UPDATE NO. 2 - 30 Dec 2013
Hi All
Greetings from Africa Tanzania
The construction of the Teacher
Residences is proceeding well after a few hiccups. Fabian Ammas, our regular
builder, had a little difficulty with the overall dimensions of the building. When
I measured the overall length of the building and noticed that it was a little
shorter than shown on the drawings, I was quite upset. But when I measured the
width, it was a little longer. FANTASTIC! That effectively cancelled the mistake by adding
back the lost space. After a few adjustments with the furniture planning, the
new layout ended up just as well as the original. How was that for luck? I
was so relieved and so was Fabian.
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| installing trusses |
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| building trusses |
I spent a couple of days helping
with the roof framing. In the mornings, it was off to work. The village was
only a few kilometers from my hotel room, so I would load up my hammer and saw
into my backpack and cycle to the site. The discomfort of extremely bumpy and
dusty clay roads was more than offset by the cheeriness of locals “jambo-jambo”-ing
me along the way. Roof framing the dormers over the entrance was a little
trickier than the norm for Fabian’s carpenters, so I installed the valley
beams, king post and ridge beam for one
of the two dormers to the size and location I wanted. Then they could frame the
other one to match.
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| framing valley beams for the dormer |
I love carpentering and get so
caught up with it that I forget to keep hydrated. That can be dangerous for us
“mzungu”s. I remember three years ago at Gongali when I almost blacked out in
the hot sun. These days were even hotter (well into the 30’s) and I came close
to repeating that experience again. Eventually, I disciplined myself by setting
the alarm on my I-phone for the half-half rule: a half-liter drink of “maji”
every half hour.
These residences will be far
superior than the previous ones we built at Gongali and Kilimamoja. I’m very
pleased with the prospect of the new teacher families having an indoor kitchen,
toilet room and shower room. On one day at the site, I met with the plumber and
we decided on the location of the sink toilet and shower fixtures, as well as
the routing of piping to the septic tank. After work I cycled over to his shop
in Karatu and selected the fixtures including the kitchen sink, a western-style
stainless steel flush-mount type with drainage sideboard.
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| 90% complete |
The construction is a little
behind schedule. The opening will now be the 7th of Jan. At that
time, all walls will be cement plastered, but not painted, and not all windows
and doors will be installed. Fabian estimates he will finish the building a
week or so after I have departed to Canada. Peter Hayshi, the Gongali Mayor,
will replace unavailable Lazaro Titus as the VIP official for ribbon-cutting.
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| Gavin's soccer ball gift |
One free morning, Mathew and I arranged to meet Askwar Hilonga at the "Old" Gongali School, our predecessor in a different ward of Gongali. This is where Mathew and Askwar went to school as children. We met a couple of teachers and a few children and highlighted the visit with the donation of a couple of much needed soccer balls to the kids. It was the gift from my stepson Gavin Miller in Victoria; he gives me some to donate to the African kids on my every trip. Such a wonderful gesture from a thoughtful guy!
I had hoped to spend
Christmas in
Arusha with Mathew Sulle and Claud Goi’s families,
but opted instead to help
Fabian on 24, 25, Dec, as he and his crew were adamant to work those days to
recover some lost construction time. I went to Arusha instead on 26 Dec with my
suitcase of gifts and spent the 27th with both families at Claud’s home. It was
great! I enjoy being with the kids, Mathew’s Lissa and little Maureen, and
Claud’s two boys, George and Benedict. George and Lissa’s English is as good as
mine, so we were able to have very meaningful conversations. I gave gifts, two
things they loved; chocolate and some spending money, typically for clothes. We
ate some good traditional Tanzanian food. And merrily we sang, surprisingly,
English Christmas songs they played on CD’s. Although, I admit, “I’m dreaming
of a white Christmas…”seemed a little out of place.
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| fixing brake problems |
I planned a meeting on 2 Jan in
the village of Mae, near Moshi, for a potential new school project. Too
expensive to taxi there from Arusha, so I rented a car! For the first time! The
Tanzanian “Russian roulette” style of driving is a little scary; drivers pull
out to pass only to make it back at the very last nano-second. Some don’t – and
continue to drive through! – forcing oncoming cars to move over, creating 3
lanes out of the two. The locals react to this with a sort of bland acceptance,
but it happens way too frequently for my liking. Though after a few days I was
OK; acclimatized but wary. I had a little scare as I descended a very steep road; the brakes shuddered violently. The problem; a buildup of brake shoe dust. 20,000 shillings ($12.00) later at a local open-air garage, I was on my way again.
In the two days before the
meeting, I decided to look up a couple of NGO’s; Londoner Katy Allen, of VEPK,
who organizes an English-teaching training program for local teachers, and
Raines Rydell, a very interesting Swede ex-patriot who has project-managed
scores of churches and schools in the Moshi/Marangu area. They lived a short
drive from Moshi in the village of Marangu, which is at a high elevation on the
slopes of Kilimanjaro.
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| Fantastic view from my Moshi hotel room |
I phoned Katy, but she was in
transit from Dar Es Salaam, so I proceeded anyway to have a look at her
training facility located up a very steep road above Marangu. Unfortunately, my
2-wheel drive couldn’t make the last leg of the climb, so I settled for a beer
at a local mountainside bar that happened to be adjacent the residence of
Katy’s colleague, Dilly Mtui. There I shared a drink with 85 year old Babu
Mtui, of the same clan as Dilly, who explained why some locals were loudly
proclaiming “Never again, never again!”
“It is because when they drink too much, they shout political slogans in
English.”
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| Raines Rydell (R) with daughter Teresia and her family |
I was more successful with
contacting and visiting Raines and Anita Rydell, also living up a steep slope
above Marangu. I had met his daughter, Teresia, husband Bogoran Hordegard and
several grown children during my stay at the Msimbazi Inn in Karatu. They had just returned from a safari, and
invited me to meet their dad as we may have a lot in common. This 73 year-old
man is amazing. Apart from 20 years of successful NGO work funded by the
Swedish government, he has managed to build himself a beautifully crafted and
well engineered home on a very steep slope tamed by a series of perimeter concrete retaining walls to form several descending grassed terraces. “The
concrete has too be mixed in the right proportions – 3 sand/aggregate to 1
cement - that is the key to success.”
“Thanks for the tip,” I said, “I’ll check my builder’s formula.”
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| Raines and his self-built home |
“What
are you working on now?” I queried. “Mostly retired, but with some project
financial consulting.” What I found extremely commendable was his “hobby” of
funding and building homes for the most needy in his community. “Those mud huts
they have lived in are so flimsy, and it is amazing that they have never slept
on a mattress, and I have a nice workshop where they can build the beds.” I
left in good spirits, having enjoyed the family conversations since their
English, as is the case with most Europeans, is very good.
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| with Hon Aggrey Deasilie Joshua Mwanri |
Mathew drove from Arusha to
accompany me at the meeting in Mae Village to discuss a possible new school project. It was very memorable, and
significant. A local political celebrity, the honourable Aggrey Deasilie Joshua
Mwanri, the federal Minister for Regional Administration and Local Government,
chaired it. He was on holiday in this his home village and took the opportunity
to help the local school authorities. We met in their one-only classroom
building with fifteen or twenty villagers who squeezed into the small desks and
joined us in the opening singing and prayers. An imposing figure, tall,
handsome and well-dressed, Mr Mwanri, in a deep voice, spoke softly but
passionately of the need for this school. He translated my English speech
phrase by phrase to both the delight and disappointment of the audience, as I offered
a commitment to build, but along with a subject-to of funding. I would really
love to help this village.
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| Village of Mae school project personnel |
Unlike other projects, these folks seem to be so
sincere and motivated, offering all available resources from the community,
especially District Office engineering assistance, since the site has one major
challenge. It is mostly steeply sloped. I hope to be able to build something
within a year, and offered to start their master planning of the site once I
receive a complete site survey. Their local civil Engineer is helping with
that.
I returned to Karatu on 3 Jan and now
look forward to meetings with Gongai and Kilimamoja teachers in the next few
days.
End of Update
