Anna Dombkins

Yes, we were so new to Africa and they were very patient with us, but I would just match the most amazing hairstyles, braids and all of these intricate patterns.

And so I would learn their name and their hairstyle, which I thought was a great idea until they all went to town one day and then came back with completely different hair and...

I don't know who you are anymore.

So we were on a very steep learning curve.

We made lots of mistakes.

We put our foot in it all the time and we got a lot of help in trying to settle in and stop making culturally insensitive remarks and they were very helpful in helping us settle.

What was your great washing up lesson?

Yeah, I was in the boarding house one day and these little girls, they were only 10 or 11 and they lived in boarding and so they were washing up just holding, you know, a plate under this little stream of water and I thought these children have never learned how to wash up

in their life.

And I said that to him, have no one ever taught you how to wash up?

And so I taught them what, you know, the classic Australian filler sink full of soapy water.

And they just looked at me like I was crazy.

And I thought I had shown them the real way to wash up.

And pretty soon we're at some friend's house who were American and they were washing up under this tap of flowing water.

Outrageous system.

I know.

And I just stopped in my tracks and I said, is that how you wash up in the

They said, yeah, how do you wash up?

And then I explained our method and they said, that's weird.

Aren't you just washing everything in the same dirty water?