diary jan feb 09

Arriving at Kilimanjaro International airport at 8.50 in the morning is a joy. I flew in under the peak of Kilimanjaro and got a clear view of the increasingly snowless peak. You need to be on the left side of the plane for the best views and I was on the right, looking also at the lesser trodden peak of Mount Meru. It is an easier climb than her big sister but still an excellent challenge and far less touristy.

I am here to over see a Quest team of 9 volunteers and two team leaders coming to Babati for 6 weeks to build a classroom and teachers' office. The volunteers are 18-19 year olds on a GAP year. They have been working for the last 6 months to raise the money to come out here and after this they go on a trip around southern Africa on different safaris having, what i can imagine will be a fantastic time, doing white water rafting, bungee jumping, learning to dive and then diving with whale sharks and doing a host of fantastic things, I am very jealous.

The Reverend Jason Kahembe is the LTT guide for the group and is our local Trustee's son. He is looking to stay with us for the next 3 years before doing a thesis on the impact of tourism on poverty alleviation. So he will be studying us hard to see how we work.

Team Leader Sarah

My first appointment is in Arusha with the Quest team leaders (Sarah and Kate) and their boss Simon who is here to see what we are doing. Together we all venture into Arusha's busy and boisterous market to buy some supplies. The market sells everything you never wanted and some things you do and attracts all sorts of savoury and less so people, but I can't tell one from another and walk with my hands deep in my pocket guarding my wallet and passport. It is not that Arusha is a dangerous place, one has to be careful in all crowded areas, Oxford Street included, so just being savvy is a good idea. We pass the women selling rope, buckets, car batteries, hub caps, pineapples, dried whitebait, sunflower seed oil by the gallon and find our hardware shop and start to buy all that we need, pots, pans, plates, spoons and the rest... the list is endless. When the bill comes the Rev examines it and starts to argue with the keeper, why is he charging higher prices? Is it because we are white? It is the Tanzanian culture for strangers to be looked after and not to take advantage of their lack of knowledge, but in the cities the culture of survival seems to overtake all others.  Another man in the shop is listening and then puts in his shilling's worth, he also is not happy at the way the visitors are being treated. Eventually 20% of the bill is removed and we leave with only half an understanding of what just happened.

I asked the Rev if a stranger from Uganda would be treated like this and no he wouldn't, it is not only because we are white, but it is also that all white people are thought to be and comparatively are rich so ought to be able to afford to pay a little more for their goods. This is not racism it is "wealthism" and is a natural redistribution of wealth with the understanding that if you can get away with it, do it. Do taxi drivers the world over not take tourists on the route with the best view rather than the most direct one? It is no different, it is about exploiting an opportunity. So why am I all uppity about it? Because it is theft whichever way you dress it up. A commodity at a store, restaurant or wherever has a price and that price ought not vary depending on the ability of the person to pay for it.

Later that morning, after we quenched our arid throats we bounce along the unpaved Dodoma Road, kicking out clouds of dust behind us. The short rains that we due in November/December never materialised and the baking sun has made no friends with nature. This bumpy old road is actually part of the great Cape to Cairo road, so travelling on it makes you think back to others who will have travelled it, Blixen, Fynch-Hatton; Hemmingway, they probably wondered then when it will ever be tarmaced! We see a family of ostrich, big black baskets on pin legs, and the occasional congregation of zebra. The lack of rains has forced many to leave the safety of the parks and risk being hunted in their search of water and the dry grass offers surprisingly little cover. We pass little Maasai bomas and the roadside is littered with Maasai watching over their herds of cattle, leaning on their sticks with their bright red wraps covering them up. It never ceases to amaze me when they get on and off the bus in the middle of nowhere and always look so elegant.

Konyagi and Fanta, needs a risk assessment

 At Magugu we take a detour to buy some rice, 50kg to be exact. This rice is not known much outside the region but it is fantastic with excellent light fluffiness and nuttiness. 50kg is a sack that comes up to your waste and when you want to move it, you can't! Our diet is not going to vary too much over the next 6 weeks, none of us are chefs and so tomatoes onions, courgette and rice will be dressed in many different ways! Points will be awarded for the best variation.

At the School we go on a tour of the land and show the guys the farm, the cow called Moo, Billy the goat and Yo the milking goat and her now nearly adult twin kids. The chickens are running amok which is great to see and later we have a debate about whether or not it is right to kill a chicken and eat it. I don't want to take a life, even a chicken's, while the guys want to teach our volunteers what it means to eat a chicken so that they will appreciate it more. In the end we know it is a question of conscience and we will let the volunteers decide.  I ought to be a vegetarian really but I like meat and am very happy to live my life divorced from reality.

After our walkabout we sit with the Village Chairman, the Chairman of the School Development Committee, the builder (Fundi Freddie), the farmer (Marcel), the Rev and Joas, our local Trustee and guru. Joas is a man of great stature, he has earned his position in society by acting in an honourable way all of his life and is as honest as the day is long. We are delighted to have him on board as a Trustee. We start with the introductions going around the gathering. We are sat under a tree at the school desks. I explain why we are here this time and what we hope to achieve, and stress the importance of governance, of participation and of community ownership. We are warmly welcomed, ensured that our stay will be a safe and hassle free one and are invited to visit people's home during the stay. This is very much encouraged as having visited other homes I have a far better understanding of life in the community than before and we want our volunteers to visit real people in their real homes and to understand more about them. This is not Disneyland, this is very real. 

The rest of the day is spent risk assessing and documenting. We are hugely fortunate to have a drink with the Acting Town Health Officer and we quiz him on procedures for sickness and ailments and of course snake bites. We are assured that you really have to go out of your way to get bitten but it is a risk and so we must take steps. After assessing the risk posed by the hippo in Lake Babati (minimal) and the risk from Konyagi with Fanta Ortange, a local gin (lethal), we put things into perspective with a game of cards.

The next morning the guys head off back to Arusha in search of snake venom, baking soda, powdered milk and some treats, oh and to collect the volunteers and let them settle into Tanzanian life before bringing them to sunny Babati.

Freddie off to work

With friends going off to follow the well trodden Lonely Planet route around South East Asia and Australia, 9 UK bucked the trend and swapped possible full moon beach parties with living in a rural Tanzanian community and experiencing what life is like for African people.

So for 6 weeks they are working with us, the Livingstone Tanzania Trust, a self help development charity based in Babati, Manyara Region of Northern Tanzania. The Livingstone Tanzania Trust is working hand in hand with the Waangwaray Community, on the outskirts of Babati, who being subsistence farmers can ill afford to make the improvements to their school that are needed if their children are going to get the education they need to escape from poverty. This is where the volunteers fit in, with their money and effort we can build up the community school and give this community a real chance of escaping poverty.

Fresh faced, excited and eager to start, the group from different parts of the UK soon knitted together to form a strong team, looking out for each other and supporting each other as they overcome their problems, be they feeling homesick, or exhaustion from the oppressive heat. "Water Break" becomes the team cry as each seeks the shade. The work is not competitive and no one is a winner so the pace is relaxed, and we take our lead from the locals whose slow and steady pace is perfectly adapted to this environment.

Safari shower

With the students at the school still being on holiday for our first full day, we are able to make repairs to the desks. Some are beyond repair and all need to be treated for termites, this is resolved by painting the base of each desk with "dudu killer". Some are challenged with cleaning the classrooms so that the students can understand that they need to look after their classrooms and keep them clean and looking good.

Two are charged with putting up the safari showers, a bag of water with a hosepipe and shower head can be left in the sun and heats naturally. Modesty blinds have been made by our local carpenter and Kangas have been wrapped around the frames and ensure privacy. The locals have never seen such a thing and are very excited and want to copy it!

The kids embrace our arrival

The school kids arrive on mass early on the Monday morning and at assembly we are a major attraction and are all introduced by head teacher Rose John.

Two of the classrooms are now too small for the growing class sizes and so we are charged with the task of building bigger classrooms. The older ones will be used later in the year for computers, but that is another story.

The community has already provided us with the bricks we need to complete the job and the fundis (a general term for any specialist tradesmen) have prepared the foundations for the whole block. We are building one classroom and one teacher's office and will built the second classroom when the funds are found.

After a site briefing and a health and safety chat, we start to move bricks to where they are needed. We make a chain and throw the bricks to each other and the one at the end stacks them. Soon the songs start up and heckling from the fundis to go faster leads to bricks being dropped. Rules are quickly made by the team for anyone who drops one and they have to sing a song is the style of someone else, like a Madonna song in the theme of Bob Marley. This causes much hilarity and focuses the mind on the job in hand. Once the bricks are in place, Fundi Freddie teaches us all how to lay bricks and make the walls strong. The mortar we are using is just local earth mixed with water and "slapped" on the top of the brick below and forced into the cracks. It drys quickly in this heat so we must move fast. Initially mistakes are of course made but the more we do and the more we are guided, the more we learn. It can truly be said that the volunteers are building a classroom.

The team is divided into two and some are asked to come to the school farm to help build a fishpond. The profits from the fish pond will help pay for school improvements and act as part of the sustainable element of the development project and as such is vital. Once everyone understands why there is a need for the fish pond, the gang are happy to help and within just three days the pond is completed. Everyone wants to swim in it but spreading manure across the base is a vital part of the pond and the attraction soon disappears. Now we need the rains to come and fill it up.

Every day we check the skies for the missing rain and the farmers are getting more and more concerned.

No one stays in the same job to long and we all swap around to keep the motivation levels high and give everyone a chance to learn new skills

Half way through the week we are joined by our American Volunteer who arrives exhausted from New York and is warmly greeted by the "old hands" who show him around.

Tor's one for the pot

Saturday was the first day of rest and the morning was spent washing clothes ad tidying up the living quarters before wandering down to the thatched restaurant for a long awaited chips mayai, chip omelet. After that we somehow managed to squeeze into the 4x4 for the drive to the market. This is a monthly market for the locals and everything is sold...pots, pans, machetes, hoes, spades, cloth of all colours and sizes, shoes, animals dead and alive, traditional medicines from Maasai doctors and mountains of mangoes and of course home-made beer. Being the only white people for at least 100km in all directions we caused quite a stir, and one rather drunk gentleman was so taken with the beauty of our girls that he wanted to buy one, and to be fair offered a good price. Everyone else just watched as we walked around. Such places the world over are full of opportunists and one man tried to pick our pockets, and was caught by both our volunteers' lightning reactions but also by one of the locals who was furious that such a thing should happen to guests in their market. The good and bad side of life within 15 seconds. There are some hastily set up restaurants and their slaughter houses. I felt for the goat who was sitting there, tethered tightly to bicycle while his friends were slaughtered, gutted and skinned in front of him. At least have the dignity to keep live stock away from dead-stock, but here it is all part of the circle of life and no one but me bats an eyelid. The volunteers buy 4 live chickens which they name, the criteria for selection is erratic at best. This one is plum, this one has an evil glint I its eye, this one has got nice feathers and so on. All are aware that the birds are being bought for the pot and not as pets.

The slayers with their trophies

The week started on the farm, planting peas and maize along the same lines. There was little scientific about this, a piece of string marks the line to follow, with one going on front making holes and two following behind with pea and maize seeds, and as the sun rose higher this became harder and harder, and the water breaks longer and longer. The volunteers have organised themselves into buddy pairs and each day one buddy pair is responsible for cooking, washing up and keep camp tidy and orderly. Each day they have to go to the local shops and buy Mandazi, square, flat donuts what need sugar but add a welcome break to the morning for the workers. By Tuesday afternoon we are all in need of a change and luckily that is provided by the Obama day celebrations that we decide to hold. We imagine that most of the world outside our little cocoon is watching the Barack Obama getting sworn in as the first black President of the United States of America. This is a big thing, not only is it bringing hope to the whole African continent but the whole world wants to see America change its awful foreign policy, it's awful attitude to global warming and its whole ethos of greed. The impossible hopes and dreams of millions are resting on the shoulders of this man and we all wish him luck. So we proceed to the chickens..... and we are shown how to hold it down legs to one side and wings to the other. If you are squeamish, look away now, I was, but morbid fascination overtook me. I know that I did not have the guts or the will to take a life but what about those who were so casual about it earlier? Would they be able to go through with it? The first took the bird, put it in the position and with a quick motion cut through the neck and removed the head, all of which continued to shake for some minutes, but the operation was fast and effectively done, and one at a time all four were slaughtered. Interestingly the majority of the boys were upset by the whole thing and disapproved of the celebration of death, while the majority of the girls were screaming with delight and excitement, on a buzz at having overcome their fears and committed the act they were unsure about. All were to have dreams about it. The dinner that night was chips with fresh potatoes fried in sunflower oil (the best chips ever eaten) and some rather stringy bits of chickens. To be fair to Monsieurs and Madams Guillotine, they had to pluck and gut the chicken as part of the deal, and they all did it, which again is more than I could have done so I take my hat off to them. I alone feasted on chips! Our resident American made a speech and we toasted the luck that we all agreed was needed.

Lily building the A'frames

Wednesday and Thursday introduced the gang to yet more dudu killer. But first we had to make the A-frames. These are the frames that are going to form the structure of the roof. Three long plansk joined together with carpentry know how, nails and binding wire, and then more wood attached. 9 of these were made and painted over the two days and to be fair, everyone got painted with dudu killer (termite killer). Then we watched as the fundis raised them onto the roof and secured them, and suddenly our classroom looked a lot smaller.

Typical Waangwaray home

Friday afternoon was spent visiting the community. We wanted to see where the kids who come to the school live so that we can understand more about them. Armed with water and cameras we set off into the great unknown. This is the bush, the "real" Africa, the bits that you might drive past on the way to the Game parks and wonder what it is like to live there. I am not sure what the volunteers expected but it was a moving experience for all of them. They all come from good families, one guy has a car, they all have ipods, mobile phones, at home they will all have their own rooms, electricity, running water, tv, dvd, satellite, kettles, fridges, freezers, all the stuff that we all take for granted each and every day.

We approached the first house with some trepidation. The walls were smooth and red and made of mud. The mud was covering wattle (sticks). The home was thatched. The area outside was baked flat by the sun and swept clean each day. Maize and assorted spinach type leaves were drying on a mat in the sun. Some chickens scratched around the place and two goats were tied to a nearby tree. It was a small home, but it was home and someone was keeping it very clean and tidy and were house proud, just like we would be. We were invited into the house, through the door made of wood covered with metal sheets that had been once a metal crate of some sort, the writing on it was faded by the sun. We went in 3 at a time because that was all the house could take at one time. It took a minute to adjust our eyes inside, it was so dark. But then things began to emerge.  The floor was a small fire place, three stone making a stand on which a pot would stand. Next to it was an assortment of sticks. One was like a very tall T shaped stick and this is used to light the fire. It is rubbed very quickly between the hands and the friction of the wood on another piece of wood makes heat to which kindling can be added and a fire started. No matches. This is one step up from Stone Age I am thinking. The house is split by a head height partition and on the other side is a bed made of wood, a thin mattress and bags of all sorts hanging from the ceiling. There was no wardrobe so all the cloths are kept in plastic bags, mind you there were not that many bags, but it filled the room. Also in the roof was a bible, some shoes, papers of various kinds, Shampoo, a comb, a bow and arrow.

Outside we met the family, an old lady and her two daughters who must be in their twenties, the third daughter was not there. Between the daughters they have 5 children. None of the fathers are around, all have run away and left the children fatherless. No one in the family has a job that pays money because none of them have been educated, at least not formally educated. They own 3 acres of land and they eat what they grow and sell any excess. They are all very thin and it I clear that they cannot afford the uniform for the school let alone buy books, pens etc for them. We are made to feel very welcome and we try in our pigeon Swahili to talk to them, but it is not easy.

About 10 yards from the house is a small hole in the ground toilet surrounded by a fence made of grass. The toilet is unhygienically close to the house. The nearest water is about 750m away and all washing, cooking, drinking water must be brought from there in a bucket. Water is heavy and these ladies are very strong, despite their thin wiry frames. Every hour of every day is hard for this family, and at night, the ten of them sleep in the little house that 3 of us could hardly stand up in. The volunteer's wrist watch is more valuable than all the worldly possessions of this whole family, yet they are happy. They don't know what life is like elsewhere and this is what life is like for them and they get on with it, they laugh with their neighbours, they cry with their neighbours, they live outdoors and get on with life. Suddenly our lives seem so easy.

Every house has a similar story and the volunteers are dumb struck by this, people with so little are so happy, so friendly and generous. The volunteers come back to school with much to think about and will treat the kids a little differently tomorrow. Most of the kids here know that their education is the key to a better life and now the volunteers are motivated to helping them. If the volunteers don't help them then no one else is going to.

Back at camp we have a football match mixed teams with the year 7 students. There is much hilarity and good nature and even on the touch line we try to sing footballs songs that are educational, but doing" one man went to mow" in Swahili got the better of me, counting forwards is hard enough.

A typical bed

Over the weekend we climbed the mountain we can see from our school with fantastic views over the valley, Lake Babati, Babati town and the rift valley escarpment, the same escarpment that is said to be home to the legend of Tarzan.

Then we visited the Sinai Primary School, one that LTT hope to start working on soon. The school is in an awful state and is not a place that currently inspires young minds, but an internment camp, and with any luck next year it will shine as a beacon of hope in this community.

After visiting the local water pump we moved on to the local community and visited more homes, whilst this community is also Iraqi like the Waangwaray community it is a different subset known as Gorowan. The houses are also wattle and mud based but the wattle is far more visible. The major difference between them is that here the livestock live in the houses, this is their tradition. We suspect that this is because the heat that the cattle generate keeps them warm whilst also adding extra security. Here we visit families of nine where there is just one bed and the parents sleep on a woven mat on the floor. This is a harsh reality check for us because we spend so much of our time indoors, but here, the outside is their living room and they have always slept on the floor and think nothing of it. We in the west are so pampered and life so easy that we have forgotten or never knew what it was live before these good times.

One family seemed to have twins but upon asking there was a two year age difference. The elder of the two was 8 and could have passed for 6 and was showing visible signs of malnutrition with stunted growth sad downward sloping eyes and an extended belly that was not full of lunch. I have never seen firsthand what a malnourished child looks like and now that I have don't know what to do about it. There are so many problems in these communities that knowing where to start is a nightmare because you cannot help everyone. The important thing is to start and that is what LTT and these volunteers are doing. Starting.

We then visited the rope making lady and skipped and skipped and skipped with her ropes which everyone then bought. It is important to support the local industry and this we are doing. If you want to buy real rope and none of your synthetic stuff, let me know.

It was a hot day and the fish pond had been filled. It was hardly an olympic pool but it would do.

Over the weekend the corrugated iron sheets went on and the faceboards and wow, this is looking like a good classroom! The task for the week is to plaster the walls, then lime then, then sort out the floor. So we start off by learning how to make plaster. Cement and sand and water. A special ratio. There is no mixer so this is all done by hand. Bringing the sand by the bucket load, mixing in the cement evenly and then slowly mixing in the water, like making pastry really. When it is the right consistence, you slap it against the wall and hope it sticks. The trowels we bought, Made in China, proved not to be up to the task unless a very small bit of plaster is used, so we got a local welder to sort them out! T

he flicking is not as easy as the fundis make it look, it needs a squash or badminton wrist action. All that falls to the floor is mixed back into the mountain of plaster mix. Doesn't this stuff come in a tube at home? Everyone is involved, some mixing the plaster, others flicking it, then we swap over and the satisfaction of completing your section of wall is immense, and bit by bit the rooms get done, inside and out. When there is down time we sort the bricks, the usable ones are moved to where they are needed for the next classroom and the broken ones will be used to line the irrigation pit. This was a flash of inspiration, but where we have dug a great big hole, using the soil as the mortar between the bricks, we will fill with bricks and line with cement and use as a rainwater tank. A foot-pump will enable us to pump the water to the farm lands or school gardens. All we have to do is sort the guttering out. Rainwater harvesting is essential in these parts if we are to maximise the farm productivity.

Dixon and Sophie in the Rain

The rains arrived this week. They say be careful what you pray for, never a truer word! When it rains, firstly you know it is coming because a cold, damp wind rushes through the trees, you cannot help but think, as the leaves swirl around your head, that you are in Kansas and any minute you are going to be blown to Oz. The first big droplets fall and are met with great cheers of delight, the dusty earth soon is sodden and then the taps are turned on and down it comes, a waterfall pounding the ground, smacking the roof like a kettle drum, claps of thunder roll out over the valley preceded by sheets of lightning. The volunteers dance and sing in the rain, soaking themselves and loving the free shower, the cold water after days of intense heat. It brings out a scary side of lunacy as each expresses their excitement. The day we have wanted, and called to the heavens for has arrived. Half an hour later and the ground is a stream and little rivers appear from nowhere, all brown, rich with top soil. The sky is still black and unforgiving and the volunteers are shivering on the verandas, sodden shoes, socks and discarded shirts. It's got to be good for the tomatoes, and it is a blessing that the roof is on!

Hannah sanding the walls after liming

The following day the bedraggled clothes hang on the lines, the tomato plants have been floored as their supporting poles were blown over, but no serious damage. The English conversational classes and the kindergarten sessions continue and we are now able to lime the walls. We do this to strengthen the walls and because you cannot paint onto plaster is you want a ice smooth finish. This is even more satisfying as the lime is like smooth putty that is spread on the wall like butter on toast and when it is done it is splashed with water to help it set. Then comes the floor which needs to be cleared of dried plaster and dried lime. This is not so much fun and questions about putting a floor covering on the floor before we plastered as raised. Sadly the answer is that in resource terms it is cheaper to do this than buy the floor covering, such is the high supply and low demand of labour. A harsh reality of the developing world.

Each dressed for dinner in their own style

On Thursday we are invited en masse to the Kindergarten teachers' house for dinner. We take a case of sodas and climb the hill for 15 minutes, waving at all the kids who are now familiar with seeing us and call our names. We all squeeze into her living room and find that chairs have been brought for us. We are introduced to her four children and some of their friends. Then dinner is served and we splash out the sodas whilst offering thanks to the hosts and praising the delicious food. It is great to be invited to people's homes and to be on the receiving end of their hospitality. We all struggle with just how people who have so little can be so kind and generous to near strangers, of course she is simply repaying the kind generosity of the volunteers who have given money to help develop the school and this is her way to say thanks you. She didn't have to but she wanted to. She is excited to have 13 white people in her living room because that doesn't happen every day. The chickens come into the house during dinner and find their way to the bedroom where they nest down for the night. This is such a different world and each one of us is really loving being here. After dinner and after a photo session, we are escorted to the school and given a great big bunch of green bananas. Such a gift, of such real wealth and value is heart breaking and heart warming. It is the custom here to give going home gifts and we cannot refuse, but we cannot and must not forget this kind family and we must find a way to repay her kindness.

This did not stop the Saturday night entertainment, which was a new thing for me. It was a "getto-fabulous" event, which seemed to me to be dressing up as "street" Americans, being that as gangsters, Ali G possie, or as a San Franciscan jogger. Much merriment and laughter, especially from the locals who were not entirely sure what to make of it all.

The farm was the target of our activities for the first half of the week. Small cats, of the wild variety have been digging under the fence in order to get to our chicken. In fact our cockerel was taken this week by a hawk. This is the price of free range! So the task is to cement in the fence so that no little pests can dig under. We need to clear away the shrubs on both sides and this involved removing the roots of a dead tree. There is a lot of cement to make and the team did a fantastic job. All hand-made, hand-turned and hand carried to the fence and set. 100 meters in length. They are now professional cement makers, taking no advice and monitoring the consistency like old hands.  As it set each wrote their names in the cement to mark their achievement.

This fence will be extremely important should we get funds to build a chicken coup to accommodate 200 chickens, which is the plan (see Income generation plans and see Student Education plans)

The fish pond that was made in week 1 is now populated by 120 little tilapia, and they feed on rotten mangos and other fruit. In just 6 months they will be ready for market. I have to keep remembering that this is a business and they are not pets. We also have ducks to swim on the pond and eat the mosquito larvae, but oddly they seem happier swimming in the cattle water trough, which one of the chickens tried to do, so a huge squawking commotion.

Our Stud goat needs a name

Other additions to the farm this week are the purchase of the "stud goat", a pure bred Tottenburg, who needs a name, who is going to get with our young goats. We have also bought a mother and kid Tottenburg goat to add to our breeding scheme. These are not cheap goats at  anything from $200-$400, but they are highly sort after and can produce up to 4 litres of milk a day, which would take one owner out of the poverty bracket. This of course is the long term ambition, the more we can get, the quicker we can start to offer tem to the community to look after on condition that they keep the kid and return the mother to us, so we can pass to the next family. We will have to provide the "stud" to stop the pure blood being contaminated by local goats. Our current mummy goat gave birth to twins so we hope there is a genetic thing going on here.

Tuesday saw the gang learn their first Iraqi dance, which was fun, but more fun was had teaching the teachers the "mackarana"! More lessons are to follow as the gang are going to dance on the last day at the hand over celebration. The locals and the students all do a dance so it seems right that we are participating and not sitting on the sidelines.

There was a also a selection football match, all the Waangwaray football team squad and the volunteers who wanted to played in a hard fought match, and the boys all got selected to be in the squad for the big game at the end of week 5. This team because it is not the official Waangwaray team has been called the Livingstone Team and I am so excited by that acceptance into the community. We provided some England football shirts for the team photo and I hope they will be worn on the big day.

The classroom has also come along, the floor is in and dried and work started on Friday to sand and paint the window frames and put on the first coat of the inside paint. The transformation is fantastic as it moves from being a building site to being a proper classroom.

Also this week the water survey took place. This was not quite as scientific as I had hoped. The method is called "magneto metric". Water as it moves through the rocks generates a magnetic charge and by walking around with magnetic rods you can identify where the water flows are. The rods will cross over. Mmmmm. I had a go and to be honest, I could get the rods to do whatever I wanted them to do, but then I am not practiced I walking with them level at all times. I am of course sceptical of this old world type of system, but this is the system recommended by the government and so what do I know?

Papaya Tree

Farm Africa, a UK based charity that also has offices in Babati visited us this week and were impressed with our operation. It is more large scale than they are used to, but would like to bring other schools to see what we are doing and use us as a motivational tool. They also learnt a few lessons from our farm manager and we have agreed that we will send him on their courses so that he can learn too and then share with the teachers and the pupils at the school. Simple things like asking the kids to bring bones to school, sun drying them, burning them to ash and then mixing them with chicken feed increases the calcium in their diet. This we can get the kids involved in and learn from.

The classroom is now taking shape and this week saw the gang painting first the undercoat then the main coat and transform a building site into a classroom. The bottom half of the walls are painted brown so the dirt doesn't show up in 3 months time and the top half a bright cream to reflect the light and make the classroom as bright as possible. The blackboards are all painted black, funnily enough. Outside the front is painted brown on the bottom and light blue on the top and the sides and back are painted with red puch. This is a mixture of cement, podered red paint and water, this is then put into a flicking machine and flicked on to the walls. It is a bit like spray painting with less control, and also a little like pebble dashing as it leaves a knobbly finish to deter young people leaning up against the walls and making them dirty! So with paint everywhere the classroom is close to completion. A sign announcing that this building was built by LTT and Quest and opened by the Regional commission is beautifully hand painted. The animals and the alphabets in the classrooms are completed. A channel is dug to keep the rain water away from the foundations until the guttering is put up is built. The rainwater is a constant problem. UK standard guttering is expensive and local guttering is ok but there seems to be a difficulty I getting it to flow in the right direction. Plastic 2000lt Water tanks are expensive and to build a tank in the pit even more so, so investigations continue to see how best to solve this problem

This week we all went up to the water source on mount Kwaraa and climbed up to the first plateau. Higher than that needs a permit as it is a protected area, it is also full of snakes, and apparently elephants and buffalo. The climb was hard but the views were stunning out over the rift valley, to the escarpment, to Lake Manyara, to Lake Babati, to Lake ..... that is a wet season lake, and to the Tarangire National Park.

The boys who had been selected for the football team went off for training, a gruelling session with uphill bunny hops and everything. Football is obviously very serious!

Cement sack race

On Friday we held a sports day, organised by the volunteers. The first was a relay race, which the volunteers explained and demonstrated to the kids, one runs and slaps the hand of the other at the far end and they run back and clap the next on the hand, you get the point, a relay race...... so on the countdown, three, two, one, go, all the kids ran to where they were supposed to run and chaos ensued. It was hysterical. Jason, the guide, had to explain and even then some of the kids didn't get it. After that was the sack race.... some of the children could hardly see out of their sacks let alone jump in them and there was much cheating as volunteer just picked up the kid in the sacks and ran with them. Then came the potato and spoon race... by this time everyone knew what they were doing and it ran smoothly. The tug of war for third place was declared a draw after the rope snapped in half and both teams went tumbling backwards, and the play off for first place was a relay race with the three fastest kid. Slapping hands was again explained. Unfortunately the middle runner on the leading team did not slap the hand of the waiting runner and the boy stood there no wanting to run without being tagged. His honesty lost them the race. What bad luck. The winning teams were all given medals of coke bottle tops in string, which they proudly displayed.

Livingstone Football Team

Sunday witnessed something very new to Babati. All the training that the boys had put in for their football training was put to use. The Livignstone football team, made from teh Waangwaray community and the volunteers, all dressed in England shirts played Babati Town, dressed in Tanzanian shirts. Babati town has a far greater population to choose from and so, as you would expect were far better that our team. The ice cream seller was fantastic but luckily he had to go after 20 minutes, literally got on his ice cream bike and left, and with over 400 people watching, he knew a captive market when he say one! Even the locals Somosa vendor came around! Our boys did us proud, tackled hard, ran like madmen, passed well. The girls had made good luck banners and there was much shouting from the side lines. The fact that we only lost 2-1 was a fantastic effort. This was the first time that white people had played football here and it was well recieved. Football is a great leveller. At the first game, against the community, when the girls played too, the women in the ground came away saying that they wanted to set up a football team because they had seem how much fun our girls were having. Ground breaking stuff!

Joas with the District and Regional Commissioners

Monday was hand over day. The school had been tidied, the classrooms swept, the boarders painted, the chairs and tables laid out under canopies. The community started to arrive, as did a troop of dancers. The honoured guests were late, they had set their watches to Tanzania time!!

To pass the time the dancers beat their drums and soon the beat was too much and the volunteers and the dancers started the party early. The volunteers had all had lessons in the local dancing and were able to hold their own, for some literally. Then it was time for the Macarena and the volunteers showed the locals a new dance which was met with shrieks of laughter and applause.

The guest of honour is the Regional Commissioner. He reports directly to the President of Tanzania, so is important. When he did arrive in his car with a little flag on the front, we took him to the kindergarten, the teachers houses, the student toilets, the staff toilets, the farm and the livestock area, the nursery, the kitchen and then we started the presentation. Click herefor a copy of the Head teachers address. Click here for my address. I was a little nervous about talking about gender equality but he took up this thread in his talk so i knew i was right to mention it.

He was not the only guest, the District Commission, the local councillor and councilors from other areas and head teachers from other schools were there. They had been sent to see what we had achieved and what they ought to start to do at their schools. They had been trying to get their communities to understand the need to plaster and paint classrooms, the community do not want to spend the money because they cannot see the benefit, but by seeing our classrooms, by seeing the bright and happy kids and knowing that the results are improving, this we hope will inspire communities to invest in their schools because a school MUST inpsire 

The RC was very impressed with our school and the contributions that the community had made and he offered Tsh500,000 to pay for new bricks to help the community continue it's school development. He also promised us 10 bags of phosphate manure for the farm.

We then had a great celebratory lunch with the guests, the teachers the dancers and the party ended at 4.00pm.

Then it was sad farewells because early the next day, the volunteers were off to Tarangire National Park to start on the next part of their adventures. It was extremely sad because we had all been together for so long and shared so much and achieved so much. When they first arrived i am not sure they believed they could build a building. But we explained the process, taught them cement mixing, taught them brick laying, taught them how to build A'frames, taught them how to plaster and lime, paint and hey presto! They build the school's best classroom. I know they are proud, i know i am proud, and the community are delighted. But aside from building classrooms we have all built bonds with each other and with the community and everyone has learnt that the real people of Africa are bright, fun loving, generous, kind, real people, just like themselves. No one here is a statistic, everyone is a very real person and the fact they they are black, or poor or have only one bed between 9 of them makes them no less important.

I have challenged the volunteers to never forget and where they can continue to help the work that we are doing out here because they have seem the benefit that has on the community

There is a classroom and a head teachers office, and the foundations for the next classroom