Life on Ukerewe.

As previously mentioned, the island of Ukerewe is situated in the middle of Lake Victoria in Northern Tanzania, so fishing is one of the biggest sources of income.  The local people fish in very small boats, often with sails made of plastic,  to eke out a living. 

In the town of Nansio, the two main streets are full of small trading shops and stalls where a variety of products are available - from a £6.00 bicycle to a pineapple.  The garage in Nansio, which is where our hotel was, is also in the main street.  Again, because of frequent power cuts, it has its own generator to operate the pumps, when necessary.  This is one of only two roads which we saw were tarred.  Access to other areas is mainly by dirt road.

The shop where we spent a lot of time in, on both visits to the island, was Mr. Patels Hardware emporium.  When entering the shop you were always warmly welcomed by the smiling owner.  If he did not have what you needed in stock, he would endeavour to obtain it for you, even if this meant bringing it from the mainland, on the next ferry.   During our first visit, he was so happy with what we were doing for the local community, and also for our purchases, that he and his wife invited a group of twentyfour of us for an Indian breakfast at his shop.  Mrs. Patel was up at four o clock in the morning to prepare a variety of interesting and delicious food - which we all enjoyed!

We also used the services of the local Wood Yard.  Nothing was too much trouble for them to cut timber to the exact size you required, and this was done whilst you waited.

There were many different ways for people in Nansio to earn a living, but the further you moved into the island, and away from the main town, it seemed that the only source of income to many was to cultivate small pieces of ground on which they grew crops to feed themselves.  These included cassava, plantain, and fruit such as bananas, pineapples, oranges and lemons.  Also, some of them kept a few cattle or goats for milk and meat.

The next time, we will talk about the second visit to this interesting island.

Best Wishes,

Diane and Derek