Heavy Rain

We had very heavy rain the other night and the drumming on the roof reminded me of the rains in Africa. That's not to say the rains were all that remarkable, in fact here in New Zealand on the Southwest corner of the South Island (Fiordland) the annual rainfall ranks one of the highest in the world!

One evening we spent with Mo & Jo in Ilboru and we were aware that the rain was very heavy and looking outside we could see that water was rising around the house. Mo & Jo had not seen this in the five years they had lived there and I made the decision to head of the Makumira before the flooding became worse.

The water was above our ankles as we waded to the wee Maruti. The windscreen wipers had difficulty coping with the rain. We waved goodbye and headed down the Ilboru road towards the main road. Water was flowing down the road like a river, lapping the bottom of the car - flowing quite quickly because the road had a gradient [maybe 1:30].
I recalled a time when I crossed a swollen Waianakarua River in the Suzuki LJ50. A light vehicle which was picked up by the flood-waters and floated some way - all ending safely enough. The Maruti was in fact a long wheel base version of the Suzuki.

The main road had not long been upgraded and there were deep water channels built as part of the upgrade - these were full and water charged across the road.
The climb up the Sanawari road was interesting as it is much steeper [1:15] and there were rough channels each side but it was a bit like a waterfall! A dirt road but it was not muddy under the water as there was good grip. From time to time water swept over the bonnet!

We reached our home safely and we were perhaps lucky to do so.

The next day I was supposed to take Joshia and his choir to Likamba and when I drove to his house, I noticed the old house that stood at the bottom of the road to the District offices, had been swept away! I found out later that a woman and her five children died when a wall of water hit their house.
This sort of thing is mentioned in the local paper but people soon forget. It is a tragedy.

Olkung'wado Primary School

We had quite an involvement with the Olkung'wado area because the church complex was the Jimbo Office for the Ngarenanyuki area. As well the local government office was located there and both the village chairman and the mtendaje supported an environmental programme. These two fellows were removed later, and probably for good reason, but that had nothing to do with me and from my point of view, they helped 'the cause'.

The church and its associated office were perched on a small hillock and the school was nearby. The track that led to them was directly off the main road/track that led from the Olkung'wado village to Ngarenanyuki village.

In those early days, within the church offices, there was the local clinic and the guy in charge of it was a relative of Loti's and I found him to be a good man and dedicated to his work. The new clinic was under construction and he moved there during the time we were there.

The village of Olkung'wado is growing quickly and building are springing up built from concrete block, which gives the village a grey appearance - especially with new corrugated iron! The village was much smaller back in 1997 and the main street, lined with small wooden dukas had the appearance of 'old west'. And I suspect some of what went on there might have been much the same! The sandy soil whipped up in the wind made everything dusty and that dust was grey. Plastic bags littered and clung to the whistling thorn trees. Goats browsed on vegetable waste including spilled rice during the market times.

The primary school must have been built much the same time as Ngarenanyuki Primary School because the buildings were in much the same condition. As usual under resourced. The teaching staff were to us, motivated and some of them became friends. The Head Teachers moved around, or were swapped, the reason was unclear to me.

Olkung'wado recieved assistance through the Primary Schools Assistance Project and were very pleased to receive the text books, teaching aids and some desks. Plus the cupboards to store the text books.

Unusually, sitting on a shelf in the Head Teacher's office was a real human skull. I asked where it had come from and was told that one of the pupils had picked it up years ago. There seemed to me there was no sense of mystery or thought of identifying the person. There was however fascination for me.

It was very good that the hand over of materials for the school were handed over in front of the whole school. The Head Teacher [who later became head teacher at Mwakeny] receives the maps and the Head Girl a box of books.

As part of the assistance package was the new toilets for the school. The school committee dug the pit - a huge pit - and the Leguruki Fundi School carried out the building. Actually they subcontracted most of the work which was to a high standard, but the doors were made at the school and never fitted despite many words to the then principal. So in the end, one of the teachers [actually from Shishtoni] borrowed a screw driver from me and fitted them himself.

When the teacher asked to borrow a screwdriver, I wanted it returned to me so told him about boomerangs. Most will know that a boomerang is an Australian throwing weapon that is supposed to return to its owner. I was actually having fun with him because if he did not return it, the cost was small. It is the conservationist/hoarder in me to hang on to stuff - I have a container of stuff. He did return the screwdriver and without my asking - and he made a good job of fitting the doors.

I have a red-handled screwdriver that I value. I acquired it in my NZFS days and used it through my nursery days for a dribbler when pricking out seedlings and as a weeding tool. I have lost it and left it where it could have been stolen/acquired - even in Tanzania - but I have always found it and it was never stolen. Mbise tried to acquire it once after I loaned it to him but it remains with me and I still use it in my small nursery here at home :)

As with all schools in Tanzania [and probably all of Africa] the kids are always ready and willing to sing. Each time we visited the teachers had prepared a small performance for us, and of course this encouraged us as well.

All this showed they were prepared to participate and were appreciative of assistance provided.

Although the Head Teacher changed from time to time, the stalwart deputy Mwl Mbise remained in his position for the whole time were were working with the school. He was great to work with and led the kids well - he had an affinity with them.

He was happy to formally accept some of the educational material that we were able to supply to the school.

The risala is a song/chant of thanks that details whatever the thanks are for. The kids generally write it but helped by the teacher involved. It is usually performed by senior girls and a neat copy is given to the person being thanked. I found the copy useful because the risala is often sung quickly and I could not pick it all up.

The girls are always shy, but they enjoy performing.

We carried out several tree planting programmes at Olkung'wado and this time the very best tree was grown by the smallest boy at the school. He was pleased to have his picture taken with the head Teacher looking on.

The teacher behind was one of the good characters we encountered in our travels.

The prize-giving ceremony was always an excuse for the whole school to be outside. I took it upon myself to look at each tree and talk to each tree planter - trying to motivate. Some kids replaced their dead tree with a fresh sprig to either trick me or hide the fact their tree had died. A hard lesson really because the kids had just the one tree and if it died, their chance for a prize was gone. Some found trees from elsewhere though.

A group of prizewinners and their prizes. The kids had asked for their prizes to be trees from our nursery, so the could plant them at home. So we had extra prize-winners.

The woman on the right was the wife of the village chairman.

The staff and I guess the school committee requested a tree nursery at the school to raise funds for the school. I was certainly not against the idea but suggested that before I put project funds into the project, they need to establish an animal-proof fence to protect the seedlings.
The complied so I was right behind them with materials and advice.

For the school to obtain maximum profits, they needed no expense and they had ready and willing labour. The kids were enthusiastic to use the new screen for the soil and cow manure each kid brought to the school. Actually this dust is not too good to breathe in - I developed a cough and Dr. Joyce suggested that I had a fungal growth on my lungs! He gave me two sets of medication and I read on the label that taking these tow together risks cardiac arrest! That was resolved by finishing one lot of the pills before taking the other.

A girl practices using the method I taught to measure the length of polythene tube to cut to make pots. They were all very careful not to waste the tubing.

I give a demonstration on filling pots. It is all basic stuff, mixing the soil and filling the pot so the soil mix does not fall out the bottom. The kids were pleased with their effort - as was I. The kids retain these basic skills and I have found that they are used in later life.

It is well known that African kids love to sing and every time we visited the school 'Tunapenda' was sung. And the kids liked to make up verses and add them, sometime making fun of me and how they saw me. Very clever really. Very often the teachers would lead in the singing.

On an inspection tour of 'big noises' [bosses if you like] Loti led the singing and was enthusiastic to show the work we were carrying out. It is always good to have critique on your work, and the value of it - in this case they seemed pleased enough with what we were doing.

Note that we supplied plastic watering cans. I liked the galvanized ones because they had a good 'rose' on them, but if not looked after, they always leaked and needed soldering. The plastic one stood up to a lot of wear and tear so were ideal for a school.

Incidentally - at this time there was no water at the school, so the kids brought some each day.

I supposed it was because of a Russian influence [Nyerere experimented with socialism and aligned with Russia for a time] that ndugu - comrade became used as a soft term of endearment among people. And the way people identified with each other.

We had the slogan [if that's the word for it] 'Mazingira juu!' Up [with the] environment! And the reply is raising an arm, sort of salute, and calling out, 'Mazingira juu, juu zaidi!' more/extra!

Despite the lack of water, the nursery was successful, but if we arrived unannounced, invariably the nursery would be dry. However that's not so bad - all the village nurseries, including mine were often on the edge of being in drought stress.

The trees were either sold or taken home by the students. It is only Grevillea robusta and Dovyalis caffra that are popular to buy. I cheated a bit here because I provided some trees from the Makumira nursery. Fruit trees and worthwhile species that I knew people would not buy, but the kids would take them home.

Loti and I inspect a young Grevillea planted out - even regularly watered, the soil packs down and water does not percolate to the roots. Mulching or trickle irrigation with a pottle/bottle is the best answer.

Not everything we did actually worked out and a prime example is the planting of the shopping and market area of Olkung'wado. It was my initiative to carry out the planting programme and was not community driven - probably the reason for the failure.

We called the village 'the grey town' because of all the concrete buildings - like the old village office here. We also noticed the market stall-holders sat exposed to the wind and sun for the whole day. My solution was to plant trees to 'green the place up!'

We asked the school to participate and we were 'given' the kids for the day - again that was a mistake - not so much as a lot of kids are difficult to control, but it would have been better for kids to take ownership of the trees they planted. Here we are getting organized for the days work.

The kids did a very good job of planting the trees and erecting the barriers. I supplied sisal sticks which were cut to length and and split into three or four depending on the diameter of each stick.

From this pic it is plain why I wanted to do this.

Mwl Mbise and I set up the sisal sticks as an example to follow - the kids had no trouble doing this.

Few of the trees survived. The local stall-holders were not prepared to water the trees nor was there a willingness to chase browsing animals away from the trees. It was usual to allow animals into the area to clean up spillage and debris from market day and the sisal barriers did not do the job!

I would have been pleased to see this part of the project work, but the people just did not accept ownership of it. Still, I would like another go at it.

Life in Africa VII

A wood carver using a foot operated lathe - very basic but effective. He is making candlesticks from African Blackwood - Mpingo, which is becoming rare in its natural environment.
This was on the Moshi - Nairobi road and I waited in the car while the womenfolk looked for souvenirs. I could see a guy creeping towards the vehicle - he had noticed they had left their bags in the back seat and had not locked the door. I watched him as he crept closer and closer, then turned and locked the door. I quickly got out of the car and he ran off!

This is Mama Miriam with her little boy, Noah. From the village of Engorora Mama Miriam was the wife of the Environmental Co-coordinator. His bicycle leans on the wall.
Miriam was a good student at the local school and will by now be around 27 years old - I wonder how she is?
Noah is wearing clothes my sister sent over.




We visited the Great Zimbabwe Ruins while we were in Zimbabwe. I had never heard of them before and remain amazed at them.
The history is not really known, but the collection of stone and building must have taken an age!





Great Zimbabwe covered a large area and anyone visiting Zimbabwe should take the time to see the ruins. There were few tourist when we went there - most were Zimbabweans.
We spent a day there an were in awe of those who built the place.





I could not stop taking photos and this corridor area amazed me. There were Baobab trees throughout showing the age of the place. The stonework varied in quality because, I guess of the time it took to build, but here, the work is very good.








I guess these things are called 'ramparts', but again it shows the amount of rock that was needed to build all the structures. I have shown just a morsel.






The rock-work blended in with the natural rock. The rocks seemed to have no mortar and fitted well.






The guy selling crafts outside the Great Zimbabwe Ruins area was a nice fellow. The lack of tourists had made scraping a living very difficult for him. He said he made all of the crafts himself - I had no reason to disbelieve him.






As a child I had seen a movie at school about locusts, what they did and how they controlled them. I still can see the fixed wing aircraft applying insecticide and needing to use windscreen wipers to clear the view. So I was pretty excited to see a swarm locusts while I attended a course in the Eastern Highlands.





I expected that when the locusts landed, they would eat all the green vegetation in sight, but the just seemed to run out of energy and land to rest - then they took off again. There are a few at Waipara, North Canterbury. We used to see them while working in tussock areas.




We travelled by train to Victoria Falls and hired bicycles to enter Zambia. The Zambezi River is huge and is the water makes the Victoria Falls.
The roar and the mist is spectacular and the micro-climate interesting.
It sure is a mighty river!



It is difficult these days to understand the motivation an courage of the man David Livingston.
It was somewhere here that Stanley found him, and I guess he too was an intrepid fellow.
Plenty is known about these two but do we really understand?




With my small camera it is not possible to capture the grandeur of Victoria Falls, but it is easy to see in other media. I feel fortunate to have visited there.






The Zambezi River was at its lowest for some 40 years while we were there, so I was able to walk out to the very edge of the falls and sit there. Normally water would be pouring over there. Awesome.
In the rock pools there was money that tourists had tossed in, presumably for luck. I am amazed that locals had not collected it up.


There are many spectacular views of the falls and there are all sorts of activities that are related to the falls. Quite a few too that are unrelated!






It pays to watch your gear. I left my drink bottle on the river bank while I sat on the edge of the falls. A baboon opened it and had a good swig!
At the camping grounds a troop of baboons seemed to tear through each morning looking for food - tipping over rubbish containers and searching unmanned tents!
They are quite a problem!


Sunrise from the train on the way to Victoria Falls. The trip from Bulawayo was overnight and an enjoyable experience. Facilities were good and the service too was very good.






The Bulawayo Train Station.

Little things we forget

This morning we woke to a small flood [ok, I heard the rain overnight and knew to expect it] and not long after I had made by first brew for the day, the electricity failed.
This left me unfazed because of my Tanzania experience, and without the radio, I could think - or remember.

As I have written previously we lived on knife-edge as far as water was concerned. Sure I had rehabilitated the the line from its source to the reservoir just above our house, and to Nkoaranga hospital.
It was never said, but my motivation was to provide water for the nursery but the wider need was for community water and the hospital - the hospital needed as near as possible, a continuous supply.
So someone - I never knew who - every day turned the water on to our reservoir at 7:00an for just one hour. This flowed into our 200 gallon tank, which was never over half full. Sometimes there there was a fault when nobody got any water.
Each day the tree nursery required two 44 gallon (2oo litre) drums of water. So there was not too much leeway for household use.
Therefore each time it rained, out would come the buckets and we would collect as much as possible - for toilet and washing floors as well as irrigation.
It occurs to me that if each household here in New Zealand collected enough water during rain to use in there toilet, it would represent a considerable saving.

When the electricity went off, it was a simple matter of lighting the candles we had ready and as well we used a storm lantern. We were fortunate to have a gas cooker.
There was no need to feel agitated or angry at the loss of the utility and it is the same here today on this rainy morning.

Our storm lantern was more rusty than this one but they are a very effective light.

Mwakeny

Nursery team among the Rodohypoxis by the Mwakeny turnoff.

Loti, Upendo/Helen, Mama veronica and Amani look over the river.

Mwakeny village is the the West of the road into Olkung'wado, on greener slopes, and closer to the bush-line of Arusha National Park.
Later during our time there an expat, or foreign company [I never met any of them] grew a large area of peas on the hillside above the school. This indicated that there was enough precipitation to sustain the crop; even at the school this would not have been possible.

The first time we visited the school, we crossed the river at the ford [now behind the new village office] and took the road that ends up at Kisimiri. There is a left hand turn and the track skirts a flat, sometimes damp/wet area of grass and then climbs the short stoney toe of a low ride. Straight up and you arrive at the school, after passing the Lutheran church.
Not actually the school - a large old homestead but fallen into disrepair. It had been converted into classrooms and used as a school until recently when a new school was built on the next ridge.

The senior classes were taught in this building, and although it was dark - dingy inside, the kids thought it a cool place be. It was generally where we carried out our seminars.
As usual the first time we went there, there were no teachers, they were all up at the new school. The kids assured us we could drive there and there was a track to follow, but there was a small irrigation ditch and onion gardens making it fairly tight for the car to fit, then down in the small sharp gulley with a turn just reinforced to me to make my own mind up where a vehicle could or could not go. Well we made it ok.

It is with huge regret that I have only a few photos of Mwakeny, and for reasons that I cannot recall. More is the pity because this school ranks high among the success and therefore my fondness.
Here is a group of the teachers with Craig and Helen. The Head Teacher, Pallangeo ducks down at the back.




The teachers were keen for an environmental programme and we were ushered into the Head teacher's office. The school was built across a hill so the foundation went from almost ground level at one end to two metres at the other.
At Mwakeny we saw a good indication of how teachers are moved around for reasons that are not altogether clear. And of course some are not happy with the change. One guy who was Head Teacher at Olkung'wado had his home closeby, but he was moved to Mwakeny, causing him to travel some distance - and travelling is not all that easy.
I did enjoy it when a young woman, an new 'pressure cooker' teacher ant Mwakeny told me that I had taught her at Ngarash school, Monduli. Nice she remembered.

Daily, it was difficult to know what was going to happen because of little unpredicted issues having to be dealt with.
One day I had loaded the truck with trees for Mwakeny but Loti was not at his pickup point but had sent some to meet me and inform me. I decided to go on to the school by myself.
I drove up to the old part of the school as there were some large trees there [planted by those who had farmed there previously, I guess] that could provide shelter for the seedlings until they were planted.
The kids ran out to meet me, an indication that there were no teachers around. I was told all the teachers were away at a 'teacher training day'.
I spoke to the kids for a short while and the longer I talked, the more kids arrived! To settle them down a bit I asked them to sing the Tunapenda song, and they carried out my request with gusto.
I asked which of the kids was the most growly and liked to have authority; they all indicated [not pointing because that is rude] to a small, senior boy.
I told him that we were going to unload the trees and he was to ensure all the trees were lined up in the shade in straight rows and by species. Then the rest lined up each took two trees from me as I passed them out of the car.
All went well other than some discussion about species, which was sorted out without my involvement. I was thinking about the security of the trees when one of the teachers arrived who had remembered that I was due to make a delivery.

The planting programmes were a success and the kids performed well in both the seminars and the practical planting.
Of course the teachers used the excuse of the trees to suggest that we needed to carry out a village water project , so I decided to call a village meeting.

But they were not going to get away quite so easily! I wanted to carry out a village environmental programme before the water project was to be looked at.
The seminar was held outside in what seemed to be a dry creek bed. The village chairman, Loti, Mags and I sat at tables that had been brought over from the school.
Recently I had noted that the farmers had been burning their land in preparation for cultivation and I espoused the need to stop burning as it was not a good environmental tool. There was a need to protect local fauna!

Just then a large brown snake came slithering down the path towards us. I saw it first as I was standing and of course the audience had their backs to it. So as not to alarm anyone, I whispered to Loti that there was a snake.
'Nyota, nyota!' he shouted, 'kill it!' Not exactly what I had intended!
Some of the men carried their fimbo - stick - and they lashed out at the snake, wounding it and it scuttled into some nearby scrubby vegetation.
Meantime Mags was standing on the table!
After some discussion, it was decided that the wounded snake presented a danger to the school kids, so it must be found and killed. So they burnt the scrub! And they killed the snake - local fauna!
There was general hilarity that the snake was dead and the irony of it all - and Mags told them all how brave they were!

I was taken up a gulley to where there had been an old water project with a small dam to create a reservoir. There would be no difficulty in rehabilitating the project and providing water to the village, the school and to the church, which was most distant.

The small dam under repair. There was a good supply of water and the village already held the water right.
I insisted that we would not take all the water so that a flow could remain in the creek.





The village people were very willing to carry out the manual work. This was the condition that I set - I would provide the materials and expertise and they out carry out the work required.





This is the area below the new school and the track below is actually the main access - it crosses a water channel that is usually dry but quite steep.






I transported all the materials on the project vehicle, which was a saving and perhaps more secure. It was always a mission to tie the load securely because the rough roads made any load constantly shift.
The village chairman took possession of the materials and signed for them.



Local village people collected water from the standpipe erected near the old school building. A small branch was taken from here to the school grounds - very good for kids after they had used the toilets. And to irrigate trees.





The water point by the Mwakeny Church was an easy point for the lower end of the village to collect water. This whole project was the one with the least hassles therefore the easiest to implement.