I only go to school three days a week; the rest of the time I stay home to help my mother, who makes pottery. Tourists sometimes come to watch her work. Since they started visiting, I've begun making small things myself, like cups, and try to sell them too — that's part of why I don't go to school every day.
The school got some money from tourism and used it to build a house for the teacher. It's almost finished, except for the bathroom and kitchen — there wasn't enough money left to complete those. We only have nine teachers for almost a thousand students, so classes are packed. I always end up sharing my book with a couple of other students; it would help a lot to have more teachers, desks and books.
There are only nine teachers working in the school and there are almost a thousand students, so there are a lot of students in each class.
Not many children who start primary school make it to secondary school — most drop out. Some who leave go looking for work in other towns, and some come back eventually, though not all of them. Most young people who earn money elsewhere send part of it home to support their families.
My friends and I love seeing tourists — they laugh and play with us. Some of my friends want to dress like they do, but nobody has the money for clothes like that.
For me personally, tourism has been good. I know there are problems for young people in other regions — especially with Maasai girls dancing along the roads for money — but I don't know the details of that, and I hope it gets solved soon.
Three days at a desk, the rest at the wheel — a childhood split between two different kinds of work.