Tengeru Village

I am currently staying with my friend Thompson and his family about
15km outside of Arusha in Tengeru Village. I arrived on Sunday with a
5kg bag of rice and half a kg of instant coffee (somewhat of a
delicacy). The family has welcomed me warming and I'm having trouble
finishing the amount of food they have make for me.
Currently, Thompson is out of work and finding odd jobs to support his
family. His two elder sons are at boarding school and as I understand
it doing very well. His two younger daughters (10 and 13 years old)
have been around the house as they attend local schools.
Thompson is looking to either:
A. Save enough money to go back to mines (he needs enough for a box of
dynamite).
or
B. Save enough to attend French classes in order to get a tourism job.
As we all know, the French like to be spoken to in French...
I'm in Arusha right now to work out some plane flights and I think
I'll try to buy him a French-to-English-Swahili book as a surprise.
In the meantime, I'm enjoying their hospitality. Yesterday, we walked
to his mother's house with a bundle of banana leaves for her two cows.
She was thrilled (understatement) that I had come around and sat me
down and presented me it a bottle of Coca-Cola. Repeatedly, she told
me how much she loved her son for sending me over (at least that was
what I made out since she doesn't speak any English).
On the way back I had to move quickly through the village because if I
lingered I would have started a riot. Every child who saw me would
desperately chase after us trying shake hands with the mzungo (white
person).
His step-granddaughter (4 years old) has also been around and is
developing an obsession with me. She is always around the corner
watching whatever I do. If I say hello (mombo) she'll break into a big
smile and hide her face. I'm hoping by the time I leave she'll be
brave enough to say "hi" back.