You will probably have noticed that Day 8 is missing..well just look back at Day 8 and look at the ppol photograph...well we were on one of the sun beds all day!!!
So on Day 9 we decided to do a morning walk into the village with Rashid. Rashid works at the lodge but is also one of the village elders. We paid $5 per person for the tour which all goes directly to support the village
The village nursery school where our bag of colouring pencils, books and paper went to support children whose parents could not afford to pay for the equipment their children require.
The main street
The local bus but imagine this with 30 people, firewood, bags and people on the top and a two and a half hour drive to Stone Town and you can imagine what the locals and staff at the lodge have to do everytime they go shopping or home to visit their families
Traditional hut built for the goats and chickens each family keep for milk, eggs and meat.
A traditional, family home with coral walls, supported by wooden lattice and a woven roof. Rashid explained that although this method is cooler during the hot summer months, it is also a more expensive method as all parts need to be replaced on a regular basis (every two years).
Traditional coral walled home but with the more modern (but extremely hot) sheet metal roof.
This is Rashid's home...one of his brothers is a builder.
The more modern, block wall with metal roof structure is now being used by many on the island. Although the blocks are expensive compared to the coral it is easier to build with and does not need rebuilding when the wooden stakes break down.
One of the six mosques in the village
The doctor's surgery and dispensary
The nurses house built by money raised by the ladies of the village for nurses not from the village.
The Boabab tree used as a look-out point when the islands were under invasion
A typical scene when the tide goes out and the villagers look after their boats and nets. The ladies also take the coconut husks and bury them under stones to be soaked by the sea.
As well as fishing the villagers are learning to diversify, including boat tours out to see the dolphins and snorkelling to the coral reef. This young lad also carves dolphins out of boabab tree wood and sells them to the holiday makers
Whilst we were walking near the beach one of the local fisherman was pushing his catch up into the village on a wheel barrow. He refused to let us take his picture but was happy for us to take a picture of the fish and also of Rashid, our guide, holding a barracuda.
The local children were absolutely beautiful and all so happy. They would run over to us shouting "Jambo, picture please"
The villagers cook using either wood or charcoal. This man is building a charcoal pit where they burn the wood under soil and palm leaves to create charcoal.
The little girl in blue had obviously been shown how to pose like a model and she was so funny strutting her stuff!!
Animals and villagers all live together side by side
This little girl won the competition for the grubbiest child award and also our hearts!!
This little baby was lying on her blanket in the shade and as soon as her mum saw us she went inside to put on her best clothes so we could take a picture of her with the baby. We will be sending the pictures to Rashid via the hotel so they can be taken to the mum.
This was the first ever mosque and the square in the front is the well which is used to raise water so they can clean themselves before they enter the mosque. The well is completely uncovered and when you look over the edge you can see that it goes down for a long way and we were amazed that no local children had ever fallen to their death....no such thing as health and safety here!!
The top picture is Rashid's youngest son and the picture below is his grandson!!
Rashid has three wives!! Graham was astounded as he cannot imagine having three of me around!!!
We then went to visit one of the local ladies who makes rope for a living.
After the coconut husks have been soaked in the sea, the bring them back to the village to dry, then they beat them until all the dust comes out of them and they are left with a pile of dry fibres.
She then takes a handful of fibres and rolls them on her thigh to create a small piece of twisted rope
She then takes two small pieces and lays them across each other and then rolls them between her hands to create a longer piece of rope, she continues to add pieces until she gets a 20 metre length which she loops into a large skein .
If she spends all day making rope she would make 60 metres and she would get about $1 per 20 metres! As she looks after her family she doesn't very often make 60 metres per day though
Although they live very different lives to us, I didn't find it as depressing as I thought I would as they all seem to be really happy and no one was hungry. Also there was a great community atmosphere where everyone supports each other. I know there are other villages in Zanzibar who are probably not as fortunate but things do seem to be improving with the Tanzanian government providing education and health care to most communities.
