1.   Its architecture consists of round, thatched mud huts set off by straw fences.

2.   In this village of thatched mud huts in rural Tanzania, in East Africa, the trauma of losing a child is almost as common as a scraped knee.

3.   The fifth Modjadji greets visitors by hoisting herself from a stoop and preceding them into a thatched mud dwelling, called a rondavel.

4.   They live without electricity or running water in thatched mud huts and small stuccoed houses.

5.   The rain started Monday, washing away thatched mud houses in at least eight villages, officials said.