Rebecca Mondanga, a resident of Masi, is fed up with being chararcterised as poor but meticulously clean, like those legendary wives of Welsh miners. Rebecca is constantly debating whether to deliberately leave items of fluff under a table or specks of grime on the corner of a window. 'It's a way for wealthy people to feel better about the poor; actually they are setting the standards for cleanliness as a salve to their own consciences,' Rebecca points out. 'If a wind springs up and blows dust through the township, what must I do - leap up from my sewing and remove all semblance of dirt on the off chance that some budding Hemingway might stumble across my humble abode on the search for some African inspiration?' Rebecca suspects that a writer like Somerset Maugham or even Conrad had a couple of swings at the comforting myth, although she doesn't think it's at all a popular theme with contemporary African writers, knowing as they do what a hassle it can be putting up with such elitist fantasies. Of course, as many hygienists are now starting to realise: there's also the issue of healthy dirt. In many middle class households people are incessantly wiping kitchen tops and would never dream of eating food dropped on the floor. But when you live in poverty the only thing you've really got is your health (that's if you do have it) and exposure to germs at an early age is a must. Rebecca concedes that the one time she did get her house spotless was when President Obama came to Masi in his Black Hawk helicopter. 'We went through a cleaning frenzy, it's true, after all it was Obama! But there were four Black Hawks altogether and the DUST! Well it was just terrible and all my surfaces were smothered with it.' On a purely commercial level Rebecca has been considering contacting the manufacturers of Cleen Green or Mr Muscle. 'Maybe one of these big companies will pick up on the poor-but-clean angle and I'd be quite happy to clean every day if I became their poster child.'
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