe USA, Bob Creson: “Grandma’s Letters from Africa is an engaging, memorable account of Linda’s years in Africa. It was a privilege for me to read over the shoulders of her granddaughters as Linda tells her story through a series of letters. Through both laughter and tears, she learns to balance her roles as missionary, wife, mother, and grandmother. In the process, Linda falls in love with Africa, its people, and her work. Readers will be moved by this compelling story that reveals God’s heart and extraordinary grace.”

You can buy Grandma’s Letters from Africa from your local independent bookseller or online at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other online distributors.