Sijui kuosha nguo zangu! ..i don't know how to wash my clothes!

I packed about 2 weeks worth of clothes…so this week it was about time to do some laundry. I got up early one morning, gathered up all my skirts and tank tops and headed to the back yard to wash my clothes in the big buckets I saw Agnes, the housekeeper wash other laundry in. I don’t remember the last time I washed my clothes by hand, probably some Girl Scout camping trip 15 years ago, but I figure, how hard can it be? I get a few big buckets out of the storage closet, fill them up from the spigot coming from the huge water tank and throw my clothes in. There’s an old paint can filled with white powder detergent, I grab a couple small chunks and throw them in the cold water with my clothes. I’m sitting on a rock, mashing away at my clothes when Agnes and Lazarro, one of the Maasai guards at the house, come around the corner into the yard. When they see me sitting in front of my bucket of clothes, they nearly collapse they are laughing SO HARD!! Apparently I am doing it very wrong!? I heard a few years ago, there was another American student staying at Kikoti’s that tried washing her clothes, using a huge wooden spoon to stir them around with, “like she was making a stew!” I think I cannot be nearly that bad; it’s pretty common sense, washing clothes…right? I have no idea what I could possibly be doing wrong, I say ‘Nini? Nini? What am I doing? Sijui! I don’t know! Hapana? No?’ as I hold up my soaked, balled up tshirts. Agnes comes over to me, shaking her head waving her hands at me saying “Adja, stop.” She takes my buckets and rearranges my whole laundry setup. She goes inside and boils water. She mixes the hot water into a new bucket and mixes handfuls of the detergent into it. Okay, I know your supposed to wash things in hot water, I was just using what was easily available! And I guess I’m used to the super concentrated detergent at home, where you use a few tablespoons for a whole load! After she dumps all my clothes into the new bucket, she quickly an efficiently picks up each piece and methodically folds the seams of the collars, sleeves and bottom hems in her hands and scrubs them rapidly in her hands. After a few minutes of watching and learning, I try to step in “Na taka ku saidia, I want to help!” Lazarro and Agnes both say “Adja!” in unison. I don’t know what to do…I sit there, awkwardly watching someone else wash my clothes by hand in a bucket. Agnes usually does the wash for Kikoti and any guest that stays there, but I cannot get over the uncomfortable indications of class that come with having housekeepers, especially in Africa! I figure I can jump in when she starts rinsing and hanging them on the line…nope. Again, “Adja!!” I am forced to leave my laundry to Agnes. Maybe it would just be easier for her to do it for me than try to teach me how she washes the laundry? Maybe she is proud of her responsibilities as an employed woman (still sort of an anomaly here) and I would be insulting her if I tried to take away her usual tasks? Like I don’t think she can do it, or worse, that I don’t want her to touch my things?! I have no idea how to respond, but I do not like the idea of expecting her to wash my clothes for me. Next time, I’ll try to imitate her effective methods…and maybe try to do my laundry while she’s not here to judge me and take it away!!