My job is to advise and assist people on development, mostly around farming. I can't offer any financial support myself, since there's no fund for that — the government pays me for the role, but I keep my own farm going too.
Tourism has brought real economic benefits here. The development money collected from tourists has gone into the school and into repairing the roads — new classrooms, desks and chairs, and a house for the teacher. The whole community benefits, because before, everyone over eighteen had to pay a village tax to fund improvements like these; now tourism money covers it instead. There are benefits for the women's group too — money earned from cooking for tourists is shared among different families.
Before, everyone of 18 years and older had to pay some kind of village tax in order to improve or develop things in the village — now the money from tourism is used for that.
The way tourists dress does affect our children, and parents should discourage them from copying it. It's fine for a female tourist to wear shorts or tight clothing, but not for a local girl. In the village, girls dress by our norms — though I'm honestly not sure they always do the same once they're in town; maybe they change clothes along the way. We've never had problems with tourists who walk with guides, which is almost everyone. I could imagine trouble if tourists started wandering on their own, with no one to explain what's expected.
Women still dress traditionally; men mostly stopped long before tourists arrived, once people in Arusha town started laughing at them for it. Now men dress traditionally only at home or during a celebration. Both boys and girls attend primary and secondary school, and some go on to a short course in Arusha town afterward — I expect more girls will move into office jobs there in the years ahead, as long as they keep supporting their families after they move away.
About the future — I'd simply say, let the tourists keep coming. It's genuinely good to see the visible benefits of tourism, and I'd like to thank the ones who've already come for that. I don't think we'll ever have too many.
A tax quietly retired, replaced by something the village decided to welcome instead.