IN A COMPOUND HOUSE

Spending over two decades in a compound has been a kinda great experience. A compound house in my observation is a building with multiple individual rooms with a shared cooking space, washroom etc. It’s the most common form of housing in the Zongos and less privileged communities in the country. For some time now I have realized compound houses possess if not the same then similar characteristics. To my privileged friends who grew up in estates, flats, bungalows etc. Take time to read to know the ordeal of staying in compound houses.In a typical compound house, during a top football match, wrestling or top boxing match, well-to-do tenants with flat screen TVs use their  rooms as  JCR (Junior Common Room) or TV room. Its good on their side but the form of hospitality their wives provide at times is very appalling.In these houses your gadget/appliance does not belong to you alone. Your fridge becomes a public asset. Your fellow tenant preserves all manner of food items in it and you bear the electrical cost alone. The movable gadget like the iron, blender etc gets to enter rooms which you (the owner) will not get the chance to enter. Female tenants borrow all sort of items ranging from cooking utensils to other items such as matches, salt, onion etc. This looks odd to you when you are new to this form of housing.
The judicial system practiced here is very interesting. Landlords/landladies preside over disputes/quarrels/misunderstanding.  Any adult has the power to punish any child who misbehaves. This is somehow helpful as it serves as checks on all the children in the house.On Saturdays, it looks like a market day. Most people get engaged with chores such as washing,  sweeping and most at times  general cleaning in their rooms. The dry lines becomes the eventual sufferers. It hangs all manner of clothes, rags, underwear, lace etc. There is absence of privacy too. Whatever you do,  planned to do or say, a fellow tenant knows about it. It’s as if they have PhDs in Investigation. lol!. Everything you do is directly in their palms and they can vividly describe all your daily routine or something you have planned to undertake. Here, there is nothing hidden under the sun.

What am I missing here?Let me know in the comments and i'll add it in.If you enjoyed this post, I would be very grateful if you would help it spread by mailing it to a friend, or sharing it on Twitter, WhatsApp or Facebook. Thank you.

Photo:  http://archihousing.blogspot.com/2014/08/seth-gebhart-housing-compound-freetown.html