Mane is really a good thing. Everyone likes him. No matter where he is in the world, this thing can communicate with the gods. Not to mention in Africa, especially in a country where the currency has almost collapsed.
Dollars don't get weighed on a scale to buy things. Having this thing in your pocket is very reassuring. Haven't you seen that in neighboring Zimbabwe, there are no more valuable numbers printed on banknotes?
These colorful little pieces of paper are loved by everyone from warlords to poor people who have eaten this meal and don’t know where their next meal will be.
Relying on these small green pieces of paper, Ali quickly recruited thirty strong, honest-looking workers.
These people have never left the tribe and they all work honestly to herd. Very fearful of tribal elders and his own boss.
Ali's homestead was a piece of land with a better location and a larger area because of bribes given to the elders. There is a full 500 square meters of land.
The living conditions of rural Africans are generally very poor, no matter which country they are in. Many villages have no electricity or running water and the houses are small.
Pastoralists in the Horn of Africa build their own houses. Those who can build houses with bricks and tiles belong to the rich. Most people use mud and thatch or, better yet, iron sheets to build their houses.
Under Alibaba's plan, it will be built into a store-in-front-factory-in-the-back layout.
Three bungalows were built in front. They are all used to make Ali's stores. At the back is a large yard used for livestock pens. There is also a row of houses at the back used for housing.
After Ali came here, he also tried his best to become familiar with the situation here. In addition to accessing the Internet to download information, he is also seriously studying all the knowledge here. So as to make yourself look like a Horn of Africa person.
It is very simple for people here to build a house, not as complicated as building a house for people in China.
They first made pillars out of logs and fixed them with nails. Build the frame of the house. Then the walls were made out of wattle and wood. From a distance, these walls look exactly like woven wicker baskets.
Then many people stepped on the mud with their feet. Then use mud lake on the frame. When the mud is completely dry, the house will be built.
Finally, the doors and windows were installed, and the doors and windows were all made of wood. The roof is thatched to protect it from rain.
Although this is a desert, the climate is divided into rainy and dry seasons. During the rainy season, it will rain heavily for several days. Then there was a year of drought. So the house still needs to be protected from rain.
When building a house, it was very lively, and the surrounding villagers would come to help.
On the day of building a house, the owner of the house needs to prepare food and entertain the villagers who help build the house. They can build a house in a day just to have a good meal.
Ali is a new stranger to the tribe and he has no friends. So he directly took out Mane, and the price of two dollars a day made hundreds of people excitedly come to work for him.
They were surprised and very happy when they saw the US dollars. They even brought a rocking chair made of rough rattan and placed it under the shade of a baobab tree, asking Ali to sit and rest like a master while they worked.
Ali discovered that although he only hired men, their wives also came to help.
Because Ali was so generous, he directly gave him so much money.
When building a house, men are responsible for applying mud to the frame, and women are responsible for fetching water and stepping on the mud with their feet. Because mud needs to be mixed with water to become sticky.
An old man named Lao Kuba came over to chat with Ali.
Old Kuba said: "In our tribe, they build houses like this. If a family in the village wants to build a house, they have to prepare food and building materials many days in advance. When the day of building the house, everyone Everyone will come to help, and the host only needs to bring out sumptuous food to entertain them, and leave other things to other villagers."
Ali asked: "Don't you know how to bake bricks?"
"Ali, we don't know how to make bricks. I heard that only the tribes in the highlands can make mud bricks. Our ancestors have built houses like this for generations. Such a house can be built in a day. There is no problem in living there for more than ten years. As long as You are diligent and maintain it frequently. Reinforce it before the rainy season every year. Patch up the soil and repair the thatched roof, which will be enough for you to live in for a lifetime."
"Before I moved, I lived in this kind of house all my life and gave birth to nine children."
Ali took out Mane though. But according to the rules here, you still have to take care of the food. To build a house here, you need to provide three meals. That's an added bonus.
In the morning, families in the Horn of Africa love to drink camel milk for breakfast. This place is known as the "Camel Kingdom". It is said that one out of every three camels in the world belongs to this country.
This can make people in China cry with envy. Camel milk is extremely expensive in China. There are a few people who can afford to drink it. This stuff has extremely high nutritional value. Despite the poverty here, the luxury of having camel milk every morning is beyond your imagination.
Camels play an important role in the lives and hearts of local people. When people meet each other, they also greet camels in addition to greeting each other. They have strong feelings for the camels they have been with for a long time, and often stroke and wipe them.
Ali bought ten large barrels of camel milk at once, and the price was ridiculously cheap. Under the guidance of Old Kuba, several women poured the milk into a large pot and cooked it. There was no water at all in the big pot, but there was a thick layer of milk skin.
Wealthy families from various tribes in the country often drink strong black tea with sugar for breakfast to satisfy their hunger.
Being able to afford black tea is definitely a status symbol here. When you invite someone to drink black tea, it is considered a very high courtesy. Show respect for people.
Ali bought black tea from Shan Ruliu and cooked it for everyone to drink.
Tea is part of the life of people in the Horn of Africa. Tea and sugar are inseparable. The black tea here is extremely sweet. A lot of sugar was put in it, and it even felt a bit chewy.
Ali took a sip of black tea and felt that the taste was not just like black tea. Ali had just watched some women add nutmeg and cinnamon to the tea to spice it up.
People in the Horn of Africa love drinking black tea. However, due to climatic conditions, the local area has a desert climate and can only graze cattle and does not produce tea. Therefore, a large amount of tea is imported from Kenya and China every year.
Before starting work in the morning, the workers brought their wives and children. This is also tradition. Families here usually rely on the men to bring food to them to survive for a day.
They drank black tea, camel milk, and devoured injera. The children were also eating big mouthfuls. It can be seen that there are not many opportunities to eat a full meal.