In My Living/Dining Room

This was the outdoor room that served as my living and dining room in the on-grounds apartment where I live for ten years in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). I am eating a treat, a local watermelon. The nets on the screens were fish nets collected on village trips.

My studio was a 1,000 square foot challenge. From Grains of Golden Sand:

"Others might have been dismayed by my on-campus accommodations, but for me, the primitive adventure boasted everything (including the kitchen stink). The apartment roof and entire north wall leaked dreadfully, and rainwater pooled two inches deep on the concrete floor. The false ceiling was varicolored with mold rings that expanded and retreated with the seasons. The place was infested with gargantuan spiders that stalked the moths attracted to the ceiling lights. (I had to explain to visitors, “I never kill them. We have different niches: I’m terrestrial and they’re arboreal.”) The hot-water heater was constantly on the fritz. I played “musical refrigerators” with the institute, and once I was nearly electrocuted by frayed wires inside the stove that shorted out on the metal. The kitchen tap slow-dripped into a graywater bucket that I emptied weekly. The bed slats were quite literally eaten out from under me by termites, and the only running water during the dry season came after midnight. My home was my hassle."