Mkonoo

The village of Mkonoo came about through the programme initiated by Julius Nyerere to bring about more order and stop the nomadic way of life common with many tribes in Tanzania.

To reach Mkonoo, the road passes through the poorer areas of Unga Limited, down a long ridge where houses become scarcer and to where Edgar Rice Secondary School is situated. On through farmland to a bridge spanning the Temi River with the road becoming steadily worse. There is turnoff to Mkonoo and the road continues straight to Nadasoito and Muriet.

Still on a ridgetop the road passes through farmland that can be dry and barren but when it rains the rich, red soil bears abundant crops - as long as the rains continue. Navigation is easy in the dry because you can see where you are going, but when the maize is higher than the vehicle - it is easy to lose your way! When the road is wet, there is a challenge for what I call a 'road' here is a dirt track, formed through use rather than by any road-making machine.

First there is the hospital - large for the area, as it serves a wide area - but like many hospitals at the time, under-resourced and under-staffed. Josiah knew a nurse there, so we would call there from time to time and he would bring her beans or rice. I had the opportunity to witness the treatment and the problems faced there and was frustrated at my inability to offer assistance.
I was able to provide some trees to plant in the grounds though and the shade from them I believed to some comfort to the patients and their families.

It is only a short distance to the village center - three or four small shops, a carpenter shop the village office and a large godown where food could be stored. The shops sell bread, soda and other general grocery items.
Transport for the village people was by foot and goods were carried by donkeys - punda. Of course there were lorries and tractors with trailers but those were at a cost.

Actually, along this road I saw a pile of maize cobs being 'threshed' by a tractor running over them - in circles! Ingenious but costly!

Onwards a little and there is a large water tank - dry. Built some time previously but is was this tank that water from Big E's project was to fill. We will get to that.

Close to this tank is Mkonoo Primary School.
First time we were met by the Headteacher and filled in his visitor book. Schools have a visitor book and a log book, and it is good for donors to know this and record what has been given this is transparency - uwazi.
For those interested there is always a buzz of insects and the bird calls [doves & pigeons have a special appeal for me] but the buzz in the Headteacher's small dark office made me look up. There was a large beehive working there - filaments of comb maybe half a metre long hung down and the bees busied themselves.
He was a bit frightened of them and the beekeeper in me wanted to take a closer look. But I thought it must have been there for a long time with no problem, so I just admired it.

Pic: With the Headteacher in the senior classroom
This Headteacher was a bit of an environmentalist. He had the school kids keep a vegetable garden and used the farm to grow maize and beans.
Hifadhi had supplied some trees and particularly the Grevillea were being eaten by termites and Big E's solution was to interplant with Mpilipili - Pepper Tree. This species was not eaten by termites but they were clever enough to find the food they needed. Oh the kids too did damage - breaking twigs off to clean their teeth. Toothbrushes were an expensive luxury then.

During my other life as a Forester and Nurseryman, I knew well the dangers of agricultural chemicals and throughout my time in Tanzania I witnessed so things that still worry me.
Here at Mkonoo I saw a large pile of harvested red beans being treated with insecticide powder by the senior students! Rolled up sleeves they were manually mixing the chemical into the beans!
Many people in Tanzania contract stomach ulcers through eating the red, kidney beans - maybe because of chemicals, but that was not my opinion. Tanzanians prepare food carefully and any chemical residues would be washed off. The cause is the red pigment in the beans! I taught all who would listen to soak the beans overnight - preferably in hot water - but this pre-cooks them. Cold water did the trick - then wash the beans completely to until no more red pigment was visible - then cook them. This was a success.

I had written a short story - 'Grace's Dream' - Ndoto ya Grace - and Joshia translated it accurately for me. I printed into a small booklet and Joshia read it at all the school seminars. I even did some drawings. I have copied it to pdf but it does not go into this blog - I will have to type it on when I have time - this was a successful tool in our seminar.

The tree plantings were successful and the Primary Schools Assistance Programme proved very successful to give us entry into the villages. At least with the Maasai, it was necessary to have the approval of the elders to work with the village people. The 'formal' way is to gain entry via the Village Chairman and Village Executive Officer.

Pic: Tree Deliveries

Mo had been lobbying me to complete the water project to be shared between Mkonoo and Nadasoito. This was funded by NZHC and was Hifadhi's and the responsibility of Big E. I had trouble getting his cooperation and I knew he had been fully paid out for the project.
I found a few anomalies - no, a lot! Without detail, it was the old trick - budget high, do a cheap job and then there are spare funds! Actually I detailed this and it became useful later on.
Anyway I did take the project over and Big E did do what I required him to do and the village people did get their water.


Pic: Water tap - Mkonoo.
The taps are brass and usually came from China as they were the cheapest. They soon fail and there is a waste of water. A cause of the failure is if no water comes - a kid will belt the tap with a rock - when it eventually comes, it can't be turned off.

The school recieved around one hundred desks, teachers' tables with chairs. Text books with teacher's instruction copies, science kits, plastic blowup globes, maps (world and Tanzania).


Pic: The teachers standing outside the classroom show their delight to receive the text books!

Village householders also wanted to participate in the environmental project and many people took advantage of our trees - I will highlight Jamatatu later. As motivation we took the school environmental committee to look at successful plantings around the village and they were also rewarded with a badge to were on their shirt - Misitu ni Uhai it read. 'Forests are Life.

Pic: Presenting a bike to a village motivator.

Funds were raised by a secondary school in New Zealand on the instigation of Big E and his friend, an ex Agency field rep. The idea was excellent. To award a motivator to tour around the village encouraging and giving advice to the village population. The scheme was flawed in that the motivator was appointed by Big E, not the village [or participants] and the motivator was not given training.
The man at the back of the pic is the Ward Councillor and he caused us to do a large planting at Nadasoito. Some years later, I met him in the streets of Arusha and he hugged me with some delight, saying that our tree planting had been very successful.

This contrasts with a gift from another quarter. Mama Kuku has carried out a lot of aid in the Arusha area and has raised large amounts of money to fund many projects. She gained her name because she was involved in large scale poultry farms. Mama Kuku had a truck that returned to Arusha from Moshi with no payload, so she loaded it with trees that she bought at Same. 60 000 trees ended up at Mkonoo, but because there was no training or distribution method - most died.
I went to see Mama Kuku and her husband at their Tengeru home and we managed to coordinate future tree deliveries within our project. During our time in Tanzania we saw many well meaning attempts at assistance fail because of a lack of understanding of the protocols to achieve favorable outcomes.