Life in Africa X

This Maasai house is located at Engorora on the road into the marram pit. The iron roof is made form drums and cans, even old second hand roofing iron. Some form of iron roofing is more permanent than thatching, but ceiling board cannot be used because dust gathering in the roof cavity causes the ceiling board to collapse. The big disadvantage of iron roofing is that it radiates heat during the day and cold at night.

This door has been made out of a beaten 44 gallon drum. I acquired a good number of 'Misitu ni Uhai'  [Forests are Life] stickers and gave them out from time to time. This lad liked the sticker as a door decoration. He kept the throw-away backing of the sticker 'because it was white and clean'.

A toy car made out of a plastic container has been much amusement for this Maasai boy at Engorora.

Even though there are few resources, people are very creative and are able to make all sorts of unexpected things.

One example is the use of a stone for a hammer when there is no hammer available. Efficiently used too!

A fireball lily growing on the slopes of Mt. Meru. I had never seen these flowers in my days as a nurseryman. Growing on the mountain would indicate that they do not particularly need tropical conditions.

I would not be surprise for people tell me that they have them in their garden.

Mount Meru from Joshia's house. I guess this is where 'Footsteps' came in because I have left footsteps around the total base of this mountain. Not only footsteps but trees as well.

It is a volcanic cone and I often wonder about the steam coming from the ground that was taken to see. It all suddenly appeared and I have heard nothing about it since.

This is a red ocre source used by the Maasai for beautification - and mainly of the Moran. While the area has been mined for a number of years, much of the scouring is due to erosion.

On the road into our home at Sanawari there was a small compound with two houses. One house was owned by my friend who repaired and hired bicycles and the other is where Mama Boki and young Boki lived. There was a Baba Boki, but I never met him. He was a safari driver and away working at times when it was likely that I would meet him. Boki would arrive at the tap with a small bucket and ask me to lift it to her head. She visited Nai often as well.

Top right is Nai who can't resist a smile. Very often Tanzanians have a serious look when posing for a photograph, other time they will make a show of posing.

I thought it cool that Nai brought some of her school mates to the Sanawari nursery to see what we were doing.

I have mentioned Roger several times - here he is dressed up for a wedding.

Roger and his mother faced many difficult times and was sent away at a young age to a boarding school - mainly for his protection.

He is a fine looking young lad and was always polite and respectful.

During my last visit there, I took books that had belonged to his late father for him.

Young men carry all sorts of loads on their bicycles and here is a load of plastic bucket being transported, probably to the Kikatiti market. This guy will make just a little cash for his efforts.

Have no doubt this is hard work, these bikes have no gears and he has to brave the other traffic on the road. Buses being by far the most dangerous.

If you happen to be a passenger on a bus, it can be daunting when the street vendors rush up to sell you things - and sometimes they do pressure you.

Again they make no huge profits and often there are more vendors than there are passengers.

It all adds to the vibrancy of Africa, but these people work hard to put food on the table. The analogy is wrong but the meaning is there.

 On a hill on the way to Lushoto, there is an old German monastery and farm that is still owned by an order of German Monks. We visited there and we were really impressed how these people had st themselves up. This pic is of the chapel and beautiful flower gardens. 

They milk a number of cows in a large, clean shed. The cows are the largest I have seen anywhere - at testament to their breeding programme. 

They have a vineyard and make wine - probably the worst I have ever tasted! I bought one case of white and one of red - both were lemons! They also grow macadamia nuts, and sell them in sealed vacuum packed bags. They also employ a lot of local people training them at the same time. 

Emanuel Subvillage

Recalling my early blog about Neema - she later lived (as a house girl) on a corner that is the junction from the main thoroughfare to the subvillage of Emanuel. The village was expanding as a result of the population increase in the Ngarenanyuki area and sprawling into the dry savannah country.

I was first invited there to a meeting of the church congregation to raise up an new church building. The old building was wooden and dilapidated - it had been there for a long time by the look of it.

Of course they were keen to plant trees and care for the environment, but they also wanted funding support from our project funds.

In these cases I had to reply to in an off-the-cuff, unrehearsed speech in Kiswahili. Politely as possible saying that such building projects were outside our project brief but that we would be pleased to help with  tree planting and connect a water pipe at least as far as the church - should the lie of the land permit it.

 The group were very hospitable towards me and some of the church leaders were present. It was clear that the old building was past its use-by date. The new building seen just behind in the pic is impressive and ambitious for the area and is a credit to the congregation.
We had repaired an old water supply and we were able to take a branch line to the new church and to the primary school.

The new Emanuel Primary School is located just beyond the the new church and the Head Teacher was a woman who had taught at Olkung'wado. She seemed an expert in teaching the very young kids that were the first intake of the school. Later she had an assistant but at first she was sole charge of a very large role. It was not obvious where all the kids came from, but some would have walked some distance.
These kids were very responsive a easy to work with.

The teacher with her charges. Generally it can be seen the the uniforms are bright blue, so most student had new uniforms to start school. The material fades quickly and some kids must wear hand-me-downs from older siblings.
The kids are filing into the classroom to hear our environmental seminar - of course made simple for young kids.

All African kids sing, and sing well, but one day I took some of our guests to Emanuel Primary School and they were interested in our work there. The kids sang to them and also sang 'Tunapenda' our environmental song.
I suggested that the sing their National Anthem, and they sprang to their feet, saluting and singing the whole of the anthem with fervor and delight. The emotion of which brought our guest to tears! I'm never far away either!

They made a small pond around the standpipe we erected - that's some of the pipe offcuts in the pic. The pond collected spilt water that could be used for irrigation.
The school had few teaching resources and we were able to supply text books and some chalk. The primary schools project had ended by this time but were were able to use donated money.

The kids were physically too small to dig planting hole, so even though I gave a demonstration, I knew that older people would do the digging. However, the kids will remember because they carried out the actual planting and regular irrigation.




I will always remember the school at Emanuel and I wonder if the now young adult pupils will remember their primary teacher who taught them the value of a sense of order.