Mtomondoni

Hello All, Today we went into Mtomondoni, this a village which is inside the Mtwapa area and near where new light children's home is located. We visited a few old friends and made some new ones! Mtomondoni is a very poor area and a large proportion of the houses are made of wood and mud although there are some concrete buildings popping up here and there!

We attracted quite a big crowd of children who decided to follow us around the village singing and laughing. The children were fascinated by the cameras and loved to see themselves on the screen.

The area is mainly residential with only a few people working there. Those who do work in the area are often farming maize which they dry (see photo below) and pound to make flour, or selling fruits, veg and other foods at small stalls called 'duka'. 

We also managed to visit the Government school for the area, 'Mtomondoni Primary'. At Government schools tuition is provided free of charge and the pupils are required to buy uniforms and their school lunches. However the class sizes are huge a typical class size can range from 50 to 200 students. The buildings in the school are generally of a comparatively good standard but they lack any basic facilities, this includes books, desks and chairs. This means that the quality of education is very low and children often fail to reach their true potentials. 

We have also inserted a photo of a traditional 'Giriama' building, with it's low roof and wood and mud construction. The Giriama are a local tribe originating from the coastal region of Kenya, so there are many Giriama people in this area. There are many different tribes around Mtwapa and Mtomondoni who all now live together. Each tribe has their own language which is often spoken in the homes alongside Kiswahili. Children therefore already know how to speak and write in two separate languages, and those children who attend school will add English to this number at the age of 5.