We would never really wear out tyres (tires) on our vehicles - I guess being used to New Zealand certificate of fitness standards. Anyway, whenever we had new tyres fitted, there were always vijana (young men) waiting to buy them.
We had fitted new tyres to the Maruti and one fellow outbid his mates by offering Tsh50 000/-. This was a good price - Jo had sold five from a Toyota to a 'friendly' travel agent for Tsh12 000/-. The guy did not have the money on him, so said he would come up to the office. He turned up and loaded the tyres then presented us with Tsh20 000/-. I suggested he unload the tyres. He then offered Tsh25 000/-, but I told him that was half of his original offer. We had other business to attend to, so locked the tyres away, but as we drove off he offered Tsh30 000/-.
I wasn't there next day, but I suggested to Jo to take the Tsh30 000/-, and she did.
Next day, Big E announced that we were going to Mswakini in the Suzuki! Wow, the project vehicle! We were going there in response to Jo asking me to action some of Big E's projects. I will report on that later. But I rushed down to Jo to get the receipts etc. pertaining.
After a sort out there, we headed off but I noticed the Suzuki was coughing a spluttering every now and then.
Mswakini is quite far away from Arusha - near Tarangire National Park. But we first called at the primary school where the Headteacher greeted us. He was a big friendly fellow, a Maasai I think, and he told me the reason there were no children in the school was that they were all collecting water. It was a round trip of one and a half hours and the water was being collected for the school teachers' houses. The school had the responsibility to provide water. We were there to address this interruption of education time.
It is worth mentioning that we were going to take the water from the Tarangire National Park, from a borehole and using a pump owned by a phosphate company. We went to see the guy at the company office just past the National Park turnoff.
The phosphate company was not working because it no longer had sales. Hmm says I, there was a lot of derelict machinery there, some heavy machinery and it would be possible to rehabilitate it. The phosphate was found by some South Africans looking for uranium. The phosphate is full of beta rays - not that bad but making the Geiger Counter sing its song. But no wonder nobody wanted the product. As I have an interest in geology and fossils, I asked to look around, but the sun on the white surface nearly blinded me, so we abandoned the idea.
After we had completed our business - successfully gaining permission to use the pump - we headed homeward and at Kisongo the Suzuki began to cough and fart! It stopped complete just at the edge of Arusha and Big E pulled off the fuel filter cover, breaking it in the process! We managed to bypass the filter, but that was not the problem. Big E found a fundi (mechanic - but the name covers any tradesman) who tinkered with the points and managed to restart the vehicle. Just short of the Agency office, she conked out again! I left him to it and walked to the office and he arrived about the same time as me. He then took it to town for repair and I walked home.
There had been no electricity since the previous night and it did return - just for a couple of hours, then it was back to candles and kerosene lamp.
I had been having trouble with the Maruti as well and ended up being stranded because of it - but there must have been a dud lot of those small condensers in the distributor - they would last about a week!
When the Maruti was 'fixed' it still was not running correctly, so I was cautious. and again a few days later it was causing problems and ended taking it back to the fundi. When I check on it I found that they had disconnected the choke because they though it was the problem - only thing was that she wouldn't start in the morning. They said they had tuned the motor, but the air filter had not been cleaned.
We decided to take it to Bobby Safaris, but became stuck in a traffic jam! This was because the police had cleared the main road for the arrival of the Kenyan President!
Mhukta one of the Bobby boys is a very able mechanic and he knew what to do and had the wee Maruti running like a top!
I was very happy with Mhukta as our fundi, but in-office politics saw us move away from him to someone less appropriate and more trouble - but that is after a lot of water going under the bridge and a whole other story.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Primary Schools Programme
This successful project was thought out and applied for by Mo and Jo and the funding came through the NZHC.
There was a small management fee for it which Mo and Jo put to purchase an office photocopier, but otherwise the rest of the funding went to the primary schools and was managed by the volunteers working in the location of the targeted primary school.
Mo and Jo worked out that each volunteer would be able to assist six primary schools in their general area and as well Mo and Jo had a couple of schools that they wanted to assist.
In the event some of the volunteers did not have the time to put into the project and others were unable to take up their full allocation, there were a variety of reasons. Some didn't want to participate.
This worked very well for our projects because we were already working with primary schools, while the other volunteers were not so it was very easy for me to add other schools to the list. As well the project made us more visible in the villages and out environmental programme was more readily taken up.
The other thing was that I really enjoyed working in the schools.
As I had already been around a good number of schools, I had a good idea of what was needed, especially the rural ones, so I was able to provide advice to Mo and Jo on what was appropriate.
It should be pointed out that schools in Tanzania in those days were under resourced and conditions were tough, especially from a western point of view. Since then there has been a lot of investment and improvement in the education sector but what we did at the time was pertinent and very important.
The project ran on for a few years and was tweaked over the years and actually became a large part of my work - but lets go back to the beginning.
There was a shortage of desks, and at schools such as Engorora (now Kisongo), pupils were sitting on rocks or broken bricks, in some places boards sitting on concrete blocks served as desks. And where this was not happening, three kids sat at desks designed for two. The combined tally of desks was high, and we needed to find a manufacturer.
Mo and Jo, because of the work they did, had contact with different people than we associated with simply because of the nature of our work. Of course Big E wanted his mate, the brother of the Major General, to build the desks and knowing what I know now, they would have creamed it. I found these two brothers at Ngaremtoni who's business operated under some obscure chemical importer's name, but their business was the manufacture of wood products.
They were most gentlemanly which is what you would expect from a business that was about to land a big contract. But these guys were gentlemen. They provided an example of their work and their price was 'delivered on site' and yes they had a truck they used to hire out as well. Their price was very competitive.
There was a holdup. It was difficult to obtain timber that was dry and of the wider dimensions that was required. Cypress timber, Cupressus lusitanica was the most desirable timber because it held nails better, but I could see we would use more Silky Oak, Grevillea robusta because it was more available. However it would require extra bracing.
The paint on school blackboards was worn to the state that they could not be used. The blackboards were made by plastering a cement base onto a wall and after smoothing it off, applying the blackboard paint. On most the plaster had deteriorated and the paint was badly faded.
Most schools could not afford to buy chalk!
There were not enough text books to go around the class, and some of them were simply out of date.
There were no teaching aids such as maps, science kits or world globes.
There was a lot of building work required, but the direction was that only school toilets could be built. Obviously someone had seen them and thought them a health hazard. That is probably very correct as there was no water available for 'modern toilets' or even for washing hands. All school toilets were 'bomb boxes', pit latrines, and the challenge was to breathe while you were using them!
However, I always had the feeling that addressing the toilet issue was not a priority. Certainly the schools did not see them as a priority.
So it was a matter first of finding the numbers of the required items. I helped Jo with the purchases because there was a need to negotiate prices and I was getting good at that. Mags helped Jo bundle things up in school lots and the was a lot of work involved in that too.
Josiah was helpful in this as he wanted to see the available funds go as far as possible - and he was interested in education - Mama Ng'ida, his wife is a school teacher.
The Primary Schools Assistance Programme was set to start.
There was a small management fee for it which Mo and Jo put to purchase an office photocopier, but otherwise the rest of the funding went to the primary schools and was managed by the volunteers working in the location of the targeted primary school.
Mo and Jo worked out that each volunteer would be able to assist six primary schools in their general area and as well Mo and Jo had a couple of schools that they wanted to assist.
In the event some of the volunteers did not have the time to put into the project and others were unable to take up their full allocation, there were a variety of reasons. Some didn't want to participate.
This worked very well for our projects because we were already working with primary schools, while the other volunteers were not so it was very easy for me to add other schools to the list. As well the project made us more visible in the villages and out environmental programme was more readily taken up.
The other thing was that I really enjoyed working in the schools.
As I had already been around a good number of schools, I had a good idea of what was needed, especially the rural ones, so I was able to provide advice to Mo and Jo on what was appropriate.
It should be pointed out that schools in Tanzania in those days were under resourced and conditions were tough, especially from a western point of view. Since then there has been a lot of investment and improvement in the education sector but what we did at the time was pertinent and very important.
The project ran on for a few years and was tweaked over the years and actually became a large part of my work - but lets go back to the beginning.
There was a shortage of desks, and at schools such as Engorora (now Kisongo), pupils were sitting on rocks or broken bricks, in some places boards sitting on concrete blocks served as desks. And where this was not happening, three kids sat at desks designed for two. The combined tally of desks was high, and we needed to find a manufacturer.
Mo and Jo, because of the work they did, had contact with different people than we associated with simply because of the nature of our work. Of course Big E wanted his mate, the brother of the Major General, to build the desks and knowing what I know now, they would have creamed it. I found these two brothers at Ngaremtoni who's business operated under some obscure chemical importer's name, but their business was the manufacture of wood products.
They were most gentlemanly which is what you would expect from a business that was about to land a big contract. But these guys were gentlemen. They provided an example of their work and their price was 'delivered on site' and yes they had a truck they used to hire out as well. Their price was very competitive.
There was a holdup. It was difficult to obtain timber that was dry and of the wider dimensions that was required. Cypress timber, Cupressus lusitanica was the most desirable timber because it held nails better, but I could see we would use more Silky Oak, Grevillea robusta because it was more available. However it would require extra bracing.
The paint on school blackboards was worn to the state that they could not be used. The blackboards were made by plastering a cement base onto a wall and after smoothing it off, applying the blackboard paint. On most the plaster had deteriorated and the paint was badly faded.
Most schools could not afford to buy chalk!
There were not enough text books to go around the class, and some of them were simply out of date.
There were no teaching aids such as maps, science kits or world globes.
There was a lot of building work required, but the direction was that only school toilets could be built. Obviously someone had seen them and thought them a health hazard. That is probably very correct as there was no water available for 'modern toilets' or even for washing hands. All school toilets were 'bomb boxes', pit latrines, and the challenge was to breathe while you were using them!
However, I always had the feeling that addressing the toilet issue was not a priority. Certainly the schools did not see them as a priority.
So it was a matter first of finding the numbers of the required items. I helped Jo with the purchases because there was a need to negotiate prices and I was getting good at that. Mags helped Jo bundle things up in school lots and the was a lot of work involved in that too.
Josiah was helpful in this as he wanted to see the available funds go as far as possible - and he was interested in education - Mama Ng'ida, his wife is a school teacher.
The Primary Schools Assistance Programme was set to start.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Losinoni Village
Losinoni is not that far away from Arusha, but it is remote and living conditions there are very hard. Their only water supply comes from up on Mt Meru by a two inch pipe. Actually much later I helped refurbish the intake.
About an hour and a half along the Nairobi road there is an Ostrich farm and it is about there you turn off to go into Losinoni Village. It is a long way in there too - probably half an hour, along a dusty and sometimes rocky track. In these areas, you pick up people who need lifts and often the wee Maruti was loaded up! One time we had to take a woman to a clinic because she had bee beaten up.
Generally the area is dry and domestic livestock are moved to better areas. Check my pictures and you will see that generally it is dry, but with rain comes the green growth.
The village sprawls out around the primary school and a clinic. This clinic had been donated through New Zealand funding - well the building was. There were no fittings and it was only used when visiting medical people came to carry out inoculations and the like. But it would be developed as time goes on.
The first thing we did was investigate what tree planting was going on in the village. Mama George was the Village Chairman's wife and she had a small tree nursery.
About an hour and a half along the Nairobi road there is an Ostrich farm and it is about there you turn off to go into Losinoni Village. It is a long way in there too - probably half an hour, along a dusty and sometimes rocky track. In these areas, you pick up people who need lifts and often the wee Maruti was loaded up! One time we had to take a woman to a clinic because she had bee beaten up.
Generally the area is dry and domestic livestock are moved to better areas. Check my pictures and you will see that generally it is dry, but with rain comes the green growth.
The village sprawls out around the primary school and a clinic. This clinic had been donated through New Zealand funding - well the building was. There were no fittings and it was only used when visiting medical people came to carry out inoculations and the like. But it would be developed as time goes on.
The first thing we did was investigate what tree planting was going on in the village. Mama George was the Village Chairman's wife and she had a small tree nursery.
Now a nursery may be just a few trees and Mama George's was just that. She used a few planks of timber to provide shelter from the sun. I thought she had done remarkably well taking into consideration the severe conditions and the lack of available water. Mama George was a leader in the local women's group so she was a good contact to have.
This old woman, Bibi (grandmother) lived in her small house by herself and she would not allow this photo until she had changed into her Sunday best! A remarkable, bright woman and the reason for our visit was that she had planted a tree, yes a tree and she was looking after it despite the dry conditions. Now if everyone did that, our battle would be over.
Our main focus as always was with the primary school and we began there by presenting our environmental seminar. Holes then are prepared - dug out, cow manure added and the soil returned.
When the rains arrive, we deliver trees from our nursery and divide them among the school pupils who carry out the planting and put thorns around them to protect from goats an
d other livestock.
The interaction between the us and the school - teachers & pupils is really what make the whole thing worthwhile and all participate enthusiastically.
Later we would arrive to assess the quality of the trees and how well they had been looked after. There is always a danger of
snakes lying on the thorns though most would slither off before causing too much of a fuss!
We would award the growers of the best trees/shelters prizes. Usually about ten of them. There was no funding fo
r this so we paid for it out of our personal resources and sometime we were creative. For this prize giving we awarded some of those one litre mugs and some pens. Having their picture taken was also a reward to them.
At one time, there was a severe water shortage and the village elders decreed that water was only to be used for household water and livestock. The School kids stole water at night to water their trees!
There was a responsibility for us to make the task of watering as easy as possible and we gathered bottles and
pottles - even beer cans.
Josiah demonstrates to Mama George the was to punch a hole in a beer can so water can be delivered to the tree slowly and economically. We did this wherever we supplied trees.
This old woman, Bibi (grandmother) lived in her small house by herself and she would not allow this photo until she had changed into her Sunday best! A remarkable, bright woman and the reason for our visit was that she had planted a tree, yes a tree and she was looking after it despite the dry conditions. Now if everyone did that, our battle would be over.
Our main focus as always was with the primary school and we began there by presenting our environmental seminar. Holes then are prepared - dug out, cow manure added and the soil returned.
When the rains arrive, we deliver trees from our nursery and divide them among the school pupils who carry out the planting and put thorns around them to protect from goats an
d other livestock.The interaction between the us and the school - teachers & pupils is really what make the whole thing worthwhile and all participate enthusiastically.
Later we would arrive to assess the quality of the trees and how well they had been looked after. There is always a danger of
snakes lying on the thorns though most would slither off before causing too much of a fuss!
We would award the growers of the best trees/shelters prizes. Usually about ten of them. There was no funding fo
r this so we paid for it out of our personal resources and sometime we were creative. For this prize giving we awarded some of those one litre mugs and some pens. Having their picture taken was also a reward to them.At one time, there was a severe water shortage and the village elders decreed that water was only to be used for household water and livestock. The School kids stole water at night to water their trees!
There was a responsibility for us to make the task of watering as easy as possible and we gathered bottles and
pottles - even beer cans.Josiah demonstrates to Mama George the was to punch a hole in a beer can so water can be delivered to the tree slowly and economically. We did this wherever we supplied trees.
Likamba Village
Joshia wanted us to work at Likamba Village, mainly because he had an association with the church choir there, but anyway I was happy to be guided by his experience.
Like most villages, there is more than one route to get there, but we took the Nairobi road turning off before the market village of
Ngaremtoni.
The road/track slowly deteriorates and becomes dusty. This is a major cause of erosion and at times I have had to use four wheel drive in the wee Maruti because the dust was so thick - maybe 30 cm!
Then when there is heavy rain, the dust is washed away and the road becomes a river!
Vehicles tend to look for the best driving surface and the road becomes wider and wider - adding to the problem.
We decided to visit the primary school to find where the Village Executive Officer could be located. We later worked with this school in our (the Agency's) Primary Schools Assistance Programme. But I have to show the All Black we found there. There is a thriving industry of secondhand clothing in Tanzania and people do not know the circumstances of it really.
It may be thought that clothing given to charity somehow gets to third world people and is given to them. But how is it distributed? Well Take this girl's All Black football jersey; it was bought in New Zealand by an American tourist who sometime later puts it in a charity bin. It is bundles up and transported in bales to Tanzania where it is auctioned off (possibly to pay for the transport). The buyer then washed and irons it and displays it in his stall (this type of clothing is mtumba - second hand clothing) and sells it to this girl (or her mother). So while the charity clothing is actually sold on, it provides useful employment for someone and supplies clothing at a much less expensive price (affordable). I really good industry!
The school Head Teacher sent a girl with us as a guide to find the Village Executive Officer. She of course was excited to travel in our vehicle and showed us the best way to find him. Her bonus was that she was close to her home and had an early finish to her school day.
The Village Executive Office was a fine young fellow and we could see he was prepared to support us in our environmental project. No wonder! His father had been a forester and on his farm grew Eucalyptus on a coppice rotation to supply/sell poles for building and other uses. Simply put, a house is built by standing poles in the ground, tying them together and filling the gap with rocks or other material. Then the whole lot is plastered over with a soil/clay and cow dung mix. A very effective method.
So we made plans to set our programme.
Of course the programme would include women, so we went to talk to the chairperson of the local women's group - associated to the church and the choir. This group was quite active and had received assistance from New Zealand.
The picture is of the Chairperson with her father and daughter. Being of the Arusha tribe - closely related to Maasai, she often provided loshoro or sour milk to sustain us. Loshoro is sour milk with cooked maize and is refreshing. Maziwa mgando - sour milk is also refreshing and kept in a calabash. The calabash is lined with the ash of Dodonea a shrub endemic to New Zealand, Australia and Africa (our Ake Ake). I recall sitting in her house and hearing her shake up the calabash to mix the separated sour milk and the water associated with it. They have these big, one litre enamel mugs that are filled with loshoro or milk and I had difficulty in consuming so much so quickly!
These are members of the Likamba women's group who managed the New Zealand donated maize mi
ll - for making maize four to make the staple food of Ugali. They also had a kiln donated and made clay jikos - small fireboxes as cookers. Income generation for them. They were active and participatory. This was a very sustainable project.
We proceeded around the village and saw that wheat was grown there for the commercial production of beer - Safari Larger. The area received more rainfall than most of the other areas we worked.
We visited this 'old bugger'. He actually had planted and cared for a lot of trees and there was good diversity. He had two wives, this was his first wife and the other was much younger. She showed me her hedge of Sesbania seban and told me that she cut branches off it on a regular basis and fed them to her cow. The sticks that were left, she would dry in the sun and after about a week she would use them as fuel in her jiko. Just a few sticks would be enough to boil water to make a Thermos of tea.
But the old bugger tried to entice me away from Josiah by telling me he wanted to show me special trees. Once we were out of hearing, he would hit me up for money to buy sugar - pombe more like - booze.
He never got money from me.
There was much for us to do at Likamba and once the Primary School Project was under way, we would return more often.
Like most villages, there is more than one route to get there, but we took the Nairobi road turning off before the market village of
Ngaremtoni.
The road/track slowly deteriorates and becomes dusty. This is a major cause of erosion and at times I have had to use four wheel drive in the wee Maruti because the dust was so thick - maybe 30 cm!Then when there is heavy rain, the dust is washed away and the road becomes a river!
Vehicles tend to look for the best driving surface and the road becomes wider and wider - adding to the problem.
We decided to visit the primary school to find where the Village Executive Officer could be located. We later worked with this school in our (the Agency's) Primary Schools Assistance Programme. But I have to show the All Black we found there. There is a thriving industry of secondhand clothing in Tanzania and people do not know the circumstances of it really.
It may be thought that clothing given to charity somehow gets to third world people and is given to them. But how is it distributed? Well Take this girl's All Black football jersey; it was bought in New Zealand by an American tourist who sometime later puts it in a charity bin. It is bundles up and transported in bales to Tanzania where it is auctioned off (possibly to pay for the transport). The buyer then washed and irons it and displays it in his stall (this type of clothing is mtumba - second hand clothing) and sells it to this girl (or her mother). So while the charity clothing is actually sold on, it provides useful employment for someone and supplies clothing at a much less expensive price (affordable). I really good industry!The school Head Teacher sent a girl with us as a guide to find the Village Executive Officer. She of course was excited to travel in our vehicle and showed us the best way to find him. Her bonus was that she was close to her home and had an early finish to her school day.
The Village Executive Office was a fine young fellow and we could see he was prepared to support us in our environmental project. No wonder! His father had been a forester and on his farm grew Eucalyptus on a coppice rotation to supply/sell poles for building and other uses. Simply put, a house is built by standing poles in the ground, tying them together and filling the gap with rocks or other material. Then the whole lot is plastered over with a soil/clay and cow dung mix. A very effective method.So we made plans to set our programme.
Of course the programme would include women, so we went to talk to the chairperson of the local women's group - associated to the church and the choir. This group was quite active and had received assistance from New Zealand.
The picture is of the Chairperson with her father and daughter. Being of the Arusha tribe - closely related to Maasai, she often provided loshoro or sour milk to sustain us. Loshoro is sour milk with cooked maize and is refreshing. Maziwa mgando - sour milk is also refreshing and kept in a calabash. The calabash is lined with the ash of Dodonea a shrub endemic to New Zealand, Australia and Africa (our Ake Ake). I recall sitting in her house and hearing her shake up the calabash to mix the separated sour milk and the water associated with it. They have these big, one litre enamel mugs that are filled with loshoro or milk and I had difficulty in consuming so much so quickly!These are members of the Likamba women's group who managed the New Zealand donated maize mi
ll - for making maize four to make the staple food of Ugali. They also had a kiln donated and made clay jikos - small fireboxes as cookers. Income generation for them. They were active and participatory. This was a very sustainable project.We proceeded around the village and saw that wheat was grown there for the commercial production of beer - Safari Larger. The area received more rainfall than most of the other areas we worked.
We visited this 'old bugger'. He actually had planted and cared for a lot of trees and there was good diversity. He had two wives, this was his first wife and the other was much younger. She showed me her hedge of Sesbania seban and told me that she cut branches off it on a regular basis and fed them to her cow. The sticks that were left, she would dry in the sun and after about a week she would use them as fuel in her jiko. Just a few sticks would be enough to boil water to make a Thermos of tea.
But the old bugger tried to entice me away from Josiah by telling me he wanted to show me special trees. Once we were out of hearing, he would hit me up for money to buy sugar - pombe more like - booze.
He never got money from me.
There was much for us to do at Likamba and once the Primary School Project was under way, we would return more often.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
