Ng'iresi village

Yesterday we had a wonderful time with mr Loti and our guide Lazaro in the village of Ng'iresi. 

Mr Loti picked us up from our posh hotel in an old Nissan pick-up truck and drove us along the bumpy roads to his farm, 7km north of Sekei. We had tea at his house, then we walked with Lazaro to the primary school, where we met std VII and were left to teach (!!) for an hour. 


We then went to see traditional Wa-arusha tribe houses, round huts built of mud and cow dung. I was quite shocked by the extremely basic living conditions. The beds were dirty blankets strewn over some sticks. Only the guest bed was a 'real' bed. But worst of all was that the fireplace was in the middle of the hut, with no chimney! It was still a little hard to breathe from the mornings fire. We asked about the smoke and our guide said it was ok, because they only used dry wood which does not produce much smoke. And he pointed to a hole in the wall the size of my fist and said the smoke could escape there. 


He said most people in the village (adult pop 2000) live like this, but if they can afford bricks they usually try to build modern houses. And there are indeed quite a few new, rather idyllic, houses popping up around the village. We had lunch at mr Lotis, then we walked around the village all afternoon, climbing a little hill and looking at banana plantations. 


This tourism programme has been running since 1996 and it seems to be functioning. The villagers greeted us but didnt ask for money. All revenue from the tourists is distributed to the village through monthly council meetings. Well, a & i slept in tents on mr Lotis yard. Its raining miserably, a lot of my things are wet from coming in contact with the tent fabric and I feel rather dirty. Im longing for a shower, a warm house and a place to wash my clothes! We havent been able to wash our clothes since meru because the stupid hotel, l'Oasis Lodge, charges per ITEM. Which is just silly.