So the wolf huffed and he puffed and he blew the house down….

We all know the story of the three little pigs and the moral of the story of course was to build a house of brick so you would be protected from the wolf and the dangers of the world. Unfortunately, in the story it doesn’t explain what to do if you only have branches, cow dung, mud and a ragged old cloth to use as a door. As we drove through country after country, I took every opportunity to glimpse inside the mud houses only to see dirt floors, a small wood table and a maybe a wood bed covered by a dirty old blanket. Bent and tattered metal cooking pots and pans lay piled neatly near the fire on the dirt outside the house. A plastic pail to go to the river lays often empty nearby.  Occasionally, there’s a chicken or a lamb tied to a tree perhaps to sell at the market one day. Clothes are hung on bushes collecting the dust that fills the air as they dry. Children filthy and tattered run, laugh and giggle as they play amongst the dirt and rubbish, seemingly oblivious to their meager surroundings. This is the house built in Africa. It seems that the bad wolf could huff and puff and blow the house down but when you possess so little the bad wolf never comes.