I can see real benefits from tourism in Amedzofe. The places that visitors come to see are better maintained, and young people have formed genuine friendships with tourists. These relationships give them experiences they would not normally have inside the village.
Tourists help our young people imagine lives beyond the community. They hear about other countries, learn how people elsewhere think and become more curious about the wider world.
What has interested me most is seeing how foreign men and women relate to each other. They often move through the world more as equals. Young people notice this, and the example has begun to influence relationships here.
Some local men now take a greater part in housework than they did before. I cannot say tourism is the only reason, but I believe seeing different relationships among visitors has played a part.
Our young people want to speak better English and improve themselves because of their contact with tourists.
Seeing tourists of colour arrive from Western countries is also important. It reminds our youth that countries in Europe and America are not made up only of white people. The wider world is more diverse than it may look from a distance.
Tourism has opened our eyes, but not everything it brings is easy for local families. There are more goods in the market now, but many of the new products are too expensive for ordinary people. Even locally produced goods have become more costly.
I am also troubled by the rules governing the forest. Tourists are allowed to enter, while we are prevented from doing so because people assume locals will damage it.
To welcome strangers into the forest while excluding the people who live beside it is not a respectful way to treat us.
Water was already scarce before tourism developed. Visitors add to the demand, and we do not yet have the infrastructure to provide enough for everybody without greater pressure on local supplies.
Waste is another challenge. Visitors create extra rubbish, but our community has few ways to collect or manage it properly.
Even after considering these problems, I still believe tourism has had a positive influence. It has created connections, broadened people’s thinking and shown us different possibilities for women, men and young people.
Tourism has opened our eyes, and I value that greatly. I only want this exchange to be based on mutual respect—with fair access to our own forest and more care for the water and environment that visitors and residents must share.