Our House is on the Internet

Not sure how we haven't noticed this before but we've found our house on Bing Maps aerial imagery. The internet really is amazing. If you look closely enough you can see our substantial looking perimeter walls of which we now only have three.

We've also put up some general information about education and water access in Shinyanga, links can be found along the top of the blog.

Paul has had some productive conversations relating to water at the school this week. The school has a mains water supply but it is unreliable and expensive. They are starting to limit the availability of water to students as costs increasingly become an issue. They do have plenty of roof area, and will get an abundance of rain over the next few months so we're are looking at setting up a rainwater harvesting system to provide the school with an reliable, free source of water. Again, the internet is coming in very useful and significant research is currently being undertaken!

We are starting to feel part of the community and have had visits from neighbours, other teachers and people from the church. We have a fridge so cold 'sodas' seem to be a big draw. We are really enjoying getting to know people and, over countless colas, feel we are beginning to get a better understanding the Tanzanian culture and mindset. 

One of the favourite conversation topics is the weather in Ireland. Facts like 'it rains most of the time but we hardly ever have thunderstorms', 'yes, we do know what temperatures less than 0 degrees feel like' and 'no, we're not used to seeing the sun for more than two days in a row' are regularly met with incredulity! A particular highlight was 'ice - that's like sand but cold, isn't it?'...yes, I suppose that's one possible description.

History in school has a heavy focus on colonisation and the effect it has had on Tanzania. A history teacher told us that the students do not like white people as a result, although thankfully we seem to be exempt from such wrath. Pointing out that Ireland was also colonised by the British did get a few laughs. Although trying to explain that the UK kept a bit of Ireland has proven slightly harder!

Another of the teachers told us that old style colonisation may have ended but that it hasn't stopped western countries exploiting their former colonies. Citing examples of foreign run gold mines, mass exportation of Tanzania's natural resources and meagre cash crop prices, he said that the West has simply changed the title to 'globalisation' and continues to offer local people a vastly unfair deal. Certainly an interesting and thought provoking point...