More on Likamba

We usually took the road to Ngaremtoni and then the dry, dusty road into the hills to Likamba village. An alternative route is behind Engorora - the way Mama Bustani used to go. (see the blog on her).

Before the Maruti had a fibre glass canopy fitted, there was a ripped canvas one so the dust came in and covered us with a thin, dark layer. I always felt sorry for the people traveling by foot, perhaps going to market, all dressed up and with mafuta, oil to make their skin shine. But I never saw a shaken fist or other frustration.

Our first work was among the village people through the enthusiasm of the Village Executive Officer and the village elders - later we worked with the primary school.
New Zealand was already well known in the village for NZHC had funded a maize mill which was kept in very good working order and was well utilized. There was also a small kiln for jiko making - clay cooking fires.

These were women's group activities chaired by a very busy woman who we also worked with her within our environmental project. She accompanied us on many of our visits around the village and was obviously very popular there. I remember it was at her house that Joshia taught me the local custom of announcing your arrival at someones house.
Fist you call out, 'Hodi!' - sort of 'knock, knock' because you don't physically knock on the door.
The person inside will call, 'Karibu!' - welcome, but you do not just barge on in there.
Again you call, 'Hodi!' - and again you will receive, Karibu!' - but again you do not go in there. You are being advised someone is there, but they may well be indisposed for some reason or other.
Again for the third time you call out, 'Hodi!' and then you may receive, 'Karibu ndani!' - Welcome inside, or the person will come to the door and welcome you.

Of course, no matter how poor a household may be, something is always prepared for a guest, even if only water. One time our friend gave Joshia and I a 2 litre mug each of loshoro - cooked (husked) maize in sour milk. Joshia drank it down in (what seemed to me) a couple of gulps! I am slow at that sort of thing and I was conscious that being slow may mean that I didn't like it - in fact I did! They were happy that I had downed the lot! Another time as we sat on the couch in her home, we heard the shaking of a calabash, we were going to be treated to maziwa magando - not quite yogurt. It was coagulated sour milk and as it separates, with the water below, and curdled milt floating on top - she was mixing it by shaking the calabash.

In Maasai areas (perhaps other tribes too) the inside of the calabash is protected with wood ash from the small tree Dodonea viscosa - endemic to Africa, Australia and New Zealand. In NZ the Maori name if Ake Ake. The ash gives the milk a nice smokey taste as well.

It was always a pleasure to be able to involve whole households in small tree planting projects. We would not supply the trees until the holes had been properly prepared complete with dry cow manure. As you work with a family, even for a short time , you get to know/understand something about them and they you. Sometime the success of these plantings is beyond belief, and with others the enthusiasm wains - or bad luck can occur when wandering stock wipes out all the work in just a few moments. We needed to be resilient and patient and I am more than satisfied with the outcomes - generally.

The father of the Village Executive Officer lived within the village and he had worked for the Forestry Department before he retired. He grew Euc. maidenii as a cash crop, coppicing them to produce poles - light poles up to 4 metres long with a small end diameter of 75 mm. These have many uses but mainly for building.
The old fellow was also interested in what we were doing and requested trees to plant around his farm. On one of our visits, he was tilling the soil using a plough pulled by a large ox and was intending to grow beans. Mags had a go at driving the ox!

Some farmers in the area grew barley to be sold to the local local brewery and they opposed the planting of trees because trees offered a habitat for birds to nest in, and birds stole a lot of the grain. My response was that birds were part of a healthy environment and if good crops of barley are to be grown, then birds are important. Birds eat insects as well as grain, and there are predators that control birds. At least while I was there, most agreed with me and did plant some trees.

There was one old Mzee in the village who had planted (or more like one of his wives) useful trees and ornamentals such as Bougainvillea to make an attractive and useful mini environment for his boma. The old fellow always tried to get me on his own and ask me for money to buy sugar. It was more likely that he would use the money for pombe - booze! He never relented and each time we visited there he had something 'special' to show me, then the hand would come out. He received plenty of plants, but never money. I gave him a sticky label saying 'Misitu ni Uhai' which he stuck on his door (it was a beaten 200 litre petrol drum that he had made use of).

The old fellow's junior wife told me of her interest in trees and had grown a hedge of Sesbania seban - a fodder tree - the seedlings of which I had given her. It is encouraging when you see successes; she had the benefit of shelter from the trees, and supplementary fodder for her milking cow. She took clippings off the hedge, and the thicker sticks that the cow did not eat, were dried on the roof of the cow shelter and after just one week she could use them in her cooking fire. She was a delightful happy woman.

Once the Assistance to Primary Schools was under way, we became involved with the school and provided some 100 desks, five sets of teachers' tables and chairs, text books, teacher's copies, slates & chalk and science kits.
There was a small hill behind the school and the students planted an extensive area there. The planting holes were well prepared and the trees survived well despite the lack of water at the school. However it is fair to say that there is more reliable rainfall at Likamba than many of the other villages we worked with. There was a large tank/reservoir belonging to the village but there were inherent problems with it and so water was always in short supply.
We contributed, as did many others when the headteacher's house was burnt to the ground and he lost everything - even in poverty, people contribute and have empathy for their fellows.
I was surprised and happy to find a school girl who wore an All Black shirt. Her parents had bought it at the mtumba at the Ngaremotoni market. She was happy to receive a Misitu ni Uhai badge.

We had a busy time at Likamba.

Makuyuni (Primary School)

The village of Makuyuni is situated at the junction/turnoff to Mto wa Mbu and when we were there it was an important fuelstop for the trip on to Karatu or Babati. At least to Karatu, the fuelstop is no longer important as the road is so good (and the vehicles are much better).

We were not directly working with Makuyuni Primary School, but the next village North is Mswakini, where we had worked intensively.

It was pointed out that Makuyuni Primary School was in real need of assistance because of a large roll and meager resources. It was an opportunity for me to deliver a few trees that would otherwise not have been planted in the area, so I called in with a few.
I could offer no assistance because the school was not within the programme, but I took a note of what was required and gave my word that I would try to help.
Luckily there was some few funds remaining and Mo & Jo agreed that some assistance could be provided to the school.

We were able to send them fifty desks, some text books and blackboard paint. Not enough really but at least a token to show that we shared empathy there.

As a footnote to this story: There is a project running presently to grow Mpingo, African Blackwood. This is the black wood that is used for traditional carvings - it is beautiful wood and very slow growing. Becoming rare too!
It is encouraging that there is a project to grow this tree and I anyone from that project sees this, they may be interested to know that we used to collect from the other side of the gully at the start of the Mto wa Mbu road. Seedlings have been planted in most of the villages we worked at and in the Meru area where (largely) I have not yet mentioned.

Mti Mmoja tena

Those tanks at Mti Mmoja still haunt me! I have seen a comment made by nkonina on my original post. I am very glad someone from Mti Mmoja has read it. I don't know him, but he is my friend. I did not find a contact for him so through here - Salaam bwana, je labda wako watu wanatukumbuka - Misitu ni uhai - Mti Mmoja juu!
It is very difficult to find funds for projects these days - and I am still looking. Maybe someone will read this and start something - maybe.

Mti Mmoja was another school were we were able to bring the Primary School Assistance Project.
We had carried out our environmental project the success of which was tempered by the lack of water. This is why we did not supply very many trees to the school - we did not want to burden the kids with the extra task of finding water.
The school building was reasonably new, but there was a lack of resources so through the project were were able to supply desks, teachers tables and chairs, text books and cupboards to store them in.
I do not remember the name of the woman who was Headteacher (I see her still wearing her green woolen sweater) but I found her grateful on behalf of the students. I hope her students remember her with gratitude.
The area is proudly Maasai and I remember one teacher complaining that the students , especially boys, tended to be 'stubborn' and refused to learn. This seems to be one of those things that will occur. That person, I could tell, will not have been Maasai because I understood, each tribe has a certain opinion of another tribe. But I do think it is good that teachers serve outside their tribal areas because that's where understanding begins.

The special place I have in my heart for Mti Mmoja though is because I visited there with the General Secretary of DME and he saw me give a mixture of chili water to the school to help trees survive against termite attack. He saw the work we were doing there and asked if I would help his organization for a year. Well it ended up being five!
Mti Mmoja juu!

Meserani Chini

The events at Meserani Chini taught me a valuable lesson.
I was not really involved with the Primary School Assistance Project at Meserani Chini as it was a school allocated to another vol, Duck.

He was based at Monduli and had no transport, therefore could not supervise the project. Instead he handed the funds to the Monduli Regional Education Office for them to administer. Duck was fully in support of the project, he just lacked the tools manage it.

So I was asked to supervise the project from time to time, which was a task I did not mind, but could have done without.
The project went well and I had no real concerns except that part of the project in this case was to plaster the floor. Fair enough, it was in a really sorry state. My concern was that they were not 'plastering' the floor, rather, they were relaying a concrete floor about 100cm thick. I agreed that it was necessary but thought they would run out of cement, which they did. Duck's budget had been spent leaving the classroom floor half completed. I made a small application for more funds and was successful so the floor was eventually completed. There were minor concerns mainly over terminology - plastering vs concreting, but that sorted ok.

The other 'unusual' part of the project was rainwater harvesting.
There was indeed a need for rainwater harvesting but the project had not attempted it before and I was very interested in the concept.
Boards had been used for spouting and a small tank had been built and I thought the setup was very well done.
I found that there was no water source within the village and water was brought in by tractor and sold for Tsh100 per 20litre bucket. Very expensive for the local Maasai.
Naturally after the first rains, I made it my business to call there to see if the tank was holding the water. The Headteacher was very stressed and wanted the tank taken away.
Providing a small amount of free water had upset the internal balance of the village. It was never expressed who should benefit from the water. The teachers thought is for them, the parents thought it was for the students, who could take water home home. Then there were the thieves at night. So the Headteacher put a lock on the tap but that only caused extra bad feeling within the village.
I called in the Mtendaje - the village executive officer, and suggested that the situation be settle in one way or another. He immediately called a village meeting , chaired by the village chairman, and a few were able to come at short notice. Then he passed the buck on to me! It was not my fight!
So I simply told the meeting that the amount of water was small and if every household recieved one bucket, the tank would be empty in a day. They all agreed.
For the sake of keeping the tank in working order, there should be water in the tank for as long as possible with some remaining constantly. The water should therefore be for the use of the teachers - equally - as teachers need to be attracted to hard, rural areas and with no water, there may well be no teachers.
The meeting fully agreed with that and peace returned to the village.

The lesson: People need to understand the terms of aid/assistance fully before work begins or goods are supplied. By taking the power away from people it insults their intelligence and nobody can be expected to accept that.
Keep the consultation process going! Always.

The Female of the Species

I had a background in the Scouting movement, but here I do not refer to Kipling's poem - I never was into poetry. Silly rhymes? Well maybe.
Before Ian Flemming wrote about James Bond, I enjoyed Bulldog Drummond by Sapper and one of those works was titled, 'The Female of the Species'.

There are loads of myths and assumptions about life in Africa and sometimes I have been astounded how even locals or so called 'professionals' can fail to grasp the truth - if truth actually exists.

So many times I have heard it said that African men are lazy and spend all their time talking, while their women do all the work. This is a massive generalization and sure there is truth in the statement. But I have seen some really hard working men.

There is one agency I know about that deals in water projects but only when the administration is carried out by women or women's groups. I must say that I smile at such suggestions because it assumes that women somehow are not corrupt.
Such a suggestion is foolish because corruption rears it nasty little head wherever there is a perception that somehow there is an advantage to somebody - usually finanicial.

The water to our Makumira house and nursery was fed by a scheme that took water from a spring high on Mt Meru and ended at the Makumira Secondary School. The scheme was wrought with problems and we raised money to make extensive repair to ensure water for the school and the nursery. Why were there problems?
A local women's group was granted a very large amount of money by a US aid agency to carry out the project. The leadership of the group bought themselves Landrovers and other things before the village people had access to any water. The project was carried out as cheaply as possible using inferior materials. The scheme was barely working and part of the line supplied Nkoaranga Hospital!
The thing is temptation relates not to gender nor to the affluence of a person, it is only that the poor are tempted by less that than the rich - but even that doesn't always apply either.

I do not want to back away from 'The Female of the Species' theme.
I have seen that sometimes expats who volunteer, visit, live or work in Africa have somehow a hidden agenda. Perhaps not an agenda, maybe it is simply how they are. I really don't know, but I have seen some strange things.
Watch how some young women enjoy to be hassled by touts selling souvenirs and beating them down in price. Even boss them to about. Enjoying some euphoria.
But that's not what I'm on about here - my work in Tanzania was somewhat constrained by the actions of certain women. Without judgment, this is what happened, a history if you like - I give them all my Swahili names. I do not wish to unkind here, just report some of what actually happened and how it effected me.

Mama Malkia had been a Field Rep for the Agency during which time she developed a close friendship with Big E [now my boss]. She had taught him how to apply for donor aid and encouraged him to form his own NGO. Big E accompanied her on field trips, providing advice and, I guess, security. The need for security is real, but in reality, she had taken on a job that involved traveling and being alone.
Mama Baraka told me much more about what she had seen and it became well known what was happening.
Now the reason my job had been re-advertised was because the guy who had been appointed heard of the relationship between Mama Malkia and Big E judging there to be certain risks. Nobody told me of this.
There was a delay in Big E accepting my appointment and Mama Baraka told me that Big E had used all the funds supplied for my assignment and had not prepared our accommodation.
Once we were on site and into our assignment, I found there was indeed no money and I had to make application for funds to carry out our work.
Big E even told me that he had seen that volunteers caused a problems for NGO's and he only accepted us because he found that he couldn't get out of it.
Mama Malkia knew that Big E was spending donated funds inappropriately but accepted it like some accept a favorite puppy peeing on the carpet - a tut tut, nothing more.

The case of Mama Mwuguzi was more tragic and did not actually affect my assignment but it did indirectly affect the Agency relationship, therefore mine, with my employer, DME.
Mama Mwuguzi arrived with her husband who was unassigned. She was to take up a position at Nkoaranga Hospital and was accommodated in a house not too far away from where we lived.
What often happens is that people get a fixed idea of what things will be like, even though they are correctly briefed. This couple, I have no doubt were told that they would have no vehicle and that they would be close to amenities.
These people were 'older' and access out was a walk of perhaps 15 min and to them, they were remote. There was no phone, water was unreliable and of course there was some difficulty carrying stores. They needed to use public transport, meaning the daladala and they were not used to that at all. Sure transport was provided to the hospital, but that was all.
The husband quickly caught a stomach bug which he was unable to throw off and Mama Mwuguzi worried about him - rather, she fretted for him. Because I had a vehicle, I helped them out and regularly called on them as well as helping with the transport of food. But doing this made me late for my appointments.
Mama Mwuguzi confronted Jo in a hostile way and accused the Agency of not supporting them as well as not giving proper details about their living conditions. I could see her real stress.
In the end they pulled out of the assignment and returned home. Poor woman died of cancer within the year.

Mo & Jo were replaced by Baba & Mama Rubani.
This placement ended in tragedy also which caused an impact in my work again and in my relationship with the Agency and DME.
Mama Rubani was actually the Field Rep and Baba Rubani was 'an accompanying partner' so did not have real authority. But of course he did by influencing his wife. They did not welcome vols to their home the way Mo & Jo did and they were generally cool towards us all.
I have no really issue with this partnership but they had an entirely different view of providing donor funding to what we had developed - the ideas generally came from Baba Rubani. He did not believe that text books were necessary in schools. He believed that funds be given to the targeted beneficiaries in a lump sum 'to be used as they see fit - they get one bite of the cherry and if they blow it, it is their problem'. The theory of that is ok but in practice the funds are abused.
Ralph Naylor our old forestry mentor instilled into us that the money available to us as public servants was the taxpayers and our job was to spend it as effectively as possible - it was our duty. I adhere to that principle even today.
We were in the middle of the Primary Schools Assistance Project and this pair believed it to be a distraction from their work and wanted shot of it. Their way was to spend or distribute the funds as quickly as possible.
The good thing is the Rubani's employed a local woman as Administrator - Mama Tabasamu was to have a checkered career which ended well.
I was so embarrassed when I invited them to a function put on for us by Nkoaranga Primary School to thank us for the school decks etc that was provided. Baba Rubani was offered a soda, and took a bottle of Coke but quickly returned it stating out aloud that Coca Cola is no good unless it is cold! There was no fridge miles!
Out of the blue, at least to us, the Rubani's resigned. There had been tension with the Agency and I acknowledge that parties are not always compatible.
Tragedy struck when Baba Rubani was killed when the light plane he was flying ploughed into Monduli Mountain. This was a really difficult time complicated by the fact that flying aircraft was outside the terms of agreement of the Agency's insurers.

Enter Mama Mbembe.
We had stayed a night with Mama Mbembe in Zimbabwe when she told us of her wish to become a vol in Tanzania.
She was well connected and knew a few important people. She was married to a diplomat of sorts for a time living with him in Ethiopia. This may or may not have a bearing on what happened.
Anyway, it eventuated that she turned up at DME as a fish farm adviser by reputation rather than merit because she had no experience in fish farming.
She lived in the DME house where Mama Mwuguzi had lived and earlier the other troublesome Kiwi couple who had worked as fish farm advisers and left early under a cloud.
I was busy with my own assignment and coping with the Rubani's but took time to be friendly to and welcome Mama Mbembe.
The first I knew of trouble when my friend and the person I answered to, the General Secretary of DME told me of problems he was having with Mama Mbembe. She would not go out into the target villages with her co-worker Enoch and instead was 'flitting around the Northern outskirts of Arusha'. The General Secretary showed me a letter from Dr. Sudi stating that she was totally uncooperative in the fish farming project - a copy was sent to the Agency. At another meeting he told me that he had asked her for suggestions for a certain complex that DME were to build but her response was a Marae style (Maori meeting house), which is actually inappropriate in Tanzania as mixed sexes could not sleep in such a way - but Mama Mbembe was insistent. I was asked 'to sort her out as we come from the same country'.
Mama Mbembe complained about her accommodation being unsafe (but DME had two night guards posted there each night) and she came to me saying she had heard gun shots closeby. I sent Mbise down there to investigate and I joined him. Our conclusion was that the sound was whips boys used to scare birds from rice and maize crops.
Never the less this caused her to be allowed (by Mama Rubani) to move into rented accommodation in Arusha costing the DME Fish Farm Project USD 250.00 per month! Totally outside their budget.

Well now, there came an Agency conference and the Africa Programme Manager, Mama Mhindi came out to take part. The General Secretary of DME told Mama Mhindi exactly the problems he faced with Mama Mbembe and it turned out that Mama Mbembe had done nothing toward her assignment in the six months she had been there. This meant a directive from Mama Mhindi that both Mama Mbembe and I were to meet monthly with the General Secretary to discuss what had been done and what was to be done. Well Mama Mbembe did not like the General Secretary so did not meet him - I did but that was usual anyway and he just preferred me to get on with my work.
When the Rubani's decided to resign, (and I suspect this was talked about at conference) Mama Mhindi was going to appoint Mama Mbembe as Field Rep. The grapevine whispered the news of this intention to me and I was horrified to think of the result - for the sake of vols, the partner organizations and the Agency.
My response was to throw my hat into the ring and apply for the job. I did not actually want the job as I preferred what I was doing, but I thought that I would force an open selection.
It did and many very good people applied. The Agency telephone was down so we had to go to Mama Mbembe's house for a telephone interview. With her in the next room!
It was down to the pair of us and Mama Mhindi and a sidekick came to interview us for the second time. Mama Mbembe was selected - what a process to go through for that outcome!
After the death of Baba Rubani and the takeover the Agency's error of judgment came to fruition fully. Mama Mbembe became offside to all the vols, the partner organizations and was discrediting the Agency by her actions. I don't need to go into the gory details but the effect on my reputation was that she told the Agency that I was unhappy with my Toyota truck so sold it cheaply to the Tanzanian fellow she had taken up with this left me with a dunger of a Landrover. He arranged for Agency vehicle repairs and she grossly overpaid him - even he was embarrassed! I caught them once and then after the next repair, as I drove down our road, the tie-rod end popped off leaving me with no steering! A different result if I had been going 100kph!
There was an accusation that Mama Tabasamu had stolen Tsh 400 000 /- in fact Mama Mbembe loaned it to her boyfriend to retrieve a vehicle from one of the National Parks! It was repaid. But poor old Mama Tabasamu was treated somewhat as the colonialist would have treated her.
Just one other: Of course Mama Mbembe was somewhat antagonistic to DME and particularly the General Secretary. I had written up a funding proposal so that DME could continue the environmental project after I had returned to NZ. I ran it past Mama Mbembe, as was protocol, but I could see that she was not going to support it.
Well a short time after, A Big Noise (my term for someone in authority) was to pay us a visit and a function was arranged to meet him. I managed to corner him and discuss the proposal to him. Mama Mbembe was livid!
That night in her words 'He and I drank and danced until the wee small hours'. And the funding was never approved.
Generally though I was very busy - I had my assignment, the Primary Schools Assistance Project, building Valeska Primary School (a special project), building Mama Upendo's house and building Mbise's house - oh there was the food assistance as well. I still had a lot to do with Mama Mbembe and bits will emerge as we go.
There is much more but I have to say in my last days of those assignments, she helped us with our departure. However the Agency finally realised the problem/damage she cause and paid her to walk away. What a disaster!

We had two years back in New Zealand and responding to a call from DME I again accepted another assignment with them.
The Field Rep by then was one, Mama Viazi and she was pushing hard for me to change my assignment from DME to an outfit in Mbulu. I had 'unfinished business' at DME and so refused the Mbulu invitation.
I could tell from Mama Viazi's emails that she was not too pleased about that outcome.
Being an old hand at the 'game' I wrote up a funding proposal for DME to send off to the new NZ funding body, and I spoke to them by phone. They intimated they were happy to continue support of DME and thought the project worthwhile. My reason for doing this was to make sure there were funds available when we arrived - remember Hifadhi?
When I arrived at DME the new General Secretary - who I already knew to be a fine fellow - told me of a huge argument they had with Mama Viazi. She had tried to have them accept another vol instead of me, but the DME told her that if they could not have me, then they don't want anyone! Mama Viazi tried for them to have nobody!
Don't blame DME - and I am not big headed about this. They had had the fish farmers - they were big trouble to DME and to the Agency; they had Mama Mwuguzi and her husband; who had left early; they had the Tongans - who complained about the night guards, the lack of water and had received complaints about walking around the village without a shirt and carrying a huge knife (plus other issues) and then they had Mama Mbembe who had treated them so poorly. We were the only NZers who had not caused trouble! Any wonder that they did not want to experiment with others!
Mama Viazi was none too happy when she found out that we had already applied for project funding! The thing was: if I had applied, it should have gone through her. But in fact, DME had the right to apply independently and after the argument, they were not going to tell her anything! All I had done was write up the proposal for them to present.
Mama Tabasamu manned the Arusha office and Mama Viazi's office was in Pretoria, so she popped down to the funding agency and 'threw a spanner in the works' for our funding!
With no funding, we could not operate so I had two choices - sit and do nothing or return to NZ. I took the third option which was to fund the project myself, from personal resources in the hope that funding would come through. There was a high risk and I had to be prepared for the funding not to come through.
I had the Landrover to fuel, I employed Upendo (but did not pay her until the funds eventually came through), I bought the nursery materials and managed to run the environmental project.
The Agency Africa Programme manager had been replaced and he was more realistic in his approach. He made changes that saw Mama Tabasamu become Tanzania Field Rep and after a full year the funding was granted to DME and they repaid me in full.