village people

Of my 10 days in Malawi, the highlight for me was a visit to a village.I was there in a press group, and while the trip had been amazing, until that point I somehow felt we were missing out on what was really important.On previous days, we'd passed village after village and almost everyone who saw our vehicle nodded and smiled. Kids ran behind the jeep, waving and cheering.I was desperate for us to stop and take it all in, but this was the first time we'd been given the chance to interact with locals who weren't working in tourism.When we climbed out of our jeep it was pandemonium. We were immediately surrounded by a swarm of grinning children who wanted nothing more than to interact with the mazunga, or white people. They were dirt poor and clad in rags but happy and the comparison with surly, spoiled tantrum-throwing Western kids was striking.Simply taking their photo, and showing them the image on the back screen, delighted them.Yet it is hard to know what their future holds. Our guide told us that out of 900 people in the village, three-quarters are children.At the local school, which is currently being built through western donations (the closest government school is 7km away), children are currently being taught under trees, by teachers who themselves finished their education aged 14.Its 600 pupils are divided into six classes. More than 120 of the children are Aids orphans. Statistics like this make the whole thing confusing. Looking back, it makes me wonder whether or not it's perverse of European tourists to swan into impoverished villages like we did, flashing about our expensive cameras, if we can't actually do anything to help?I loved every moment of being there, but some others who visit such countries couldn't give a crap. But is that fascination of mine with all the rural areas we were passing not actually quite patronising? I don't honestly know.Was I really interested in those people's lives, or more in the "quaint" or primitive way they are forced to live? Were we treating them like animals in a zoo?This is probably all too abstract or neurotic to waste time thinking about. In terms of cultural exchange, we learned a few interesting facts about the Yao, the local Muslim tribe, played with some cute children and met the traditional healer.We learned how women in that village wear a string of red beads under their skirt when they're menstruating, and white beads when they're not, because talking about such matters is taboo even within marriage.We learned that the village healer has special powers that make an attacker's arm go shorter if they throw a punch at him.The kids, being kids, were delighted to see us. The adults were probably mildly interested in us, and got some much-needed donations for the village and school project. I'm sure they don't see anything malign in our intentions. But perhaps the difference in wealth is bound to throw up such questions.