Losinoni

Firewood transport, Losinoni

Another water story, and there are several more, but after this one, I will return to other matters.

Losinoni village is away off the Arusha-Nairobi road and is quite remote and very dry. NZHC funded a clinic there a few years ago and we carried out an environmental project at the school as well as the Assistance to Primary School Project.

There is a water pipeline that comes down from the southern slope of Mt Meru and uncannily, we refurbished the intake of this pipeline much later as a part of another project from Kisimiri. In fact the two villages continue to vie for water and it is not unusual to find a plastic bag stuck into the feeding pipe of one or other of the villages. Going up there is said to be risky, because Kisimiri Juu has the reputation of growing the best cannabis in Africa! I never felt in danger up there, though access is only by foot and a long march it is! Later perhaps I will tell the cannabis story too.

We carried out a successful planting program at Losinoni primary school, as usual offering prizes for the best tree shelters and eventually, best trees. Drought had struck yet again and the water from the pipeline was much reduced. The village chairman proclaimed that water from the pipe could only be used for drinking and for watering stock. The school was told that the irrigation for the trees had to stop.

My incentive, though was too much of a temptation, and when we arrived to check on the trees, we found them all to be healthy and growing well. We had been warned about the water problems and had expected the trees to be suffering.

The children, under the cover of darkness, had 'stolen' the water to irrigate the their trees! No wonder they were not suffering. I admit I felt some pleasure they were doing this, and in doing so they had created a better environment for themselves.

Losinoni was a desperately dry place! The track in there was dusty and the Maasai people endured a tough life.

Mama Na'nii had a small tree nursery which she took pleasure in showing us, and we encouraged her by offering whatever assistance she needed. Outside the school, Mama Na'nii was one of our main contacts in the village and she would often invite us to take tea with her.

One day, Josiah left my Mags and me with Mama Na'nii while he went off on some private task or other.

The small nursery

As we talked, Mama Na'nii was breast feeding her young son, and as he took a breath, be pushed her breast in such a way that a stream of milk shot across the small table in my direction! Mama Na'nii kept talking as if nothing at all unusual had happened! Certainly I kept a calm expression and did not flinch, but I knew not to look in Mags' direction because the humor of the situation would surely have shown!