Buhangija Nursery School: An Update

It’s been nearly a year since we first visited Buhangija, experienced the unmistakable odour of suncream mixed with dirt, met Claire and thought that maybe there might be something we could do. We still get emails and comments about our first ‘Buhangija NurserySchool’ posting and thought, after all these months an update might be in order because there have been some changes…

The initial objective of simply keeping the younger children occupied and out of the sun for a few hours each day has developed into a full nursery school with 2 classrooms, teaching nearly 100 children every day. The students receive a snack, wash their hands with soap, sing songs, learn the alphabet, create art, learn science, play with lego and practise reading and writing. Now, from Monday to Friday the compound is typically filled with children singing renditions of ‘Elephant, Elephant’ or ‘Shaky Shaky the Mango Tree’ – two of the students, and we suspect teachers, favourite songs.

Last week, Alice was standing peering into the 2 classrooms watching the teachers telling stories to 50 tiny white heads. The students were sitting with their legs crossed, arms wrapped around their chests, listening intently. The love Janeth and Deborah show to the children is inspiring. They have been hit, spat on, shouted at and more and yet they continue to patiently correct, lovingly discipline with a cheerfulness that can’t always be easy to find!

The teachers bring in extra food for their classes. They clean up every mess that is made. A few weeks ago, they even organised for a group of the older children to go to a local church on a Sunday morning. They sang a song, talked about the school, and most importantly of all were made to feel a little bit like a ‘normal’ child. Deborah and Janeth really are two very special and committed women.

In very exciting news, we have our first class of 31 students graduating from our small school in January. These students will now be proudly walking the short distance to the local Primary School where they will enter Standard 1 – an accomplishment that seemed near impossible during some of the early days of chaos. It’s remarkable progress within a year and something that we are just delighted to be part of.

Swahili word of the day: Tunakwende shuleni (We are going to school)

Water Work

Paul has continued to be busy in work over the past few months. As well as specifying and overseeing a bit of survey work; the project budget has been re-worked, Monitoring and Evaluation documents compiled as well as meeting with local stakeholders. Getting the survey sorted was an interesting experience. In a country where you haggle and bargain over the price of a handful of tomatoes, it was no real surprise to spend many hours talking, arguing and pleading over costs. After finally coming to an agreement, we also decided one of the ‘Water Team’ should be with the surveyors at all times to keep an eye of them. Thankfully we had a work experience student with us who was an ideal candidate for that!

The villages of Maganzo and Masagala are located about half an hour drive north of Shinyanga, beside the main Shinyanga-Mwanza road. The communities are very close to Mwadui diamond mine and they do a lot of ‘local’ mining so you have to watch out for large holes when you walk and drive around the area. The target population of approximately 12,000 currently have no access to a reliable, clean water source. People can buy unclean water from small dams or shallow wells nearby but for drinking water, they go to a dam 6km away. There is no other water infrastructure of any sort in the area despite the houses, guesthouses, shops etc. – all water is collected in buckets and walked or cycled to where they are.

ICS is working closely with KASHWASA (Kahama Shinyanga Water Supply and Sewage Authority) who are responsible for taking water from Lake Victoria before treating and pumping to Shinyanga. The project will be taking water from their pipeline and supplying it to 25 public water points. KASHWASA are keen to see the project succeed and have provided technical assistance at various stages, sent Engineers to help with the design and given us over 3km of pipe to use wherever we need. This local participation is useful for ICS now but will also help the project’s sustainability due to the support of those who provide the water and maintain the system.

The project is currently in the detailed design phase so there has been lots of studying of the Tanzania Water Supply Design Manual and discussions about pipe materials, population figures, how many people will actually use our new taps and the like. For the past few months, we have been concentrating on office work because of the Election. Not as a result of any safety concerns, but because very few people believe that we are serious about providing them with a water supply system – they have been convinced we are politicians making empty promises. So the general plan has been to wait until the elections are over and then go back and tell the community we are still here - quite a simple plan really!

Swahili word of the day: Maji safi na salama (Safe and clean water)

Hapa Kazi Tu!

After weeks and even months of political conversation and debate throughout the country, the Tanzanian General Election took place on Sunday 25th October. 

CCM (Chama Cha Mapinduzi) or Party of the Revolution has, using various names, ruled Tanzania since it's independence in 1961. The party was started by Julius Nyerere, the 'father of the nation', who is revered throughout Tanzania and looks down on you from the wall of every office, shop and public building. CCM were the only legal political party until 1995 - although the addition of more parties has not changed the result of any election, with many claiming that the country knows who the new President will be before any votes are cast. 

This time, the major opposition parties joined together behind one candidate to try and wrestle power from the all-powerful CCM. It was felt that many people were ready for and wanted change, with the majority of younger voters vocal in their desire for change. 

On Thursday, four days later, the new President was declared as CCM's John Pombe Magufuli (Pombe being the Swahili for 'alcohol' and Magufuli meaning 'padlocks' which is the source of much amusement!). No real surprise but the announcement was accompanied by much grumbling and unhappiness among ordinary Tanzanians. However, police now swarm the streets with orders to break up any group of people greater than three members and with promises that any protest or demonstration will be dealt with harshly. The opposition has sent an open letter to the international community and The Hague but with the Tanzanian constitution stating that once a President is announced, the result cannot be overturned, the overriding feeling is that everyone will just have to wait five years and try again.

Looking forward, here is the BBC's take on what the new President of Tanzania needs to concentrate on over his term. Let's hope he can do a good job!

Swahili word of the day: Hapa Kazi Tu (Only Work Here - CCMs election slogan)

The Baby Room

The Tanzanian Presidential elections are drawing near. Flags have been flying from cars, travelling around town takes twice as long due to the frequent political rallies, megaphones are everyone’s new favourite method of communication and over 100 new children with albinism have been dropped off in Buhangija.

An interesting development in the election build up this year has been the passing of new legislation restricting criticism of the current government. A desire not have a run in with the Tanzanian authorities has made us cautious to point out what the perceived link between these elections and the increase in abandoned children in Buhangija might be. International press have not had to be so cautious. The Washington Post wrote this article about the current crisis.

The recent surge in numbers in Buhangija has created quite a few challenges. Children arrived quickly over the space of a few weeks with some days bringing 7 or 8 new faces. Stretched bed supply became even more stretched, thin porridge even thinner and in the middle of this chaos were 25 new children under the age of three toddling around completely bewildered. Too small to fend for themselves they went unwashed and sometimes unfed – missing out on food behind the experienced elbows of more savvy children. Abandoned and ignored in a place for the already vulnerable.

Thanks to donations and generous support, a new room has been renovated to make a safe and happy space for these 25 children during the day. Here they have their own toys to play with. They get morning porridge, a snack and lunch. Hands are washed, medicine given, stories read, the most beautiful scribbles drawn. A huge thank you must be given at this stage to Sarah, a friend of ours who lives in our town who works tirelessly in this room training two of the older girls in Buhangija to care for these small ones. Genni and Anna are understandably reluctant at times to sit on the floor and make endless block towers, but we’re getting there. Every day is a challenge as we try to encourage and equip these (sometimes stroppy!) teenagers to care for the smallest ones in their care. For some more photos, click here.

Swahili word of the day: Mtoto Vizuri (good child)

Happy Anniversary

We’ve been in Tanzania for a year. It’s hard to believe and yet it seems like a very long time since we said goodbye to our families at Dublin airport 12 months ago. While we never can claim being ‘from’ Tanzania, it has certainly begun to feel like home. Complaints and annoyances are frequent, but we’re still loving every minute.

Just like at home, every week has its ups and downs, frustrations and delights. Tanzania is one of the most materially poor countries in the world and we can’t escape that. At the moment, driving from Shinyanga to Mwanza, all of the rivers and most of the roadside dams are dry as we all wait expectantly for the impending rainy season. It’s also a country plagued by corruption at every level. That poses its own problems and has been the source of some of our most aggravating moments but you get used to that too.

The home of Serengeti, Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar and Lake Victoria, Tanzania is one of the most beautiful countries in East Africa. Combine this with Tanzania’s famous hospitality and friendly culture and it’s not hard to love living here. People are always willing to help, the language barrier regularly proving to be no barrier at all. We are fortunate to have met some great people in Shinyanga and it has become our new ‘home town’

Every day brings more lessons and we are constantly learning new things. The importance of boiling eggs on a Friday night to eat during the Saturday ‘black-out’, how to sweet talk a policeman and call their bluff now and again, that you can sweat from places you never thought possible, to make the most out of a beer when it’s cold and that no matter how much you plead Villareal v Viktoria Plzen watched by one old man takes precedence over the rugby world cup.

A lot of the time, life here feels very normal. We have a house, go to work, pay bills, go shopping. Then there are the times when you have to pinch yourself and realise that we’re still far from home!

Swahili word of the day: Mwaka Moja (one year)

Anna's Here!

Last Friday we collected a post-Indonesia, very bronzed, jet lagged but happy Anna from the airport in Mwanza. She is here to experience Africa, help out in Buhangija, do some travelling and judging by this week so far, sit and drink tea with Alice.

As we've said before, we're very lucky to have had so many visitors. Anna will be here for 3 months which is great. We tried to ease her into life here slowly with swimming pools, nice food and a boat trip in Mwanza but since coming to Shinyanga she has visited Buhangija, decided Ugali isn't nice, sat in the dark waiting for electricity to come back and had days with no water!

Despite being on a break from work, we think we've managed to convince her to make use of her OT skills with the kids in the centre. In return we've promised the standard Serengeti trip and maybe a visit to the Gombe chimps - an experience potentially less intense than being jumped on by 50 albino children!

Thrive-ing in Geita

After a busy few weeks full of moving house, visitors and holidays, life is slowly returning to normal for us in Shinyanga. Paul has been busy in work and Alice has been back in Buhangija – and caught a bit of the ‘Buhangija cold’ that strikes when your immune system is hijacked by 400 sick children who want to be as close to you as possible! Alice also managed to fit in a trip to Geita with Whitney, who also happens to be the real reason Ian extended his stay in Tanzania!

Whitney works for Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and is a programme officer based in Mwanza. Part of her work has involved monitoring and evaluating CRS’s ‘Thrive’ – A Positive Parenting Project. Last week Ian, Whitney and Alice set off to a village between Mwanza and Geita (the place we moved to for a week and a half in May!) to visit a community that has been participating in Thrive. The project is centred on teaching parents how to care for their children’s safety, nutrition and developmental needs by CRS trained volunteers.

This particular village has had some struggles mobilising themselves in the past. Lack of community leader support meant they were behind in construction of a centre to meet together. Undeterred, the women in the village met under a tree. Further inspired by the project’s nutritional teaching, they contribute a small amount of food each and cook communally so their children can eat while they gather to learn. Since then, a simple centre has been built for the local community to meet together.

We arrived to help with one of the final aspects of the project – the murals. In a country with low literacy rates, a picture is often the best way to convey a message. So an enjoyable day was spent in the sun promoting healthy childhood development, early stimulation, proper nutrition and health monitoring...pretty heavy topics considering the giant giraffe and caterpillar we ended up with! Click here for more photos.

Swahili word of the Day: Afya ya Mtoto ni Pamojana… (A healthy child needs…)

Let's go 50-50

So another set of visitors have been and gone. We said goodbye to Clare and Stu last Sunday after an action packed two weeks that included a couple of days in Dar es Salaam, a visit to Victoria Falls in Zambia (photos here), a week in Shinyanga and a whistle stop tour of Serengeti. Indian food was eaten, lions spotted, sunsets enjoyed (a first for Stu apparently), matching shirts bought and worn, rafting survived (soundtracked by this) and quite a few ‘Balimi tatu’ ordered.

The realities of having a ‘real job’ kicked in for Paul as he missed most of the daytime activities in Shinyanga which mainly consisted of chips mayai, enjoying / surviving the heat as well as visit to Buhangija and a local secondary school. It was great to be able to show the changes at Buhangija to a few of those involved in the fundraising that allowed it to happen. The fact that Clare thought it was ‘completely different and better’ than at Christmas was a welcome endorsement of the progress that has been achieved there.
 

It’s always amazing to have visitors over. It’s great to have friends and family who have seen where we live and experienced a bit of what our lives are like here. Ian is still knocking around, making the most of his generous army holidays, so we’re down to ‘Balimi mbili’ but Paul's not having to resort to ‘moja’ just yet!

Swahili word of the day: Moja, Mbili, Tatu (one, two three)

Settling In

Our first weeks back in Shinyanga have had their highs and lows. On the up side the weather is great, watermelon season is in full flow and we might have found a place to buy fresh pork but unfortunately the one hotel in town serving Indian food has put up it's prices, it's also papaya season and sometimes it's just too hot.

Paul has now been in his new job for two weeks, the main highlight being the two meals a day provided in the office! So far, it's been busier than expected but a lot of that is trying to set up systems and digitise data to help down the line. There's been a couple of late evenings but hopefully that won't become the norm.

ICS Shinyanga is an office of around 15 people, all of whom are very welcoming and friendly. They've helped us with transport, moving house and even done the dreaded Immigration Office visits on our behalf. ICS are primarily involved in agricultural and child protection projects. The project Paul is involved in is the first major one with water but it's an area they hope to expand - if this goes well!

Being back in Shinyanga has meant that Alice will able to visit and get involved back at Buhangija. We went together for the first time last week and were amazed at the continued general health and cleanliness of the children. We really hoped that things would continue to improve when we were away and it seems that they have. The nurse we helped employ is still there every day and is doing a great job of taking care of the health and hygiene of the kids and their environment.

In other news, we're very excited about Ian, Clare and Stu coming to visit us this weekend. Clare and Stu will be here for two weeks, Ian somehow managed to persuade the army to give him five weeks (Irish taxpayers take note!). It's Clare and Ian's second time here so we really think the Tanzanian tourist board should start paying us. We've planned a trip to Zambia to visit Victoria Falls and will spend a week in Shinyanga to show them what life is really like!

Swahili word of the day: Mhandisi Maji (Water Engineer)

Shinyanga 2: Shinyanga Harder

After three and a half great weeks in Ireland, we are now back in Tanzania. Having had our fill of pork, cheese, fresh milk and being cold we are back in the land of rice, beans and UHT. It was wonderful to see people and we were very glad we decided to come back for an extra week and a half. Thanks again to Swords and Dublin West for asking us to share some of what we’re up to.

This post has the making of a monumental catch up but in short, the couple of weeks before we left for Ireland proved to be complicated in a uniquely Tanzanian way. On our emotional last Sunday in Shinyanga, we piled a Hilux high with our stuff, strapped a mattress to the roof and took off for Geita, our ‘new town’ (see previous blog post). Fifteen minutes into our four hour trip, Paul got an email asking him to attend an interview in Mwanza (two hour car journey plus ferry ride from Geita) the next day for a job based in Shinyanga.

A slight change of plan meant that we dropped our belongings in Geita, and continued on to Mwanza. A further email received that night indicated that the interview had been postponed until Thursday. Continuing to rack up the miles, we travelled back to Geita on Tuesday morning to meet people, find out about their projects and familiarise ourselves with a new place – all the while knowing if the interview went well, this could be our one and only week there. In a major stroke of luck, we met Annette, a lovely German woman, who happened to be going to Mwanza the day before Paul’s interview. So on Wednesday morning, Paul arrived in Mwanza airport and after a very pleasant but challenging interview, Paul was offered the job! In most ways, accepting it was a no brainer – it’s a great project, will be good experience and allows us to return to our Tanzaniain ‘home town’.

All was going well until Paul’s lift back to Geita was delayed by a day due to some car issues. That would have been fine had he not taken both passports with him and immigration had not knocked on Alice’s hotel door in Geita at 10pm. After much negotiation, threats of jail, explanation and a conveniently sent whatsapp picture of Alice’s visa, sleep was had. Until 1am when Alice woke up and vomited til the early morning...the joys of life here...!

In summary, Paul has a new job. It’s with a Dutch NGO called ICS who’s main country office is in Shinyanga, very close to where we used to live. He has been employed to help manage a UK Aid funded pre-paid water project in villages in the Shinyanga region. It will aim to share Shinyanga town’s water supply from Lake Victoria with villages along the route which don’t yet have any mains water. Using existing mobile money technology, users will be able to ‘top-up’ cards for the amount of water they want. It’s a bit like this.

Leaving Tearfund ‘officially’ was a tough decision but a great chat with Shannon in the Tearfund country office freed us of any guilt which were are very thankful for! Returning to Shinyanga also allows Alice to continue working in Buhangija where she will be able to continue helping with the nursery school, working alongside the nurse, monitoring the food and water situation and hopefully starting some new projects. On top of all that, we received an email this week asking Alice to manage a hotel in Shinyanga for a month...Tanzania, how we have missed you!

Home Again

So we're back in Ireland for just over three weeks as some of you might have noticed. We timed it to be here for Ian and Rachel's wedding next week (looking forward to it!) but also a good chance to take a break and see family and friends. 

However, we're just too busy visiting McDonald's, drinking milk, eating Irish breakfasts and complaining about how cold it is to write a full post...

Swahili word of the day: Nyumba (home)

Would you eat your own Poo?

Squatting in front of a classroom, demonstrating what consuming your own faeces might look like, it's hard to know if you're at a high or low point in your career – probably a bit of both.

While the nursery school and clinic have been progressing, Paul has been busy with a couple more water projects. With the well finished and providing plenty of water on a daily basis, we decided to tackle a couple of other issues that would help keep the water flowing at Buhangija.

The centre has two large rainwater harvesting tanks but, like the well, they’re broken. One has a cracked, damaged roof and the other has no cover at all. The roofs and gutters feeding the tanks are dirty and damaged. The open tank is full of green, stagnant, rubbish filled water – completely unfit to be used for cleaning, let alone drinking. Yet every day, children, particularly the small ones, fill bottles with brown / green water, seemingly oblivious to the fact that water isn’t supposed to be that colour.  Seeing a child wrap a corner of their t-shirt around the neck of their bottle in an attempt to ‘filter out’ the bigger pieces of dirt has become a common sight.
 

So we found some local technicians, went shopping for materials and started the work of fixing the tanks. As well as putting on a nice new roof, we cleaned the existing catchment areas and gutters and added a new stretch of guttering to get as much water as possible. Rainwater harvesting is a good solution to provide water during the dry season in Tanzania. Rainfall levels are quite high during the wet season so being able to collect that means you have a supply of water the whole year round. To see more pictures of the tanks construction, click here.

We have also fixed showers, added hand washing taps and cleaned toilets. However, we realised early on that we could do as much as we wanted with the ‘infrastructure’ but unless it was coupled with some education and training, it may not bring any benefit to the health and well being of the kids. Hence Paul’s attempt to explain to a group of children that not washing your hands with soap is like eating your own poo. Thankfully, they saw the funny side and shouted ‘hapana’ (no) when the key question was put to them. Expounding the health benefits of hygiene doesn’t work, especially where children are concerned, but disgust and some healthy peer pressure has been proven to make an impact. So hopefully watching the ‘mzungu’ pretend to do something so revolting might just stick with them the next time they use the toilet or go to eat food!
 

As the children are prone to forget, we have told the matrons that every child should wash their hand before meals and so, one evening last week, we stood in shock and a hint of pride as we watched 80 children sent to the sinks before receiving food. We’re hoping this will continue.

Swahili word of the day: Kosha Mikono kwa Sabuni (Wash your Hands with Soap – now on signs above sinks and hand washing stations)

Buhangija Clinic

As we’ve moved into our final few weeks in Shinyanga, we have been hard at work in Buhangija, trying to make best use of the money that’s been donated before we leave. Great strides have been made in the past few weeks in coordinating and unifying the people who have invested their time and money into Buhangija. Meetings have been held with all those involved and this new communication has meant that there has been a renewed, coordinated effort in our work at the centre.

Buhangija is a government run institution, and at times there are many layers of bureaucracy that must be waded through before action can be taken. We have had many difficult discussions with the various people involved, acknowledging that any work we do removes responsibility from the people in charge. Sometimes, sustainability in an environment like Buhangija seems like a distant dream!

As mentioned in a previous post, over the past couple of months we have working alongside ASMK, a Shinyanga based NGO. With their support, we decided to address the daily hygiene and medical issues in Buhangija by establishing a clinic. The children have no access to any form of healthcare and it is usually Claire or ourselves who tend to cuts, blisters and sunburnt skin.

ASMK had secured funding from Dar es Salaam and combined with the generous donations we have received from Ireland, we reckoned we had sufficient money to set up a room and hire a nurse.

So we dusted off our painting clothes, employed a carpenter, fixed windows, installed a sink, found a bed and now, in a room off the youngest children’s dorm, there is a small, bright, clean clinic. It is here that our newly employed nurse, Madam Felicia, will work five and a half days a week to provide onsite medical care and advice. To see more of the renovation process, click here.

Today was the first day of the Buhangija clinic, Madame Felicia arrived in her new uniform ready for work. After some brief introductions, she was busy cleaning kids, tending wounds and disinfecting cuts. A retired nurse and mother of six, she has approached the job with enthusiasm. Serious medical needs will still be tended by a doctor but now she is in Buhangija, there is someone to actually contact the doctor! In many ways, what the children need is a mother, someone who will love and care for them, rather than a medical professional. We are thankful that in Mama Felicia we have found someone who ticks both boxes.

 

The children of Buhangija still need more to be done to increase their quality of life to a basic level but we're hoping this is part of a good start.

Swahili word of the day: Dawa (medicine – a favourite of the queue of kids outside the clinic door!)

Time to Say Goodbye

As with all good things, our time in Shinyanga is coming an end. The work we’re involved in here is nearing completion and a few months ago Tearfund broached the idea of moving us to a different part of Tanzania to work on community development projects there.

So sometime next week we’ll be bidding a sad farewell to ‘Shy Town’ and travelling to Geita. Our new home will be in north western Tanzania, about 3 hours from Shinyanga and the same travel time from Mwanza (where the airport, delicious pizza and Indian food can be found) so we’re not going too far. Geita is smaller than Shinyanga but as the centre of a major gold mining area is busy and growing – we’ve even heard rumours of a possible swimming pool!

 

It took a while but we have become familiar with life here in Shinyanga – and people have become very familiar with us. We know where to get stuff, our favourite restaurants know our order and we now have a long list ‘fundis’ if anything breaks. However, we have been considering Tearfund’s request for a few weeks and with heavy hearts think that the time is right to move on.

We are moving to work with the AICT Geita Diocese. Their development team are currently trying to progress some local sanitation and hygiene initiatives, would like to introduce water filters and have received funding to install a number of wells by October. Paul is looking forward to getting stuck in!

Our time in Shinyanga has been great but a very steep learning curve. We have made good friends here and will be sad to leave a town that feels like home. The past couple of months in Buhangija have been very busy and sometimes challenging but recently have begun to feel very rewarding. We will be leaving our projects here in the capable hands of Claire and ASMK but are already planning regular visits.

Swahili word of the day: Kwaheri (goodbye)

The Big Clean

‘No words could describe’ is such a trite phrase, generally thrown about when you can’t be bothered to think how to properly represent something. Yet a week’s research could not provide the words to fully capture the utter stench, the thick, heavy air of the dormitories in Buhangija. In the smallest kids dormitory, the mattresses are sodden with urine and crawl with bed bugs, disused mosquito nets hang from the ceiling collecting dead insects, the ceilings are covered in cob webs. The toilets don’t flush, there’s no sink in the bathroom, open defecation is common practice, the place is disgusting. It’s here that over 100 tiny heads sleep every night, in 46 beds.

The task of ‘cleaning up Buhangija’ has been on our minds for a while but was always put on the back burner as a job overwhelming in the extreme. Then we met Sam and Liliane, a couple who don’t seem to know the meaning of the word overwhelming. Liliane is a ‘Shinyang-ian’ by birth and after spending most of their lives in Canada, they returned to her home town and established an NGO (called ASMK) in honour of Liliane’s late grandmother. One of their goals for this year was to try and improve conditions in Buhangija and they have supported and encouraged us as we’ve worked together to that end over the past couple of months. Liliane’s Swahili, local contacts and natural cultural awareness has helped things to progress far smoother and quicker than if we’d been working alone. During a meeting we suggested a cleaning day so they hired staff, collected supplies, liaised with staff and even decided that it would be a good opportunity to train the matrons – they had no idea what they were in for!

And so we turned up at 7am armed with a Landcruiser full of cleaning supplies to be met by some equally bleary eyed and excited children. Our cleaning crew arrived and we were off. Beds were stripped, mattresses taken outside to bake in the sun, all clothes and trunks removed, floors swept, washed and bleached. Beds were hosed down, sheets boiled in dettol, new mattresses secured and covered in plastic. It was a long day! With one dormitory done we moved over to the older girls and began the whole wonderful, bleach filled process again. Matrons washed all the kids clothes and hung them in the sun to dry. Liliane held mini training sessions, all ‘pole pole’ and in keeping with the Tanzanian culture of not criticising, but clearly showing how achievable hygiene is and that new standards should and could be upheld.
 

At the end of the day we were putting the freshly washed sheets on the new mattresses, a few of the older girls came in to help. We watched as one girl buried her nose in the clean fabric and breathed in the scent of washing powder. She laughed and called her friends who joined her sniffing their fresh sheets. The beautiful smell of clean.

Swahili word of the day: Sabuni (soap)

Painting 'til we're Blue in the Face

In an effort to keep ourselves busy, and taking advantage of the extra pair of hands that arrived in the form of Ian, we have been doing some much needed renovation work in the AICT school over the Easter break. With the students and teachers away on holiday, we took the opportunity to sneak in and arrange a surprise.

The previous school painting days, while a lot of fun, focused on the outside of the school. Despite pleading, the inside of the rooms were left to their dismal, grey, unfinished interior - a disappointment to both staff and students. So when some special funding arrived from Ireland specifically for the Secondary School here, we knew exactly what we would do with it.

We arrived up to an eerily empty school with Ian and Whitney in tow and got to work. The icing on the cake came in the form of the School’s Academic Master, Mr. Kibasi who arrived unexpectedly and enthusiastically painted with us. Moses, our Bajaj driver, who had arrived simply to drop off Whitney also decided to stay and pick up a brush.

Painting in a rainstorm, with thunder so loud you can’t hear each other shout was quite a feat. The windows in our school have no glass so we had some fun trying to actually keep the paint on the walls at one stage! It also meant the Bajaj got stuck on the way home and we got soaked pushing it through the mud but all part of the fun.

The students in Form 2 ask most weeks when the inside of their room will be painted and so they’ll definitely appreciate their new, bright, clean (and blue, it's always blue!) learning environment.

Swahili word of the day: Mvua (rain – there was a lot of it!)

A Job Well Done

In the middle of Buhangija, there is a well. A well that is dry, broken and waterless. Like so many things in the centre, it was installed by visitors with great intentions and provided water for many months but through lack of care and maintenance, it is now just another piece of metal for the children to play with.

Its disrepair is felt keenly during the mains water outages that happen so frequently here. We can manage for 8 days without water; 350 children just can’t.

A few weeks ago Paul asked Mr Magunya to come and visit Buhangija. Mr Magunya is a retired man from our church who has managed water projects for Tearfund, Caritas and Hilfe fur Bruder to name but a few. He immediately grasped the seriousness of the situation for the children who live in Buhangija and has worked tirelessly for the past two weeks. A grandfather himself, he has also been spotted taking a quick break from work to play games with the little ones who crowd around him to watch. His attitude and commitment to working for the good of the children is very encouraging. He knows his stuff and has been able to find all the fundis (technicians) that we need – in very quick time for Tanzania.

Two weeks ago we opened the well and fortunately, found the pump in good shape - needing just one new part and a bit of cleaning to get it working again. The condition and depth of the well itself however needed closer examination and there’s only one way to do that – send a man with a bucket 15m down a rope to have a good poke around! The first few loads out of the well were full of sticks, shoes, bottles and even other buckets.

Cleaned out, the well had just over 1m of water. A quick ‘pump’ (bucket removal) test showed recharge was disappointingly slow. We decided to try to clean and deepen the well to have deeper, faster water. For 5 days the ‘well fundi’ climbed down the rope and dug in the near darkness to remove dirt, soil and rocks from the base and sides. On the last day, the buckets of dirt were interspersed with buckets of water as it started to flow in as fast as we could remove it – “good for the well, bad for the workers” was the very appropriate quote! The end result is over 3m of water that’s refilling at an amazing rate.

Re-installing the pump and watching fast, clean water flow out was a great moment and one that was much enjoyed by the children and staff. It took time but the well is fixed and should provide around half a bucket of water per child per day. The nature of Buhangija is that things are not well maintained and tend to break. In an attempt at sustainability, we have arranged for Mr Magunya to visit every three months to check on all things water related. Hopefully that will help to keep the water flowing in Buhangija for many years.

  

Click here for more photos.

Easter Visitor

Ian has arrived. After a quick stop in Dubai, he landed in Mwanza last Friday and will be here until next Wednesday. Activities undertaken so far include swimming in Lake Victoria (just Ian, we'd rather not contract bilharzia), fixing wells, getting a bajaj stuck in the mud, arguing over whether his arms are red or brown (they're very red), eating double chips mayai, hiring an arc welder (and sending it back due to significant Health and Safety concerns) and shopping for goats.

We've been filled in on all the important recent events from Ireland including the new layout at Newlands Cross, The Rock returning to Wrestlemania, the price of a mans lycra top in Penneys, how good Taylor Swift's new album is and that being here means missing a free McDonald's breakfast in Swords - so we're well up to date.

It's great to have Ian here and that's not just because of the large case of chocolate, sausages and cheese - the main things we miss from home. We're showing him the delights of Shinyanga and we think he's enjoying it. We've a Serengeti trip in the pipeline so looking forward to that. We really appreciate the effort to make it this far and a familiar face from home is always very welcome! 

Swahili word of the day: Wageni (visitors)

Painting Buhangija

Buhangija Nursery is only two and a half months old. It has been set up in a disused room which was mainly used for storing maize. Before it was started, the young children in Buhangija had nothing to do except sit in the dirt. As well as a lack of education, they also had very little attention, care or positive adult interaction. We have written about the nursery in previous blog posts and the progress that has been made over the past few weeks.

Due to the bags of maize and other food that continued to be stored in the room, the 60 nursery children were accompanied by as many mice and thousands of insects. Counting and avoiding vermin had practically become a nursery activity. As educational environments go, it was far from ideal. The walls were stained, mouldy and discoloured. The room stank. Children outnumbered tables and chairs.

A few weeks ago, with the help of wives of Mwadui miners, the large nursery room was divided into two areas. Interviews were carried out to find a second teacher to facilitate the establishment of two, smaller classes. The bags of maize and other junk was moved to another store room and a carpenter was brought in to make child sized tables.

When we got word of how much money had been raised in Ireland, refurbishment of the nursery began. With help from Claire, Filipe and Nida we chased out the remaining mice, painted the walls blue and disinfected everything we possibly could. Alice got to work and we painted number fish, alphabet balloons, waves and trees. Clouds will double as future projector screens and mushrooms will be used to help the kids learn how to count. Click here for more photos.

It took a hot, dusty week but we reckon it was worth it. The rooms have been transformed. In the middle of one of the worst places we’ve been, there is now colour, activity and somewhere for children to learn. Claire and Alice will be training both teachers to give the kids the best possible educational experience - an experience that will include how to wash hands and teeth, free play time and basic medical treatment.

We, on behalf of all the children, want to say thanks. Everything we did was made possible by donations in Ireland – through fundraisers in Swords and Greystones as well as gifts from people. Thank you all so much. You really have made a huge difference to some of the most vulnerable, disadvantaged children in Shinyanga. Incredibly, there is still quite a lot of money remaining so we’re still busy on other projects – we’ll keep you posted!

Swahili words of the day: Asanteni Sana (Thank you all very much)