On the way to Valeska, the road passes through the village Kwa Ugoro - that is if you pass through the Dolly Estate. There is a small market are on the back road of Usa River, beside a small bridge and the dirt road takes off from there. Through a coffee plantation which is shaded by some large Grevillea and Casuarina trees and beside an mfereje, irrigation channel, that went all the way down to Valeska and beyond. Past the big Mzambarau trees and the coffee plantation's workers quarters.
The owners of the coffee plantation were Greek and over the years we travelled through there, a son, we were told, built an new house and planted a new coffee plantation with the shading Grevillea a little further down the road, before the bridge that was the entrance to the Dolly Estate.
Subsequently with partners from Zimbabwe, they have bought the Dolly Estate, blocked access to the village populations, closed down the school - to be relocated - and set themselves up in a fashion that has taken advantage of a system that allows such things.
The awfulness of this is demonstrated when there was a severe drought and particularly the people in the Ngarenanyui and Valeska/Lostiti were desperate for water, these guys were spraying water on the road to keep the dust down!
The road
through the Dolly Estate was interesting to me because it was an operational sisal plantation and we saw how the plants were grown and harvested. We passed by the factory area and where they hung the cleaned sisal out to dry.
Sisal is used in rope making and used to be used on ships, but nylon has taken its place, though it is on a comeback.
Just by the drying racks there was a wet crossing which was the mfereji and sometime it was much deeper than others, probably because someone upstream let more water through.
The road
roughly followed the river [never really thought of a name before, I guess it was the Usa] and there were remnants of old indigenous forest and I used to collect seed from them from time to time.
Over the period we travelled through there [when the sisal plantation changed hands, the route we were encouraged to take changed] small farms became established. Maybe they were simply squatters or received their parcel of land through the ballot system that is used. Either way, I did not mind, but I supplied trees to them and over the years, we could see the difference. And the farms that were established were very productive.
The further you go from the mountain, the drier it becomes.
Eventually the winding, sometimes wet road reaches another wet crossing - that is somewhat tricky to negotiate - the road becomes a wide and stony like a hard pan or perhaps old beach and there are several tracks into the village of Kwa Ugoro.
The track we usually took was past the home of the woman we helped who had a child with malaria, and just past there was the area that became very wet at one time. We were ferrying a full load of cement to Valeska school and Loti thought the road looked solid - it wasn't and down we went! The only way out would have been to unload the cement so the vehicle was not bellied - but along came some youths. They would extract us for Tsh 10 000/- but Loti wanted to negotiate the price down. I thought it best to be out of there, so flashed the note and they had us out within half an hour.
There is a small vege stall just by the school and I was always surprised that there was no larger market there. You can bet there was, we just didn't it!
The school is set in a large area with yellow soils and always dry looking. The buildings, some made from local stone, are stained by the rain, splashing the soil up the walls and despite a few trees such as Mjohoro, Delonix and a species I did not know but possibly a Ficus, the yellow soil glares in the sun! Always it was hot when we visited there.
We found the teachers to be friendly and supportive of our environmental project but the outcomes from the planting was not as good as in other schools. The reason for this is probably down to the teachers because their roll is to motivate their charges; but water is some distance away and time collecting certainly was a factor.
We carried out extensive seminars and tree planting programmes over the years and the school was a recipient of the food aid we managed to provide.
During one planting season the older age group within the school took up to three trees to their home. This resulted in a few parent requesting more, which we were able to do.
Possibly the difference between the outcomes of Valeska and Kwa Ugoro [their conditions were similar] was that Valeska had materials to make tree shelters - shade because reflected heat.
The pupils of Kwa Ugoro prepare to receive a food allocation.
The kids happily with their food allocation.
The pupils gather to listen to my story.
Staff and prize winners - the guy in black became the Head Teacher at Valeska.
The prize winners - some of the trees did well by those who were motivated. The guy with the purple trousers was the Head Teacher at Valeska when we did the ground work for the school development and he can be credited with us going on with the project. Obviously for some reason he was demoted.
The Kwa Ugoro School Environmental Committee, elected by the pupils in a secret ballot. All but one are girls. They were a good bunch of kids.
The owners of the coffee plantation were Greek and over the years we travelled through there, a son, we were told, built an new house and planted a new coffee plantation with the shading Grevillea a little further down the road, before the bridge that was the entrance to the Dolly Estate.
Subsequently with partners from Zimbabwe, they have bought the Dolly Estate, blocked access to the village populations, closed down the school - to be relocated - and set themselves up in a fashion that has taken advantage of a system that allows such things.
The awfulness of this is demonstrated when there was a severe drought and particularly the people in the Ngarenanyui and Valeska/Lostiti were desperate for water, these guys were spraying water on the road to keep the dust down!
The road
through the Dolly Estate was interesting to me because it was an operational sisal plantation and we saw how the plants were grown and harvested. We passed by the factory area and where they hung the cleaned sisal out to dry.Sisal is used in rope making and used to be used on ships, but nylon has taken its place, though it is on a comeback.
Just by the drying racks there was a wet crossing which was the mfereji and sometime it was much deeper than others, probably because someone upstream let more water through.
The road
roughly followed the river [never really thought of a name before, I guess it was the Usa] and there were remnants of old indigenous forest and I used to collect seed from them from time to time.Over the period we travelled through there [when the sisal plantation changed hands, the route we were encouraged to take changed] small farms became established. Maybe they were simply squatters or received their parcel of land through the ballot system that is used. Either way, I did not mind, but I supplied trees to them and over the years, we could see the difference. And the farms that were established were very productive.
The further you go from the mountain, the drier it becomes.
Eventually the winding, sometimes wet road reaches another wet crossing - that is somewhat tricky to negotiate - the road becomes a wide and stony like a hard pan or perhaps old beach and there are several tracks into the village of Kwa Ugoro.
The track we usually took was past the home of the woman we helped who had a child with malaria, and just past there was the area that became very wet at one time. We were ferrying a full load of cement to Valeska school and Loti thought the road looked solid - it wasn't and down we went! The only way out would have been to unload the cement so the vehicle was not bellied - but along came some youths. They would extract us for Tsh 10 000/- but Loti wanted to negotiate the price down. I thought it best to be out of there, so flashed the note and they had us out within half an hour.
There is a small vege stall just by the school and I was always surprised that there was no larger market there. You can bet there was, we just didn't it!
The school is set in a large area with yellow soils and always dry looking. The buildings, some made from local stone, are stained by the rain, splashing the soil up the walls and despite a few trees such as Mjohoro, Delonix and a species I did not know but possibly a Ficus, the yellow soil glares in the sun! Always it was hot when we visited there.
We found the teachers to be friendly and supportive of our environmental project but the outcomes from the planting was not as good as in other schools. The reason for this is probably down to the teachers because their roll is to motivate their charges; but water is some distance away and time collecting certainly was a factor.
We carried out extensive seminars and tree planting programmes over the years and the school was a recipient of the food aid we managed to provide.
During one planting season the older age group within the school took up to three trees to their home. This resulted in a few parent requesting more, which we were able to do.
Possibly the difference between the outcomes of Valeska and Kwa Ugoro [their conditions were similar] was that Valeska had materials to make tree shelters - shade because reflected heat.
The pupils of Kwa Ugoro prepare to receive a food allocation.
The kids happily with their food allocation.
The pupils gather to listen to my story.
Staff and prize winners - the guy in black became the Head Teacher at Valeska.
The prize winners - some of the trees did well by those who were motivated. The guy with the purple trousers was the Head Teacher at Valeska when we did the ground work for the school development and he can be credited with us going on with the project. Obviously for some reason he was demoted.
The Kwa Ugoro School Environmental Committee, elected by the pupils in a secret ballot. All but one are girls. They were a good bunch of kids.
No comments:
Post a Comment