Living in the jungle of Papua New Guinea has many a challenge we do not face in the Western World. And while there are things we might expect (e.g. the humid heat and all kinds of critters), there are always some that take us by surprise. One of those are grass seeds.
After the Rumginae Missionary's maintenance shed caught fire last July, burning everything including the lawn mower, the grass around our houses could not be cut anymore. To buy a new mower proved to be very difficult, as we could only find cheap quality at an exorbitant price. So, by the time we got back from our holiday at the end of August the grass had grown rather high.
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| Maintenance Shed after the fire |
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| Lawn in front of our house |
Long grass in itself is not such a big deal. However, we also have a kind that grows to about calf height and carries a lot of seeds on a thin stalk. These seeds will stick to everything that brushes against them. This grass is the reason we pilots wear sock protectors, as it can be found at most airstrips throughout the Western Province. Sock protectors are made of a strong fabric, which allows to easily "brush" the seeds off with a knife at the end of the day, instead of having to laboriously pick them out of ones socks one by one.
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| Seeds on a stalk |
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| Trusty sock protector |
Unfortunately, we do not have sock protectors for our kids. Not that these would make any difference. Our kids do not wear socks to start with and they would rather need a whole body protector. Hence, after a short stroll through our gardens, their shorts or skirts get a prickly pelt of grassy seeds.
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| Shorts spiked with grass seeds |
It's Madeleine's task to remove those seeds again before washing. Otherwise, the seeds will transfer into all other clothing in the washing machine. This would be rather unfortunate, because one single seed can prick irritably. Even with the greatest care, some seeds always make it to the most inconvenient places. And once it's in your underwear you have to remove it lest you go crazy.
If we assume that one pair of shorts takes 15 minutes to "un-seed", with four kids this amounts to one hour of extra work per day. I think it's self-explanatory why we put everything in motion to get a new mower as soon as possible.
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| Bakwa and Lucien mowing the lawn around our house |
