Village walk

Our local guide, Robert, arrived at 9am to take us on our walk. As soon as we left the campsite, we were mobbed by a group of boys from the village who each paired up with one of us, chatting to us as we walked to our first stop. It did feel very set up! It was clear that these boys would want a tip and/or a purchase from their ‘shop’ at the end of the tour. They basically walked with us all morning, waiting for us at each stop. My companion, Andrew, told me he’d recently lost his mum and was desperately trying to get to university to study medicine. When we compared notes later, most of us had heard similar stories!

Our first stop was in a field to see the cassava crop. This is the staple food for the village. They use it as a vegetable, and also dry it and grind it to make flour. We were given some samples to try, both boiled and fried. I have to say, it’s not really my taste! As we walked around the village, Robert explained about how the people live, the houses they occupy, the work they do, and the free time activities they enjoy. It was fascinating. We were joined by lots of children from the village who wanted us to play with them. We were invited into a lady’s house and taken to see the village pump donated by a Canadian NGO. Some of our group tried pumping the water, and some even tried carrying 20 litre containers of it on their heads!Read more