Dear Melissa,

We are really here. I was hoping to get to see a few huts if we were lucky, but they are everywhere. Everyone here lives in a little subdivision or suburb made of connecting huts with adobe walls surrounding them all into little clusters, containing a courtyard, storage hut, huts for different family members & sometimes a place for the livestock. The people here are not as poor as I suspected. They are certainly not rich, but they have cattle, goats & pigs & crops in their fields. Many women are regaled in the brightly covered fabric that shows that they are well off in their community – (comparatively, of course). I don’t imagine that the people here often if ever eat 3 meals a day, they have no furniture, running water or belongings & there are many children wearing old adult clothing that is covered in dust & holes. I also see that many homes are using old burlap sacks that once contained government issued millet to help supplement their diets. They seem to be making do but I am sure there could be many days where food is scarce.