This is our semi-automatic washing machine, the standard around here (there's even a picture of a semi-automatic washing machine on the laundry detergent boxes). The first month we were here, I was absolutely horrified by it and certain that I would never be able to keep up with our family's laundry. It holds only tiny batches of clothing and requires me to act at every stage of the washing and rinsing process: turning on
the water, turning off the water, turning on the tub to agitate (it does do the agitating by itself), draining the tub, refilling the tub, moving all the clothes over to the spinning tub, etc. I've come to peace with the thing now and am actually used to it (though I can't tell you how often I've come into the bathroom to discover the washing machine overflowing into the tub because I've forgotten to turn off the tap). I guess you can get used to just about anything.

We hang clothes outside to dry. It seems like they dry almost before I'm done hanging the batch. (That wire snaking across the front of the picture is our phone line--it enters through the balcony window. We have to duck every time we go on the balcony to avoid yanking it out and losing all contact with the world outside Khartoum.)