On our way back from the job site today, we took a short detour to the small village of Mingogi. The population of the village is about 20 people. The village is situated on the river edge providing easy access to the water and fishing which is the main occupation for the residents of the village. They even attempt to block the fish from swimming further up stream so they are to catch the most amount of fish possible.
Houses are made of dried mud walls and straw roofs. They are very small and have bunk beds inside to utilize space. We also noticed small replicated house build close to the larger house which by their belief is supposed to keep the bad demons away.
In the above photo, you will see the only resident that was in the village during our visit. She sat out front of her house and appeared to me very frail. She was very appreciative of our visit and many gave her granola bars and candy that we had in our bags.
She was asking us for vitamins and medicine to help make her feel better. She was complaining of a very sore back. Due to her health situation, she probably does not have enough strength to walk the 7km to the larger village.
During the rainy season, the river floods and most are forced from their houses to higher land until the river recedes again.
Very sad to see that people live under these conditions. As we were leaving 3 little boys ran up from the river waving and excited to see us. It amazes us how happy the children seem. We guess they have no concept that any different life exists.
Marianne
DWC Participant
Tanzania 2010
No comments:
Post a Comment