Tools of the Trade

The man said to me, "Americans use machines for everything, in Tanzania we don't have them so things take longer". As I sat there amazed as the fundi (contractor) tried to drill a hole into cement with a hole punch (it is basically a tool that you pound a hammer on to make a hole), I found that we take drills for granted..well alot of things for granted. The simple act of washing clothes can take hours here since we do them by hand and in the States we just throw them in the machine and they are done. Why don't they use machines here? For one machines are expensive and secondly umeme (electricity) is expensive as well. So not using machines for things makes creativity important here. How can you get the job done without tools you used to rely on? Makes you think a little bit...at least for some things.