fws team

Getting used to life in the fws volunteer village

2012-02-02T02:20:00.000-08:00

Getting used to life in the fws volunteer village (and now my newhome) has been somewhat easy. Based in Sinon, Arusha, Northern Tanzania, I guess I was eased into village life, comingfrom travelling Egypt and many other developing countries in Eastern Europebefore arriving in amazing Tanzania.

fws volunteer village, Arusha, Tanzania

Shower time!

Initially I thought all of the volunteers would be eco-friendly extraordinaires,but I was wrong. Majority of the volunteers come from similar backgrounds to me(Australia) and have had to adapt to these new ways of living and learning. Thefirst few weeks were a bit of a challenge adapting to the compost toilets andbucket showers and I soon found myself asking for tips on how to use less water.I will always remember one of the volunteers saying 'Stick your head into the bucket to wet your hair!'… a good tipthat definitely saves water. It is amazing how quickly you adapt to new ways ofliving, it now seems normal not to flush the toilet any more, sometimes when Igo into town and use flushing toilet facilities, I find myself reaching for thesaw dust instead of the flush button.

Outdoor showers

Compost Toilets

Maggie our guard dog

We have two dogs, one is our guard dog 'Maggie', the other is morethe fws volunteer family pet, his name is 'Nuckle'. On my second night, we thought,Nuckle he had been bitten by a snake! He was really lethargic and couldn't moveat all. The outcome didn’t look promising and we could only get him to a vet thefollowing morning. I woke up expecting the worst, but luckily little Nuckle wasstill alive, just, he was in so muchpain and quite awful to see. Ben, past Infrastructure Volunteer, took him tothe vet, only to find out he had constipation. Pretty funny, but apparently ifwe didn't treat him he would have died, so another lesson learned - I neverknew it could be so serious! We also have a cat, ‘Nudgee’, which I am not toofond of but she goes alright as she takes care of catching snakes and rodents.

Nuckle taking a snooze...

Whilst there are many other experiences to be had in the volunteervillage and Arusha, along with meeting new people and discovering new places; I’mlooking forward to adapting to this new and interesting African culture andlifestyle for my remaining time at foodwatershelter.

Travelling in Arusha... People, Pushbikes and Piki Pikis'

2011-12-28T03:32:00.000-08:00

A road ~~less~~ more travelled… By Neil Shannon

I thought I would do a series of blogs on issues that may highlight the differences between life in Arusha and life in Australia. The first is on people transport, from pedestrian, through to the many forms of mechanised conveyances. The next blog will deal with goods transport.

Clock Tower, Arusha, Tanzania

There are some significant issues that are important as a backdrop to this discussion. Since Independence, 50 years ago, there has not been much funding or focus on infrastructure or maintenance. Therefore most of the bitumen urban roads in Arusha have deteriorated with many having little or no evidence of bitumen remaining. Arusha has long dry seasons followed by very wet seasons which create very difficult conditions on the dirt roads, most with no separate pedestrian footpaths.

Typical back street in Arusha, Tanzania

Dusty and bumpy road on the way to fws' Kesho Leo project in Sinon Village

Muddy and slippery road for both pedestrians and vehicles

Travel by foot is the most common form of transport since it is not possible to purchase and maintain a vehicle on very low income levels. Most people walk miles to and from their homes, markets, places of employment, schools and worship (many people attend regular forms of spiritual worship). Women and men take a lot of pride in their appearance and clothing. It is amazing to see the clean state of their clothes after trekking long distances on foot being subjected to either dust or mud (depending on the season). The absence of formed footpaths means pedestrians have to continually vacate the road (in some cases little more than a rough creek bed) and stand on the side as vehicles pass hoping not to be covered in dust or sprayed with mud. It is a constant question as to why there is not more agitation to repair roads, however, I suspect the majority of pedestrians probably prefer the very rough roads as an effective traffic device to slow vehicles down.

The next form of people transport is the pushbike, however, they are not very common probably due to cost and the difficulty of the poor road surfaces and the impracticality in the rainy season. William Msilu, foodwatershelter’s Librarian for the new Kesho Leo Francis Kealy Library, takes great pride in his pushbike but has to spend considerable time after arrival cleaning the mud off his pushbike. During the wet and muddy season he is regularly forced to push or carry his pushbike as the surfaces make riding impossible.

Road surface too uneven to ride a push bike

William, fws' Kesho Leo Librarian, cleans his pushbike before starting work

A very recent form of people transport is the piki piki (motor bike). This change has occurred in the last 18 months most probably due to the readily available cheap imports from China. There are now hundreds of piki piki in the unregulated taxi industry. Helmets are not common for the riders and are non-existent for their passengers. It is however quicker and arguably more comfortable than the dala dala (local mini bus service) and is quickly assuming a major significance. The cost for a trip of about 6km is 2,000-3,000 Tanzanian shillings (Tsh) or AU$1.30 to $1.80). So, If you like extreme adventure then I would recommend a short trip on one of these!

A piki piki takes a load...

The dala dala (local mini bus service) is the most common and economical form of vehicular transport for people. They are designed to accommodate 14 passengers (max) but commonly transport 20+ passengers making for quite uncomfortable conditions. Most are in a poor state of repair, exasperated by the rough roads which take a toll on these light, overloaded vehicles. During the wet seasons, it is not unusual for passengers to have to get out and push the vehicle through the mud. The fare for the same 6km trip is 300Tsh or AU$0.20.

Dala Dala (local mini bus service)

Another form of people transport is the taxi which is commonly a standard sedan that is in poor condition. There are no meters calculating the journey’s cost, but you can expect to pay approximately 15,000Tsh (approximately AU$16) for the same 6km trip and is therefore only used by those who have a higher form of income. As taxis are only two wheel drive with standard clearance, they can be somewhat limited in the wet season over all the bumps and pot holes on the roads of Arusha.

Due to such transport limitations, most schools have their own bus services for transporting students, so they are a common sight on the roads. An example of this can be seen with the fleet of buses from The School of St.Jude (largely supported by Australian sponsors) which has a 22 bus fleet for their many students from all over Arusha.

School of St. Jude Bus

Arusha is arguably the Safari capital of Africa and therefore a large number of 4 wheel drive safari vehicles, many long wheel base, are specially fitted. Land Rovers are most common for safari vehicles, however, Toyota dominate the vehicles that are generally available. For the more affluent, there a range of expensive 4 wheel drive vehicles that are used.

Larger buses are used for travel between the city centres and between countries, they are generally not air conditioned and are certainly not luxury coaches…..and they go very fast!

Luxury Bus Coach

As can be seen, local travel can be challenging and at times a little uncomfortable but it does not seem to greatly concern the locals who accept it and take it in their stride.

Getting Crafty at Kesho Leo

2011-11-28T01:53:00.001-08:00

By Bec McQueen

Bec McQueen (and baby Isaac) return to Kesho Leo to teach the Mama's new craft skills!

Thanks to the generosity of friends and family for donating thesupplies needed and/or cash for craft stuff, I have recently been lucky enoughto host three craft workshop afternoons at Kesho Leo.

I volunteered with fwsfor the year 2009, and it was so wonderful to be back to see the mamas and kidsagain.

The mamas have learned to sew since being employed as live-in housemamas at Kesho Leo, and have been making bags and purses for the past couple ofyears which they sell in town. I decided to give them something a bit differentto do, something which I was hoping would spark some creative interest and makeuse of otherwise wasted materials.

Before I left Australia, I got googling and found alot of different things to make with recycled magazine paper. I felt this wouldfit in well with fws values, as there is no paper recycling facility availablein the area so this paper would otherwise go to the local dump and be burned.Why not make something beautiful with it instead?

We started with paper beads. These are quitesimple to make, and you would never know they are made from paper.. and theymake gorgeous unique necklaces!

Next thing we did was make some beautiful gift bows. Onebrightly coloured magazine page makes one bow, and I thought they would be ahit at the Arusha Christmas fair this year. Another Christmas themed project wemade were tiny origami “lucky stars”, which can be strung together to make agarland.

Lastly we used scraps of fabric and spare buttons to make some fabric yoyos. Some fabricscraps are too small to use for anything, and a project like this is a greatway to use them, and also for developing fiddly hand-sewing skills.

As with everything in Africa, theseprojects took a lot longer to teach than I expected so unfortunately I didn’tget to the other craft projects I wanted to show the mamas.

On my list werepaper bowls and coaster sets, patchwork (for bags, cushions and purses), babybibs and nappy covers. Oh well, there’s always next time I guess!

Early bird gets the word…

2011-09-24T00:16:00.000-07:00

By Stacey Joseph

It’s 6am and my alarm is calling out to me to get moving and wake with the new day. But no, how can sleep be over so soon? Defiantly, I reach over to the bedside table, frantically fumbling for the phone to hit that snooze button and take in tenmore minutes of glorious sleep.

But in what seems like a flash, that familiar melody sings out again and this time I’m up and getting ready, slipping on my gumboots and finishing off my go-to morning coffee brew before heading out to the shamba (farm).

Harvest day starts at 7am each week on our organic farm. We are gathering our produce to sell at a local store, Meat King, in Arusha town centre later that morning. Buckets, trays and tarps are collected, all ready to be filled with an array of fresh, homegrown, delicious organic vegetables and herbs.

The veggies grow plentifully here and inspire many local cuisines. The farm has a variety of vegetables including lettuce, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, beetroot, spinach, garlic, leeks, fennel, rocket, radish, carrots, a mixture of herbs (basil/coriander/parsley/mint) and a load of local greens (cooked very similar to spinach) called mchicha/chinese cabbage/sukumawiki/mnafu which are usually served with ugali (cooked maize meal).

Harvesting is a new and foreign activity for me. Back in Australia, the only harvesting I would be doing would be with my shopping trolley in the veggie aisles. So it is quite a enlivening activity that gives you the chance to learn the different types of vegetables; practice the techniques of picking each vegetable (e.g. cutting off the heads of broccoli to breaking off the spinach stems) and ways of taking care of the produce using organic pesticides. After the harvest, the produce is washed and laid out on a huge tarp ready for bundling and packing, ready to go the store.

The whole process is quite therapeutic, a time for reflecting on the week that was and your plans for the weekend. It is also a great chance to greet your neighbours and the kids walking past already on their way to work or school.

But probably the most rewarding part of it all is engaging with the fws Tanzanian farmers. A warm and hardworking team each with their own story to tell. It’s a chance for us to get to know one another and our lives outside of work. So there we sit, washing and bundling the freshly picked veggies, all the while sharing stories about our families; our culture and traditions; our hobbies and dreams; teaching each other new English/Kiswahili words and sometimes just having a good laugh.

It’s these special moments that get me out of bed each Friday harvest (and every other day)—slowly coming to know the people that make up our surrounding village and this diverse country. It’s harvest tomorrow and I can’t wait!

Porridge, Parent's Day and Pythons

2011-06-14T15:43:00.000-07:00

There always seems to be something that you are busily trying to get done either in the volunteer village or down at Kesho Leo. Sometimes it’s frustrating and usually exhausting. That’s why I’ve really come to appreciate Fridays. Not only because you can look back at what you’ve done in the week and put your feet up for a bit of relax with the rest of the Kesho Krew. But mainly because Friday’s at Kesho Leo Chekechea have been quite exciting lately and mean jumping out of bed ready for something a bit different. Chekechea has had record attendance in the past month – which is not only attributed to our fantastic Tanzanian teachers and Mamas in the classroom – but also our porridge program which has proved incredibly popular.

Porridge got up and running about a month ago thanks to record sales on the fws shopping list. Apart from the obvious benefits - it’s a great little social sit around to start the day for the children and can provide some pretty funny moments as they chat away and sip their breakfast. Plus going down for the morning cook up with the mamas is an ideal opportunity for quality bonding and some less than perfect Swahili conversation. So after porridge kicks off our Fridays begin.

A month ago saw our “bring your parent to school day”and the majority of children had a mum or dad rock up to see what they have been up to. There were several proud moments as the parents flicked through their child’s work, as well a chance for the teachers to meet parents and discuss how we are trying to help their child’s learning. I’m almost certain everyone – kids and adults - left Kesho Leo chekechea with a sense of pride about what’s going on in the classroom. And now after it’s all over when I head to Kesho Leo these days I’m able to stop and have a quick “Habari” and smile to parents that I now know.
Awesome.

A few weeks ago, on another Friday, as I drove up to Kesho Leo and saw big smiles and red jumpers dancing around I had a pretty good feeling that this would be one to remember. I had recently made contact with the local Snake Park and organised for the Kesho Leo chekechea to get a guided tour. So we piled into the back of the landrover and the hired dalla-dalla for the day and set out on our excursion. Quite a few songs later (you don’t need a sound system when you have Tanzanian children in the car) we made it to the Snake Park.

Huge snakes. Huge birds. And some pretty huge crocodiles.

The kids were in awe – but even more so the three mamas who came to help out – Ester, Helena and Glady – were loving it. Ester proved to be an exceptional tour guide and after the kids got a snack of juice and mandazi (local food like a doughnut) we headed next door to see a mock Masai Village. By noon I was exhausted – so were Regina and Lucy (Kesho Leo Teachers) and the mamas. Somehow, these mini sized chekechea kids were still full of energy and just as excited as when the day began. So off we piled into the landrover and dalla for another sing-a-long back home.Although worn out now after a big Friday and the Saturday morning shop I just had a giggle (they happen often here) when one little chekechea kid gave me a wave in the 4wd after obviously playing in mud – covered head to toe.P.s. I’m already excited for the next Friday adventure…

Kikao

2011-05-28T01:12:00.000-07:00

by Peter McTiernan, Kesho Leo Project Manager

Organising a meeting (kikao in Swahili) for all staff members and residents of Kesho Leo is not an easy thing. Askaris’ work nights, Teachers’ work mornings, and Mudi, the Kesho Leo Manager, seems to work all the time.

The meeting was first discussed at the 2010 foodwatershelter Annual General Meeting before I left. When we were discussing it in Australia I loved the idea, however by the time I got here I had a little trepidation as you wonder if things like that translate culturally.

Mudi (Kesho Leo Manager) showed a lot of excitement when I raised the idea to him so most of my trepidation disappeared.

Slowly we prepared for the event, translating the goals into Swahili and speaking with different staff members about the goals they were going to discuss.

On the day the lunch went well, however lunch begin to drag out as we waited for all the staff to arrive (1pm sharp can be quite a while later when running on Africa time). The mood had started to drop and as Mudi began the meeting both he and I had a feeling that the attention from the crowd was not what we had hoped.

Certainly all my trepidation regarding the meeting had returned in that moment, you cannot make people listen if they are not interested. Luckily, just like any other speech, as Mudi got further in he started to ad lib and the crowd turned their attention to what turned out to be a fascinating meeting for the staff.

Many staff members have commented that they learnt lots of things about foodwatershelter that they never knew.

Lucy Dismas had a great suggestion that every employee go around the table and introduce themselves. It proved to be a great idea as it was a fantastic way to break the ice between employees who had never met.

To see staff members show their talents in public speaking and have staff members make fantastic suggestions like Lucy made my - and all the volunteers’ - day. Foodwatershetler has always focused on facilitating Tanzanians to run Kesho Leo and a day like Friday showed the fruits of all our labour. I literally could not stop smiling as I sat and tried to decifer as much Swahili as possible.

"Cash Money" arrives

2011-04-12T22:52:00.000-07:00

Six weeks ago I arrived at Kesho Leo to begin my year’s term as Finance Manager. I am from the US, the southern state of Alabama. For the last 13 years I worked for a large US bank in the Risk Management/Information Security area. While I loved my job back home I wanted to do something different with my accounting skill set…enter foodwatershelter! My background is a variety of areas including information security &consumer privacy, fraud & operational loss analysis and financial statement reporting. When I found the posting for the Finance Manager position I knew immediately this was perfect for me!
I arrived in Arusha on March 1st. The first few weeks were a blur – jetlag, adjusting to life in a new country, learning a few words of Swahili and starting a new job? What an experience! Fortunately I had excellent support from fellow volunteers so I caught on quickly. Foodwatershelter uses July to June as their fiscal year so I arrived just in time to start working on the 2011/12 budget! I have prepared many budgets in the past but never ones that included expenses for solar power systems, livestock, manure and sewing supplies. While it has been a challenge, I will say going through the exercise of creating a budget has been a great way for me to learn about the Kesho Leo project. I was able to sit down with each volunteer and learn about their area of responsibility and what their plans were for the next year. Here are a few of the things I learned:
• Education: We are going to start serving porridge in the mornings to the students at Kesho Leo and we are actively working on plans for a library. We are already collecting books and drawing up plans for the trailer that will allow us to be mobile.
• Permaculture: We plan to buy goats, pigs and cows in the next year.
I even learned what a chicken tractor is!
• Kesho Leo: We are in the process of working with the mamas to turn their small business ideas into sustainable business plans. This allows the mamas to put the financial skills they have learned into practice. Not only is this is beneficial from an income perspective but this also gives them the opportunity to be role models for others in the community.
• Health: Our newest volunteer is a nurse. During our budget conversation we discussed her plans to incorporate nutrition into the health program at Kesho Leo. I can also attest to her excellent nursing abilities since I got sick a few days after she arrived!
I know I am a little biased but numbers can be exciting! The beauty of a budget is that we now have a road map for the next year – we know what we want to accomplish and what tools we will have to meet these goals. As a team we have worked together to identify expenditures and funds needed in the upcoming year to meet short term goals as well as the overall fws strategic plan and objectives.

Mama Shakila

2011-02-14T00:03:00.000-08:00

Throughout Sinoni, there seems to be a duka (shop) every 100 m. Many are thinly stocked, largely due to a lack of capital at each family’s disposal, but you can still get a surprising variety of goods from them. It makes for pretty convenient shopping.

Mama Shakila (who has as good a rapper name as anyone) has the good fortune of having the closest duka to the Volunteer Village.

Mama Shakila's duka with the usual hive of activity out the front

Mama Shakila is great value and always happy to see us, whether at the duka or around the community. She attends the free community English classes at Kesho Leo and is quite the adept business woman. Over the last year, I’ve seen her stock gradually expand as she’s been able to capitalise and cater more for our needs. (Clearly, business is good with a throng of wazungu nearby!) On my suggestion, she’s recently added Tangawizi ginger beer – the taste of paradise in a bottle – to the many other goods for sale. At 500 shillings a pop for any soda drink (AUD $0.30) it presents pretty good value.

A few months ago the duka door rusted off its hinges. It presented a big problem for Mama Shakila, leaving the goods open for easy theft at night. Wanting to help out, but not wanting her to expect everything to be free, I paid one of our fundi employees (skilled workers) to fix up the door with the fws welder and charged Mama Shakila about half what it cost me in wages – about AUD $2. It was a pretty easy service to provide really. And being the smart business woman she is, she was very grateful, but didn’t give me any freebies.

Tangawizi sales continue to be strong.

1, 2, 5, 10, 25… 37 enrolments at Kesho Leo Chekechea and Preprimary! (and still counting…).

2011-01-27T23:10:00.000-08:00

“Elephant elephant elephant!”, “Yes Yes Yes!”, “Come to the river”, “NO NO NO!”, “Why why why?”.. “Because I’m too fat… Because I’m too fat!”. If you can hear this singing from a children’s village just outside of Arusha, Tanzania, then you must have found Kesho Leo. Classes kicked off two weeks ago and have been non-stop since. What was looking like quite a small number of students for 2011 have gradually crept up until last count got us to 37 beautiful little faces! The first day had chekechea and pre-primary children decked out in bright red jumpers and gorgeous big smiles. Not a bad introduction to Kesho Leo Education Manager for 2011.

Teacher over here is "mwalimu" – it’s the one word
etched into my brain forever, because it isn’t just the Kesho Leo kids but apparently every child who goes to a school around here who wants to call out and talk to you. It’s a really welcoming feeling – and it’s never just a hello – it’s “Good morning” “How are you?” and often involves children taking my hand and walking me to and from Kesho Leo. The first few weeks has seen a group of chekechea and a group of preprimary children eagerly wanting to learn – these kids range from three to six years old and already a few have had tears when they didn’t understand something and asked their teacher to show them how it is done. Talk about motivated. The language barrier is easy with kids – smiles go a long way - and I’m learning the basics through their story time, alphabet songs and number counting . I’m pretty much one of the chekechea kids when it comes to Swahili – but I’m getting there pole-pole (slowly). Totally opposite are these fast moving chekechea and preprimary kids - they have already made leaps and bounds much to the excitement of the two Tanzanian teachers I’m working with – Regina and Lucy. "Carmod, Carmod - eight of them can now write their name!!" Regina told me excitedly one morning.

It's rewarding for everyone involved. Plus, these girls know their stuff. They want to try new ideas and activities and I can see that this year I’ll become quite close with them. I have already developed a great deal respect for them and really enjoy working with them to try new teaching techniques and activities. Luckily I’ve had the 2010 Education Manager not far away for the initial week to hold my hand as well as one of our lovely Askari - Simon (security guard) to help translate my notes to send home to parents (and maybe also help out with my Swahili homework….). Oh and just to explain - Carmod is the name I've been given around here and I kind of like it!
Chekechea and preprimary quickly fills a morning, and after a quick lunch made by our lovely Aggie or Maswai it’s back to Kesho Leo for tuition. I’m lucky to be surrounded by such dedicated teachers in Aggie and Lucas – talk about work ethic. It’s refreshing and makes me motivated to do more! And this coming week will see community english and mamas english classes kick off – something I’m really excited about (maybe because I can talk english!) – but mainly because I think it will be a great opportunity to meet some of the locals who want to improve their language skills, as well as have some quality bonding time with the beautiful mamas – and hopefully teach them a word or two!
So the whole education system we have running at Kesho Leo sounds like a dream hey? Well not quite – like any school some families can’t afford the fees for chekechea and preprimary. It’s disappointing but a reality no matter if you’re in Australia or Africa. Kesho Leo brought in line fees with other chekechea and pre-primary schools around the area this year – including one we have a strong relationship with – Engosengui Primary School – which also runs its own chekechea and pre-primary. As education manager it’s part of my job to enforce enrolment policies and to ensure we keep our budget in check. For some families payment of fees is just impossible – luckily this moment of helplessness only lasts a short time as fws shopping list has proved extremely successful in allowing the public to purchase pre-school scholarship places for local students. So thanks to this great initiative – and the generosity of many people (would hug you all if possible) we are able to ensure that all students receive an education that have enrolled at Kesho Leo – no matter what their financial situation. Even better, we have scholarship provisions that we can use to support students at Engosengui Primary School. It’s so exciting that Kesho Leo can continue to build such a positive and supportive relationship and I can’t wait to get more involved!
So.. now it’s the weekend and I’m feeling quite comfortable (a little worn out and tired) but very at home. I’m sure there will be challenges and difficulties in the year ahead – It’s certainly going to be hectic and I’ve got some massive shoes to fill. But it’s hard not to have an “everything is going to be awesome” feeling when you’re surrounded by friendly locals, a supportive bunch of volunteers and a relaxing vollage to come home to.

Sundays

2011-01-13T23:18:00.000-08:00

By Peter McTiernan

Sundays are generally a lazy day at foodwatershelter's volunteer village. It can be easy to get stuck on the computer writing back home to friends, family or foodwatershelter Australia. It is much more exiting if you get out and have some fun with our neighbors, or the Kesho Leo residents.

That is why Craig and I jumped at the chance when Mudi, our Tanzanian Kesho Leo Manager said that he was going to take the boys who live at Kesho Leo down to a nearby market on Sunday. Mudi said that he wanted to shout the boys lunch, I am always shocked at how much Mudi is willing to give, his 9 to 5 job is to support these boys, and their Mamas and sisters, amazing that in his spare time, with his own money he wants to take the boys and buy them lunch!

We all piled into the car and drove through the local area, across dirt roads with a swag of boys in the back playing, chatting, yelling and bouncing around. It was great to have the full troop back at Kesho Leo after many families had gone away for Christmas to visit extended families.

The drive is an interesting one, on one side you have all the signs of a booming area, new houses are under construction and the quality of many of the houses shows the wealth entering the area. Houses built from concrete with roof tiling are not the norm in these parts, the dirt road and the farms between each house tells you where you are, but some of the houses would not look out of place in suburban Australia. On the other side, in a total contrast the local tip lines the road, large enough for a few cricket grounds and some more.

How these relatively luxurious houses are next to the tip I do not know, but it makes for an interesting ride with the boys roaring away in the background.

We arrived into Kwamoronbo and I am wanting to grab a seat and eat because my eyes are too big for my belly. I knew I was not the only one, because after returning from ordering goat Mudi tells me “I am going to find some livers, I want to see how much these boys can eat.”

After a round of soft drink for the boys our first course arrives. Liver, and for those who opt in a good dressing of salt, with pill pili vegies (pili is Swahili for chili) and deep-fried plantons. That is when I knew Mudi was serious when he said he wanted to know how much these boys could eat.

The second course was a few legs of goat cooked on an open flame with salt on the side. Absolutely delicious, however the boys stood no chance in finishing this after the first course. Mudi later told me that he wanted to know how much they could eat, literally, because we have a couple of goats at Kesho Leo which will be up for slaughter later in the year and he needs to know the right number of goats to kill so that our residents and workers can be amply fed.

The boys knew they were lucky to get such a feast, and fortunately, as always with fws nothing went to waste, we took the excess home for the Mama’s and took the bones for the security dogs that live at the volunteer village.

The girls did not miss out either, they will be going along next week, Mudi wanted to make sure they had the same experience.

Christmas Kesho Leo Style

2010-12-27T06:31:00.000-08:00

By Laura Kearley

A year ago I got dressed up in a bright blue silk dress, ate a four-course seafood lunch, drank numerous glasses of champagne and called it a Christmas party. This year was somewhat different. This year – I cooked.
Although not entirely new to the concept, this was not the sort of cooking that comes with $50 recipe books and utensils that cost half a month’s wage. Nor was the final product the sort of gastronomic art they dedicate TV shows to. This was beef and rice assembled by 4 chefs, one knife, two enormous pots, some charcoal – and many a bucket.

I’m no stranger to seeing a feast put together. Although my role in the kitchen has usually been more of an observational one, I know enough about how to use conventional utensils to see how the whole process could come together.
With that in mind, and having seen enough of African cooking (from a safe distance) I ventured over to Kesho Leo early Friday morning, potato peeler stashed safely in my back pocket – ready to cook.

I soon learnt that if was going to be an African chef, I needed to look like one.
With my obsession with matching clothes remarkably still intact 4 months in, I won’t pretend I didn’t have a moment of panic. And yet against all the odds I wound up with a white headscarf with matching blue and white Kanga (colourful material used for clothing). Small point to note – my body shape is significantly different to your average Tanzanian woman. Nevertheless, with the beautiful blue material wrapped around my ‘waist’, looking decidedly less than bootylicious and with my master chef Eliza on site to direct - we got down to business.

Step 1: Prepare beef. Holding on for dear life to a strip of slimy, fatty meat at one end Eliza pulled the other and sawed the flesh into chunks. It took a lot of willpower not to make all the appropriate gagging noises when it came to cracking bone that looked suspiciously like a spinal cord. I have never been more acutely aware that this was not beef lightly seared on a bed of herb mash. This was cow.

Step 2: Onions. Diced onions to be precise. With no chopping board in site I thought I was being quite industrious using the lid of a water bucket. Before I got in trouble for scratching the bucket and with a little instruction from Aggie I was rediscovering the ancient art of finely dicing vegetables in my hand. Only 4 cuts (the other three were bovine spinal cord induced) and at least 12 perfectly diced onions later and it was decided that I was the expert at this skillful task – a self-proclaimed title.

Step 3: Rice. Rice with rocks.12 kilos of rice that needs to be hand sorted to
remove the offending but potentially very damaging to expensive dental work rocks.The first few minutes were an interesting challenge. I soon realised that the skillful art of flipping rice in a rounded woven plate thing (if there’s a fancy gastronomic term I don’t know it) is one I’m yet to finely tune. Where Aggie, Maswai and Eliza made a beautiful display of airborne rock-free rice sorting – I spent an hour hunched over, looking suspiciously like a mentally challenged psychopath searching for the secret to life in a half plate/half bowl of rice riddled with frustratingly small rocks. It wasn’t until Aggie pondered on the brilliance of a machine that could sort the rocks from the rice, if only such a thing existed, that I realised they weren’t giving me an ‘authentic African cooking experience’ by taking it back to basics. This was quite simply a daily chore.

Step 4: Given my superior talent for root vegetable preparation and obvious handicap in the sifting department - I moved on to garlic. Lots of and lots of garlic. Lots and lots of miniature garlic cloves with sticky, annoying skin that gets under your fingernails and burns terribly. I was regretting taking up precious pocket space with the potato peeler and dreaming of the garlic press I left at the volunteer village. That said I did develop a finely tuned method that unfortunately saw me tending to the massive pile of garlic on my own.

While I was intently lost in mastering these various arts of preparation, the real cooks were expertly putting together the feast. Aggie was bitterly disappointed that I didn’t know how to make ‘African fire’. A fire I can make, one that burns at the perfect temperature consistently for several hours was a little beyond my level of expertise.
With the beef and onions sautéed, water boiled, rice added and garlic mixed through we turned our attention to preparing the salad and a tastebud disintegrating chilli sauce. I did try, in vain, to introduce the potato peeler (despite the absence of potatoes) but instead reverted back to my now well-developed talent for freehand dicing.

By 1pm, 3 hours since our masterchef session began, almost 20kgs of mouth-watering pilau was ready. Heaped into buckets, our masterpiece was served to the 8 mamas, 19 kids, 8 volunteers, a dozen workers and a handful of Kesho Leo friends and family who, as with any Christmas party, had come together to celebrate the year that was.
So this year, although I replaced silk for a Kanga, abandoned my utensils and rediscovered the art of doing things the basic way, I realised that things may have changed, but I’m certainly not complaining.

Poems from Kesho Leo

2010-11-21T00:00:00.000-08:00

By Cindy Keong.

UNGA'S PEOPLE

Decaying air hangs in a 
low cloud as you pass 
through Unga. Men await the 
arrival of daily refuse, eagerly tearing open 
rubbish bags like presents at Christmas 
hoping Mother got it right this year.

Ramshackle shop fronts sell produce 
laid out on threadbare hessian and 
ragged cloth. Cherry tomato and spanish onion 
gleam like polished jewels in the hot sun, the 
seller resting on haunches, leg muscles built 
on patience; his face with a frozen stare 
remains unbroken to passers by.

Donkeys laden with makeshift saddlebags 
strain their rope burnt legs up  
unsealed roads, shifting their 
loads on uneven shoulders to allow 
the zig-zag of traffic to pass. Not far 
behind a tired shepherd, trudges the same 
worn path. These figures mimic roadside trees, 
dressed in dusty brown jackets.

NIGHT WINDOWS
Night caresses day with its 
midnight fingers. Mt Meru
  towers sentinel, its purple skin
  luminous in fading light.

Crickets beat their legs
  against brittle grass, frogs with
  raspy coughs croak at a cloudless
  sky, their pleas for moisture lost
  on the ears of a dry night breeze.

Askari assemble, ready to
  guard our gates and protect our 
dreams. The crunch of boots on
  gravel, a lullaby for easy sleep

DROUGHT SONGS
i.
Roads blister in afternoon sun 
unable to hide aging skin 
and dusty shoulders

ii.
Tired Acacia trees are huddled 
hat stands, scarves of debris 
on thorny arms

iii.
Scorched grass creaks and moans as 
bougainvillea flowers whisper in
 crackling voices prayers for rain

About Cindy Keong: I am a Brisbane based photographer, poet and teacher. Currently exploring life in Tanzania volunteering as part of the amazing NGO that is FWS. My role here is to assist with the early childhood education program giving children a great start toward their primary education

Award Winning Architecture at Kesho Leo

2010-11-12T14:28:00.000-08:00

by Rob Watson



I’m absolutely delighted to announce that at the 2010 Australian Institute of Architects national awards in Canberra, we received a National Award for International Architecture for the Kesho Leo Children’s home in the village of Sinon, Tanzania.



Volunteering my services for the fantastic young Australian charity, foodwatershelter (which I’m on the board for and currently Vice President), has been an eye opening and at times very emotional experience, however we have managed to not only design and build something that is changing the lives of disadvantaged people in Tanzania but at the same time is leading by example. To be recognised for it as well by my peers is icing on the cake.

If anyone is interested to find out more about the Awards and/or fws please don’t hesitate to contact me.

You can also check out more of the stunning sustainable design of the Kesho Leo Children's Village on the 'eco-friendly plans' page of our website.

Time to celebrate, cheers!

Aggie

2010-10-27T05:14:00.000-07:00

With a beautiful smile and an infectious spirit, Aggie is one of the most popular fws employees.

: Aggie, Simon (Askari) and fellow housekeeper Maswai

Aggie is a 24-year-old single mother to 5-year-old Nelson (you can probably work out who he's named after). Nellie attends the Kesho Leo chekechea, where all fws employees' children receive free pre-primary education.

Like anywhere, being a single mama is tough, but in Sinoni it's particularly hard. Re-marriage prospects are pretty much zero and employment opportunities not much better. And being in Tanzania, there's no welfare system; other than the generosity of neighbours. Most single mothers have little choice but to go back to their family home, or even worse, return to their loveless and/or abusive marriage. But not Aggie.

Unlike any of the many other single women I've met here, Aggie had the courage to leave her husband on her own free will. It is a testiment to her inner strength. While she applied to be a House Mama at Kesho Leo, fws thought that with her excellent English she wasn't as needy as some of the other mamas. Instead, fws offered her the job of cooking lunches for the volunteers during the week (the volunteers chip in a bit every week to pay for it). I think the volunteers at the time just wanted to have Aggie around as much as possible! - she has a wonderful sense of humour and a laugh that will warm your heart.

A few months ago, Sarah decided that Aggie's English was underutilised at the Vollage and suggested that she help teach the House Mamas' weekly English class. She quickly jumped at the opportunity, proving herself more than capable. Since then, we've gradually given her more and more responsibility. Next came teaching the weekly community adult English classes, where anyone from the area is welcome to participate for free. Now she helps out with after school tuition and translation wherever required as well. And she's taken to it with the natural ability and inner strength she's always had.

Recently, fws was able to formalise her new role with a small pay increase and a better title. She still works one morning a week in the Volunteer Village - we weren't going to give her up that easily! - but her afternoons are now full of educational responsibilities. Now she wants to finish her schooling, having only been able to complete Level 7 as a girl. We hope to support her to do so down the track.

And with the increased wage, Aggie has been been able to secure a small loan to finish building the small, two room house she has been saving up for for ages (she currently rents one tiny room in someone else's house). Works are in progress and she hopes to move in by 2011.

: Aggie and Nelson at their half-finished house

Aggie's sister was recently dumped by her husband (we suspect for another woman), leaving behind a handful of clothes and two children under the age of 6. That's it. No money, no job and no place to live. She doesn't really have anywhere to go ... until Aggie's house is finished.

The biochar revolution in tropical soil fertility management

2010-10-04T21:39:00.002-07:00

by Don Lotter, Ph.D.

Tropical soils are generally more dependent on organic matter for fertility than temperate region soils, plus many, if not most, tropical agricultural soils are low in organic matter. Soils in many parts of the tropics, including Africa, are geologically old, weathered, leached, and are made up of what are known as secondary clays. These clays, which are often reddish from iron oxides, unlike the geologically young, glaciation-derived soils in North America and Europe, generally have a low nutrient holding capacity. Decomposing organic matter, as well as post-decomposition humic substances, provide a critical source of nutrient-holding surfaces, among other benefits.

Warm-wet tropical climates make for high decomposition rates, further exacerbating the soil organic matter deficiency problem. Some countries such as Brazil have developed effective small-holder mulching practices that reduce soil disturbance and keep soil temperatures low, retaining much needed organic matter levels.

The deficit of organic matter in African agriculture can be resolved by intensifying crop production – especially by improving and tightening up crop rotations and polyculture combinations that include legumes and grasses, and by reducing soil disturbance by moving to minimum- and zero-tillage. The former increases the source and the latter reduces the sink for organic matter.

Biochar. There’s a new kid on the organic-matter-and-tropical-soil-fertility block, and he’s big and is going to be a force to contend with – biochar. Biochar is charcoal – pyrolized biomass – mostly pure carbon chains produced by heating (fire temperature) plant biomass in the absence of oxygen, which vaporizes everything except carbon chains and some tar. The biochar as soil amendment phenomenon was in recent years discovered in ancient soils of the Amazon that were biochar-amended and which remain some of the most fertile soils in the region as a result.

Left: Charcoal dust being applied to garden beds.
Right: We obtain charcoal dust that is currently a by-product of the local charcoal market points. At right can be seen a few pieces of charcoal.

Biochar is causing a small revolution in tropical soil fertility management. Its surfaces hold nutrients for plant roots to access, it is microbe-friendly, and it doesn’t decompose or leach away. Numerous field trials have shown higher crop yields, sometimes double, in biochar-amended soils.

Currently in Africa biochar as a soil amendment is a new concept, and knowledge of it hasn’t reached more than a tiny fraction of farmers and agricultural development workers. I am currently able to buy charcoal dust – a waste product – very cheaply from charcoal processing areas in the city of Arusha. These are places where bush-dwelling producers, mostly Maasai women walking with heavily-laden donkeys, bring charcoal. I don’t expect the low prices to last a year as agriculturists learn the value of charcoal dust. Charcoal production is unsustainable in much of Africa where forests are being cut for the wood, but dry savannah areas, such as those surrounding Arusha, can support production when shrubs and trees that can regrow are used as the wood source.

Biochar-producing stoves that burn pellets that are waste-derived or sustainably produced are being introduced in Africa. These stoves have separate chambers for pyrolizing some of the pellets and producing biochar for soils. Pioneering efforts are being made by a few NGOs (non-governmental organizations) to quantify the amount of this stove-derived biochar going into soils, a form of long-term carbon sequestration, and to tap into global carbon-offset market funds to pay the stove users. This may become a significant source of income for people in Africa.

How things change

2010-09-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

By Eve Archbold

Wow, so here I am in Sinon after nine months away from this wonderful community. I was the farm manager in 2008-2009 and left for Australia in December after handing over to Don Lotter, our current farm manager. I am here for only a few short days this time round with the Kesho Leo volunteers, house mamas, children, staff and neighbours: collectively some of my favourite people in the world.

I've recently arrived from Uganda, where Robert Cork (fws permaculture manager, and environmental engineer) and I had been working for the Cotton On Foundation to advise on environmental systems and sustainability for their project in Mannya . COF have partnered with the Mannya community and St Bernards parish in Geelong to provide schools, a health clinic, money for income generating projects and extension services into the community. The difference that they have made to this rural village is incredible and there are some exciting income generating sustainable programs still to come such as: an organic coffee plantation, agroforestry, honey production, collective marketing schemes for farmers and community education in intensive organic agriculture....the list goes on. COF generously support me in travelling to Tanzania, giving me the chance to catch up with the team in Tanzania.

The day before yesterday I flew into Kilimanjaro airport and made my way to Arusha. I stayed overnight in town and then yesterday morning, with butterflies in my stomach and a grin on my face I arrived in Sinon. Ahhh...Sinoni.

Kesho Leo has changed so much in the short time that I have been away. When I left in December the mamas had been living in their new homes for just a few months and were still settling in and adjusting to their new life. The area around the buildings was quite bare, having recently been a building site and the kindergarten, although well attended, still felt new. Now when I walk around the buildings the transition from house to home is evident everywhere and Kesho Leo looks well loved and beautiful. The education programs are racing ahead and the classrooms (two now, instead of one large one) are adorned with posters, artwork, charts and school work while home-made mobiles hang from the ceiling. Great things are happening at Kesho Leo and I'm hearing so many plans from excited staff and mamas who are now looking ahead to their future with hope and optimism.

Here are some stories about a few of the lovely people we work with in Sinon:

Bibi Franki

Bibi (meaning grandma in Kiswahili,) is the matriarch of the project here in Sinon, appreciated and respected as an elder by the Kesho Leo mamas and volunteers alike. She, like many of the mamas at Kesho Leo had done it tough before being employed by fws. Having watched her own children die from AIDS Bibi took on the responsibility of looking after her two remaining grandchildren Franki and Haji. When her husband passed away Bibi lost the rights to her house and land. By law this went to to her husband's family leaving Bibi with no income and two young dependants. The community came to the rescue by alerting the Christian brothers who then started to support Bibi with donations of food, housing and a small allowance. Fws took over this support by employing Bibi Franki to become one of the Kesho Leo house mamas in 2007- the rest is history! She is looking fabulous “Kama kijana(like a teenager)!”she exclaimed, looking at a photo of herself that I took. Healthy, happy and according to her enjoying her 'retirement' at Kesho Leo. The easy life! Bibi has been helping to babysit Sumaiya, the small daughter of Mudi our project manager at Kesho Leo while living with her two grandchildren Franki and Haj. In fact Sumaiya seems to have a team of honorary mamas, aunties and cousins just waiting to take their turn to look after her! She is too gorgeous and spoilt by all!

Ester, a younger house mama who is known for her kind heart has taken it upon herself to cook with (well, for) Bibi Franki and her grandchildren each night so they share their food and spend the evenings chatting and stirring pots getting the meal ready for their five children combined and themselves. Last night I sat with them as the sun went down. Bibi was in charge of making the milky, sweet chai and we drank it together while we waited for the moon and laughed at the antics of hyperactive kids at sunset.

Aggie

Aggie has been with fws right from the start. She has been working only part time (paid by the volunteers to cook lunches and help out around the volunteer village) but despite that she has managed to save for and purchase a small block of land and now, to my utter amazement and delight, has a half-built house, expected to be finished in a few months! Aggie is a young single mum who ran away from her much older, abusive husband during pregnancy. She came across the border from Kenya and has been renting a room in a house with some other families for the past few years. Currently she is sharing her bed (Yes, because there is only one and otherwise a dirt floor to sleep on) with her small son, her sister, and her sisters two children. I think she is quite keen to finish building and move into her two room house – one room for her and her son Nelson, and the other for her sister and her sister's children!

We've all seen how motivated and positive Aggie is as an employee and, recognising Aggie's potential, Sarah (Project manager) and Hannah (Education manager) decided to employ her in the afternoons as a teaching assistant. She has proved to be an excellent teacher and is fantastic with the children in afternoon tuition. Aggie is loving her new position. It's fantastic to see people like Aggie get these opportunities, I couldn't think of anyone who deserves it more.

Our Tanzanian farm manager, John, has been working hard to save money to build his family a new home. He is buying the bricks bit by bit and will finally begin construction once he has accumulated the materials he needs. John and his wife invited me over for lunch today and I had a chance to once again admire their beautiful, productive garden. John's house is like an oasis, set in the dry open land that surrounds Kesho Leo. His garden is green and so productive all year round through his clever use of plants and organic farming techniques that naturally build and replenish the soil.

Helena is one of the Kesho Leo house mamas. She is slightly older than many of the other mamas and is a natural leader. Helena and I walked to visit her elderly mother and on the way she told me that since being employed by fws she has bought and paid off a piece of land where in the future, she plans to grow vegetables as a small income. Her extended family also has a small piece of land where Helena is hoping to build a little house for her mother, a widow, who lives in a small traditional mud hut nearby. Helena has been carefully saving some of her wage each week in order to achieve these things.

Issa works as one of our askaris (guards). When I last saw him he was a confirmed bachelor renting a small room a few doors down from our volunteer village. Smiling ear to ear he informed me yesterday that he now not only has a wife but she is pregnant! Fast worker. He seems very happy with the whole situation and his future.

Onesmo ,the always optimistic will-try-anything all rounder, has had the opportunity to work with carpenters, electricians, plumbers and handymen since he began working with fws in 2008. He has worked with volunteer Australian tradesmen helping them to do everything from installing first flush systems on our water tanks to helping Pricey to wire up the power in the kindergarten. When I saw a recent photo of Onesmo deftly welding together the frame for a kitchen bench I couldn't believe my eyes! Is there anything he can't do these days?!

I went to visit Onesmo’s parents with him yesterday and he told me about his plan to save up to go to school. It seems he has been inspired by the recent sale of all of our indigenous goats at Kesho Leo. He had seen that each of our young female goats had given birth to a kid, and as they had all been fed and well looked after they had gained weight and were very big and healthy. This led to very good prices at market and of course we had doubled our numbers as well. Onesmo promptly took his saving and built a goat shelter and bought himself four young female goats and two sheep. He has done his calculations and is excited about the profit making potential of his new small business! Onesmo is already an excellent farmer, but can see more than ever how beneficial it is to make sure that his goats have a balanced, varied diet, shelter and care to ensure that they achieve optimum health.

I also want to make mention of the small team of hard-working volunteers that staff our project in Tanzania and work alongside Tanzanian counterparts to achieve so much for our organisation. I have been lucky enough while here to spend some time talking to each of our long term vounteers about their life and work at Kesho Leo. Having worked on the ground in Tz for eighteen months myself I know just how much volunteers give up to be here and how hard everyone works to keep the project going and progressing day by day. To Sarah (Project Manager), Craig (finances), Laura (communications), Hannah (education), Don (sustainable agriculture) and also to Warren and Clare, who are here for the second time to lend a helping hand, I say a big thankyou. Thanks for everything and keep up the good work.

By Eve Archbold

Warren and Clare Hopley Return

2010-09-13T01:44:00.001-07:00

by Warren and Clare Hopley

We had a volunteer stint from January to March in 2008. The Kesho Leo building had begun and Darren and Robert were furiously trying to make progress with a team of Tanzanian assistants. Darren was the only builder and had become frustrated at spending too much time traveling into town most days to purchase building materials. FWS advertised for a Purchasing Office and a teacher so we jumped at the opportunity. Clare began the Children’s Education program with the help of Lucas a local Tanzanian who immediately proved to be a natural born teacher.

Two and a half years later we have returned to see an enormous number of changes. Progress on the buildings and the health, education and happiness of the mamas and children is simply astounding. Lucas who was also relatively new to FWS in early 2008 has become an integral and indispensable part of the education team. The work of the education volunteers Helen Campbell in 2009 and Hannah Anderson this year is not only highly professional and innovative but inspirational.

The roof of the central Kesho building was almost complete when we left in 2008. Large sections of the roof were lifted up manually. We have a very clear vision of Darren directing a large team of workers using an interesting range of vocab from Swahili and English. We can feel Darren’s presence in every part of the building and every piece of timber. Now the Mamas and children’s accommodation, the farm, fish pond etc is all up and is a hive of activity.
The welcome we received from the mamas and children was overwhelming. It has been a particular gift to be working with Mudi again. The team of volunteers have made us very welcome and supportive. Sarah, the Kesho manager is always available and helpful. Such a pleasure to be back!

by Warren and Clare Hopley

Old habits die (suprisingly) easy...

2010-09-06T01:47:00.000-07:00

I touched down at Arusha airport sleep deprived, dusty, slightly emotional, annoyingly hyperactive and full of pre-conceived ideas about how my life would look in Africa.
As an avid daydreamer I had no trouble creating a parallel universe during my months of preparations. Hours of working and studying were busily spent cultivating a world in which all things African took on a decisively romantic tone. Dusty, potholed desert lanes lined with caricatured mud huts and donkeys were just the beginning – in fact it was the anticipated hardships and lack of luxury that gave these delusions such an exotic feel. I was loving it.

There was definitely something to the idea that not only would this drastic shift in lifestyle be a much needed change of pace – but that I would adapt seamlessly and give up any and all preconceived ideas of what I needed to keep sane. I would become a true blue African. Duh
So you can imagine my surprise when, definitely not according to the plan, I began to replace those old, deeply embedded personal rituals in favour of some very unexpected, slightly neurotic habits.

Having grown up on a small island where shoes were an unwelcome imposition on visiting the mainland, I had every intention of nurturing my love of living barefoot in Africa. I had planned in detail the development of a very ‘I live in nature’ look - complete with well-worn soles that pedicurists would reel at. Apparently not so. There’s barely a moment (including mid-shower) when my toes aren’t wrapped securely around my thongs and midnight loo runs are painfully held up by tentative foot searching beneath the bed. Unfortunately the pedicurists still wouldn’t be impressed, as this new habit hasn’t necessarily helped my talent for toe stubbing.

As anticipated, there are some habits you can’t possibly maintain when showers come in the form of kettles and buckets. Stemming from a well fostered, if slightly obsessive hatred of greasy hair, my every-second-day hair wash regime has quickly been replaced by an only-if-the-weather-is-right-and-I-can’t-possibly-use-any-more-talcum-powder attitude. It may seem logical to others that there’s nothing remotely romantic about unclean hair but for this particular deluded soul it’s been a rude awakening. On the upside, it’s doing wonders for that ‘all natural’ look I was going for.

Some habits are a little less savoury than others. Although I’m growing a deep respect and appreciation for the compost loos, there are aspects to their function that I would rather not have known about. I hate rats. In fact vermin of any kind are no friend of mine. So when Glen, ever so pleasantly, regaled me with his tales of sanitary adventure – I was not impressed. It appears that the favourite cuisine of our local furry friends is, in fact, human compost - a process they like to contribute to - right beneath your backside. And of course, here developed my newest, and least enjoyable ritual of peering down to check for hungry rats before doing my business. I’d like to set your minds at ease and say I haven’t been blessed by such an encounter but last night proved fateful and I’ve been holding my bladder ever since.

Finally there are the illogical habits that, contrary to all daydreaming, have developed out of thin air. For 21 years I have stood firmly by my philosophy that making the bed is not only pointless but in fact counter-productive. I’ve successfully maintained this argument through the family home, boarding school, two studio apartments and a share-house. I’ve even been known to attempt, unsuccessfully, to recruit friends and relatives. And yet here I am, nurturing a bed making skill that military commanders would be envious of – hardly a typical wild, natural woman’s talent. Of course, I must apologise to my parents for not fostering this particular obsession earlier in life. Pole

And so, only three weeks in and I’ve learnt the most shocking lesson of all. It’s the small things that make the experience more real and diverse than even the most talented daydreamers, such as myself, could ever have anticipated. Those months spent cultivating the volunteer’s version of never-never land were a wonderful lead-up to my arrival.
But the truth is that reality trumps fantasy every time.

My Top 10 Most Fantastic Moments at Kesho Leo

2010-08-23T01:22:00.000-07:00

by Hannah Anderson

The search for the amazing ‘Kesho Krew’ 2011 is on and so thought I’d take the opportunity to brag about some of the fantastic moments that I’ve experienced as Education Manager in 2010.

I’ve been in Arusha for 8 months now and can honestly say that the role has been my most favourite and challenging so far… Although much of the hard work of setting up the Kesho Leo Education centre had already been done by Helen in 2009, I was lucky enough to be given the freedom to develop the different Education programs on offer. The mix of pre-school, primary tuition and adult education has given me some fantastic experience in different areas of Education and it has been really enlightening to learn more about the local primary system and the services on offer by different NGO’s in the area.

It’s been difficult to narrow it down to my top 10 (despite discussing them over a beer or 2) but here goes…

1. Seeing the education centre be transformed from a single large hall to 2 separate classrooms with book corners, posters and cushions galore.

2. Having the opportunity to teach one of our Kesho boys in Class 5 (who attends school every day) to recognise his letters and begin to read and write.

3. Helping out a neighbour of Kesho Leo (a mama with children in the chekechea) when she gave birth at home on a hard bed with no food. FWS was able to help her out with a mattress and some protein packed meat for the mama. FWS now employs the girl’s mother on a casual basis to help out on the farm.

4. Watching Aggie (our village cook turned teacher) grow and thrive as she teaches English to the Kesho Leo Mamas and members of the local community.

5. Watching the Kesho Leo children benefit from 1:1 teaching and support. The ‘lightbulb’ moments of the daily tuition sessions keep myself and Lucas (our Tanzanian Tuition teacher) motivated and encouraged on a daily basis.

6. Visiting some of the homes in the local community to find out what the local mums and dads really want to learn more about...

7. Employing Lucy as our 2nd FWSChekechea teacher and watching her develop and grow in confidence alongside our other Tanzanian teacher, Margaret

8. Having the opportunity to get to know and gossip with the Kesho Leo Mamas in English. Who knew English classes could be so enlightening about the daily goings on of Kesho Leo - the drama!

9. Seeing local men and women in the community turn up week after week after a hard days work to learn conversational English - to get a better job

10. Being able to help out the local primary school with a bit of teaching and support with resources - to make teaching their classes of 100+ children a little bit easier...

11. (Told you I couldn't stick to 10) - Getting to know lots of fantastic people who are amazing at what they do

by Hannah Anderson

The Sartorialist in Sinoni

2010-08-22T22:09:00.000-07:00

Africa is a fashion adventure, particularly for those accustomed to office-bound colleagues wearing demure suits. In addition to the traditional, brightly-coloured African kangas that the women wrap around themselves, we see plenty of second-hand clothing from the West.

Every week, containers full of second-hand clothes arrive on African shores from the US, Europe and Australia. These containers are then transported to various towns around Africa and their wares sold at local markets.

Here's a selection of what's being worn in Sinoni at the moment...

One of our day askari supporting breast cancer research.

Our best dancer proudly wearing a glitzy jacket from Sandra Brewer's Dance Studio

Sunday finery... (with the exception of the dude in the back right corner)

This mama belongs in Vegas, not Sinoni...

I don't know who Alex Ferguson is, but he's a champion!

More support for breast cancer research.

America's favourite son is proudly worn on the chest of our cook extraordinaire.

John

2010-08-13T04:08:00.000-07:00

John is the fws Farm Manager and one of the nicest people you will ever meet. John lives near the Volunteer Village and was first offered work on the fws farm when Eve, a former volunteer, saw how well-tended his garden and crops were. Today, I got to see why; John invited me to see his home after work.

John at home with his watoto (children)

John, like many of our workers and the broader Sinoni population, is a Maasai. So when John collected his children from his mother’s nearby and I greeted her in Swahili, she said, “Sijui” (I don’t know); John’s Mum only really speaks Maasai (many locals can speak Maasai but it is not often used). His extended family lives about 50m from his property in a fairly traditional “Boma” set-up; a few huts/houses set around a communal livestock area.

The area John lives in doesn’t have the same irrigation as our land just a kilometre away, and is mostly grassland used for livestock grazing. But John’s small block of land sticks out for all the vegetation: mostly banana trees and sugar cane. John has quickly adapted to organic farming, which the community were initially quite skeptical of, and has used incorporated many of the practices into his own property.

A neighbouring property with a traditional Boma set-up

John’s apologised that the place didn’t look as nice as it should and he didn’t have any fresh chipati to offer as his wife is away visiting family at the moment. But his brother brought us some sodas anyway. Zacharia, just 18 months old, was very happy to see that I’d brought some eggs with me. And Magdalena, who goes to the fws chekechea (kindergarten; free for all fws workers’ children), proudly showed me her day’s work: a drawing of flowers.

John is saving to build a new house, as he doesn’t like the traditional mud-brick place he is in. He would also like to have three rooms instead of two.

John is 31 years old - the same age as me.

A Tractor for Africa

2010-08-09T22:37:00.000-07:00

By Don Lotter, 2010 Kesho Leo Farm Manager

This isn't directly about Kesho Leo but it is about something important to Africans - the desire to have a part of the pathway to development that they can call their own. That something is a tractor that was invented for African conditions and would be manufactured/assembled in Africa.

When you hear the name of the inventor, a Scotsman by the name of Roger Stephenson, you may think "What is African about that?", but the future of Africa (and many regions of the world) is about people immigrating and bringing ideas that mesh with the local culture. And there is no idea more powerful here than Africa producing its own machinery for its own development.

Roger and the chassis of his "Tractor for Africa", back in February.

I have watched Roger's tractor being built here in Arusha for the past eight months, and then watched it unveiled at the national trade fairs in Dar es Salaam and Arusha. It has generated a lot of excitement. (He built one in the UK first and shipped it to West Africa.)

How would this tractor compete with the likes of Massey-Ferguson, Ford, John Deere, and the many other tractors made by Asian, European, and American companies? Because it is designed for the African farmer, that's why. The average owner of a small to medium-sized African farm who can afford a vehicle, a growing sector of the population, can buy either a car or a tractor - but not both. The RS-22 goes a long way towards filling both needs. It has a high speed gear box that will allow use on roads and in town, a bucket seat for driver plus 2, a trailer for hauling, plus a suspension to make it ride more like a truck (it has been called a "trucktor") yet still do tillage.

Don Lotter and Roger's assistant engineer, Noella. Noella was indispensable in the making of six tractors for display at the national trade fairs in July and August.

Additionally, the RS-22 has power attachments at the back that will fill a number of needs in rural Africa, i.e. a flat-belt pulley for driving milling machinery, a generator, or a water pump. All of these things are much in demand in rural Africa. The tractor also has the standard power-take-off (PTO) for tillage implements and an air pressure connection for spraying.

The 22 horsepower engine by Lister-Petter is one of the most common engines used in rural Africa for generators and mills. Other parts are standard off-the-shelf items. The RS-22 can till an acre of land with less than half of the fuel used by a standard tractor here, plus it is well-equipped to help pioneer the zero- and conservation-tillage practices that research shows is much needed here.

Roger, who has been a tractor engineer his entire career and has worked in Asia, Europe, and Africa, initially came up with the idea 35 years ago.

See more at this web page I did for Roger to help him get funding to demonstrate the tractor.

I wish the best for Roger and for the Africans in progressing towards producing their own agricultural technology.

Half-way done, in April.

The flat-belt pulley is the round flat object.

J-Lo arrives...

2010-06-25T12:12:00.000-07:00

By Jennifer Mills

Hello! I am Jennifer, the new RN from San Diego! I have been a nurse for a loooong time. Graduated in 1995 from Maui Community College. Life has been good to me indeed!

I just came from a two year stint at Kaiser Permanente ER in San Diego. I have a vast array of experience from urgent care, pre/post operative, IV infusion Center, IV team, gastroenterology, pulmonology, administering conscious sedation, and a RN at a walk-in nurse clinic.... I am extremely happy to be here!!! Well travelled, I am not. This is an adventure of a lifetime!

A blog... What do I have of interest to say? The Mamas and children are beautiful and healthy. Job well done FoodWaterShelter! This is the beginning of our story... My inititiation if you will, into my role as the new nurse.

So here it is, the first blog from the new nesi (nurse) at Food Water Shelter, fondly referred to as "J Lo" by the Mamas.

Now let's make this clear. I am a thin, fair, blond. I have got no "J Lo" attributes. No bumps. No curves. No rhythm. No salsa. I got no "J Lo"....

"J Lo". Me? I LOVE IT!!!! I embrace this nickname whole-heartedly!

As I expand upon my new "J Lo" identity, I incorporate my interpretation of my "J Lo" Dance. My "interpretation" is a definite acknowledgement of my inability to dance...

This is the signature move:
A swift slap of my right hand calculated with, shall I say, a timely swing of the hips.

The Mamas love it!!!

With this move alone, I managed to break the ice.
All barriers melted...

When things in the classroom are getting a bit dull... The Mamas with blank stares. I stir it up with the J Lo move!
They love it every time!!

You know what? Life can sometimes be really tough here....

2010-05-31T06:42:00.000-07:00

...but there is always something that will pick you up again.

You know it’s always so much easier writing about the good stuff, the fun stuff...so this blog I wanted to look at the things we struggle with. Volunteering can be one of the most rewarding things you can do in your life, but also one of the most challenging, and I think it is this, the difficult times, that you can often look back on and realise, wow...I did that!

I sat here for quite some time thinking of things that have made me sigh in frustration, things that have seen me want to return to bed and wake up hoping things will be different, and in speaking to others is seems that the same things affect us all, we are not alone and sometimes we forget this.

Needing something and not being able to get it, planning something and on the 3^rd attempt still not being able to achieve it, implementing something that you think is a fantastic idea and people not appreciating it or maybe just not getting it?? The internet that doesn’t work...emails that aren’t replied to...power that is off ...again... , people not listening, at times it seems all is working against you, the whole world is plotting for you to be unproductive and unsuccessful in everything that you do. That seems a little dramatic doesn’t it? And for sure it can definitely feel that way sometimes.

Firstly, let’s be honest here, none of us volunteers got to interview who was coming to share our time here. We are lucky to have our own space, our own rooms, which is more than some previous volunteers had! But sharing the fridge, negotiating the freezer, doing the “dinner dance” as numerous people go about cooking their dinner at the same time on the stove with only 3 out of 5 burners working, ...and the dishes...let’s not go there! Not changing the toilet rolls, not filling up the water or the sawdust for the compost loos...sounds like any ol’ share house doesn’t it? There is also negotiating each other and where everyone “is at.” Sure, someone could be top of the world one day but this is not going to help the person who is having “one of those days”...really it doesn’t, sometimes their enthusiasm and energy is like finger nails dragging along a chalk board when you are in a different space. It’s great to be together and have each other for support but sometimes it’s great to be apart and this isn’t always possible and isn’t always easy to achieve considering where we live.

(the forever empty toilet roll holder)

(The kitchen can be a bit of a squeeze sometimes)

Then there are the “3 month sads.” We were warned about it, it happens to everybody, and pretty much on cue at the 3 month point. You’ve been here for awhile, things aren’t quite so exciting any more, things that were charming or funny are now frustrating and annoying. You feel kind of alone and homesick. You miss the comforts of home, a shower, hot water on tap, a pantry, washing machines and dryers, your own car, take away food...and being clean. A pet hate of my own; getting ready to crawl into bed exhausted from the day and realising that my once clean feet have against all efforts become muddy again.

Something that I think is the hardest of all to manage is seeing people, seeing children around you as you walk through the community who could use your help but just not being able to give it. You have to be honest with yourself, you can’t help everybody and if you tried you would probably end up helping nobody. This, as well as seeing the corruption and struggle around you every day, is the hardest thing of all. There are times when all these things will get you down, you will think “what am I doing here?” “what’s the use?” “am I really helping anyone? Making any changes” These are the hardest of times, when you have your own thoughts and doubts plaguing your mind.

But...

...when you do feel frustrated, challenged or lost there is always something to bring you up again. That is what is so truly amazing about life here.

There is always something to make you laugh. Whether it’s Simon’s cheeky comments and big smile as you come and go during the day.

(Simon our day askari (security guard) through the volunteer village front gate)

Or Maggie our dog who sometimes gets so desperate to play a game she makes you feel bad by kicking stones under her legs, and with great enthusiasm, turns around to catch them.

(Maggie playing her game with an assortment of rocks)

Or the ingenious plans of volunteers. In this case Don, who has taken to capturing and taking hostage animals who are caught eating his crops. One morning last week 2 goats were released after negotiations from our chicken pen, and quite a bit fatter too I suspect, they got a good feed while in there over night.

(Sarah and Don catching the offending goats to return to their owners)

There is always something to make you proud, the children learning, the mamas achieving. Seeing signs that the mamas and kids love living at Kesho Leo. Having a mama come up to you excited about their new sewing creation. You are proud that they have taken the initiative to be a little more creative, they have tried something new like you suggested and it has worked. The mamas coming to you wanting to plant fruit trees, telling us now is the good time, wanting to look after and develop their home.

(Volunteers were surprised to find the personal touches mamas and kids were making to their home...this 'Kesho Leo' garden amazed us all when we discovered it)

(Kesho Leo Mamas taking on their first solo fish harvest!)

There is always something to make you feel valued. A smile, a squeeze of the hand from a mama, a cuddle by a child who was once wary of you. An afterhours text message from a worker appreciative of the new thing you taught them today. For Glen, seeing a bearded stick figure featured in a Childs’ drawing... mimi (me)? Ndiyo (yes)!

(Big smiles)

(Mamas bringing home plants)

And, there is always something to make you feel new again. I am forever in awe of the beauty of this place. Waking up and seeing Mt. Meru tower over us, never the same at any one moment. Catching glimpses of Kilimanjaro on clear bright days. Walking through the community and feeling a part of it all. You really do forget what community really is until you come here.

(Mt. Meru on the walk to Kesho Leo)

(Mt. Kilimanjaro in the distance)

Yes it can be really tough here, but as I said there is always something to pick you up, something that will remind you what you are doing here and help you get through the slumps. My tip: be practical, realistic and expect the hard times and you won’t be surprised or disappointed when they come along.

And if all else fails there are always sights like this to make you laugh!!

(Local men transporting a car body)

Power is on its way to Kesho Leo- Solar Style!

2010-05-24T07:22:00.000-07:00

Before the Solar could be installed I had to build my first wall and it looks pretty good (if I do say so myself).

If you had been living at Kesho Leo, you would be well aware that over previous months you were relying on 3 hours of power a night. This power is produced by a noisy little generator grinding away under your floor boards and was your only opportunity to use some of the 102 light bulbs at Kesho Leo. This will soon be a sound of the past, as the long awaited sight of solar panels being lifted onto the butterfly roof of Kesho Leo has come!

Getting solar power to the Kesho Leo residents has been a priority on my very long to-do list since I arrived in Arusha 4 months ago. This has been an ongoing process and as always one that has been pole pole (slowly slowly), as is the style here in Tanzania. With the help of Eve in Australia and Clive Jones (our local solar guy) we got everything organised and underway.

There have been a few delays in locating some essential parts from the USA (due to high demand), and we are still waiting for one core component to arrive, but we have made some great progress by going ahead with the first stage of installation last week

A visit by the Golder Trustees last week (the group who donated the funds for the solar power), meant we were able to proudly show off the installation of the much need power source.

So as of Wednesday Kesho Leo will have 14 24v 170w panels charging 12 Deep Cycle Batteries all supplying up to 3.5kW a Day. How exciting!

By Glen Muller

Village Justice

2010-05-23T01:56:00.000-07:00

Mudi and I rock up at Engosengui Primary School at 10am on a Saturday, in anticipation of the village meeting I have been invited to. We sit and wait for 1.5 hrs; Tanzanians have a flexible attitude with time. But sure enough, at 11:30 the locals stream in. Lots of them. Men and women alike, aged from 20 to ... I don't know how old (it's difficult to tell the age of Tanzanians, but maybe as old as 70?), all from the Sinon community. Some of fws' other employees arrive. In no time, around 80 or 90 people cram into a school class room (apparently the standard class size for kids too). 80-90 Tanzanians that is, and 1 mzungu - me.

The village chairman opens proceedings, apologising for the delay, while Mudi whispers brief translations to me when he can. Apparently this meeting is on security. I have no idea what that actually means. I soon find out.

After the secretary reads the full minutes of the previous meeting - all 5 pages of them - business commences. The chairman informs us that a list of suspected criminals living in the community have been given to him, and he will soon go through them one-by-one ... publicly. An audience participant questions whether it is more appropriate if the individuals are dealt with in private, but the mood of the gathering is having none of it. The chairman proceeds as planned.

The secretary, in her most official voice, reads out name number one. To my surprise, a shady looking dude around my age wanders up to the front of the room and faces the crowd. He is accused of theft.

I realise this is not a security meeting, this is a community court. This is old-fashioned town square civics.

For an accused criminal, faced with a community which openly endorses vigilante lynch mobs, he is surprisingly calm. He answers to the charges. He used to be a thief, for which he stands before the community ashamed, but he is no longer a thief - he has seen the error of his ways. An angry villager stands forth, explaining that this man has stolen 20 bags of cement from him. He must pay for his crime. Another calls for forgiveness - he has faced up to the community remorseful. Another demands that he name all of his accomplices. Discussion subsides and consensus is reached. The chairman declares that he must provide a list of co-conspirators after the meeting. The now convicted criminal resumes his seat.

An accused criminal pleads his case to the chairman with his father

Name number two, and a young Rasta dude with a Jamaican flag hanging off his string necklace faces up to the room, his dismayed mother following him. Sure enough, he is accused of selling marijuana. Confidently, he says that he used to sell pot, but he hasn't in 6 months. I sense a theme emerging. A participant demands that he provide the names of all the people he has sold pot too. The accused protests. "It is not my job to provide those names. It is the chairman's role, or someone else's, but not mine." Soon after he resumes his seat with no action taken.

One after another, the cases continue.

One accused thief, claiming innocence, is defended by a villager, saying that "I know this man. He has red eyes - I have seen him smoke marijuana. Perhaps people think he is a thief because he smokes marijuana?" The room erupts with laughter, including the accused, and the defense holds up.

Another suggests his name is on the list as he is unemployed, and people probably see him wander the streets a lot. One absentee is spoken for by his father, "My son is in jail, he cannot be a thief from jail." Another absentee is spoken for by his mother, "I do not know whether my son is a criminal or not. If he is, I take responsibility." One accused (pictured), perhaps a little drunk, is incensed: "I was a thief, but have not been a thief for years. Why do people always write down my name at these meetings? Why don't people understand that I am no longer a thief?"

All the while the audience is listening: dutifully, attentively, jovially. On more than a few occasions, officials, accused and villagers alike burst into laughter at seemingly serious or innocuous points - despite Mudi's beautiful translations. I sense that there's more than just a language gap here; these people have a spirit of their own, something us mzungu lack.

There are 15 accused all up, with only a few not present to face the meeting's wrath - they will be dealt with by the chairman outside the meeting. Very little punitive action is taken; shame seems to be the biggest disincentive.

General comments are taken. One villager notes that it's good to deal with the community's problems here, before taking it to the police, because we can prove guilt here. Another points out that people need to be more careful before writing down names of accused - what if the accused is just hungry and stealing to survive? Another suggests that the village leaders need to put a plan in place before robberies happen so that the community can deal with these situations better.

The meeting winds up, almost 2 hrs after starting. I am warmly greeted by many members, including the chairman. I realise that they consider me part of the community, that I could have argued for or against the accused, or indeed, accused others of being criminals. I am taken aback by the trust and responsibility.

I now understand where the Arusha Board gets its intuitive governance instincts from.

One muddy mzungu

2010-05-02T10:33:00.000-07:00

I am a city-princess. Before coming to Tanzania, my only encounters with mud were those I actively sought. With its bitumen roads and paved footpaths, it is very easy to live and work in Melbourne and only ever come across mud if one chooses to deliberately go hunting for wet dirt in their back-garden or their local park. Suffice to say, choosing to hunt for wet dirt has never been high on my list of priorities!

The other thing you need to know about me is that I’m prone to the occasional trip or stagger or tumble. Once, when I came home from school with yet another skinned knee, my mum bemoaned failing to teach me how to walk properly. I view the old bluestone gutters in Melbourne’s inner suburbs as treacherous; to misplace my (high) heel can spell disaster. I spent many hours in my former job inspecting properties. Nothing made my stomach churn more than an agent turning to me in the foyer of a 25-level CBD building and brightly asking “Do you want to see the plant room?” A plant room has all sorts of equipment that ensures a building’s lifts, air-conditioners and lights work. It is on the roof of a building and almost always has a floor made from metal gridwork, i.e. it is a perilous floor-of-death with numerous, large holes in it that force me to walk on my tip-toes whilst gaily smiling through gritted teeth.

Upon arriving in Arusha, I was forced to develop a much more intimate working relationship with mud. This matter was non-negotiable as there are no paved roads in any direction for at least 7 kilometres.

In early January, there was a lot of rain and every road or path was a sucking, squelching bog. The time it took to walk from the volunteer village to Kesho Leo doubled, at minimum. And instead of walking, I’d gingerly part-slide, part-shuffle through the mud. Greeting our neighbours became virtually impossible as all my attention was focused on where to place my foot next.

My first fall into the mud neatly coincided with my first site-tour. After showing two visitors around Kesho Leo, we were returning to the volunteer village. Our guests were duly impressed with our project and I was mentally reviewing every aspect of foodwatershelter to ensure I hadn’t left anything out. Whoops! My left foot rapidly slid out in front of me, I was suddenly on my right knee and I then gently tumbled back onto my poor little bottom whilst my right hand sunk deep into the oozing mess. Our visitors thought this was just terrific!

As January stretched into February, three straight weeks of blazing hot sun baked dry the thick, sticky mud. Before our eyes, the mud was transformed into a patchwork quilt of dusty, diamond-shaped blocks. The sun cracked open the earth and out swirled the grit.

The mud was never far from my mind, though, and I invested in a pair of gumboots. The rain returned. The mud returned. A new and improved Sarah arrived. No longer was I sliding and shuffling through the mud; I was suddenly powering to Kesho Leo, marching along the road, dominating the mud.

Or so I thought!

I recently went down for the second time. My gumboots weren’t enough to save me from losing my footing and plopping onto my rear-end. I wasn’t conducting a site-tour this time and I thought no one had seen me until I heard an excited child yell “Mzungu! Down!”

I gave a bit of a half-hearted wave in the direction of the voice only to hear an adult, who I assumed to be the child’s mother, hiss “Pole” (sorry). To me, it sounded like an attempt to instil some manners into her child. Junior yells, even more loudly, “Pole, mzungu down!” as if “mzungu down” was my name.

And on that note, I got to my feet and giggled my muddy bum the rest of the way home.

2010-04-27T21:09:00.000-07:00

Last week we were very priveledged to receive a visit from long term FWS vounteer and permaculture guru – Corky! Corky was on his way to give some agricultural advice to a project in Uganda and managed to squeeze in some time to visit his favourite place in the whole wide world (well that’s what he told us anyway).

While he was here Corky was able to give Don and Glen some background and advice on all things farmy and constructiony and even managed to get his hands dirty helping to drain out the aquifer and do some digging. We all really enjoyed being taken on a site tour of the project by 'the Corkinator' and asked a zillion questions about the background of FWS and why different decisions were made during the construction and set-up phases. We were also able to ask his much valued opinion on some of the challenges that the amazing 2010 team are facing (Just how do you make a single crate of beer last a week?) Most importantly… he was able to fill us in on some of the funny stories that took place during the 14 months that he spent here in 2006.

The highlight of the trip had to be chipsi and an Eagle beer at the infamous ‘Engosheraton’ pub where Corky met his girlfriend Erin in 2007 (she was a volunteer at Edmund Rice at the time). Assistant manager, Mudi and farm manager, John are currently keeping Corky company in Uganda where we know they’ll learn lots and come back with lots of exciting new ideas for us to try out at Kesho Leo.

Patience

2010-04-11T04:34:00.000-07:00

By Kate Brooks

When I started at FWS, almost 6 weeks ago now, Sarah warned me that I would spend a lot of time waiting. At the time, this didn’t faze me much at all, as I generally consider myself to be a pretty patient person, even by African standards. But by the time I leave Arusha I expect that I will be the most patient person on earth, that or I will have put my head through the computer screen and there will be a ‘Mzungu down’ in our office.

Indeed Sarah was right, and I do spend a significant amount of my time here waiting- waiting for the response to relatively simple questions from other people, waiting for the rain to stop so I can walk to Kesho Leo, waiting for a page to load on the computer while our internet server slowly ticks over, waiting in line at the market, waiting for the car to start, waiting for the Dala Dala to fill up, waiting for the water to boil, waiting for the power to come back on... moments that you have no control over, where getting annoyed achieves absolutely nothing, moments where there is nothing to do but take a deep breath and swallow a piece of chocolate.

But it is in these moments of frustration that I realise I am much happier here than many other places I have been. And nine times out of ten when the waiting doesn’t produce the result I had hoped for, all that there is left to do is burst out laughing and try again. And I find that the one time out of ten, where everything does fall into place and works out just the way you had hoped, gives such a sense of satisfaction you feel an accomplishment like no other.

Nothing beats the look on one of the Kesho kids’ faces when you see a light bulb go off above their head and something just clicks. Or making a breakthrough in Swahili and understanding exactly what it is the Tanzanian on the Dala Dala said to you. Or finally getting those photos to load and copy over on to that CD. Or having the insurance product disclosure statement you’ve been searching for, for hours, finally download. It’s in these seemingly trivial accomplishments that I feel as though I have scaled Kilimanjaro and hopped back down the other side.

Despite the waiting I have to say that time here moves very fast. Even when the days seem to drag- the weeks fly by. And I am truly very thankful for being able to be a part of the FWS team and experience. It is amazing how quickly Arusha has become familiar and the Vollage has become ‘home’. Amazing how something that once seemed so foreign is now the norm and you fall into a day to day routine that is comfortable but never boring. When I told people I was coming here many remarked that they could ‘never do that’. To which I said then and would still say now ‘rubbish’. EVERYONE should do something like this in their lifetime. I cannot sing the praises of FWS enough and would encourage anyone interested in Africa to volunteer here in Arusha. It’s not ‘too hard’ at all and a rewarding experience like no other.

At the absolute worst, you’ll learn a great lesson in patience.

Maize smut fungus: turning a disease into food

2010-04-02T01:24:00.000-07:00

By Don Lotter, Ph.D.

One of the common "diseases" of maize in humid areas like Arusha is a fungus known as corn (maize) smut. When we harvested our maize in January I was surprised at the number of maize ears that were infected with the fungus - the most I've ever seen in a crop. The fungus appears quite ugly and the Africans discard it. The word "smut", now used for pornography, originated from different forms of this fungus, Ustilago, that infect the grass family.

However, the native peoples of Mexico and Central America, the very people who domesticated and gave us maize, consider maize smut a culinary delicacy, known as huitlacoche (pronounced weetlakochey).

A rule of mine that I have stood by for decades is that whenever a native people have a food that is unknown to Westerners but have been eating it for likely over a thousand years - I usually try it. I consider this kind of cultural "screening" to be more reliable than scientific research on new foods - too many of the potential new "foods" that scientists have deemed good for us have turned out to give health problems over the long term.

Like a fine mushroom, the huitlacoche has a delicate taste. I like to pan toast it. An Internet search for huitlacoche will offer up a number of recipes for it. A number of North American chefs call it the "Mexican Truffle".

I have eaten it raw as well. I demonstrated this to my maize harvest team. When I showed up the next day still alive I think they were moderately convinced.

Having done some wild mushroom hunting in northern California, I've learned a few rules about that hobby. One is to find out if one of your target mushrooms has any look-alikes that are poisonous. Huitlacoche has none. There's no mistaking the maize smut fungus.

I would like to rewrite this as an article for the Tanzanian newspapers. In a region where hunger and malnutrition is an issue, and where maize is the primary crop, the maize smut fungus can be a source of valuable protein and nutrients.

Above: Huitlacoche tacos.

Lucas' job

2010-03-29T23:38:00.000-07:00

halo! my name is Lucas Mayoba, im a community liaision coordinator. im very glad here with my work as i do different things such as teaching the volunteers kiswahili, i`ve been doing this for a long time and that`s because i enjoy it, gain more skills by getting challenges from them which makes me find if not think different ways of making them understood the lesson. not only they learn from me but i also learn from them by this way.

i also doing home visiting with ruth to see the really life of child who looks different from other weather sick, disablled, or unhappy and happen to come to chekechea. also networking to different Ngo`s, vacation center, church etc, wich makes us to learn from each other, understand te way they deal with children like how they got the lincense of keeping them, just the way they manage them in general.

and for this moment when Karen is not here Ruth and we took over so if someone is sick weather mama or a child from KeshoLeo, we can give assistant just like if they need to see a doctor, and health issues in general.

there is a blissfully things i gate when i see the younger and the older children that i teach kiswahili as they work hard, try to emulate with the lesson, which they can tell by seeing the stape they are making.

working together with Hannah, Amy, and Kate in tuition is also a wounderfull thing, i get a lot of expirience by working with them, and they dont hasitate to dirrect me when i need to.

bellow is a photo of me teaching volunteers kiswahili

Changes, challenges and chalk.

2010-03-21T23:06:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Arusha after a long and dusty bus ride and lengthy border crossing from Nairobi. The journey resembled many taken across Africa and as always was characterised by long delays, sweating under the sun and bumpy uneven roads. Although I had visited Arusha three years ago my memory of the town was rather hazy. As we pulled into the main street I recognised a few sites and instantly felt a warm familiarity with the place I was to call home for the next three months. Tanzanian hospitality truly is a wonderful thing.
Upon reaching the bus stop I immediately picked out my companions at Food Water Shelter. There is something about an Aussie smile that you don’t miss and Sarah’s was a nice sight to see after eight hours in transit. I heaved my ridiculously oversized backpack onto the back of the ute with Amy and Hannah and got a quick briefing from Sarah and Mudi on the way back to the volunteer village. There I was greeted with yummy lentil patties for lunch and given a tour of the ‘vollage’. My room was much more luxurious then I had been expecting and I set about unpacking and making myself feel at home. My first bucket shower that evening was much appreciated after a long day on the road (it’s true- you do appreciate cleanliness so much more when you have to work for it!) and I slept blissfully under my mozzie net that night.
The weekend was spent getting to know the other volunteers who all made me feel very welcome and comfortable in my new surroundings. After three months of running around it was a nice change to be settled for a while. But come Monday I was ready to throw myself into the work. My first visit to Kesho Leo gave me impressions that I will never forget. I was astonished at the efficiency and sustainability of the village and very impressed with the cleverly designed buildings and layout of the project. The ability of Food Water Shelter to make use of every resource possible is one that I hope other communities can emulate.
Teaching with Hannah and Amy in the afternoons presented challenges I wasn’t expecting. Everything from relating to the younger kids to writing on the board legibly with chalk has been a test of my skills and patience! The children are gorgeous but have so much energy and I have found myself exhausted at the end of each afternoon. But every day I am learning something new and loving the experience. I have spent my evenings giving myself a crash course in Kiswahili in an attempt to catch up with the others as quickly as possible. But as with everything here it is a case of pole, pole!
I have loved my first fortnight here and found that the days fly by and every one presents a new challenge to meet head on. It’s fantastic to be part of such a great project and contribute to realising some of Food Water Shelter’s goals on the ground. Now if only I could find that mosquito in my room...

Kate Brooks

Making something out of nothing...

2010-03-14T00:49:00.000-08:00

In my short time here I have seen many amazing things but something that has come to my attention more recently is what we can in fact do with very little. We don’t usually have access to the resources we would in our professions back home and in looking around me I’ve seen volunteers stretching their creativity to fill these gaps.

In the chekechea (kindergarten) I’ve seen Amy looking for different ways to enhance the children’s learning, creating story books when there isn’t any and visits to the shamba (farm) show the children what really lives near a pond. Something that can be illustrated in a book, but the real thing is just so much better.

Here at the volunteer village Hannah is the biggest advocate for recycling...almost anything (that the chickens or worms don’t eat) can be collected and used in the classroom. The laminator really does get a work out to make sure that resources that are made can be reused again and colour paper is often created by painting white paper, as this is cheaper!

My husband, and fws handy man, has seen empty afternoons turn into spontaneous lessons on the mechanics of engines with labourers and askaris (security guards). An afternoon and a block of spare wood saw 5 wooden trucks fashioned for the chekechea children (with coke bottle caps for tail lights and fanta caps for headlights).

The desperate hope for faster internet saw the creation of a 5m high hinged pole to make a better positioned home for the modem...internet not that much faster.

And with the increase in volunteers and the rainy season ahead, a plain tarp and steel (and some quickly learned sewing skills by Glen!) was used to increase the people move-ability of our rusty old ute.

Resourceful Amy saw a warped and unsteady bookcase be cut down and built to make child sized furniture (kitchen sink included!). The soda caps and an old rake handle found another...much noisier use with the creation of child size musical instruments.

Making something out of nothing is not only found here when it comes to physical things, but making something more out of your experiences is a part of life. For myself a long tiresome day selling clothes at the markets turned into a high pressure situation to perform my limited Kiswahili skills. Those 20 minutes left alone at the stall as my Tanzanian counterpart left for lunch were the most stressful 20 minutes of my life! But it really is amazing how well you can communicate with such limited ability.

Mounds of maize harvested from the volunteer village shamba (farm) provided an opportunity to work together. A time for all us ladies to sit, talk and laugh together, even though I didn’t know what they were talking about, they assured me the story was very funny.

It seems taking opportunities to create something from what might seem to be nothing is a way of life here. The year for me here has only really just started so I look forward to seeing what some ‘odds and ends, ’ a strange situation or a plain old plank of wood will bring in the future, if we, with a little creativity, look to endless possibilities.

By Ruth

Critters: crawling, creeping and flying

2010-03-06T06:02:00.000-08:00

Just when you think you are alone something flies past your head, so close, you think your brain is buzzing or you feel a tickle on your leg only to see an eight legged critter about to tuck into its afternoon snack (your ankle). Then there is the 'hunting show' put on every night by the little lizard who calls the crack behind the loo his home and the two resident (now positively overweight) frogs who appear at the same time each evening and use the bright lights of the kitchen as their own 7-11 store.
These are just a few basic examples of the critters we share our space with, and as I've learnt over the past couple of months, it is indeed best not to look up often if you suffer from any kind of critter-phobia (particularly those of us with a slight case of arachnophobia) as the ceilings and awnings around here could benefit from their own postcodes for fear the spiders may lose track of their own webs .

However it is not all bad when it comes to the little creepy crawlies living amongst us, in fact they have provided many hours of conversation and have even been given rite of passage within the Vollage: I give the example of when the 'ants crossing' sign lovingly placed as a warning in front of the 2 cm thick trail of (fittingly called) safari ants. These are rather impressive ants (not to mention ouchy!) with a work ethic that would put even us FWS volunteers to shame! They work long hours, even on Friday evenings when they have been known to invade the loo's, leaving little room for feet!
One of the first crew of critters which really amazed me were the butterfly's. I have never seen quite so many nor so many varying colours, shapes and patterns. I often think that some of these butterfly's have modelled themselves on bad 80's fashion, where psychedelic colours are in!

So aside from the usual flies, mozzies and spiders (I do believe I have been over- generous to the latter, sharing my bed on more than one occasion) there are the larger crawling variety of critters: here I refer to the big 'r'...rats. I'm not entirely sure how much the cover charge is for the night club 'Rat-attack' located above my room, but I'm sure the proprietor is making a killing as the noise generated is rather impressive. And yes, there are rats elsewhere, perhaps involved in some type of education training scheme where the smart ones are trained up to become pedicurists for the volunteers- I refer here to one rat in particular (r.i.p) who licked, yes licked my little toe. Suffice to say he didn't get to graduate.
Being a magnet for critters of varying hostility, I have to date been a brothel for some flies; shared a shower with some other bugs seeking privacy; a mozzie magnet; a target for the kamikaze, giant black bugs (name unknown); and harassed rather violently by a 'wiggly-butt bug' (so-named by Sarah and Ruth on account of this flying critters wiggly butt).

I am actually quite fond of most of the critters (crawling, creeping and flying variety) as they provide endless entertainment and are quite amazing to watch as you make your way to Kesho Leo and back. In fact we just spent three weeks at Chekechea learning all about bugs, and our excursion around the shamba was just as exciting for me as it was the children.
So as the saying goes: what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and in my case what doesn't bite, sting or latch on, makes a good friend.

By Amy Moule

2010-02-25T08:01:00.000-08:00

Some images and thoughts from the past month, or so!!

Clinic shaping up; paint on the ceiling, water in the taps, storage cupboard fitted and floor covering going down soon! Still lots to do, but beginning to look good.

Tanzanian people are so very proud; highlighted every day during my time here but more so in recent times when I visited Zanzibar for Sauti za Busara "Sounds of Wisdom", a music festival celebrating East African music and culture. The people of Zanzibar have had no power for the past three months; yet they still managed to pull of a fantastic music festival in an amazing fashion. The warmth and hospitality of Tanzanian people never ceases. The culture, the kiswahili language and the history are very strong.

Kesho Leo from the air! I had previously been told that when you fly from Arusha to Zanzibar you can see Kesho Leo. I was lucky enough to see for myself a couple of weeks ago. What a sight, apologise for the bad pictures but I did get a tad excited when I saw Kesho Leo and didnt take much time to think about the pic taking process.

Kids and colour; these were some of my first impressions of Kesho Leo on return from Zanzibar.

Characters involved with foodwatershelter; What a team! fws and Kesho Leo are certainly blessed to have these inspiring and hard working individuals involved. Simoni, Aggie and Masswai have such joyful, cheeky and genuine personalities; they always bring a smile to our faces at the vollage. Mudi and his family are very dedicated to everyone at Kesho Leo and always supportive of the community, Kesho Leo residents and volunteers.

Mamas sewing: I am so very proud of the Kesho Leo Mamas and how they have embraced sewing. It has been difficult for them to be learning on machines that are not of great quality; something that has at times made quality and quantity a bit tricky. However in the past couple of months the Mamas are really showing their creative flair, embracing the opportunity and many of them really understand that it is a business and a financial program of Kesho Leo. I think from the smiles on their faces you can really see that the Mamas love it. I also have loved sewing with them. I so look forward to seeing more of the Mamas creations in the future, the fabric here is just amazing and provides great scope for some unique creations.

Village of Sinoni: Well, I dont really have many pics of our village. The experiences are not something easily captured in an image. However, it is amazing to feel to the warmth and atmosphere that this place possesses.

WARNING : Vegetarians beware the following content contains meat.

2010-02-21T06:10:00.000-08:00

Well it’s been just over 5 weeks since my beautiful Wife and I flew into Kilimanjaro airport and I have learnt very quickly that pole pole (slowly slowly) is the way of Tanzania. But this is definitely not the case when a pig-soon-to-be-pork is involved. When Don presented me with the challenge of turning a newly butchered pig into a dinner for 20 I jumped at the task. As people who know me will know I just can’t go past the opportunity of a good roast.
It was the day before the big pig roast and I thought what better way to have a roast than to have it slowly cooked on a spit. Sounded easy at first but this meant that I had to build a custom fit spit roaster for our BBQ out of nothing in one day.

Don and I discussed other ways to cook the large amount of meat and decided on a combination of methods. First the spit roast, second ; hot coals in a pit with dirt over the top and third good old oven roast. Due to the lack of refrigeration we had to move quickly and Friday afternoon the pig left Kesho Leo for the last time. By midday on Saturday I was presented with tubs full of pork...actually I wouldn’t call it pork yet as there was still a lot of preparation needed.

While waiting for the meat to arrive I started early preparing the fires. Once those were under control and after a call to my father (a butcher) I began the challenge of turning chunks of pig into chunks of pork, all with a small paring knife which Sarah had bought me that morning. Surprisingly after I was done they did resemble a piece of rolled pork you may buy from the supermarket...almost, obviously my fathers’ talents as a butcher were not passed on to me.

With lemon and pepper pork cooking in the pit and pork and ribs roasting in the oven, I began the monotonous back breaking task of monitoring the spit roast. By mid-afternoon my routine went a little like this: chop wood, turn pig, put wood on the fire, move coals, chop wood, turn pig, put wood on fire, wipe sweat from brow, chop wood, turn pig...I think you get the picture, this went on for 5 hours.

But it was allllll worth it. With Amy’s help in the kitchen preparing rosemary mashed potatoes, honey carrots and green beans and the most amazing apple sauce I’ve ever tasted we were able to pull it all together.

There was a sigh of relief when we realised that the meat was off, the vege’s were cooked (and as chef’s we had of course taste tested it all) and it was perfect...if I do say so myself.

Guests and volunteers were left with full bellies and a smile on their face, what more could you ask for?
...except left over roast pork for lunch the next day!!! Woo Hoo!!

(Disclosure: only one pig was hurt in the making of this blog, all for a deliciously good cause of course)

By Glen Muller

Baby girl born in fws ute!

2010-02-16T05:19:00.000-08:00

On Friday, I waved good-bye to the volunteer village and went on a four-day safari with my parents who are visiting. On Monday, day 4 of the safari, I received a telephone call from Mudi, Kesho Leo's Assistant Manager. (Yes, the floor of the Ngorongoro Crater has mobile reception!)

Mudi quickly assured me that everything was ok back home and then said "Miss, I have some crazy news. A baby was born in the ute this morning."

I was shocked, to say the least.

From time-to-time, we lend our ute (pictured below) and a driver to friends and neighbours. The ute can be used as a quasi-ambulance and take sick people to hospital or it can be used as a quasi-hearse and transport bodies to funerals.

On Monday morning, one of our night askari (security guard) called Mudi and asked if we could drive his heavily-pregnant sister to hospital because she was in labour. Mudi, the mother-to-be and her mother all piled into the ute and started driving to hospital. Mid-journey, the threesome was joined by a baby girl!

Mother and baby are healthy. Mudi is still recovering from the surprise. The ute has been cleaned thoroughly!

2010-02-06T03:05:00.000-08:00

The Kesho Leo chekechea (pre-school) is in full swing and includes members from over 50 families in the local community! We have 3 different classes taking place for different age groups and thanks to Amy (a fantastic short-term volunteer with FWS), we now have an English and Kiswahili speaking teacher for each group.

The future generation of Sinon have been learning about ‘growing things’ this month, including fruits and veggies and what they need to grow, and also about ‘living things’ including all those lovely creepies and crawlies that seem to have made their home in our classroom!

After reading 'the enormous beetroot', the children had great fun recreating a tug-of-war pulling extravaganza and learnt just how much force is needed to pull their teachers to the ground!
The older children also did a hilarious re-enactment of Jack and the beanstalk for the nursery class…complete with very loud mooing cow…and we talked about the moral implications of Jack taking the giant’s money without asking (opinion was divided).

We’re looking forward to watching Don, Elvis and John catch some fish from the pond next week and practising some more of our amazing writing and counting skills.

In after-school tuition the older children have been getting to grips with geometry,verbs and comprehension – not as boring as it sounds…and the younger childre have been having lots of fun doing colour, counting and vocab games. Lucas - our social welfare liason with FWS has also been helping out with the afternoon tuition sessions and has been providing some much needed translation for mathematical formulas and encouraging the children to ask questions and voice their opinions.

The Mamas English classes have also been going really well and the Mamas are growing in confidence at using the English that they know. After a class where we learning about different tenses, Helena very proudly informed Don: “Yesterday, I went to school, Today, I am digging manure, Tomorrow I will go to the market...” Safi sana Helena!

We’re watching ‘Madagascar’ on the big screen in the school room tommorow evening (the joys of mobile projectors) so am expecting lots of questions from Mamas and children about singing lemurs and other exciting things!

Training young Tanzanian agricultural managers

2010-01-29T10:17:00.000-08:00

By Don Lotter, Ph.D.

Part of our mission at food water shelter is to train Tanzanians in permaculture systems and agricultural science. We have two managers at the Kesho Leo Permaculture Farm - Elvis Mariua and John Melau. Elvis takes care of the crops and John is the animal caretaker. Since I, Don Lotter, am a crops and soils specialist, I have brought in an expert in animal husbandry, Brighton Nzama, to visit every other week to train John. Brighton received his training at the Livestock Training Centre in Tengeru, outside of Arusha. He has the highest recommendations from the Christian Brothers school next to us where he works, Edmund Rice Secondary School.

Brighton has been teaching John how to manage and care for the dairy cows (2), pigs (7), and goats (4) that we have here at the farm. One of the cows was obtained quite sick because she had swallowed a plastic bag. She needs to gain weight and Brighton has put her on a special diet to get her weight back. The other cow is pregnant and John will be learning how to assess the progress of her pregnancy.

In the photos above, at left Brighton talks to John about the medicines and vaccinations that animals require. At right, Brighton demonstrates the trimming of cows' hooves, as Kesho Leo boys look on.

2010-01-22T06:12:00.000-08:00

Since almost the beginning, when we first hired our team of Tanzanian staff to build Kesho Leo, a savings matching scheme was started for our workers. How the savings matching scheme works is that we offer each fws employee a savings facility. This is very handy for our workers, as none of them have bank accounts.. much easier, safer, and less tempting to spend than if it were kept under the mattress! The money can be withdrawn whenever it’s needed, but the really great thing is that if the money is being put towards something for the future, fws would match it 100%. So if one of our employees wanted to go to school, buy land, build a house or plant maize in their shamba (Kiswahili for farm), and they had saved, say 40,000 Tanzanian shillings (about 33 aussie dollars), then fws would double it and give him or her 80,000 tzs. This has been a very motivating reward for saving, as well as giving our employees access to something like a bank account.. something they could not afford to have on a local wage. Even though the scheme has been very successful so far, we have had to discontinue it because of lack of funds.. our employees were just too good at saving! Hopefully it’ll be started up again sometime in the future, but for now I’d like to just share some of the success stories:

Midmi is one of our night askari (security guard). He lives in a hut with his wife and two children about half an hour drive from Kesho Leo, and rides his bicycle to work every night, six nights a week. Midmi has been saving all year, and in December he had saved enough for bricks and cement to start his new house. I visited his boma on the day we delivered his cement for him, and he showed Mudi and I the channels he had dug out that will form the foundations of his new house.

Aggie bought a small piece of land near Kesho Leo where she plans to build some rooms to rent out one day.

Elvis used his savings to get his drivers license, increasing his future employment opportunities.

Peter Tosh/Toshi/Chechi used his savings to buy clothes and blankets for his gorgeous new daughter when she was born in October. Hongera sana Toshi!

Gaudens used his savings to build a new livestock shed on his shamba, using the one at Kesho Leo as inspiration.

Lucas bought a small business, something he had been saving for and planning for a long time.

Simon has qualified to go to a business college in Dar es Salaam in 2010 to study accounting, and has been constantly saving and studying hard all year to do it (well, he is when he’s not trying to make us laugh, anyway!).

There are lots of other stories, but to list them all I’d need much more room than one blog can take up. It really is unfortunate that we’ve had to stop this scheme, as you can see it helped to make a lot of things happen for the people living in our village.

2009-10-18T10:47:00.000-07:00

Having gotten here only a month ago, (feels like three, at least), I feel like I finally know enough to appreciate the stupendous cleverness of all the environmental systems at Kesho Leo that it is my job to help Farm Manager Eve keep ticking over.
The goats and cows eat the fodder we grow, they poo, the poo is composted to feed the plants we grow, OR combines with human poo in the biogas facility to produce fuel for cooking the plants and fish and meat and milk we grow, AND slurry for growing the plants that feed the the fish, and the nice fishy, manurey water of the fish ponds is used to water the plants that feed the cows and the goats.... and if that sentence seems to have WAY too few full stops, it is because everything is so very interconnected there are no ends-of-the-line to put them at. And that is the idea of permaculture.

Apart from a lot of activities that seem to involve poo, I've been working on my kiswahili a little, and now have a slanted vocabulary involving a very large amount of words such as ''bee', 'worm', 'nutrients' , 'mulch' 'to dig', 'to
harvest', and 'to water'.
The last of which we will hopefully be doing much less of starting yesterday. That's right, the rainy season made it's first appearance last night, making everything seem much shinier, and making it seem like not such a dumb idea afterall to have spent the last month planting endless seedlings, divisions, and seeds to become new components in our windbreaks, living fences, nitrogen fixation plantings, bank stabilization, food forest, and herb and vegie beds.
Hopefully it wasn't a cameo; Tanzania's rainy season has become increasingly unreliable of late (sounds familiar Australia?), and people are bouncing the words climate change around here as much as at home. Fingers crossed, soil mulched.

Annie Raser-Rowland

2009-09-12T03:47:00.000-07:00

Mamas
I have been lucky enough in recent times to have my Mama and her partner visit me in Arusha. What an amazing journey for us all; we will have memories and stories to share for a very long time. I often wonder what is the first story that they choose to share with family and friends since they have returned home! It will certainly make my adjustment back into Australian life a little easier to know that I have family who I can share these memories with; who understand just where I have been, what I have been doing and the people I have met during my time in
Tanzania.

There are many fond memories that I think of every day since my family returned home. However, I will share just one ever present theme; the overwhelming respect that people have for Mamas. The first day that my Mama, Tom and I walked to Kesho Leo was quite emotional. The walk and scenery itself is beautiful, the kids and families you greet a long the way equally so.

On this first walk we met with Gladi's Mama; Jennifer. There were tears of joy and lots of broken English and Kiswahili chatter and lots of laughter. I had informed Jennifer and Gladi a few days earlier when we had walked to Njiro for Gladis physio appointment together, that my Mama and her partner were visiting in the following week; we were all very excited. But I had not expected that when my Mama and Gladi's Mama would meet that it would be so special. Jennifer thanked my Mama for giving birth to me and thanked her for allowing her only daughter to come to Tanzania. I had not expected such a response. Although we spoke only briefly; the mutual feelings did not require words.

We continued on our walk to KeshoLeo, there were many looks of surprise and delight as I introduced my Mama to the people from our village. The looks on their faces were just beautiful. We entered the gates of Kesho Leo to be welcomed warmly by Gladi runnning down the driveway. Her energy and excitement was another of those memories that words can not really describe. I have the greatest respect for Gladi and her lifes journey. She too thanked my Mama for giving birth to me and allowing me to come to Tanzania.

The arrival of my family also coincided with Gladi achieving another of the milestones she has set for herself over the past three months of medical treatment; her wounds were now healed! I had been waiting to give her a gift and share in a small celebration of this achievement with her and her family; but it was now an ideal opportunity for my family and Gladi's to celebrate together.

I had been practising what I had wanted to say on the way back from town in the dala dala, but when it came time for me to speak all the prep went out the window. Trying to remember Kiswahili while a tad emotional (actually even when not emotional) was more difficult then I had expected. However, they know my kiswahili is poor and have become good at filling in the gaps for me. So they did understand what I was saying (although I did make a huge blue in saying "I forgot" instead of "I am happy"). Thankfully I was quickly able to recognise and fix my huge error! We gave Gladi her gift and she was so excited, she wrapped the scarf around her head and went running around her boma; laughing in true Gladi style.

There are so many more experiences that I could share, but for the sake of not waffling, perhaps I shall reserve these memories for myself and my family. However, I feel very honoured to have all of these wonderful Mamas in my life. I look forward to sharing more times with the Mamas at Kesho Leo and those that live in the community of Sinon. Thanks Mum and Tom; a time shared is never forgotten,.

Happy, Mary and Norah

Aggie and her Mama

My Mama and a friends Mama

Dativa & Elizabeth

Mama and I

August Celebrations...2

2009-09-06T10:55:00.000-07:00

On the 30th August St Ambrose parish celebrated this year's First Communion. As has happened to me so much this year as I have lived in the village of Engosengiu, it reminded me a lot of how it was for my family when I was growing up. Like my family many of the people here have very little in the way of material possessions (average wage is $3 a day) and nothing is ever wasted. But when it comes to celebrating important occasions families save and make them memorable.

So the children and young people as they are brought forward to receive First Communion are given a day when they know that for that day they are the most important person in the family and the parish community.

It usually takes me 50 minutes to walk to mass on Sundays and the last part is a climb up a hill to the church. Everyone, of course walks to church but on this Sunday many families hired a taxi or a dulla dulla (local public transport vans) to take family and friends to church.

As the organ began to play the women began to 'vigelegele' with the high pitched movement of the tongue, then the children's choir danced and sang as they led the procession into the church. They were followed by the children receiving First Communion then the adult choir and the altar boys and the priest.

Mass here always takes 2 hours and of course First Communion day took 3 hours. This does not worry people. Time here is enjoyed and experienced and savoured. Time is not a problem or something people need more of to do all they want to do.

After mass there is congratulations and celebrations. Again people are patient while all the cars and dulla dullas take turn to drive down the rocky, dusty road to go home. At home, when everyone is ready the goat and rice that have been cooking all morning is now ready to eat and the celebrating and dancing continue.

Posted by Helen Campbell

Education Manager

August Celebrations...1

2009-09-06T10:19:00.000-07:00

During the month of August I have been very conscious that I have been under the moon of Ramadhan. I have heard many of the volunteers speak of their admiration for our workers and their families who are participating in the ritual fast and almsgiving of this time of the year that is so special to them.

Mudi explained to me that the word Ramadhan comes from the Arabic 'Ramadhani' which means to fix. Ramadhan is a holy month in which the people, in the way of the great mystics, fast and give to those less fortunate, so that the sins not already forgiven through daily prayer are resolved.

Ramadhan is a holy month of love and peace. The people believe that after Ramadhan they can achieve the innocence of a small child.

Children do not have to fast. They learn the importance of the month by watching and listening to their parents. When a child is of an appropriate age they might want to fast for a short time during the day. The parents congratulate and encourage them to enter into the spirit of the holy month.

After Ramadhan is the celebration of Idd Mubaraka when everyone dresses in their good clothes and cook food and invite people to come and eat with them. It is a celebration of the equality of all people so orphans, neighbours and homeless people are welcomed to eat with the family and a gift of rice is given according to each families capacity to give.

To Mudi personally the time of fasting teaches him what it is like not to have food and it inspires him to want to give to others. He feels at one with and connected to people in a special way and through his prayer and fasting he tries to become a better person and to relate more truly to others.

Posted by Helen Campbell

Education Manager

You're never fully dressed......

2009-08-28T03:34:00.000-07:00

......without a smile

There are so many wonderful smiles, and they show you just how great all the different personalities are here. I hope this blog gives you a taste of what I am lucky to see every day teaching these fabulous children and working with the many talented smiling adults.

Boisterous Bryton, never a dull moment with this happy little guy, one of the youngest members of Chekechea.

Marvellous Magdalena, daughter of one of our employees John, Magdalena is master of the hula hoop and takes after her Dad in being a true gem in every sense.

Esta and Sharoni, no need for buggies in this part of the world

Clockwise from glitter girl Eliza, (not sure about the half face), Bryton, Claudia, Daniel and Stephano.

Racy Rama, if he's not sitting in a box you'll find him racing up and down the Chekechea room with anything that has wheels.

Beautiful Bernard. Polite, intelligent,and already a true gentleman (he'll make a great husband one day!)

Sister Act - Sharoni and Nai, 2 shining stars

Great buddies, Margaret, Leah and David

House Mama Eliza, always a warm welcome from this super busy mother of 4

Energetic Erick, always full of life, Erick doesn't have the full use of one side of his body, do you think this stops him from flying around the Chekechea room at play time.....of course not.

Nanci never ceases to amaze, full of fun and warm smiles just like her mother Eliza.

Aggie and Maswai, our lovely duo, with Tanzanian hair..........

with Irish hair........

And last but not least the wonderful group of volunteers

Keep smiling!

By Brenda Droog

2009-08-21T08:54:00.000-07:00

Every day is different here in Sinon, so instead of trying to think of one thing to write about for this blog, I thought I’d keep a photo diary for the week instead..

Sunday

Like everywhere else in the world, Sunday is a rest day here in Tanzania, so some of us volunteers headed in to town to see Mama C (cooler than cool African American blues/jazz singer) perform at Massai Camp, and were treated to an unexpected fashion show by a localdesigner. The clothes were made from Kangas and Kitenge (vibrantly bold local fabrics.. Kangas are the bright pieces of fabric that women here wear over their clothes), and shukas (massai blankets). There were some interesting designs which may well provide some inspiration for our mamas future clothing range. Just as with most things Tanzanian, the show was full of happy energy, bright colours and beaming smiles.

Monday

Monday is usually an office day for me, so it was a nice surprise at lunch time when we had a visit from Aggie’s mama and little sister, seven year old Naomi. They are visiting from their home in Kenya for about a week, and Aggie was excited to show them her workplace and to introduce us all. We enjoyed a lunch of beans and chapati together and took some happy pics before saying kwaheri.

Tuesday

Yesterday I had planned to go to town today to go to the bank and to get one of the sewing machines fixed, but I should know by now not to make plans that far in advance. We’ve been expecting some money to be transferred from Australia, but it still hasn’t come through, so the town trip will have to wait until the funds arrive. Maybe tomorrow…

Tuesday afternoons I help Brenda teach the Mamas computer class, so I headed to Kesho Leo just after lunch, and as usual was joined by some kids whowanted to walk with me, hold my hand and practise their English. In class the Mamas added a couple of sentences (in English) to their emails they have been working on.

After class Brenda and I had to get back to the volunteer village for the weekly team meeting so we piled onto the back of the ute, and after some gangster rapper style posing, we headed home. A wedding was being held about half way home, and we got stuck in a bit of a traffic jam (in the photo it looks like just one other car, but there were actually two). Caused quite a delay, really! After our weekly team meeting where we discussed everything from solar panels to hand washing, we headed to the Engo (local pub) for chipsi mayai and an Eagle.

Wednesday

Wednesday morning started with a budget meeting at Kesho Leo with Mudi, Kelsey, Eve, Barry and I. Ester (one of the Kesho Leo house mamas) surprised us with some delicious sweet potato from the Kesho Leo organic farm. I had some spare minutes to do a quick walk around, got a quick pic of the chekechea (kindergarten), and sewing room.

Then it was off to town to get one of our sewing machines fixed, and what you would expect to be a simple trip always turns into a half day job.. town is hectic and the traffic is slow moving but crazy, and you have to be prepared to dodge people, wheelbarrows and daladalas (pic of that is under Tuesday for some

reason, oops!).

That night we had a barbecue at the vollage for Tom & Helens last night here (Karens visiting family), and being very generous and supportive people, they contributed some cash so that the volunteers could have a table and some chairs in the new garden Eve is working on in the vollage. Thank you Tom & Helen!

Thursday

Usually I have a Kiswahili lesson on Thursday mornings, but had to cancel to go to town to get some fws money from the bank. I had to pick up Mudi and some timber from the mill on the way back.. I just had to remember to turn left at the shoes..

Brenda and I had computer class in the afternoon at the vollage so we could introduce the mamas to the internet. Moses and Richard have been working on the water tank pipes and also building a wall in the vollage all week and kindly posed for a pic.

Friday

Office day.. Lucas helped with some Excel work while I prepared the pay envelopes for Saturday. After the pays were organised, Barry presented me with a cheque for 1200 euros (!) for foodwatershelter, money his family raised in Ireland by holding a trivia night. Huge thank you to the Ryan family!

posted by Bec McQueen (Kesho Leo Bursar)

2009-08-09T00:02:00.000-07:00

Its winter here and although you wouldn't expect a place this close to the equator to get even a little chilly, because of our altitude (1400m) we do tend to get our fair share of crisp mornings and lately some windy, pretty miserable days. So I find myself with my second head cold in about a month, chilly toes (Ok, my own fault, I am a very reluctant shoe wearer but I promise that as soon as I finish writing this I will put on socks and boots. Just for you mum) and a hot water bottle stuffed under my cardy while I hunch over the computer in my almost grumpy mood.
Grrr...I really hate being sick. I don't get sick much at home, I can only reassure myself that my seemingly frail, sickly body must be actually be successfully fighting off hundreds, no, thousands of African superbugs, parasites, diseases.....maybe?
We've had some pretty interesting ones lately, I got some strange rashy, tingly thing which may have been a spider bite or may have been the result of some dubious washing powder, who can say? Kelsey got the dreaded... the much talked about but rarely seen... toe worms - yep that's right, little worms that burrow into your feet to lay their egg sacks. Gross. But strangely fascinating. Kelsey definitely got some street cred for those.
Brenda got what really must've been a spider bite as her foot swelled up and she got a welt with a flamey (? Really, it looked hot-rod-esque, only it was a dark maroon colour) bruise, Barry has a festering wound on his leg that took him to the hospital today and tonight he went a funny grey colour as he described the razor blade/tweezers/antiseptic session that ensued, none-the-less it sounds like the nurse did a pretty thorough job of sorting it out and he is now on a course of antibiotics (Pole sana Barry, none of us likes taking those things). So, sickies all round, and that's not even counting all the little things we volunteers get like diarrhoea, nausea, food poisoning, cheap-wine induced night terrors, headaches, or, after one particularly good Saturday night out, all of the above.

Anyhow I have been trying to use my sick time wisely, writing new fact sheets for our enviro pages on food forests (One of my favorite topics) and swales, and doing up companion-planting charts in Kiswahili and English for the farm office. Yep garden nerd, that's me. The farm is really coming into it's own these days we are getting fabo vegies from our vegie gardens and the first three of our still-young banana palms have fruit forming. Our food forest is settling in and already from this area we are harvesting sweet potatoes and fodder for the cows and goats in the form of indigenous napier grass, planted on swales between nitrogen fixing leaucaenas. The avocado frees and mangoes are covered in new growth and passion fruit vines are sending up long tendrils looking for their next upward spot to twine. Anton and I made an arbour in the vegie garden for our passion fruit vines over the path and already it is nearly covered. Mudi refers to it as Eves house of passion; in Kiswahili the fruit part is dropped and it is just called passion, which is an unfortunate second language thing! (He knows better though, just being cheeky as usual)

So, its now several hours later, we have just had our weekly team meeting and I am newly adorned with a beanie, scarf, two jumpers, jeans thick socks and boots and the evening wind is bitter. None-the-less I am bravely heading out into the night air with the others to the good old Engo Sheraton where chipsi-mayai (Chips in an omelet) awaits. Mmmm....

Chekechea Goes On Excursion

2009-06-08T10:46:00.000-07:00

For a while everyone was worried that the 'long' rains might not come this

year. But eventually they did come...

Some girls and boys were lucky enough to get a 'lift' to school with mama, baba or big brother.

Those who were not so lucky needed help to deal with matope (the mud) before coming into the classroom.

While they can be a little inconvenient the long rains are joyfully welcomed by everyone. You only have to look at the Kesho Leo shamba (farm) to see why. The ground that had been so carefully prepared and planted by Eve and the farm team was suddenly alive...lush and vibrant with a wonderful variety of fruits and vegetables.

So where could be a better place for our chekechea (preschool) to go on our first excursion.

The children examined the plants

with mwalimu Margaret.

They were keen to name the plants they saw. Many of the children were able to name most of the plants.

Omari explained the dodoki plant. If the dodoki is harvested early it can be eaten as a vegetable. If it is allowed to mature and dry it makes a perfect loofah. Just like the ones we buy at the Body Shop.

Here with mwalimu Helen the children had a turn to plant a didoki seed. The seedlings will be planted in the shamba and when the didoki is harvested we will be able to use them in cooking and personal health lessons.

After planting a seed the children experimented with playdough with nurse Karen.

This day, as is every day in the chekechea was 'siku nzuri sana' a very good day.

Posted by Helen Campbell

Education manager

Aggies Makande recipe

2009-03-26T01:20:00.000-07:00

AGGIES RECIPE for
Makande (Maize and bean stew) for four people

INGREDIENTS

6 cloves garlic
1/4 kilo dry cracked maize
1/8 kilo soya beans
2 tbsp oil
1 fresh coconut (See coconut cream recipe below) or 1/2 cup coconut cream
3 small red onions
2 carrots
2 litres water
1tsp salt, or use to taste
METHOD
Soak maize and beans overnight, drain and then add the two litres of water and cook on stove until soft. Take off the stove and set aside but do not drain.

Chop onions, grate carrot.

Fry onions in oil and add crushed garlic, frying until onions are golden brown. Add carrot. Cook a few minutes til tender. Add maize, beans and liquid, let it boil for five minutes.

Add coconut cream and salt to taste.

Serve hot, with chilli if you like it. Try not to eat the whole lot yourself in one sitting!

To make coconut cream:

Cut open one fresh coconut and grate the flesh into a bowl.
(In this photo Aggie is using an mbuzi to grate the coconut )

Pour about one cup of hot water over the grated coconut and start squeezing it in your hands, then put it back in the bowl, take another handful, squeeze it, etc. This mixes the hot water through the flesh so that the cream can be extracted.

Now put a sieve over another bowl and dump the coconut mix into it.Squeeze it in your hands as before setting aside dry pulp in the first bowl. The liquid that you have now is coconut cream.

You can try the process again, and if the resulting liquid is creamy and thick it can be used as coconut cream, if it is thinner but still a milky white use as coconut milk.

2009-01-11T21:09:00.000-08:00

Kizunguzungu!

Today is a day where “kizunguzungu” (dizzy in Kiswahili) is becoming less a state of mind for me!! It has been an amazing first six weeks at Sinon, the time has gone so quickly, yet so much has happened and some days I do feel 'dizzy'! My first few weeks were spent with Heather, sharing some time to learn of: the Mamma’s and children’s health needs, good places to source various materials, the Kesho Leo Clinic plans, various networks that Heather has tapped into, some of Heathers experiences with meeting the Mammas and children’s health needs and generally an opportunity to ask Heather many many questions.. and I did!!!

Heather was able to build such a solid bond with the Mamma’s, the trust and empathy that she and the Mamma’s shared was inspirational to witness. This mutual respect was so clearly illustrated at Nick and Heather’s Kwaheri. The Mamma’s speak of Heather often and will on a regular basis remember something that they learnt from health class with Heather and share their knowledge with great pride. I hope to implement some of the visions that Heather has for the Kesho Leo health clinic/program in the coming year.

More recently an exciting time is beginning for me as the health and social welfare team begin to establish some common links: challenges and unique experiences are just beginning! Kelsey, Loretta and myself were recently hoping to attend the HIV support group meeting in the local community, unfortunately we had just missed the meeting, none the less we continued to walk and talk and it felt like the beginnings of something great that fws can achieve for the Mamma’s and children and local community. Fws certainly has some very motivated individuals committed to meeting the objectives of fws through Kesho Leo Children’s Village.

Speaking of “kizunguzungu”, this was a real state of mind for one of the workers recently, with my very limited Kiswahili one of my first questions was to ask if he was “kizunguzungu”, it is quite bizarre the random Kiswahili that I have remembered from my time in Arusha in 2005, none of it terribly useful on a regular basis unfortunately! However, it did seem to be a bit of an ice breaker when used on this occasssion.

Omari sustained a scalp laceration from a piece of electrical building equipment. Kelsey, several workers and I had taken him to a clinic to receive treatment for his injury. It was a bad injury but he was lucky to have only received a few sutures. So, on each of the three times I have visited him at home since the injury I have felt very fortunate to know him and his beautiful family (however saddened that he sustained such an injury and has missed work as a result).

I stroll down the road and before long am accompanied by many happy, giggling children all eager to be the one to hold my hand. For some reason every time I pass Aggie, Massway and Mary’s home I glance to my left and there is Killi; gracing me with her most beautiful and mystical presence, the scenery and atmosphere is something very special. I continue on my way to Omari’s home, my lack of Swahili makes it difficult to communicate in great detail, but I can tell by his presence and expressions that he is well and his smile conveys his appreciation for my assistance. I try to have a chat with Omari’s daughters and put on my best baby chatter for his baby girl; who is absolutely beautiful, always smiling. I return through the village again feeling fortunate that I was in a position to be of assistance and also wondering why home visits aren’t this rewarding at home… My pride for being a nurse has been reinforced by my involvement with Omari and his family.

There are constant reminders of the differing access to health care here; this week I sat in on two kids classes on consecutive days. The first day I met a boy who has burns on both lower arms and the backs of his upper and lower legs, my heart breaks to think of what may have happened to this young boy? For the moment he moves around quite freely but what assistance may be available to him in the future if required? The following day I met a boy who had a marked deficit in his right side, he drags his foot and moves it in a difficult motion and his elbow is contracted as is his fingers. However he eagerly kicks the football with his friends, again my mind wonders what has caused this condition, what treatment is available for him and what opportunities he may have for an education and future employment. I meet these boys, but when I ask others at fws they have no memory of these boys being to class in the past, it saddens me that I may not have the opportunity to meet them again. We shall see… So many kids and so many individual needs.

I now find myself with a sense of excitement at being back in Tanzania and an overwhelming feeling of the familiar. As soon as I arrived back in Tanzania I was reminded by the culture, food and aroma, scenery and the ever smiling faces of the Tanzanian people. I was greeted with a warm welcome from everyone at fws and again this was a feeling of the familiar with many faces and names that I knew of but may have never previously met.

Time now to move on and continue to build up rapport and trust with the Mamma’s and children; part of a poignant message reads "Open my heart to new possibilities .... create new space in your heart and mind that will allow you to consider a new way of living, a new way of relating, a new way of just being ... in the present". I look forward to the coming year evolving and “this new way of being”, influenced by the relaxed pace, no worry attitude, overwhelming friendliness, community and welcoming spirit of the Tanzanian people.

2008-12-24T08:05:00.000-08:00

It's about midday on a humid, hot Sunday, that cranky sun overhead is broken by tall canopy trees and around us the village sounds we are used to are replaced by the humming and chattering of this pocket of natural forest. Not too far below us we can hear the sound of running water and almost immediately the air feels cooler. Karen and I walk together with Onesmo, who has decided to come for a Sunday walk, down into the gorge that splits high dry maasai farms from the smaller, lush shambas we pass each day on the road leading to the childrens' village.
Today we are visiting some of the workers' families to take pictures as a present for christmas; last year fws gave everyone a portrait of themselves on the jobsite and everyone was so thrilled that this year we decided to offer family photos as well. I have volunteered to wander from house to house (Couldn't think of a nicer way to spend a day) and lovely Karen (fws nurse) is coming along to meet some of the families of the men and women we work with.
We are on our way to visit Gaudens, already we have been to Hussein, Onesmo and Glady, Omari, Anton and also Roger, later we will go to Daudi's and then Simon's as well as setting up a backdrop at Kesho Leo where other people have arranged to meet us for their photos.
We take off our shoes and half rock jump, half wade across the creek and climb up the dry rocky slope past cows and goats, watched over by a maasai muslim woman dressed in her beautiful blue hijab. This starts a conversation about religion and maasai culture, Onesmo tells me that maasai culture does not dictate religion, it depends on the family. As we climb Onesmo is also telling me about the different native trees here and what uses they have, this one for tummy ache, the bark of this one for tea. From the other side of the gorge we hear high-pitched arguments between kids and shrill laughter, I think some little someone over there is the butt of a joke. At the very top we arrive at the terraces of Gaudens shamba. His maize has grown since I last visited, but really needs some rain some time soon. Still it's a luminous green compared to the dry, flat landscape behind his boma.
There is an assortment of kids and chooks under the shade trees in the middle of the boma. Gaudens and his wife and their little daughter Vero meet us at the gate and welcome us in. Vero is still a bit tentative, I am the second white person she has ever seen, Corky was the first. She hovers uncertainly as Gaudens surpises us with a yummy lunch of mkande (Beans, maize and coconut milk) and then disappears to get changed into clean clothes for his photos. He reappears dressed in a safi blue shirt and has dressed little Vero in yellow, all of a sudden I realise that the family is now perfectly colour coordinated and Gaudens proudly picks up little Vero and grins at us. Ready for their safi family picture!

One of the best things about today has been the chance to see the men that we work with and know as tough, hard working labourers at home with their families. To see them as proud fathers, loving husbands, to see their farms and houses that they have built or are still building for their families, often with materials bought with the fws savings plan. One of our askaris Daudi, usually very serious and stern, came to Kesho Leo twice to make sure that we could come to his house to take a photo of his little baby daughter and his wife, his face lit up as he posed for a picture with them. It's such a great thing to be working along side our neighbors every day, to be invited into their homes, to meet wives, children, to feel welcomed into this small community. I knew that I was coming here to be part of a project that would help vulnerable women and children but I didn't expect to have such an opportunity to get to know so many local families through the men that are building Kesho Leo. To them I just want to say hongera (Congratulations) and thanks.

Tupo..We are together.

2008-11-25T03:27:00.001-08:00

Jamani, Jamani, Jamani!” (roughly translated to WOW or unbelievable)
Bibi Frank has been saying this over and over since our return. It is exclamations such as this that remind me of how happy the local Tanzanians are about fws's return and their sincere long-term commitment to the project, Kesho Leo, and to the village of Sinon.

It is a mixture of relief and uncertainty being back in the village of Sinon for the fourth time. This place has been my home for varying periods of time over the last 6 years and although at times it is confusing as to where I belong in the world I am so very happy to be back in a place that brings me so much peace. This blog will be less words and more pictures as it will help me to describe all I am seeing around me and those who are working so hard for foodwatershelter.

After 9 months away from the project the differences and changes are so easy to see.

The way the mamas walk - there is a confidence in their step that was not there when I interviewed them in November last year. Their togetherness is apparent and the extended families which we always dreamed of, are starting to form without any of us even realising it.

There is a relaxed feeling about the children as they play together and there is also an expectancy of 'something' in their eyes ( the same look that my niece Eve, gets on her face when you walk through the door). It is such a relief to watch the kids just be kids and slowly, slowly, we may even erase the memories of violence that some of them still hold.

There have been many 'poles' (I am sorry) and then many enormous welcoming smiles throughout the community. The team working in Sinon ebbs and flows but we have a common goal – to see the buildings finished and to see the project, Kesho Leo begin in earnest.

Darren's family work each day in an environment which Daz called his home and they seem to carry a passion that only love can create.

Robbie is so strong and proud of his Dad's work and in between perfecting his mo-hawk he has been perfecting the floor of the accommodation wing. Everyday something changes on site. The frames were up before we knew it and now the roofing is nearly on.

Jay, Daz's brother, now has an extra appendage – his Maasai stick. This man is full of quotable quotes and his heart is open. Mudi and he spend much time in town ordering and in between Jay has managed to throw up a few pieces of roof.

Darren's brother Dan, or as he would prefer to be called 'everyday superhero' ,is leading the team on the building site and is now popular around town in his fisherman pants. His new apprentice Eve will be taking over the site foreman ship after he departs.

Joel Stratti has just arrived with a Movember style yet to be seen amongst the Strattis. Joel has picked up where our Byron Builder's left and the pace on site is incredible.

Kelsey our project manager and diplomat is working so very hard. fws is proud to have this founding member here to manage Kesho Leo for a year alongside our Tanzanian manager Mudi.

Ben Schwabe – has been stuck in between hot tin roofing irons and ceilings grasping pieces of conduit while trying to keep the books in order and the website up to date. He thought he was our bursar but really he is an electrician and building fundi. Shhh don't tell him.

Eve Archbold – this green thumb extraordinaire is making everything grow. Not only has she mastered kiswahili but she has managed to move our permaculture garden along so rapidly. This Horticulturist is the type of volunteer that we hope fws can continue to attract. She is committed to the project long term and can cook egg-plant parmigiana and construct fairy wings when need be.

Robert Cork – What to say about a man that has made this project his life for 3 year(full time for one year and part time for 2 years). Corky has been gone now for 4 days and yes we all miss him. His kwaheri was as special as we hoped it would be. The best news is that his Tanzanian build team have continued to work at 'Corky pace' and are so proud of all they have learnt.

Erin, not only did she teach Maths and English to the workers and English to the mamas, but she researched all vocational centres to assist our workers when making the transition into new jobs after Kesho Leo is built. Asante kwa pumpkin cake Erin – we miss you already.
Emma- she may be Irish and be found to be saying "what ya do be doing" but she is working magic with the afternoon kids classes and mentoring our newest Tanzanian teacher, Margaret.

Nick the 'man of love'( as the workers have named him) is back in Sinon for a few reasons. He is here to climb Meru with his family (look forward to meeting the entire Hirst clan), to work alongside Heather in a place they love, to fine tune his art of cooking 'leftover magic' and most importantly to finish the building that he and Daz started.

Heather, our fws nurse has a competency that puts us all at ease. Apart from diagnosing all volunteer's worm issues she is available for the workers on site and is kept busy every other day teaching HIV education to the mamas and sitting in clinics with our Kesho Kids. We are so lucky that she and Nick have returned to Sinon.

Pricey the electrician. He arrived and he fixed stuff! What can I say he must be from Queensland. It is awesome to have such handy lads around...and the list of handy lads continues.... Leigh, our current fws plumber is out from Dar es Salaam. Without realising it Leigh has turned into yet another builder. Onesmo is so proud of his new recruit (although no one could replace Luca).

The Byron Builders – they came, they left and they had a massive impact on us all. Not only were they impressive builders but they seemed to master a version of Swahili which we will be quoting for months. Corey, Sean and Lucas thank you for your contribution. Onesmo and the team are walking with a slower shuffle in their step since you departed but it is all ok as they are now 'ingenious fundies'. You will never know the long term positive impact that you had among the Tanzanian build crew. Asante and karibu tena!

Anne and Pip are here !
Finding 3 fws women in one spot is not any easy thing to do. But we have done it. Anne will be with Kels and I until mid January and she and Pip are fitting in a quick trip to Sudan with our friend Anna at SSEG (Sudanese Education for Girls. Karibu Mr and Mrs Turner !
Asante sana (thank you) to everyone who is now apart of the foodwatershelter Kesho Leo project story.....and remember that breakfast is the most important meal of the day................slug anyone?

and hello and thanks everyone at home...love and miss you all.
Shona
x

fishponds, flowers and fruit flies

2008-10-26T23:27:00.000-07:00

Hmmm...I'm a bit of a reluctant blog writer. I have been here nearly three months now and have so far only offered one little contribution, so today I'll try to get over my blog-block (sounds a bit...wrong) and write a bit about whats going on, and what is occupying my time and my thoughts over here at the project.

Work on hut three is going well, the fence is going up, building at Kesho Leo is continuing at an amazingly fast pace thanks to the hard work of Darren's family (Daniel, Jay and Robbie), Corky has started building the livestock sheds at Kesho Leo now that the bulk of the building work at the volunteer village is done, mamas are attending their classes which at the moment include sewing and beading along with their usual lessons in health, english, environmental studies, etc. Shona, Heather and Nick have all arrived in the past week and have hit the ground running, there is just so much to do! Life is busy, busy, busy.

Elvis, Helena, Glady, Mary, Elizabeth and I have been working at the farm. We have planted out the veggie beds in the shamba and now have silver beet, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, leeks, eggplant, rocket, sunflowers, carrots, zucchinis and pumpkins growing happily, along with herbs and companion plants. We harvested our first lot of silver beet last week, each mama took home a big bunch to cook up for dinner, this week they will take red onions and lettuces, which are ready to harvest and looking pretty gorgeous.

I am learning just HOW many insect pests there are here as one by one they all find our vegetables and have to be dealt with using a range of organic methods. Curcubit fruit flies are nearly causing me to have a nervous breakdown so if anyone has any miracle cures beyond traps and bagging fruit feel free to email me keshopermaculture@foodwatershelter.org.au. Glady, one of our mamas, is particularly keen to learn more about organic gardening; she told me that she thinks chemical pesticides are very dangerous and that they regularly make people here sick. Glady asked me to teach her how to make the aphid spray that I use (garlic, chilli, oil and a little soap), and then in return has shown me how she mixes up cow urine and crushed neem leaves to protect, and feed, her small crops of mchicha (A type of Amaranth that is grown here as a yummy spinach alternative).
Our veggie patch is definitely a buffet for roaming insects at the moment - veggie beds perched in the middle of a big, dry, nearly treeless piece of land, well, a blank canvas you might say. I feel very optimistic though that once our farm establishes pests will become less of an issue. That's the beautiful thing about organic gardening - it gets easier over time because you are always enriching the environment in your garden. Healthy plants, healthy soil and diversity. We will establish our companion plants, grow windbreaks and shelter belts to reduce evaporation and provide shelter, introduce areas of fruit forest, enrich our soil with compost from our compost heaps (So good you could eat it, well, you know, nearly) and loads of organic mulch, ahhh...it will be a haven.

We have planted nitrogen fixing legumes such as Leucaena, Albizia and Sesbania which will be the nurse plants for our food forest as well as providing fodder for our animals, at the same time they also improve the soil and help to provide a fast-growing windbreak, gotta love em. Pigeon peas are next. Our swales have been planted out with bananas and papayas and they now have a thick layer of organic mulch while we wait for the pumpkins, zucchinis, marigolds, herbs, etc we have planted along them to establish. In our small nursery area we have lots of tree seedlings waiting to be planted when the rain comes, more nitrogen fixers, including local Acacias which we'll plant as windbreak species around our boundaries. With their thorny branches they provide excellent habitat for small birds.

So, the livestock sheds are being built and there is water in one of our fish ponds, the biogas system is nearly finished, the food forest is underway and the veggies are growing. Soon all of the elements of Corky's permaculture design will link together and we will get to see the farm working as a whole system. Can't wait.

Heartbreaks & hopes

2008-09-29T00:04:00.000-07:00

When you wake up in the morning here (in the village of Sinon, Tanzania) one of the things that gets you out of bed is having no idea what will happen that day. You'll have a basic idea of what you want to achieve but you are well prepared for it to go pear shaped. You are constantly juggling things in your mind and physically that even the most well organised person becomes forgetful here!

I have been here managing the operations side of things at Kesho Leo for about seven weeks, on this, my third trip back to Arusha. I had been looking forward to coming here for this year for a very long time. After over three years of creating fws with beck, shona, anne and ed; endless planning, formulating, applying, fundraising, meeting, I really wanted this chance to be 'doing fws' full time. Running a professional and fast moving organisation across Australia and across the world (outside of full time work) has certainly tested our resources and reserves. All five of us have learnt a lot about ourselves and each other and it hasn’t always been easy.

Of course the recent heartbreak has tested us some more and I have to say that my heart is full from the strength that I have seen in our team and our organisation as a whole, as well as all the wonderful new people that have jumped on board to help us some more. And now I have been bowled over to come here to Tanzania and to feel the strength of our local team.
I have had many moments where the gravity of what happened here and the loss of Darren, for Rebecka, for his family, for this project have hit me like a sledgehammer. I have watched men cry in a culture where that is not done. I have sat in a meeting with Mudi our local manager as we had to revisit details about the incident, at a point in the meeting, I felt Mudi's heart shatter some more, I heard it. Mudi loved and respected Darren, they had a solid and equal relationship, Mudi said to me 'Kelsey why did they kill THIS man, HE is a good man'. There have been times when I have cried along side our staff here, I realise that I am crying for the loss of Darrens beaming face and his buoyant energy and for Rebecka and for Darren’s family who are in so much pain, but I am also crying from guilt. I have thought about this feeling of guilt and realised that I feel guilty when I see those in the community grieve, these people who have worked with and known Darren, I cant help but feel like we brought them this heartbreak.

It creates a dilemma when you know that these people’s futures have changed dramatically, that we have brought them hopes that they could never have had for themselves and their children, but amidst that we have also brought them hurt. When I think this through I accept my lack of control in other peoples lives and I think that’s a good thing. Yes I am one of the five women who created fws and toiled for years to bring hope to this community, and yes because of what happened we have also brought hurt. But I also recognise the example of a man that Darren was to all of the young men that work for us, they recount for me the way that he loved this community and what that meant to them. I remember that what we are creating here is a place for this community to flourish and the rest is up to them; the hope and the hurt, in our future together there will be buckets of both and that’s just life.

So highlights of hope I’ve seen since I've returned and look out for plenty of these in future blogs cause they happen every day:

Realising that our 10 Kesho Leo house mamas are an incredible team. Their rapport with each other and their support for each other is beautiful. Being on a local bus with them all as they argued about the price of the fare with the conductor. Rightly so, they argued that we shouldn’t have to pay for full fare as we were all sitting on each other’s knee, two women were therefore only taking up one space. One of the mamas said ‘we kesho mamas are confidence’ (that was one of my proudest moments).
Being in the village and seeing our mamas and their kids going about their daily lives and realizing that since I last saw them in January this year that their lives really have changed for the better and that foodwatershelter has brought that to them.
Sharing in their journey as the build team arrive and continue their brother, father and friend's work on Kesho Leo. Sharing with these men as they pride in Darren's work and in their opportunity to facilitate its completion, as I do what I can to nurture them as they experience their heartbreaks and hopes along the way.
Seeing our labourers building with so much confidence, these 'once were farmers' are now skilled labourers.
Watching Erin and Corky taking Maths and English classes with our labourers and Askaris (guards), maths includes skills at the market, buying and selling, they are beaming with their newfound practical skills.

Watching our farm at Kesho Leo green and grow and realizing that it is going to be an oasis, we are going to be able to be self sufficient for food and this food will be sensational.

After dropping one of our mamas home late one evening by myself, having to put our beast of a car into 4 WD and get up a muddy slope (I was always afraid of that!)

Taking many visitors on site tours of Kesho Leo knowing that at the beginning they probably expect to catch us out on something and then seeing at the end their recognition that fws lives and breathes the term holistic!

Evening light in the village and watching rocket grow in our veggie garden (!) - thanks to Eve our gardening superstar.

…and so then at the end of a day here in Arusha what you feel is a different kind of tired to anything I ever experienced, you feel spent, physically and emotionally spent, its almost a cleansing feeling. You go to bed knowing there’s not much left to give but then the next day you wake up ready to do it all again.

It's great to be back in Arusha

2008-09-21T22:51:00.001-07:00

“Are you crazy?” “Yep, you’re a strange one!” “and why would you want to go back to Tanzania?”

Yeah, these comments might not have been often said to my face when I was back in Australia during July, but I’m pretty sure there was more than one person thinking it. And I’ll admit that on that first night last month when I arrived alone in Dar es Salaam, I was pretty nervous and felt like the same green traveller I was when I first arrived in Tanzania a few years ago. But it was amazing how quickly that feeling of apprehension was replaced with a feeling of welcomeness and sincerity when I settled onto the bus for the 10 hour bus ride back up to Arusha.

It is defiantly a strange thing to explain, and something I will rarely try and do, but to me, there was no doubt about returning to Arusha to continue the foodwatershelter work that all of us and Daz have been so passionate about. Even when I was in my room getting a few things organised to return to Australia in early July, I knew that I was wasting my time by packing and that I would soon be back in Arusha.

If I thought that the 10 hour bus ride was a nice reintroduction to Tanzanian life, then nothing could have prepared me for what it would be like returning to our little community in Sinon. I felt spoilt, but very honoured to be the first fws volunteer to return after our sudden departure. The June 30th events had not only left the community reeling with shock, anger and sadness for our loss of Darren, but had left them very uncertain about their future. Mama’s and children who had been promised an offer of a better chance in life, men who had been offered secure income and training, and a community that were building a community centre to be proud of – all saw these faltering. Would the Kesho Leo common room and community centre that Daz and the men had worked so hard on be left almost finished? Would the mama’s and children return to their uncertain, vulnerable lives? Would all those Tanzanian-Western relationships and friendships be lost? There were so many uncertainties and fears that have only been recently eased by our return.

Those first couple of days in the community were amazing and honestly one of the best days of my life. There is always doubt that you can make a difference to peoples lives, but after the past month there is no doubt in my mind. There were many tears at our return both in happiness and also that enduring sense of loss for Daz. There were so many handshakes, greetings and welcomes, despite the fact that my grasp of Kiswahili hadn’t improved. There were hugs from the mama’s and I couldn’t believe that Elizabeth and Maswai would be so happy when I asked if they wanted to return to work to wash my dirty clothes – something that to them was a sign of our return and a return to some income, despite the fact that to me it now feels like paying a friend to do my chores.

A Sunday afternoon spent having a few quiet sparkling ales with Nalasco and his family included 5 year old Privitas entering the house with a framed photo of Daz and proudly stating – “Number One”. A couple more ales later and the neighbouring grandmother entered the house complaining about her lazy husband, and spotting me, stopped in her tracks, gave me a big hug and then went into a long narrative of how Daz had once helped her climb into the back of our ute for a lift to town. Yep, the complaining soon started again, but was later disturbed when she returned with a beer for me – a big honour when you compare the price of beer with the local farmers’ income.

And this is what the past six weeks have been like. Yes, the dynamics of our project have been a little different during this time, but ever so slowly they are getting back on track. Mama’s lessons are back in full-swing with English, parenting and environmental lessons. The labourers are more passionate about their work and prouder than ever, attending free maths and English classes, and feeling more like friends every day. Eve, my new permaculture volunteer, has been doing a great job working with Elvis and the mamas to get our first farm green and productive rather than just having a lot of holes dug. And finally a new building team have returned and generated such a positive feeling on their third day on site when the two shipping containers were lifted into place in front of a large crowd of mama’s, labourers and neighbours, signifying the recommencement of building.

Yep, this place will never be the same without Daz around and at least for the short-term, many of the project, community and volunteer dynamics have changed, but it is still amazing to be back. More than ever we feel part of the community here and I don’t know whether I have ever felt so welcome. More than ever things are looking positive for the future.

Rob Cork
fws environmental engineer
robert.cork@foodwatershelter.org.au

fws Australia -strong as ever

2008-09-11T02:44:00.000-07:00

Hello and thanks for reading the first of many fws Australia blogs - if you don’t know me, my name is Shona (I also answer to shoney, shones, pony and shonabanana) and I am the Acting President of foodwatershelter

Last Sunday was Father’s day in Australia and I took the opportunity to thank my brilliant Dad (yes, who lives in Banana Shire C.Q) for the entrepreneurial streak that he has passed on to all of his sons and daughters. He is such a smart man - not afraid to take risks and works so hard.

I have believed for a while now, that success is not measured by money but by the achievement of your personal goals and the impact that you have on others on a day-to-day basis.

I know that my Dad is proud of what I do.
There is no personal financial gain to report - not a sausage, but founding and managing an organisation with Beck, Kelsey, Anne and Ed, while working full time rates pretty high I reckon. As for the impact fws has on others? Well, I will let the current Tanzanian team tell you all about that. If I start describing my love for the people of Sinon, how they make the most of everything regardless of their obvious hardships and the beauty of the village itself, you may well nod off or at the very least log off.

So, the central message of this blog is to let anyone reading know that
- fws Australia remains as strong as ever!
We are minus one VIP for a few months but we are so proud that Beck is taking the break that we all hoped she would. The last 2 months have been life at it’s toughest for many but as Darren’s mum, Mrs Stratti, explained to me on the day of Daz’s funeral, “ You can’t hide from life”. foodwatershelter has always been fuelled by strength and continues to be so.

With any changes in structure to an organisation comes ‘hand overs’ and what a massive job this has been. This eye-ball-bleeding work has been made a little sweeter by the fws magic….yeah, stay with me- no voodoo here…… The truth is, that over the last 3 years whenever there was a need for more professional foodwatershelter volunteers, they just appeared.

When the team discussed the next phase of fws, we knew that we would need some pretty sensational people to come on board and come they did.
HR/ideas people/ volunteer managers/shipping container coordinators/ fundraising managers/ membership coordinators/accountants……....the list goes on.

It is hard to believe that I have never met some of these people (the fact that we live in different states does explain a bit) but we are a team and there is an unspoken connection that exists between us. Those unfamiliar with fws probably wouldn’t realise that when the regular working day ends, the fws management comes to life. The little green lights of g-mail begin to shimmer, as one by one the team across Australia log on to their computers and begin the work. I may not know all of these volunteers’ faces but I recognise their passion; I know their drive and I understand their commitment to helping others.

I know that when I am in Tanzania I feel so supported by those at home. It is an absolute privilege to pay back the favour and eat yet another meal in front of the computer for those currently working in Africa and giving all they can.

Cheers
S

Eve's Day...

2008-09-01T23:05:00.000-07:00

The place here is positively humming with activity, there is a team of workers digging out the foundations for hut number three - a new building to accomodate four single rooms for volunteers. (I am very excited to be one of those to score a room in this hut as it is nestled into the shady garden with lots of spots for favorite plants such as fragrant ginger lillies and such...but, anyway, that will come later)

Aggie's in the kitchen cooking up a storm, boiling up some beans to add to the colourful mamas salad, which gets served up to mamas and kids after their classes in the afternoons, and cooking i-don't-know-what glorious dish for us to feast on for lunch. She has one of our new torch/radios (Whose usefulness is blitzed only by my own trusty lighter/clock/torch - another african purchase, which no one else seems to get quite as excited about, despite the fact that it is also fluro and has glittery bits) blaring with a local radio station and outside the kitchen a few fellas are breaking up the rock that will soon be used in the foundations. The radio is drowned out in bursts by the generator and the odd power tool here and there. Don occasionally rushes past in a blur, trusty toolbag on hip, he is working with still more men on the carpentry in huts one and two.

As for me, I have started the morning with a bit of admin, checking emails, checking some info I have on natural pest control (Tomato seedlings have just been discovered by an army of opportunistic 'wadudu'*, damn) and have been convinced to write a small contribution to our blog spot before I head off into the spring sunshine, it is spring now isn't it? to Kesho Leo to spend the rest of the day planting banana palms, mulching our watermelon seedlings, starting a new compost heap and supervising the progress on our aquifer.

Ahhhh...it's a hard life!

* "Wadudu" - Swahili for bugs!

Posted by: Eve, our Environmental Sustainability Supervisor