The money I get from tourists who visit the pottery — the contact fee — is really just an addition to my daily income; mostly it goes toward food. It's 500 shillings, around fifty cents, per group, and it's easy money by local standards. To earn that the normal way, I'd need to make and sell ten pots at the market, a full day's work. Now I can keep working while tourists visit and still come away with a little extra.
My daughters only go to school three days a week; the rest of the time, they're helping me at home. Before tourism arrived, children didn't take part in pottery at all — now they make small items like cups to sell. They start younger, and fewer of them stay in school, because once one child starts earning, others quickly follow.
Some women in the area tried selling batiks instead, but it never really took off. Most tourists don't pass through at the end of their trip, and they don't want to carry souvenirs around for the rest of it — they'd rather buy something just before heading home.
Most tourists do not come here on the end of their holiday, and they do not want to carry souvenirs around, so they buy it elsewhere just before they go home.
In some guesthouses, only foreign tourists stay, and there have been tensions with locals under the same roof — when people watch television with a drink or two, the noise tends to disturb the foreign guests. Some tourists complain about room prices or how long meals take to prepare, but there's no real need for that. Prices are fixed, and the special dishes made for tourists are only cooked to order, so naturally they take longer than the local meals.
One craft that pays reliably, and another that never quite found its buyer.