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)