Natasha Chauke

11 yrs old, 25 April

Natasha and her mother in front of their 7 room home in Chikanga. They are doing some constuction to make two of their bedrooms larger. She is her mothers only child. They live with her grandmother, two Uncle's, one of which just returned form a mission in Ugnada and they rent one room to a woman who lives in the back of the house. 

They take wonderful care of their year which has lots of flowers and is very pretty.

 Natasha with her grandmother. Grandmothers are called "GOGO" here in Zimbabwe.

 People go bare foot much of the time. When they walk on rocks they show no sign of pain. Even when the road is very hot, it doesn't hurt their feet.

 They have a large kitchen with cubboards, stove and freezer. They have electricity part of each day and at least three times a week can cook supper on their stove. Natasha does the dishes after meals at the kitchen sink, where they enjoy running water.

 When they don't have electricity, called "Zesa", they cook outside at this fire pit or when it's raining they cook inside on this parafin stove (red below).

                                      

 This is the laundry area. Each day after school Natasha washes her socks and uniform so it is clean for school the next day.

 It is mango season! You meet many a person on the street chewing on a mango.

Natasha is in the 7th grade. Mom says she has lots of homework, but enjoys school. There are 39 kids in her class. Her school is very close to her home, only a 5 minute walk. After school she likes to watch TV, read or play ball games with her friends. Again if they play ball it's made of plastic bags that they roll up.

                                    Natasha and her mother share a bedroom and this double bed.

                                        This is her toy that she likes to cuddle when she sleeps.

                                   Natasha has a cubboard for her belongings in her bedroom

                                                This is the family shower. Running cold water

                    Family toilet. With the new addition they are going to add another bathroom.

They enjoy a nice livingroom set, where there is room for the family to sit in the evenings and enjoy time together.

Family picture (minus the return missionary who was at school). They are under a tree in their front yard.

Here you can see the addition they are making to their home and the maze (corn) that nearly everyone has growing in their yards.

 This is the street in front of Natasha's home. Occasionally you will see a bus. This is one for picking up children for a pre school.

Again, Natasha's street and neighborhood. Most people don't own car's so there are always people walking in the streets.