(Cor) Cleanliness

Boy, that's a problem. Generally, people's sense of hygiene is very different. People will throw anything, anywhere. Not a thought is wasted on dropping paper, plastic, or any kind of trash anywhere. You see cars that pitch paper bags, candy bar wrappers out of the window all the time. Pedestrians do the same. Some people do not pay for trash pick up, instead they drop it out of the window on the way to work.

Ok, that's a huge eye sore. But does not necessarily affect your own health unless you have to walk through it (many people walk from place to place, but of course we're in our car most of the time).

But more dangerously is personal hygiene. For example servants will use the same rag they use in the bathroom in the kitchen. You have to tell them all the time to wash their hands after cleaning the bathrooms. Not to mix sponges used for cleaning on the food. Not to use food that has fallen (on the dirty) floor. Not to sneeze on the food. And then of course they don't use toilet paper here, so use your imagination.

No wonder so many people fall ill with stomach trouble. For poor people this can mean death (de-hydration), for people more well off, it means feeling very crappy for a few days. So many times we hear in the neighborhood that someone has fallen ill due to stomach upset. A couple of months ago one of Rohan's friends was sick for 3 weeks, had some 20+ injections, because of something he ate at a candy shop. He lost 20 pounds.

Today Simone is sick with a bad stomach, but we have no idea where she got it from. We try our best to be as hygienic as possible, but when 99% of the people don't follow the same rules, you can get it fomr just about anywhere.