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)

Come on Ireland!

 
After four weekends of struggling through frustrating breaks in Michael Corcoran's RTE radio commentary, it took a three hour bus ride to Mwanza to find a TV showing the rugby. Although we would have been willing to walk if we'd known what an exciting, tense, exhilarating afternoon it was going to be.

Toasted with 'foreign export' Guinness (it's nothing like home!), Ireland's Six Nations win was met with delight by our new American friends (yes, Johnny Sexton's sort of like the quarterback) as well as ourselves. In a week that also included Paddys Day, we found ourselves missing Ireland more than usual, but someone's got to introduce Tanzania (well, a Mwanza hotel at least) to rugby, particularly when Ireland are so good at it!

Swahili word of the day: Raga, sasa tafadhali (Rugby, now please!)

Chicken Run

As well as painting the school blue, last month’s Danish visitors brought hard earned funds collected in Denmark to fund poultry keeping projects for widows in the Shinyanga area. AICT has a ‘widows group’ who meet regularly and plan projects to help and equip each other. Their primary focus is on assisting the establishment of small scale businesses to allow local widows to improve their standard of living.

Widows are a particularly vulnerable group in Tanzanian society. The lack of social welfare, absence of pension schemes and a cultural reliance on men to be the primary earner means that the death of a husband instantly removes any source of income from a grieving household.

The AICT widows committee had decided to use the donated money to provide group leaders with strong, secure chicken houses to serve as examples to others within their communities. The recipients had attended training sessions to help them effectively keep and increase their flock. The (free range) eggs and meat will provide them with food and what is not eaten can be sold. As part of the scheme, the initial beneficiaries have been encouraged / obliged to share their knowledge and livestock with other needy widows.

Both of us spent a day helping to move bricks, mix concrete and cut wire as part of a team that included the Danish donors, the widows themselves, local children as well as the chicken house ‘fundis’ (technicians). Five coups were built in 5 days so we were all kept busy! It’s a small but good start and we all hope that sharing and community spirit will allow more people to benefit in the future.

Swahili words of the day: Kuku na Mayai (chicken and eggs)

Bring, Take, Donate!

Following a visit at Christmas, our mothers (Donna and Joan) decided to organise and host a fundraiser for Buhangija - the centre for children with albinism here in Shinyanga. Ably assisted by Steven, Eric and Clare, last Friday night saw the Riasc Centre in Swords besieged by happy swappers and bargain hunters.

Alice was particularly disappointed not to be able be there in person. Paul was quite glad to avoid any scenario with the potential to fill our house with junk pre-loved antiquities.

So we just wanted to say thanks. Thanks to everyone who helped to host, organise and run the event. Thanks to all who attended on the night to rummage through what we hear was a veritable treasure trove of delights. Thanks for all the money that was donated with incredible generosity - we don't have a final total but it's far more than we expected.

As we have written previously, the children in Buhangija live in terrible conditions. Every cent raised will be used to the best of our ability to improve the lives, health and prospects of children with albinism in our town.