We began the hike/tour at a brick factory. I use the term "factory" very loosely. It was basically big holes in the ground with steps that descended to the bottom. Each family in the village is given a hole to make bricks for money. During the wet season, the Iraqw people are farmers (maize, peas) and to make money during the dry season, they make bricks by digging up clay, breaking it down with sticks into powder (Adam helped the kids with this task), making mud and then putting the mud in a template that makes two large bricks or four small bricks. The bricks then dry in the sun and are then heated in a kiln. After the kiln, the bricks are manually moved (i.e., women carrying six bricks on their heads) to the next station. Bricks sell for 100 Tanzania Shillings each (~10 cents). The entire operation was a manual process. As it was a Sunday, the only workers in the "factory" were children.
Next, we went to Mama Rebecca's and toured her house and yard. We discussed life (translated by Paolo) in her crumbling kitchen and were amazed at the amount of maize (corn) she had stored in a huge concrete bin. A staple in their diet is a food called maconda, which is a mixture of maize and beans.
We then hiked to the village chief's house. On our way, kids from throughout the village came up to us and asked us to take their picture. They had so much fun making faces and seeing themselves on the back of the camera. The chief's house was a big hut. Walls were made of wood and the floor was hard-packed dirt/stone. The place smelled like we walked into a smokehouse and the entire roof was covered in soot from the cooking fires. They believe the smoke keeps the snakes away. Nine people live in the hut with three "beds." Keep in mind that this is the chief's house, not just anyone's house. I tried to ground maize into corn flour between two rocks to make ugali. Adam was not allowed to try because "it's a woman's job." It was harder to do correctly than it looked.
I got to hold a two-month-old baby boy (the chief's grandson), and I was fascinated that he was simply wrapped in a single cloth (no diaper). It's basically like holding a ticking time bomb if you know what I mean. We continued to take pictures of the village children who were now following us wherever we went. We gave them all stickers which was a huge hit!
We hiked to Paolo's new four-room house he is building with bricks. It has a room for he and his wife, a room for the girls, a room for the boys and a sitting room. The kitchen and bathroom are separate from the house. He bought this land for $1,000 because it has access to water and his other house relies on the public water tap across the village (which the women go and fetch everyday). The cost to completely build the 4,000-brick house is $1,200. He still needed a steel roof ($400) and plaster for the walls ($80) to complete the house.
We walked to Paolo's current house and met his wife, daughters and sons. He invited us into his sitting room where his wife served us tea and pancakes (think heavy crepes). We chatted for a while and he told us the family would like to play music for us. Paolo played a traditional instrument, girls led by the mother danced, and the son played the drums. The tune was simple but it made your foot tap. It was extremely touching. It's definitely eye-opening to see these people who have nothing so happy and simultaneously carefree yet hard working. It puts things into great perspective. Before long, we were up dancing with them. By that time children from all over the village came to laugh at our dance moves :) This was an experience we will always remember!
We met back up with Kassim and drove to our next camp in the town of Mto wa Mbu (River of Mosquitoes). We stopped at a local market on the way for Elias to buy some fresh produce. It was great walking by all the stalls looking at the local produce. We both took a "shower"...which felt wonderful and then Elias and Kassim joined us for a traditional Tanzanian dinner, which we requested the day before.
The four of us sat together at a table outside lit by a lantern and feasted on ugali, spinach, okra and green bananas (which they consider a legume; tasted like potatoes kind of) mixed with beef. We didn't use utensils but ate with our hands by rolling the ugali (like firm grits) into a ball and mixing it with other foods. It was really special and felt very authentic. We talked about patriarchy and elders and how obedient children are, dowries that all men pay for their wives and meal times. If a man chooses, he may pay half of his dowry up front, and if it turns out that his wife cannot give him children, he can leave her and never have to pay for the other half. If she gets pregnant, however, he must pay the other half.
We got into the tent, and I laid back with my head lamp to see a fluorescent green spider spinning a web down from the ceiling of the tent directly into what would be my forehead. Adam went to get it and missed, succeeding in only knocking it down somewhere in our tent. We became hysterical over the whole situation, searching every inch for this fluorescent green African spider on the loose in our tent. After about 20 minutes, we found him and sent him to spider heaven.
