Fixing the Local Water

I was prepared to contribute to the cost of repairing the Makumira water scheme and through negotiation, the Agency contributed Tsh100 000/- as a setup grant for our new assignment. This was a generous act.
Before the funds came through, the environment teacher, Nnko, asked me to help with 'emergency repair'. The told me that he and a few students were looking for a blockage [the reason water was pouring out that breather pipe] and had shattered the plastic pipeline.
With three students we set off in the Toyota to the small farm where the breather pipe was located. Well I still don't understand what these guys were trying to achieve but the had split a large hole in the 100mm pipe and the force of the water was eroding the soil from the person's farm! Severely so and there was a crop of beans growing with plants about 30cm tall being washed out. I felt so sorry for the old woman who farmed there - as I had met her previously.

I knew a 100mm plastic joiner was required as well as some pipe and a plastic socket. I had all but the joiner at home so told Nnko to arrangewith the fundi that I would pick him up in a couple of hours after I had gone to town to buy the joiner. I called in at home to collect Tsh30 000/- [all the cash I had at the time] and hurried off to town.
I had not realised what the time was as I arrived at Tanga General at 12:30pm. In those days the town shut down at 12:00pm to 2:00pm so I had to sit and wait, all the time fretting about the soil being washed away on the old woman's farm. My patience was to be tested.
Hakuna haraka Tanzania - there is no hurry in Tanzania - that's the saying.
A few minutes after two, the Indian woman who owned [or part-owned] the hardware shop arrived with a bunch of keys. She chose one, and handed it to the man who had been left on guard. He undid the top padlock and handed back the keys. She chose another key and he used it to open the middle lock and handed the bunch of keys back. The Indian woman chose the next key and handed it to the guard who undid the bottom lock, then handed the keys back and opened the doors to reveal steel doors like those of an old fashioned elevator. These were chained with a single large padlock. She chose the key and he undid the lock and slid open the doors. There was another double door there locked by a normal door lock and she found the key for him to unlock. The shop was in darkness as there were no windows and on turning the switch, the Indian woman found there was no electricity, so the guard was told to start the generator. Well it had no petrol! There was a torch, but the batteries were flat, so the guard was sent to a nearby shop to purchase some batteries.
While he was away the Indian woman asked me what it was that I needed. Yes we have one she replied but we had to wait until the guard returned with the batteries. The joiner I wanted was in the storeroom which was locked with two padlocks and the opened doors revealed yet another which also had two padlocks.
Smiling the Indian woman brought out a 100mm plastic joiner and asked for Tsh40 000/-! Despite doing previous business with the woman she refused to lower the price or trust me to bring 10 000 at another time so I left the shop somewhat frustrated!
I went to Bulk Supplies and was told that the did not have a 100mm plastic joiner in stock, but I saw they had a display board with all the joiner on it attached by wire. I told him I would have that one and he reluctantly undid the wire. I held the joiner in my hand and said, ' That is Tsh30 000/- - right?' And without waiting for an answer, I hurried out not looking back.

Of course I was late getting back to the fundi, but I had gathered up the equipment, Mw Nnko and the students. The actual repair was simple and we agreed that any more repairs would be left until the funds came through and we had the equipment ready. I told Mw Nnko and the fundi that we must respect protocols and include the village authority in any discussion as the water scheme belonged to the villages all the way down. Later I compensated the old woman who had lost most of her crop, but that was strictly between her and me.

I had already met the village chairman who was a pleasant man, as was his secretary who I met much later as he worked at the Primary Court at Usa River. They were pleased that we were going to improve the water for the villages the pipeline served and he promised any cooperation that he was able to provide.

The agency provided us with Tsh100 000/- and I was prepared to match that amount so I though we would be able to make a difference. The village populations had heard that we were going to carry out the work and as encouragement, I guess, I was regularly told of the problems being faced due to an irregular water supply.

The first day I took Mbise with me as well as Moses, a Maasai guard from the secondary school - a short man and likable - Loti just referred to him as 'Maasai' and inferred that all Maasai were rather backward. Loti came with us, the village chairman and of course Fundi. Of course Loti and the village chairman waved their hands about giving directions - not getting them dirty.

I drove down as close to the weir as possible because we needed to carry the materials to repair the wall of the weir. There was a need to cut vegetation from around the work area and I bumped the top of my head on a branch. It did not hurt that much and I continued working but blood began to pour down my forehead. I felt the top of my head and realised that a large thorn was stuck there ans by this time my companions had seen the blood and were concerned. I wet my handkerchief and dabbed the wound trying to stop the bleeding, but Mbise demanded that he take a look. I was worried that they would try to dig it out with a needle and I knew the dangers of that. The chairman carried those nail snips that work like tweezers and Mbise grabbed the thorn with them and pulled it out! It was quite big and Mbise & Loti wanted me to go home - I felt fine [well I used to be a logger!] and carried on for the rest of the day.
The weir was built with concrete blocks and there was damage to them and water was escaping at one end causing more erosion. I taught them about using a dry mix of gravel, sand and cement to fill fertilizer bags and lay them in place. They fill in the gaps and become solid - this worked very satisfactorily.
But now I was to learn something. We needed to block of the water to remove the air vent pipe down the hill. Fundi used the trunk of a banana tree to plug the pipe! It worked very well.

With the weir repaired, we were off to the next work site. Even in four wheel drive the Toyota could not climb the greasy slope! We were stuck! There was a winch on the front of the vehicle, but I had never used it but it was easy enough to rig up. Moses pulled the rope out and I attached it to a tree - oops it pulled the tree out. We tried it on a larger tree with the same result! Moses was fascinated that pushing a button on the winch could pull out a tree and I could see that the moment he had the chance he would have a go. His chance came when we hooked the rope to a large rock - before we could stop him, he pressed the green button and the rope tightened before we could get clear! Luckily nobody was hurt and while Loti was growling at him, I put the vehicle in gear and the winch at the same time so we popped out of that difficult spot.

We plugged the inlet pipe and went to where the air vent was located. Our intention was to remove it completely and instead make inspection boxes at regular intervals, so water could pond in them and continue down the line - this would allow air pressure to be of assistance. We made the ponds out of concrete blocks and they had a capacity of around half a cubic metre [shallow, with a large surface area]. This worked well and after about four days the job was completed. Though on one farm I had to compensate for about a sack of beans that was estimated to be lost through our excavations.

The water source was a limited supply and it seemed the Fundi or his mate was in charge of turning water on and off to the various lines. Nkoaranga hospital was of course his priority. But for the time I was there, water came on from 7:00am to 7:30am as regular as clockwork - sometimes there would be more but that half hour was enough to fill two 200 litre drums for the nursery and enough for each day's usage in the house tank. Sure we had to manage it well but that was ok.
I never asked for this favor and I have no doubt it was a favor but I have no idea who actually turned the tap on/off at the Nkomansa reservoir. Later I did ask a favor of the village chairman and that was for a line to go to Mama Upendo's house - that was granted but Fundi was careful to take the inlet for that line from the upper third of the main line - meaning that Mama Upendo received water only when the pipe was running more than two thirds full. That was fair.

Of course 'what is good for the goose' - Mama Mfupi saw that Mama Upendo had a water tap, so she too wanted one and she wanted it to come from the line to our house. That compromised what the scheme had been set up to do and would compromise the nursery water.
She claimed it was a secondary school reservoir so directly approached the Headmaster - whose wife was a teacher at Makumira Primary School as was Mama Mfupi.
They used Mw Nnko and some boys to make the fittings without telling me, but Mbise alerted me and I had them change it to the line going down to the secondary school which, at least in my opinion, they had every right to change as they saw fit.
But if goes to show the troubles water can bring. For me, once I had fixed the water scheme, as soon as there was a problem, village people would stop me to ask for it to be fixed. However that's not how development should go, so I wrote an official looking document stating that I had handed the water scheme over to the village; I gave them an assortment of joiners and other materials and suggested that they find funds to keep the scheme going. They have set a water rate to households to pay for repairs to the scheme and that is still going. Sure there will be some misuse of funds but they keep a book of payments and expenses and it operates well.

The Local Water

One of the reasons I established the nursery beside our house was that the water supply was good. Well it turned out that it wasn't and it took a long time for me to understand what the problems were and in fact how the scheme worked.

I was told that the water scheme was established by a group of women who had been donated project funds by US Aid. The gossip was that the women had 'eaten' the money [buying Landrovers and the like] and had done a shoddy job on the water scheme. Certainly it wasn't working. The scheme was to bring water from a spring high up the mountain to serve Nkoaranga Hospital, Makumira Secondary School, Makumira Primary School [the end of the line] and the villages between.

There was a very good spring just below our house [it fed an irrigation ditch all the way through rice paddies to Manyata village] but it was polluted a source because village people and secondary school boarder did their washing there and and bathed as well. Who could blame them because there was no other water! I tried to teach that cleaning activities could be done by filling a bucket and doing it away from the creek - but that fell largely on deaf ears.

The growly vol who had lived there previously had used a huge pump powered by electricity - paid for by the secondary school - to try to fill the reservoir beside the primary school teacher accommodation block. He reckoned that the water disappeared! He said he could hear it going in. I think he was wrong - the pump was not operating, just using electricity. The valves in the pump unit were worn out. The water he heard was irregular trickles from the water scheme.

This reservoir, and the large pump, was set up by the Makumira Farm, presumably the manager and the farm had donated water to both school as all these enterprises were DME controlled.
The reservoir was set up to benefit the Manager's house - now our home. The reservoir was six metres in diameter and three metres high which means it could hold 28 cubic metres of water but it was never even half full.
There were two outlets - the school one was 150mm higher than the manager's house outlet meaning that after the schools' line ran out there was still some .4 of a cubic metre of water or 4230 litres. That is a significant amount. With that we could irrigate the nursery once a day and all the household usage as well as allowing Mama Upendo and others to take some.

The secondary school used a fundi - plumber - who lived some distance up the mountain and one day Mbise brought this guy to talk to me. He had been under pressure from the school leadership to do something about the water scheme and he knew that I was likely to assist him. I used this guy a lot over the years - always just calling him 'Fundi' - I liked him and respected his knowledge because I too had experience with water schemes.

The Environmental Teacher from the secondary school was responsible for their water. His name was Nnko and he was a nervy fellow who I guess was laughed at by many and I guess I treated him a bit like that at first, but quickly found him to be an intelligent man and dedicated to his work.
The school had no money at this time (and that was true as times for DME were tough) so the fundi, the teacher and five senior students hopped into my Toyota and we proceeded up the mountain over steep, windy and sometimes tricky tracks to the chanzo - the start of the water scheme.
The tracks were slippery due to the recent rains and we walked the last hundred metres or down a steep hill to the spring. There was a weir there, about two metres high and perhaps three metres wide. So the 'head' of water or catchment was not really very big meaning the storage area for the scheme was very limited.
There were several leaks in the weir but due to the recent rain, water was flowing over it. The outlet was a 150mm steel pipe and just down a bit was a 25mm outlet for local village people to take water. The fundi wanted the weir repaired.
We went back to the Toyota and travelled down a way to again walk to the pipeline. The line was now plastic and 100mm. It stepped down a vertical bank for about three metres, the pipe was exposed and climbed over a small ridge, at the highest point a vertical 50mm pipe shot into the air and I was told it was a breather pipe to allow water into the line - only thing was that water was pouring out of it with some force and causing erosion! The fundi told me it wasn't meant to do that and I concurred - I couldn't understand the reasoning for it. The fundi wanted it fixed.
The rest of the line was in a sorry condition. It was supposed to be galvanized pipe, but plastic was used so the women had more money to spend! The line had not been dug down deep enough so was damaged when people were cultivating their small farms - hitting the pipe with a jembe (hoe). There were a few illegal branch lines taken off and all the taps providing village people with water, and there were many of them, were leaking because the tap was broken. This happened at almost ever water project - water would not come out, so it was hit with a rock by someone thinking the tap was faulty and brass taps can not withstand such treatment!
So the fundi wanted this fixed as well.
The teacher Nnko told me that the school did not have the Tsh5000/- to pay the fundi for the day's work - so I dipped into my pocket and paid him 2000. I asked him to pass by on Monday and I would discuss things and pay him in full.

Sorting the water was urgent but I made up my mind after the Evangelist seminar.
There was a semi-derelict house beside ours which had been the farm manager's servants' quarters. It had no utilities and I had allowed Mbise to set up camp there as he needed somewhere to rest and keep his gear. It was basic but adequate for his purposes.
There was a Evangelist seminar at the secondary school for one weekend and ten of them from far away churches asked if they could stay in Mbise's house. I had no issue and nor did Mbise - all part of the church activities.
There was extra noise and more movement around our house than I liked and they began to use water from the tap outside our bathroom window. It was the only outside tap and I used it for irrigating the nursery. And to supply water to Mama Upendo.
Well these guys soon used up all our household water on both days leaving us with none to irrigate or to bathe. So I had to carry buckets of water up from the creek and on the Monday, the nursery worked carried enough to give the nursery a drink. I have no issue with carrying water but these guys did not do their share.
It took some time for the water level in the reservoir to reach its sustainable level.

I decided to apply for funds to renovate the Makumira water scheme.

Just busy enought

By October 1997 we had become familiar with Makumira and had set up the nursery as a going concern but there were some things that kept me busy - more or less outside my project.

The first was water and I will write about that next but water is rain and rain caused me problems in my work during October, especially with access to villages. The rain helped keep the tree seedlings moist but also made working conditions difficult in the nursery. But household water was a problem and we needed that fixed.

Electricity was a problem. There had been a shortage of water where the hydro-dams were and we recieved electricity from midnight to about 6:00am - sometimes 4:30. We were not perturbed about the lack of electricity as we had a gas cooker and a Tilly lamp - though we did not light it much preferring the hurricane type lamp and candles. In those days I had a word-processor and I needed electricity to write reports, letters home and project proposals, so that meant waking at midnight and getting back to bed just before sunrise when I had to be prepared for the next days work.

Mbise did not like the power cuts as he thought it compromised security. I had my doubts about that but he went through extra torch batteries - and needed extra coffee! But I liked the dark and would sit and talk to Mbise about the stars and the moon as well as 'life at Makumira'.



I had written a proposal to provide a motorbike for Loti as a project vehicle [Mo had encouraged me to do so] and it was approved. Mags went to Dar es Salaam with Jo to pick it up - Jo had other work to do there.
Well Loti was like a cat with two tails when he saw his brand new motor bike! He took it down to the local church and had it blessed.
When we returned his old ex Makumira Farm one to DME Mr Kaaya was a bit stern and said that although we had raised the funds for the new bike, the Bishop may allocate it elsewhere. Loti was not too pleased about this outcome but my persuasive nature prevailed.
The new farm manager turned out to be a crook and sold the sold bike the old bike - but that's another story.

Because we had extended our contract with The Agency, we were entitled to a trip home and we were excited about that. This meant that we needed to visit the craft centers in Arusha and Ngaremtoni to buy gifts. Also we bought T-shirts with Tanzanian motifs. Folk back home had been kind to us and we wanted to acknowledge their generosity in some way. Of course when you are 'in the market' for souvenirs, the touts smell your money and try to do deals. By now we knew who to deal with and who not.

We were slowly becoming friends with Mama Upendo and her family. She was friendly with Mbise because she was the only person to help him when he was sick with malaria, so he in return helped her and a friendship grew.
Mama Upendo always called me 'Mzee' - a respectful name for an older man - well that was to my face, most had trouble with my name and I was simply referred to as 'Mzungu' - white man.
Mama Upendo wanted to buy a milking cow - to keep under the zero grazing management. She knew of the cow which was Tsh150 000/- and she said that she had a shortfall of Tsh50 000/-. She hoped I would loan/donate Tsh100 000/-. I told her that I would think about it, and it slipped my mind until she reminded me a couple of days later.
I was always caution not show any sign of wealth - even to friends and I suspected that buying the cow just might be the thin end of the wedge. I suggested that I would go to the bank and and loan her Tsh50 000 and she told me that she would 'look' for the rest.
After I had paid her, she said that she had failed to find the rest and needed another 50 000/- and again I told her I must think about it. I withdrew the 50 000 and gave it to her when she called next and I recieved her thanks. Still it was not enough - she did not have her 50 000, only 25 000! I suggested that she get the seller to reduce his price.
Well it turned out that I paid a total of Tsh125 000/- and it was gift rather than a loan and I helped her family out by buying milk from her!
Now that sounds like I was diddled - I guess I was, but we had found a friend at Makumira and the family became part of us. The story here is a long one and some of it written up, but this coming Saturday - 28th August 2010 Upendo, the eldest daughter of Mama Upendo (for whom I an a father figure) gets married. I can't be there but will be in spirit - great isn't it? But I must brush up on my Kiswahili because I have to write a speech.

About Hospitals

One Sunday morning Mbise called me very early because a man was gonging and calling 'Hodi!' at the gate. When I went down there, I met with two young men I did not know and the asked me to take a woman to hospital as she was in labour.

It was still dark and I remembered that Loti had advised me to be careful because a 20 tonne lorry had been attacked by bandits, so to be cautious, I told them to return in an hour with the woman and Tsh2500/-. [I could not pick her up as she was across the river.]
They were back in 20 minutes and I had not finished my ablutions, but Mbise called to say that she was in a bad way, so I hurried out with the Toyota.
She wanted to go to Tengeru Hospital and I hurried as there was not much traffic.
It was lucky I had told the young men to bring money as the woman would not be attended to until payment was made for rubber gloves and cotton wool. The poor woman could not walk, so I helped her into the hospital where the nurse gave her a slap for crying out!
The baby was later delivered by cesarean and we returned mother and child home some few days later.

There were several hospitals in the are and Tengeru was only about 15 minutes away. Tengeru Hospital was a government hospital and while few hospitals have abundant resources the one at Tengeru served a large population well.

Nkoaranga Hospital was also only about 15 minutes away and is a Lutheran Hospital administered by DME. Nkoaranga was a respected hospital used mainly by Meru people and served the hill area well.

The Catholic Infirmity at Kilala was small but with dedicated staff - mainly nuns I think with no actual doctors [from what I saw].
There was another small hospital to the East of Usa River and I cannot remember the name - I only took two people there, one with a suspected broken leg. It too seemed to be a good hospital.

The main Meru Hospital in Arusha was a large government hospital serving a large population and I delivered a good number of people there - some referrals and for births the local hospitals were not allowed to deliver a woman's first child, or her, I think, third, so it was necessary to go to the larger hospital.

KCMC at Moshi was the largest and most respected hospital in the wider district and while I was not required to take people there, I helped finance some.

Salean Hospital at Ngaremtoni is also a Lutheran hospital with good facilities and seves mainly the Maasai people in the area. The also carry out outreach work.

There are many private hospitals that are businesses and while we attended some of them, they were too expensive for the rural population with whom we lived and worked.

There are also many clinics of various sizes and staffed by people who are less well trained but never the less carry out valuable primary care. We dealt with these people on a regular basis and respected their work. But I can tell you that their life was not easy!

There are also many dispensaries dotted around in most areas and while today the dispensation of drugs is more regulated, while we were there most medication could be easily obtained. Even small shops [dukas] could sell malaria treatment.
Of course some of the drugs [dawa] were somewhat dodgy making me very careful especially when giving advice to people.

Myself, I attended a hospital run by a white guy [no name here] and he prescribed two drugs and on reading the label, I found that taking the two drugs together could cause cardiac arrest! This guy had been recommended to us by our then Agency rep.

There will be more on hospital visits.

Missions of Mercy

We quickly found that the village people of Makumira came to depend on our vehicle from time to time. The only other vehicle was the secondary school's pick-up for which there was a charge.
That's not to say the secondary school were bad - they had to cover their costs because after all they were in the business of education and had to manage their funds responsibly. The other negative for them was that the driver lived far away which meant a considerable delay in emergencies. The school though cared for their own by using their own transport for sick boarders. People were never charged when I helped them out and of course this led to me being in demand around the clock.

I justified the use of a project vehicle for humanitarian purposes as within the broad guidelines of what we were about and also because the success of our various projects meant that we should become one with the village population. Most times I used the vehicle for humanitarian purposed I donated the fuel personally.

It was risky to drive at night. There were bandits and many vehicles were taken, but I was fortunate the I was never attacked. The other danger is that visibility was not always good and there were always folk walking around no matter the time of night - cyclists too, many without lights. Drunks sleep anywhere and often on the warm road surface.
I liked to take someone to sit on the passenger seat to be a lookout but I had work out who would be best because it was safer to leave Mbise at home with Mags. Sometimes I went without, others Mama Upendo, Upendo, Eriki would ride 'shotgun'.

I have already written about Anna, which is a good example, and I will write more detailed events later, but transportation was need other reasons too.
We had not been living at Makumira long when we transported some people to a funeral. We had briefly know the school teacher and for us attending the funeral was part of being within the community. The gossip was that the woman had died of AIDS and that her death was caused by her recently giving birth - futher some accused her of breastfeeding another child (not her own)!
During the service for her the congregation was told she had died of Typhoid and Malaria. Which is reasonable I guess.
Paying my respects I noted the coffin had a glass viewing area indicating that it was an expensive coffin. But she looked at peace.

It had been a long day and I arrived back at the nursery at 5:30pm and irrigated the nursery - then found that there was no water flowing into the tank and it was just one third full! The water was to be a problem and I would need to sort it out soon!

Mbise would try to protect me from people needing assistance and try to fob them off, but the was a softie as well and would relent and wake me. I too could not refuse an urgent demand to take someone to hospital. Some, expectant mothers, made arrangements with me and that was fine, but childbirth can be a bit unexpected so I always took that into account. Accidents are just that so they are unexpected too.

Some things were annoying. The house girl of a secondary school teacher was bitten by a snake at about 4:00pm, but the teacher did not come to me until 9:00pm when it was pitch black outside! He had delayed because he didn't want to 'waste money on hospital bills', so he waited until she became very sick! The outcome was that she was treated expertly at the Catholic Infirmary and made a full recovery.

An old fellow, drunk, fell from the bridge into the creek and was helped to our gate by a the duty secondary school teacher - a man I liked. He and Mbise begged me to take the old coot to the hospital, but I was reluctant - he was just drunk and it was 10:00pm!
I was talked around but I demanded that the guys son (they lived just across the creek) accompany us to the hospital. When he arrived, we sat the old coot in the back seat with his son beside me.
The old coot muttered and sometimes shouted and then crapped himself - a watery one and it oozed through his clothing onto the seat! It stank!
Well he refused to get out at the hospital and the kindly duty nurse recieved some abuse from the man. I became stern and ordered him out and to behave himself - he did both. After the formalities, we left him there!
On the drive home, I told the old coot's son that he was going to clean my truck when we got back home, but when I stopped at the gate - he fled!
The school teacher arrived to as if our journey was successful and I commandeered him into cleaning the vehicle - he agreed but commandeered Mbise who did the job while the teacher talked to me - the chain of command. Later I paid Mbise and the next day, the old coot actually came to apologize - we sat on our porch and shared coffee and I took him down to the hospital where he apologized to the staff there.

Insects That Bite

I remarked in my diary that I had not written anything for a few days. The previous Sunday I was down and out with severe headache, sore eye muscles, stiff bones, sore neck and lower legs. My head felt like the top would blow off at any time! Classic symptoms of malaria!
By Monday my headache had subsided a little, but I felt awful! Mags drove me to the doctor who looked like the film-star Omah Sherriff. and he sent me to his hospital where they sampled my blood and urine.
I was positive for malaria and typhoid as well, but the typhoid might have been a gut infection I picked up in Zanzibar. I was given Mefloquine and Cipofloxacin antibiotic that was to last a week.

We were supposed to take Paludrine daily and Chloroquine once a week to prevent malaria but I did not like taking those chemicals and actually biting insects do not like me much. Mags is just the opposite.

Sure I get bitten but not frequently, though the speckled grey mosquito that is around more during the day did bite me but I did not contract the dengue fever it carries. These bugger used to hang around the nursery!
We had mossie nets to sleep under and we knew the mosquitoes you hear buzzing are the male ones and the silent female ones are the carriers of malaria.
Still I did not take them lightly as it may seem but rather than preventative drugs, I copied the locals by treating the disease once I contracted it. For me personally this is good but I would not recommend any treatment to anybody else.As for the typhoid thing; we had inoculations before leaving for Africa, therefore we had the antibodies, so naturally these would always show up in the test.

The other thing people do not understand about mosquitoes and malaria. When a mosquito lands on you to suck your blood, once his tube (proboscis) is in you, first he clears it by blowing out the

the blood of the previous person/animal that it has been feeding on. This pumps just a little bit of the previous blood into your system with its pathogens!
Oh yes I carried on working, village visits, and felt crook and then lost another couple of days. Then the vomiting! My nursery workers told me that it was necessary to vomit up the bile from your stomach before the cure is complete.
Well the cure came but I did catch malaria again.

One day Mags woke with pain across her chest and blisters that looked like she had been burnt. Worried we took her off to the doctor and he smiled, showing her a scar running from his forehead to his chin. Nairobi fly, he said, when it walks on you it leaves a trail that causes burning and pain. The scar fades away in a few days.
Again I am lucky because they have walked over me but never left that trail. But they can do damage!

The doctor was able to give Mags a tube of cream that took most of the pain away, but think of those poor kids whose parents cannot afford pain relief. It is fortunate that Nairobi fly visits only when there is sufficient moisture.


We were given a goat by one of the villages out of appreciation of what we had accomplished there but the goat carried Funza, jiggers, chiggers or sand fleas!

These insects live in dry, dusty ground and the first one I noticed was on my big toe. It became itchy, red and swollen. There were two black dots - I now know one is a breathing hole and the other is an anus! I squeezed the white stuff out! We had visitor and all found Funza! Over a short period of time, I extracted 40 from mainly my feet. The locals laughed because they thought us wazungu were too clean to catch them! But it is nothing to do with hygiene!

I used to water the nursery in the evening in my bare feet. The Funza would jump onto my legs or feet and latch on. A small brown speck. I could not wash them off with the hose, so I sat on the bath (where there was best light) and squeeze them with a crunch! The only way to kill them.
They bury themselves into your flesh and form a grub with its two black dots. Your body reacts.
You suffocate the grub with a drop of kerosene and dig the grub out with a needle. If you squeeze just the body might come out leaving the skin behind. Mags did this and she was infected. I gave her a foot bath of potassium permanganate which cured her but made her feet brown for a week or two.
These insects are very dangerous and cause malformation in the feet of kids as well as adults. There are projects in Nairobi that I know of where they seek finance to help suffering kids. There is a website. It is a big problem and I would be pleased if anyone could help them - just Google Funza or Sand Flea.


While it is not an insect, shilingi or ringworm is is a problem and is very contagious. Of course it is a fungal disease and can appear anywhere on your body but very often kids in Tanzania catch it on their head. Commonly it is controlled by cutting the hair and rubbing in shoe polish. Any anti-fungal ointment works though.
I worked in close proximity to kids and never caught ringworm, though it is not very usual in adults. But it is no doubt embarrassing for kids and the culture where being close together in the norm, the disease is easily spread.

I have already written about Siafu or Safari Ants, but I would like to share some additional things.
When I say that I respect them, the meaning could be that I fear them, but I don't - I think they are well organized and brilliant insects and I have a high regard for them.
I was speaking at a seminar at Kolila and felt the ant making its way up my leg, of course I did not flinch, but it managed to get into the tenderer part of my anatomy and there, it decided to take a bite! The tears came to my eyes and I hurried to the privacy of the toilet, which was some eighty metres away! There I squeezed the life out of the insect and gained immediate relief. My audience was aware what had happened and on my return showed they wore polite smiles.

When the column of siafu came into our house, the local reaction was to sweep them away and put kerosene in their path. That interrupted them and because I knew what their diet was [meat] I let them pass through because they were on a journey as the name safari ant alludes to.

A bit about the Tree Nursery

I was very happy with the tree nursery set up. At our house so there was no cost travelling to go to it and it was good that I could go out there at any time and do some work.
I noticed that Loti preferred not to do the physical work in the nursery and that is the way it is - while I was content to work with the nursery workers, culturally that's not the way it happened in Tanzania. There was plenty of other work for him to do.

Mbise was our night guard, there at the behest of DME and he worked in the nursery during the day as well. He carefully told me that I should not trust the workers and they should not be allowed inside - even to use the toilet.
I had intended to allow him to sleep in the nursery shed which actually was a room attached to the house but with entrance only from outside. He refused because he did not think it quite appropriate and possibly he was right.

The other two young women were local and of the Meru tribe. Another called at the gate 'from up the mountain' and she spoke some English. She had been trained as an electrician during national service and was of the Chugga tribe, so she was very confident. I decided to employ her.
Mbise took me aside to say that she was married to a man whose father was a thief (well he must be because he owns a bus and a Landrover). All his sons a thieves too and her husband too, they worked as a gang and had a rifle.
That was hardly the news I wanted to hear, but I generally trust my instincts but decided to keep an eye out and my ears open.
She proved to be a good worker and a good team member. However, she later developed a sadness about her and told me that she was having troubles with her husband.
A small sheet of polythene went missing and when I asked where it had gone, nobody knew, but Mbise told them that he was the guard and the loss reflected on him, so he asked the culprit to talk to me.
She tearfully came to me and told me that her husband had kicked her out of the house and she took the polythene for shelter. I told she should bring the polythene back next morning and we would talk to the group. I told her that the punishment would be to stand down from work for 2 days.

The next morning she arrived with the polythene and all knew what had happened. I deliberately did not go out until the group had a chance to talk among themselves. I went out and told them all I knew of the problems this young woman faced. I told them that if they had problems come to me and we will see what can be done. I thanked her for bringing the polythene back, but told her that she needed it more that I did. And I gave it back to her. She still had to stand down for two days.

Her personal situation did not improve and she went to relatives in Dar es Salaam, where I had no doubt she would find work.

This left room for Mama Riziki who I had employed from time to time to collect small Grevillea robusta seedlings. She was a solo mother and a good, reliable worker. Much later cupid did his work and Mbise fell for Mama Riziki - but that's later and a delight.

Mbise became very close to us as time went on. He and I would often sit in the evening and talk - me telling him all sorts of stories about life in NZ and things of nature; he would tell me of his life and Meru culture. We had fun and we shared sadness. I will write about more at another time

We became close to Loti as well, sharing some incredible adventures, and there will be more on that as well.
But this early on I brought back from Mateves (Stephen) some papaya of the huge kind that we were to grow - so all the workers had fruit to eat and return with the cleaned seeds. From the same trip I brought back fifteen Guinea Fowl (Kanga) eggs and Loti took them all so a hen he had could sit on them. They all hatched and we ate omelet from time to time.