Village Life

The village I ended up staying in last week was not an exclusively Tam speaking village (of which there are five), but one of the local hub villages where there are a mix of languages spoken. The best way to describe village life is that it's like living in a medieval village, albeit one with mobile phones, solar panels and plastic thongs.

I stayed with a family, a woman my age with an 8 year old and a 4 year old. Most women my age tend to have a child or two, but I still find it rather alarming! The 5 year old is the grottiest person I've ever met - in only the way that a 4 year old boy who happens to live on a farm can be. What amazes me the most is how hard working people are, in ways that I've never known people to have to be. There's no plumbing so children are send on the down hill walk every morning to fetch water. People still cook over wood fires and most people (myself included) wear the same clothes every day for most of the week. It was certainly no luxury wilderness retreat!