Being a Kid in Magozi by Amisadai

 I've been living in a village called Magozi. Children there don't have very much. Most of the time when we play with our skipping ropes and football and frisbee. They were excited to see these. They have made a ball out of a sack scrunched up and tied with string. They also make skipping ropes out of hay and some kids have made a little toy to push on the ground. Most of the time they play with rubbish like empty bottles. We also run around playing in empty houses that are old or just being built. The other fun thing to do is play on the rice sacks (people grow rice here - I used the machete to cut some in harvesting at our friends shamba). They are really big and stacked up high. It is like a playground!

Playing on the rice sacks!

We lost the frisbee in the tree!

All the kids come to our house to skip!

The houses people live in are very, very small. They have no stairs, bathroom or kitchen. They have a very small area to sit in, and a little room for all the family to sleep in, maybe with just one mattress. They are made of mud or brick and dark inside. The toilet is outside. Mamas cook on fires outside or in another little mud hut. There is nothing much at all in the houses. They don't have cupboards or anything and most of the children wear the same clothes every day which are very old.

Living in Magozi, we have lots of jobs to do. I wash up dishes in a big bowl outside and the clothes as well. We fetch water in a big bucket every day. There are lots of people filling buckets, lots of kids too. We sweep the dust out of our house.

Getting water. I can only carry half a bucket but kids there carry a whole one on their head.

Louisa likes washing up. We dry the dishes on the rack behind.
And you can see our stove cooking more food to eat



Making dinner

 Everyone eats ugali (which is white and squidgey) or rice. There isn't much else, maybe green leaves or tomatoes. Sometimes a pig is killed and we can eat pork, or a boy goes round on a bike selling bits of goat. There is a tiny shelter where you can buy tomatoes and onions and there are some clothes on the side too. We had a treat one day because we bought a soda there!

Being a kid in Magozi is lots of fun because we run around and play. I am learning more Swahili and we can talk lots more now. But it gets very hot which is not so good. But I am glad we are living there with lots of playful kids. My new friends are called Emma, Angela, Mary, Nuru and Rose.