Today, let’s visit with the people who inhabit the Massingir Lake area.
This area is extremely rural and it was sad to see the living conditions, however everyone that we met were smiling and ready to help us!
As we drove to the lake each morning, we passed various small villages. When the kids would see a truck coming, they would all wave and smile. One group saw that I had a camera stuck out the window so they gave me a great show.
As we approached the lake, the two lane roads quickly turned into one lane roads and finally to trails that were barely big enough for the truck to pass.
And, the trails were often shared with small herds of cattle….
The herds were being tended by young boys looking to be between 10 and 15 years old. That is a lot of responsibility for someone that age!
We also passed many oxen-pulled skids…..
…carrying everything from household items, to mud bricks, to tree branches.
The ingenious skids were made from a large tree branch that “branched” out to provide a place for the loads to be stored….
People along the lake live a hard existence!
The family unit lives in a small area….
….that contains their shelter for sleeping, and their kitchen….
Their “dining” is normally done sitting on the ground….
….and their clothes are hung to dry in the few bushes that exist….
I actually enjoyed seeing these “clothing trees”.
I watched these two boys playing a game using stones and simple holes in the dirt……
As I watched, the game seemed to resemble Backgammon.
The primary income source is from fishing, most of it done with nets…..
Sadly this fishing method is hard on the environment and there is a good chance that they will “out-fish” the lake and lead to its demise.
Some of the fish are used for family food, but most are dried…
…and taken into the next village to be sold.
Every time we arrived in the truck, it was a village occasion…..
….with people gathering to see what the “crazy white people” were up to!!
It was hard to see the living conditions of these people, but, as always, the kids were a highlight in the darkness.
This young girl was proudly carrying a smaller sibling on her back and she could outwalk ME!!
I always asked (ie…motioned to ask) if I could take their photos. In each grouping, there were normally one or two who would move away but most were happy to have their images captured….
One young boy was enamored with my camera and phone and I asked if I could take his picture…..
The shy smile gave way to a big grin when I showed him his image on my phone!!
And, as I said in Monday’s post, the kids were always willing to carry anything….
This little girl was so proud of the load that she was carrying….
Now, let me end on a sadder note.
One of the purposes of this trip to the lake was to kill a crocodile that had eaten a villager about three weeks previously. He was a monster…..
….14 feet long and weighing about 1,500 pounds!
Most of the locals eat crocodile meat and they walked away with about 450 pounds of meat…mostly from the tail of the animal.
Take a closer look at his teeth….
It is satisfying to know that this one is no longer a menace to the lake villagers.
As always, I worry for the kids in these situations. I worry for their safety as they bathe and play along the lake. I worry for their nutrition. I worry for their education. But mostly, I worry for their future. I desperately want them to know that they can do something different and be something different, but unfortunately, that is out of my hands!
I am grateful for the opportunity to have seen into their lives.
Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!
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