Mikuuni

Just up the King'ori road from Malula, there is a school that serves an area where there is no actual village, simply small farms dotted here and there. It is surprising therefore that there is a fairly large student roll.

The school is marked by Jacaranda trees lining each side of quite a long driveway and this makes a beautiful utterance when the trees are out in flower.
The school was not well-endowed with facilities, but I judged it was not a difficult area for teachers to live because of the proximity to the main road. Kikatiti is close by and there is a very good market there on Thursdays.
There was a problem with water, but a large reservoir tank was reasonably close. I never took the opportunity to look at it, but water did not run all the time and always there were cans and drums lined up ready for when water did flow. The water came all the way from Ngarenanyuki. There was a control box on the hill and we actually tapped into it for the Ilkirimuni project much later.

Mikuuni did not require food during the food shortage nor were the recipients of the Assistance for Primary Schools project.
Although the school is hardly up the hill from Malula, agriculturally it is better because there is more rainfall there and so planted crops are more likely to be harvested. That is the crop usually do not fail.
As for the Primary Schools Assistance Project, the school was not nominated by DME. The reason for this may have been that at the time the Pastor was censured - but anyway that has nothing to do with anyone here. But because he was out of action, perhaps this school was lost between the cracks, so to speak.

Mikuuni was a good little school and the teachers worked well with the students. It is easy to sum things up even on a short visit and I was always happy to visit this school and carry out our environmental programme. Whenever we arrived there the kids were studying and the teachers were in the classrooms.

We found the kids to be disciplined and keen to participate in the environmental programme and enjoyed the competition to be selected as having the best tree. Well, as usual it turned out to be one of the best ten trees. These kids were fun to work with and when I inspected the trees with them, they took note of any advice I gave them.

The church almost next door also wanted to have an environmental programme and that too was successful. They were keen to plant a little forest on the other side of the road. The church owned the ground there, but I could see that it was used for grazing and expected any trees planted there would become fodder. The project did not succeed [or even start] because of the Pastor issue.













One of the Mikuuni Prizewinners.










One of the prizewinning groups at Mikuuni.













A Dodonea viscosa planted at Mikuuni - this species is endemic to New Zealand, Australia and Africa. Maasai use the wood ash to line calabashes and to add flavor to sour milk or loshoro.

Malula

One of the early images I have on our arrival in Tanzania is passing through Malula [though I didn't know it was Malula at the time] was the small duka(s) lit by candles as we passed by - it was dark and I was excited to catch my first glimpses of Tanzania! Oh the first was stepping off the aircraft into the mild, Tanzania night. There was no electricity so everything was dimly lit.

Malula straddles the main Moshi/Nairobi road and is the junction to turn off the King'ori and eventually, Ngarenanyuki. In fact the Coca Cola sign does indicate that the village is King'ori.

The Lutheran Church is just on the South side of the main road and stands beside a great pit that was excavated for fill to form the new road. This pit fills with water and is used for all purposes including livestock watering. One of the big issues in the area was, and still is, is water!
The church was perhaps half built, which means it was usable and we often met with the Pastor in his office within the church - actually I found those concrete rooms too cool for my personal comfort, so when I knew we were going there, I wore a sweater. The friendly Evangelist there always referred to me as Mzungu rather than use my name, which he knew, and was perhaps his was of making a joke.
Actually few got my name right. The way names are used in Swahili do not mach how we in NZ use a Christian name and a Surname so it is fair to say I got their names muddled too. And by adding the usual vowel at the end I often became Iyani! Then because I was in the habit of using Blue or Bluey as almost a term of endearment to anybody, I have recieved invitations with my name as Blowey!
As well as the Pastor, we worked with the Village Chairman and the Village Executive Officer. This was because there was a mixture of some six tribes in the area and also various religions. The village leadership wanted to progress the village and give all the residents a chance to take advantage of what we had to offer.
The church seminar was successful and trees were planted around the church and given to those who wished to plant around their homes or shamba. During the seminar, as I spoke, a safari ant climbed up my leg and I think my face did not show any reaction, but when it latched on to a more sensitive part, I had to make a hurried escape to the toilet (a small building at the end of a narrow path) where I removed the insect with its electric powered jaws! On my return, the smiles told me that my audience knew full well what had happened!

On the North side of the road (up a bit) there is a large godown - a huge barn-like building with several rooms as well. One of the rooms housed the village office - and outside was a flagpole with a rock surround. Many village meeting were held there.
Our environmental seminar was held in the godown and attracted a large audience. A contingent of Maasai, all decked out in their finery wanted especially fruit trees for their children and we were able to help out with that. He made a remarkable speech to support us and said that our very survival depended on a healthy environment.

The village was growing quite rapidly and a teacher of junior students from the school further up the road, Mikuuni, had moved into a new house. She had been promoted/transferred to start a junior class in the godown until a new school could be built, but at this stage it was still operating as part of Mikuuni Primary School. This woman took on a voluntary role to encourage other villagers in their tree planting activities. And did a very good job of it!
By the time our assignments were completed, the new school was built and our friend, Mbise, the Headteacher from Leguruke had been transferred to up a position here. The school was now known as Mikuuni Chini. Our son and his wife on a visit actually took a senior class there and I was proud of their effort - the kids even learned the Haka. Actually we were very pleased that this took place!
Once the new school was in operation, we carried out an environmental programme there and supplied trees for around the school.

One day we heard singing from the godown and found a delightful young woman taking a preschool class. The songs were English, but to a poor standard. This young woman was untrained and was working voluntarily simply because there was a need and she had no other work. We used a donation from Maureen & Gerard Potts to buy a supply of slates and chalk and from time to time helped with other resources.

Not far from the godown there was a well. This well gave two buckets of water per day, but it was good water - all ground water there is contaminated. The village chairman asked us to help preserve the well and perhaps increase its capacity. We did find some funds and we did some research to find that further extending the well was risky in the extreme. So we made a wall around it for protection [and to prevent kids falling in] and cleaned it out. This actually increased the flow to seven buckets a day with more expected during the wetter months.

The Bishop owned a small parcel of land and some small building within the village and he planted some Mlonge, Moringa olefera trees. I think he was trying to encourage my projects, but the tree was touted as being a good cash crop and he wanted to demonstrate its usefulness.
But the planting of Mlonge was driven by Mama Mbembe. I had carried out trial work and found that the wider Meru area was too cool for the species, so I had not pushed it.
There is no doubt that the species is very useful and profitable in the right climate. Mama Mbembe latched on to the words of 'an Indian expert' who was going to buy Mlonge seed from all the people who grew the trees. He sold them the tree seedlings, but never arrived to buy the seed - and the trees did not thrive and died out. [There was one Indian woman at Valeska who successfully grew two Mlonge trees, using them to spice up her food and pressing the oil. The further away from Mt Meru, the warmer it becomes.]

There was a little eatery facing the main road, with a fence of sisal sticks. We were taken there on a few occasions by the village chairman and village executive officer - the cook nyama choma very, very well! And usually they would not allow me to drink just one bottle of Coke, they said 'a Maasai carries at least two spears'.










Slates and chalk from Maureen & Gerard for the kindergarten










Rigging set up on well to facilitate cleaning.










The well looking tidy - village chairman on left.










Small kids getting attention while Craig & Helen teach.









Craig teaching the senior class.









Craig and Helen teach an inspirational song to the senior class.