There was a bright orange glow in the dusk sky with billowing smoke - we could even see embers and sparks and flames from our yard... I started to worry that in this dryness it would spread. Everything around us is like kindling.
We finally asked the night guard about it. He said the following (my paraphrase, of course):
It is a hut burning. It is the roof (see the photo above taken during wet season, hence the green grass, imagine how DRY the thatch roof is now!). It does not spread from house to house (we have heard that it does sometimes - it likely depends on how close the burning hut is to the one next to it - but it wouldn't spread beyond the small cluster of huts). People do not make noise when the hut is burning because it is believed that the noise will make it spread more. The next day, the community will gather and each will give a spoon or a bowl or a shirt and the men will gather grass and poles and the boys will gather rope, and the roof will be reconstructed in no time. The person has lost much, including money, but at least the community sees them back on their feet and clothed. When the NGOs were here, the NGOs would all give something big that would last a few months until the person would have to be on their own again.
I found it most interesting that people don't make noise while the home is burning - in the USA, we would all be yelling, screaming, shouting instructions at each other. They deal with the tragedy and crisis in silence. It occurs with such frequency that everyone knows what to do and they work together to help out.
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