Have you ever seen rice growing? If not, move to Tanzania and you will! Wherever there is enough water to grow it, it is a popular crop. Because growing and eating rice is an important part of people's lives and the culture here, there are several words to describe it, unlike in English, which just has "rice". There are several different words for rice in Swahili - rice when it's still growing as a plant, dry rice before it is cooked, and cooked rice. Unfortunately for me with a name like Michelle, the word for uncooked rice is mchele, which is michele in the plural. If people see my full name written out, they think I'm named after rice!
This particular patch of rice is growing in an Ikizu village. They have some trouble with birds eating it, so spread mosquito nets on top of the stalks when they mature (we didn't include the nets in our picture!). It is only partway through growing - harvest is still a little while away.
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