Footsteps NZ-TZ: Valeska

I have mentioned Valeska briefly previously but I wish to record in some more depth because now is not then and there have been changes.

There are two main ways to reach Valeska. Both are long and tortuous though as the crow flies from Valeska to Usa River, the distance is not great. You can turn off at Kikatiti and travel through the new village there. When we started there were no buildings on the flat, almost swampy site. The cross the railway line and on past Maroroni and the school, turning dog-legged and passing through mainly Maasai country until reaching the village of Valeska.

This first time we passed through the Greek-owned coffee plantation, where there was large Grevillea trees and the two Java Plum trees (where I collected fruit for the seed). Cross the railway line and through the area where there is now another Greek-owned coffee plantation, which we had seen develop.
Across the narrow bridge into the Dolly Sisal Estate. The Greek and a South African now own the land and access is all but denied - especially for the village people.
The estate was fenced and a newer road was 'allowed' but it was rough and not easy to negotiate. At least one guard was killed - not his fault all this but his boss's. The irrigation water was turned off to the villages and the school (Dolly) was shut down - though they paid for the relocation.
I has a certain bias here as I supported the village people and to this day believe they were treated poorly and with little respect.

The sisal business was pretty much depressed, but I admired their work - neatly removing the leaflets from the plant making them look like pineapples. The plants recover and grow more until finally they put up a tall flower stalk which is cut and dried to be sold off as a cheap building material. Then the plant dies and is replaced. The estate was beginning to become overrun by weeds.
Sisal fibre is white when it is cleaned and we drove past the fences, or racks on which it was dried - there was a creek to ford there - with clear water - but the bottom was always firm.
The track followed the river edge where from time to time there were remnants of indigenous forest - actually just trees. There were some farms and houses and now I wonder if they have been gobbled up by the expats. One more creek crossing and there is the village of Kwa Ugoro.

We worked with the school there as well, but through the village and the country-side becomes drier. There is the farm that was to become managed by an Australian and his Kenyan wife; they too tried to cut the irrigation water off to Valeska village.
The vegetation is Savannah with just scattered Acacia trees and the road becomes a dust-bath after the usually muddy earlier sections of the road.
Within the village the houses a quite far apart and the roads are dry and dusty. The use of mfiriji water (irrigation race) provides the opportunity to grow crops.

I have already touched a little on assistance to Valeska Primary School but need to expand on that a little.

We were expected on our first visit there, probably because the local Pastor had given notice of our arrival. I was impressed with the Head Teacher and had immediate rapport with him. He actually led a very good bunch of teachers.
The School Committee were there and the village chairman to thank us, on behalf of New Zealand for the desks that had been supplied to the school.

We were shown the old school building made from mud brick and I guess, 40% was actually collapsed. We saw most of the school's 800 pupils being taught beneath two large and imposing Acacia trees.
Their focus was to invite me to sourcing funds to help build the rest of the new school. Considerable effort had gone into the preparation of food which was abundant and delicious, and after, there were speeches aimed at me to indeed help find funds to build, or finish off building the school.
I guess I had built up some sort of reputation at being able to source funds and I replied with a speech that I could promise nothing but I would try - and in the meantime I encouraged the village people to grasp the opportunity of the environmental project.

The environmental project was one of our major success, especially at the school where holes were prepared before planting and once planted the trees were well cared for. The Head Teacher and his deputy were most supportive of the project. The only two trees in the area were those that were used for a classroom, but when we left there, the school could not be seen because of the trees! This was no easy thing because Valeska is a dry area and shelter had to be erected to protect the trees from the sun to help in the establishment phase.

I did not apply for funds to build the whole school because I knew roughly how much to ask for, so I asked the school for a budget to build a teacher's office and a store room (really a classroom because there were no stores) and on checking there budget, as was my practice, I found them to be quite accurate. The total came to just under Tsh4 million.
There was sand/gravel on the school grounds, so the committee made the bricks with the cement I provided. I carted the materials because I needed to supervise the project and that saved the transport costs that were in the budget.
I paid for the builder and his workers, the timber for the roof structure and the roofing iron and nails. The floors would be cement and local craftsmen made the doors and window frames.

I was sad at the outset that the Head teacher was replaced and demoted to an ordinary teacher. I guess there is a certain amount of politics goes on in all government departments and policy changes too. Some teachers were under-qualified and so were replaced, demoted and moved on. While I was uncomfortable about what went on, it was outside my brief so I worked my way around it.

All went very well and the building made good progress. There was one mishap - I had loaded the Toyota with cement (maybe overloaded) and set out for Valeska during a very wet spell. I had to pick my way to avoid getting stuck in the mud and at the entrance to Kwaugoro, I could not see good track. Loti pointed to one track and said, 'Twendi, go!'
There was a deep hole in a pond and the Toyota was bellied! A group of young me saw our predicament and offered to extract us for Tsh10 000/-! Loti objected loudly to the exorbitant figure but visualizing unloading the cement onto wet ground and in the rain, I overruled him and paid. They had us on our way after some digging and pushing.

At the opening of the new building, the village chairman in his speech said that many people have come to the village to promise assistance but we were the only ones to make good our promise. There was plenty of food and the kids sang, making it a very good celebration.
When it was my turn to speak, I had a message because I had done some research and further budgeting. I told them that the building had been completed well under budget. There was some hand clapping at the news.
I told them they could finish off the school if the village made a contribution of labor and for ten or so bags of cement. There were enough funds left to supply the bulk of the cement required and all of the timber and nails required. I reminded them that the education department had a policy of supplying the roofing iron to schools when they had built classrooms as high as the lintel. There was more clapping at this and the decision was made to carry out the work.

By providing the village people with the motivation, they, themselves supervised and carry out the work to complete the school to a high standard.

Even though I had considerable dealings with the local populations, I could not tell if people were Meru, Maasai, Pare or Chagga. In Valeska there was a real mix of tribes. There was a mix of religions as well and we delivered trees to the Mosque as well as Christian churches. Loti would have known who was who, but I could see no change in him whoever we worked with.

Some good things come up from nowhere. There was on Maasai guy who had three wives and a daughter who studied at Valeska primary school. I did not recognize her in her traditional garb after school [until I was reminded] but her father wanted extra trees for his homestead and farm. I told him I would bring the trees if they could be cared for properly. His daughter herd what I had said and volunteered. Well she did an excellent job.
Her older sister made me sad though because although she had passed well in her Std VII exams, her father would not allow her to continue her education because he saw no value in doing so.

I had given [on request] six trees to an older couple who seemed to live by themselves, and when I paid a visit to inspect the trees, I was happy to see them thriving and using the irrigation method I had taught in the school, using a Kibo pot to drip water to the plant roots.

The following are some pictures to tell the story.