 At that stage, they all fit on a trestle table in one room, but now they've taken over the whole house. My mother-in-law and the rest of us, we're all eating and sleeping in that small room over there. The worms are everywhere else. When I lived here, the government forced collective farmers to grow silkworms, but payments were often less than the meagre sum originally promised. All were not in money, but whatever there was a surplus of, whether it was crates of vodka or dried beans. Now it's better than before, says Bibi Haan.