Monduli cont.

From memory the Monduli Teacher's College complex was built through assistance from Denmark, some 40 years ago and was donated to the Tanzania.

Don, an Agency vol was appointed there to teach the trainees how to teach Chemistry, something he was very good at.

As vols do, we stayed with him from time to time which gave us a change to look around his work environment and around the College. I was very impressed with the amphitheater made of brick and could imagine the students listing to oratory of some great speaker.

One weekend Don had arranged for us to go for a walk up the, not insignificant, hills at the back of the Monduli village. We were all enthusiastic as we all had our personal agendas as reasons to go, but we all thought the view would be good. We were aiming to climb beyond the bushline onto the (supposedly) grassy tops.
Don had hired a guide - with a rifle - as there were elephants and buffalo up there, so we needed protection. Besides we needed to know the best way to the top.

Well the trudge was steep and some became tired, so through experience I placed myself at the rear - not to push but to keep everyone together. The bush was second growth and quite dense and there was no definite track - we were following animal tracks that were random and did not actually go anywhere. My gut feeling was that our guide did not know much about what he was doing. This was confirmed when we reached the top, and there was no open grassed area! We had climbed an isolated knob that was completely bush covered! There was no lookout. I climbed a tree to see out and I realised time was against us to venture further. I did spot just a short distance away, an are that looked like a fenceline and had been cut with the regrowth being just over knee high. We could see out from there. The fenceline went a long way in the distance.
While we rested and took photos, I was interested in our guide's rifle so asked if I could look at it. Well I discovered that it had no bullets nor was he carrying any! This I found out in Kiswahili - which the others lacked conversational use of - so I never let on because to do so would create a fuss. We had not seen any animal, though I had smelled some - but I figured it was too hot for them to be active - and the feed would not rate as their ice cream.

Back at Don's people needed the toilet and a sponge down. Monduli had severe water problems, especially in the dry season. It came from a spring high in the hills, and Don left a tap on so water would flow into a 200 litre drum. Water came on usually at 1:00 am for around 30minutes - but sometimes it did not come at all. In fact in the morning, I boiled water for a cup of tea (my usual was to rise early and make a brew - wherever I was), the water I boiled was water that was to be used for poaching eggs - it had salt! After I had sampled the tea - I tossed it and did not let on to anyone about my waste.

Feeling guilty about my waste, late that afternoon I wandered around the village and saw some kids and young women filling buckets from a tap about a km away. I took one of Don's 20litre buckets and headed for the tap and waited in line. With two buckets in front of me, the water stopped and the line of people drifted off but one young woman said she would take me to a Mama who had a tank.
If you are polite and try to use the language people are just so friendly. The woman had a storage tank - maybe 1000 litres, but I had no idea if it was full or half or what. But the young woman called 'Hodi' and explained that I had a problem with water.
The woman did not hesitate and welcomed me, but refused to help the young woman. Really to do so would cause her further problems and we all realised that. I did not want to take a whole bucket but the woman insisted that I should and that it was ok.
I knew that a full bucket would be reduced by half by the time I got back to Don's because 20 litres of water is heavy and I am not adept at carrying buckets of water for long distances.
The young woman would not have me even lifting the bucket, she hoisted onto her head and we were off to Don's place.

Once there, I thanked he sincerely and demanded she half fill the her empty bucket that I had carried back. She did so and with a smile, she took her share of the water home.

Water is as precious thing!