More on Lily

I recieved an email from Lily to say that she was pleased to report that she has been appointed to the Planning Commission in the President's office.

We too are very pleased with this outcome; from a rural and difficult background, studying hard at Manyata Primary School and Maji ya Chai Secondary School and on to University at the distant Morogoro. We have recieved financial assistance from others to help Lily trough her education and she has won through in a very difficult employment environment.

Go well Lily.

Maruvango

Maruvango Primary School has a special place for me and we spent a lot of time there carrying out our environmental programme. I have not mentioned this before, but on leaving towards the end of 2000, I thought it good manners to farewell all the places we worked. Of course, being Tanzania and Meru, they would not allow me to go empty handed or hungry. I will cover these events later, but the first thing I will always remember about Maruvango is the fimbo I was given. This does not detract from any of my other gifts, but it is special to me.

Once off the Malula - Ngarenanyuki road [sign post King'ori], the tracks are narrower and less negotiable, even sometimes muddier! The tracks are more for the convenience of the farming population, so are not necessarily a direct route, but I became used to the trip. I must say that this is good farmland with a higher rainfall than lower down the hill or over it in Ngarenanyuki. So there are crops of coffee, bananas and of course the staples, maize and beans. This goes for Shishtoni, Leguruke, Ntuwe and Kwatulele as well.

Mch Nassari invited us to his church to see what we had to offer his parishioners and the wider community and I guess he wanted to know if we had similar resources to those of Lutheran Churches in Germany and USA. I had no pool of funds like those churches to draw from, but suggested that education of environmental issues and techniques could have a sustainable impact on his flock. He agreed, and each time we visited there, he made sure we were well fed and (if you like) nurtured.

We held seminars at the church and each time the participants were attentive and enjoyed to 'show' most of the people brought an exercise book to take note and were keen to plant trees. Their focus was on crop type trees - timber or fruit mainly.
It was a good atmosphere as the people were always good to us and while the environment there was in far better shape than say Ngarenanyuke, there is no doubt that all environment are fragile and awareness is needed to keep the standard up.
Mch Nassari and his Evangelist were the drivers, but when it came time for us to deliver trees there were plenty of takers; the church also served the village of Shishtoni and some of the teachers from that school also attended. And there was a substantial area to be planted surrounding the church.

The primary school was not far away but at first we had some difficulty accessing it by road/track. The first time we actually walked the last few hundred meters, but soon found the best way to get there.
The school was large and there was a good compliment of teachers. One of the first things the impressed on us was the lack of resources they had, meaning not only teaching aids, but tables, chairs and cupboards for the teachers. I had found that if it was possible to help the school, it helped gain access it the pupils for our environmental project.

There was a water tap within the school's boundary, so there was generally not a problem for the pupils to irrigate trees, as long as the teachers allocated the time to do it. As it happened, the Waianakarua Country Women's Institute and Trade Aid, Timaru sent us some money so we were able to purchase [or have made] chairs, bookshelves and tables for the teachers' use. And they ensured that the trees were irrigated.
The results were good and we were able to carry out planting programmes there over three seasons. We also encouraged home plantings,for the pupils and supplied nursery materials for one season, but really there was not enough time allocated by the school to produce many plants for out planting.
It became more usual for us to stop as kids waved us down on the tracks, or stood beside the road singing 'Tumependa!'










Tree deliveries to Maruvango Church. We used tomato boxes to carry them on the roof rack.













Furniture deliveries for the teachers. By now I knew people who could make items for us a good prices and it also provided employment/income to the local craftsmen.










We could never hold a seminar with our target audience - the senior school. The whole school wanted to listen to us (the mzungu/Bw Miti) so we allowed it and enjoyed our 'performances', for that's what they were. Many time poor old Loti did not know what was coming next as I would include stories and skits as my Kiswahili improved.


















Well tended trees were the norm and it became difficult to choose the best ten trees! The pupils erected a sign, with the growers name; the mulched the tree properly and erected protective shelter. The shelter was against the harsh sun and against browsing animals - also hens/chickens because the moisture the mulch provided would encourage insects and grubs, so the fowls liked to scratch looking for food!













Prize-giving days were always exciting for the kids and as we arrived, the kids would be out tidying their trees. No all had cared for theirs and would be trying to play the trick of replacing a dead tree with a healthy green stick! We did manage to source some funds to allow us to purchase things like rulers or tennis balls that the kids would value.
If you look at the photos, I was always amazed that not more girls won prizes - but there is a myth that girls/women do most of the work.
The yellow T-shirt was donated from a printing factory in Sydenham, Christchurch who gave us all we could carry from their 'mistakes shelf'.
There was always support from the rest of the school for the prize winners, and perhaps that was because we gave the environment teacher the job of choosing the pupil based on the amount of work they had put in. I thought it unfair for the very best tree as we left no culls in the nursery which resulted that not all were equal to start with.

Leguruki Secondary School

Stepping across the road from the Leguruki Clinic, and down a short, steep driveway is the Leguruki Secondary School. For I long time I was unaware of its existence, but was asked to call there by the Headmaster. We knew him from Ngarenanyuki Secondary School where he was Headmaster when we first visited there and he was the brother of James Somi, the present Headmaster there. Oh we used to call James Somi 'Bwana Tie' because we often met him as he was a teacher at Makumira (the one on duty when I took the drunk guy to hospital). We simply knew him as Somi and we liked him. His older brother had a different nature - not a definitive but his pupils liked him.

The school was fairly new and the grounds were still being laid out. Our presence there was unremarkable - except for my faux pas made during our seminar involving the students. I was explaining how to irrigate trees by half burying a bottle with a hole in it to direct water to the root system of the tree. The work for bottle is chupa, but I said another word by mistake, not an error in Kiswahili - the word I used was chupi a word I knew meaning underpants. The kids were in hysterics as you can imagine.

I don't have any pictures of events here, but we supplied trees for planting around the area and they were well cared for.

Leguruki Clinic

The road becomes steeper, winding as it climbs. Passing the junctions to Marauvango (we will visit there later)and Shishitoni.

After the road levels out there is a flat are where the Leguruki Clinic sits and off the road to the right, and downhill, is the Leguruki Secondary School.

The Leguruki Clinic is administered by DME. It is often the case that because there has been a need the churches fund clinics and secondary schools in the villages, and indeed some of the largest hospitals are run by the churches. The churches are filling a need, and not necessarily with profit being the prime motive. It is all to do with pastoral care - well that is from what I have seen and sure there is money to be made in both health and education.

We visited the Leguruki Clinic many times, usually because we were dropping off a patient but sometimes it was a meeting place for us. One of the teachers at Leguruki Primary School was the wife of the doctor in charge and she sometimes took us down there or we gave her a lift there because a house was provided there.
I do not know the qualifications of this particular man, but I understand that clinics do not have a qualified doctor, but people who have diplomas and may be called 'medical technicians'. This in no way takes away their value! They are often called upon to carry out treatment that is far from what may be expected of them, and generally the carry out those treatments very well indeed.

It was plain to me that the clinic was under resourced and in generally poor shape, but I understood that DME remained with financial issues and it leadership was well aware of the situation. These people were doing the very best with what they had available to them and while an outsider may look at such an establishment in judgmental way, the clinic provided good primary care. Remembering of course that transport was difficult and the next hospital was at Usa River, almost an hour away by Landrover.

One evening Mch Majola came to see me. He lived down by the main road and had travelled up on his Honda 110 pikipiki. We two were on very good terms and I liked him, treating him as a friend. He asked me if there was a possibility of raising funds to rehabilitate the Leguruki Clinic. He had seen the building work we had done (that is extra projects at Manyata and Valeska primary schools) and he agreed with me that Tom Mpilipili was not the man to carry the work out.
I had to be very busy with what I committed myself to because I was extremely busy and covering a large territory.
Mch Majola was aware of my situation and said that he would administer the funds, reporting to the Bishop first, as was his duty, but also with regular reports to me. I agreed to investigate what could be done.

I wrote a letter to NZHC being careful to make the project feasible to the eyes of the reader and with the thorough budget that Mch Majola had provided for me. I did not put it across the desk of Mama Mbembe, the Agency field rep because she was not supportive of DME projects and while I knew that she would expect me to remove my hat and explain to her, my reasoning was that I was helping DME as an individual. Well, words are just words.

NZHC agreed to finance the project, but I had to hold the finances and only pay out on installments after I had received receipts from the previous installment. I guess this was policy, but they knew about the hassles with Tom Pepper.
Mch Majola was delighted with the news and quickly arranged the fundi and materials and once the money arrived - oh dear through the field office - the work was under way. Work went well and I heard of no complains or concerns - sometime the receipts came a little late and some money was required without them, but we kept a weather eye on progress and in the end the job was completed well and the books balanced. The outcome was a testament to his abilities and his genuine desire to help his fellow man.

There was a small official opening and I presented (as you would expect) some trees to plant around the complex.
My brother, who's life's work has been in health paid a visit, was impressed, but noted that even with the renovations, those who criticize NZ's health system are unaware of the problems faced by the poorer nations on the planet.









Work under way at the clinic during one of our visits.










Making wall vents. It was cheaper to make these that buy them in Arusha because they had a mold.









Work complete we look around the building before the opening.









Testing the new scales for weighing infants.













New and rather flash shower unit - good water supply too.









Speech time at the opening Mch Majola with tie, Loti next to him.










Presenting trees to the clinic.









Gorby in the laboratory part of the clinic with the new OiC.

Kwatulele Primary

The King'ori Jimbo office is just downhill from the actual township of King'ori [though this part of the road is actually flat]. It is unfortunate that I have no photo of this market area cum shopping center, but we always thought it was like a wild west town.

The road bends and on that bend is a road that goes right down to the main road at Kolila. Someways down the road is Ntuwe where we carried out a food programme - on an early post. I will return there.

There is a track past the village office, easily missed, that goes to the Kwatulele Primary School. We had not been working with the school, but DME had selected it as one of the schools to receive assistance funded by NZHC. Because some of the schools we had been working with faced trouble from the provider of their assistance, I decided that we should pay a visit to Kwatulele.
The provider DME had allocated the work to was the Vocational School and so the school's principal was responsible for the work and disbursement of the funds. I will call him Tom Mpilipili.

After introductions at the school, we found that the headteacher was not concerned about aspects of Tom Mpilipili's work, but his deputy complained and we saw that framing erected to support the ceiling board was second hand and full of insects! There were other faults but that was the main worry.
As it happened, as we drove down the road, we met Mpilipili driving up - he did not react when I motioned him to stop, so I turned the vehicle and chased after him. I told him I was not happy to see second hand materials going into a building that should have new. His body language did not show the conciliatory words he used, but he said that if I required new materials, then they would be provided. Tom Mpilipili was not happy with me.
The upshot of this was that I pointed out the misdeeds of Tom Mpilipili and they acted appropriately and all the work was carried out - Tom Mpilipili caused me to watch my back.

I thought I noticed some politics going on at the school and that was possibly due to the cooperation between the Head Teacher and Tom Mpilipili to the exclusion of the other teachers. All I know is that the teachers wanted to participate in the environmental programme and we carried it out successfully with the pupils keen to plant and care for trees. But in reality we did give as much time to Kwatulele as I found the school by (almost accident). Having said that, they were great kids and teachers to work with.
The difficulty there was the abundant rock cover making planting difficult.










Tree deliveries to the school. It was difficult to access the school with the vehicle.










The senior girls perform a song of thanks for the environmental programme.









A traditional dance is performed by a group of senior pupils during the celebration for the success of the environmental programme.

Asthma & Perfume

Perhaps an emotive title and it could be argued that this belongs on my Soapbox blog.

It was routine that I would pick people up as I passed by if I knew them, or if I thought it safe or helpful. I had no particular rule and I just used my judgment.
I would not pick up certain women. There were women who applied perfume(s) fill the cab with toxic valor that made my head ache, my eyes water, my tongue tingle and gave me chest pains. These symptoms would last the day.
I have picked Maasai people up who had been walking for days, or living in smoke-filled houses with their goats. Their smell never left me with any ill symptoms!

See, it does fit in!


I have been suffering for the last 10 or so days from headache, chesty cough and numb tongue which started with Mags giving the house a 'good clean' using an Ajax product with lavender colour and fragrance - that smells nothing like lavender. I was just getting over that when in the toilet I blew my nose using toilet paper. Now we haven't bought scented toilet paper for a long time and maybe this wasn't [though scented toilet paper does set me off]. We had bought a large pack of toilet paper so loose rolls were put in the cupboard with laundry products - maybe the toilet paper blotted up the fragrance. Whatever, try blowing your nose without inhaling - yet I sucked in a lungful of that poison!
Two questions here 1. Why would anyone want to wipe themselves with poison? 2. Scented toilet paper is the same cost as unscented, so unscented users are subsidizing the cost of applying the poison!

Now there personal products.

Somewhere on the internet you can find that chemical manufacturers do not have to disclose what is in fragrance because it is 'commercially sensitive'. But apparently there are some 4000 chemicals used and a good number are carcinogenic. Wow!

We are bombarded with the stuff and what it does to my chest tells me that fragrance is contributory to asthma, bad temperament and even hallucinations!

Let me list how people dress themselves up in chemical cocktails - funny though the same people want to eat organically grown produce and understand the dangers of chemicals (in the wider sense.

Anti dandruff shampoo - perfumed with whatever.
Hair conditioner - perfumed with whatever.
Shower gel - perfumed with whatever.
Body lotion - perfumed with whatever.
Deodorant - perfumed with whatever.
Perfume or body spray - perfumed with whatever.
Aftershave - men- perfumed with whatever.
Hygiene pads - women - perfumed with whatever.
Hair gel (or other) perfumed with whatever.
Clothes washed in laundry powder - perfumed with whatever (lasts for ages).
Fabric conditioner - perfumed with whatever (lasts for days) - your bed sheets are so treated!

That's a pretty impressive array of poisons most of us apply daily - the reason is down to peer pressure and advertising - maybe a little vanity. Then let's not forget the lip gloss, nail polish and other cosmetics.

Mags' 'natural' Tea Tree Oil Deodorant set me off - actually the vapors came off the hotter the day became.
But what are these chemists try to achieve? The smell isn't nice and what a mix.
Melaleuca - Australian tee tree.
Chamomilia - 2 types of chamomile.
Urtica - nettle (stinging).
Melissa - balm mint.
Tussilago - Farfar (never heard that name) - coltsfoot, reputed to stop coughs (hello) a cause of liver disease.
Aesculus - Horse chestnut (the nut is known to be poisonous).
Equisetum - horsetail - there are a number of (types) these.
Rosemarus - rosemary.
Salvia - sage.
Betula - birch.
Achillea - yarrow.
Trifolium - clover.

Clover flower has a sweet smell and maybe horse chestnut flower. The rest are unmemorable when it comes to a nice smell. So maybe these things are to stop sweat and not to smell 'nice'.
So there is added citronella plus of course parfum/fragrance whatever that contains!

There are the additives:
Butyl-something.
Methyl-something.
Triethanol-something.
Ethoxy-something.
Glucol-something.

Surely these things must be a worry!

All of this in one small roll-on bottle. For the chemical companies it is all win, win! They produce the poisons, making a fortune, then they sell us the remedies like paracetamol and inhalers!
From the days of using just 'Parmolive Gold' (don't wait to be told) when soap was enough, to see you through the day, peer pressure, advertising, vanity and to some extent personal insecurity causes the population to bathe in toxic chemicals.

This must be a growing problem and few manufacturers are taking steps to alleviate the problem. Roll on and all power to the companies that produce fragrance free products!

But any more on this had better go to my Soapbox blog.