Sometimes I treat tourists who come to see me — mostly stomach problems, headaches, breathing trouble. Some send me pictures afterward, which I really like. Others leave a little money, or buy medicines, and I always get a contact fee of a thousand shillings per group, just over a dollar, so I do benefit from tourism. They tell me about their own culture too, and they're very friendly. What I've learned from them? Mostly that punctuality seems to matter to them a great deal.
I always get a contact fee of a thousand shilling per group, a little over a dollar, so I do benefit from tourism.
I don't always wear traditional clothing — western clothes are simply easier for working the land. Women still dress traditionally all the time. Christians here follow a different tradition and don't wear the traditional dress at all.
People no longer have a problem with tourists taking photographs; there used to be a belief that the photos were being sold, which nobody wanted. Now people understand tourists take pictures as memories, to show family and friends back home.
The government has started a campaign encouraging people not to have more than three children. But having a son still matters a great deal — sons are expected to support their parents in old age. If a man doesn't have a son with his first wife, he's very likely to take a second wife in hopes of one.
A healer paid in coins and photographs — treating strangers' headaches while a much older family pressure continues, unchanged.