Hope and Despair

Before I start on today’s blog I want to insert a picture that I forgot to add to the last post about schools. It shows the library we were proudly shown – the only one out of 5 schools. There are two more rows of books the same as the one you can see. These were painstakingly acquired by a motivated head teacher (principal). Some are English, most Kiswahili. These are the books available for a school of nearly 500 children.

The week progressed with the morning walk to the District Offices for a meeting each day where we continue to plan our strategy for applying the goals of the project. Friday we were taken to Mugeza Mseto, a primary school for 500+, and boarding school and orphanage for 140 children, 20 minutes from town.

People everywhere are like chickens, pecking at anyone who is different. As in Canada, it is the same here just more open and prominent. Children with physical differences are usually rejected by their     families here (if they survive [read between the lines]). Mugeza Mseto is a home and refuge for many.

Meet Roshan, a saintly man who drove Bill and me to the school. He is a contractor waiting for the money to come through from UNICEF to build a new kitchen.

Above right is the present kitchen with the cook. It is hazy because the smoke from the fire behind the cameraman fills the room. Way beyond his contractor, Roshan interacts with the children with such love, acceptance and tenderness. They flock to him the minute his car door is opened. He is an inspiration!

Here are some of the children loving and helping each other.

Which way to go?

Three of the caretakers with their own babies and some of the children under a round grass roofed structure designed to give needed shade for the albino children. These children are complete outcasts in this society.

This is the girls dormitory. The photo shows two of three rows of bunk bed about ten deep – but all with mattresses and mosquito nets which is more than many children have. The sweet girl I am holding has legs that don’t work .Many of the leg deformities would be corrected in the West.

We are going to try and find a hat patter and have someone sew them here. Hats are essential for the albino children. I will also bring back some sun screen when I return from Canada next month.

The little girl in the last picture is squatting because her legs will not let her stand. I love the way the children put their arms around each other and help each other. This school has such a good feeling to it. It is a government school but really exceptional for a government school. UNICEF, and another NGO, along with German young people and VSO youth exchange program, donate their time or money or both. Along with the joy you can see is also a look of hopelessness on their faces too. They know their families don’t want them, can’t love them the way they are. They do not go home in the holidays to prevent their being abused.

It is my shame to admit that it is difficult to embrace these albino children with sores on their faces, rough skin and vacant looks. I do so without hesitation but not with the same automatic affection I give to an attractive perfectly formed child.

First week at work

We arrived on Saturday afternoon after the multiple flights, were taken to our house then we met the other vols. for dinner. Sunday was a scramble in town for sheets, towels, and other sundry household items that make life pleasant. Then there was the trip to the market for food with our limited Swahili vocabulary. Lugging our bags of tomatoes, pineapple, passion fruit, small bananas, avocados, onions, limes, cabbage, rice, flour etc. we loaded it all into a taxi (thank goodness). Our first feast was macaroni with tomato sauce and aaaah! we forgot to get salt. Fruit for dessert.

Early Monday morning Christa, Louisa and Bairu met us at our gate for the half hour walk to the Bukoba District Offices. Bairu is a Canadian Volunteer who has been here for a year and a half. He has been instrumental in creating our project document and doing the research for the baseline statistics. His role now is Leadership Advisor, Louisa, Christa and I are Quality Teaching Advisors. Our project manager is a Tanzanian, Mnubi, and the final member of the team is Alexander, a Bukoba native who is our community liaison person.

As you can see our office is crammed with 6 desks, some of which need to be shared with others. Not a conducive working arrangement. We 

were taken around and introduced to millions of people who I hope I will know by the end of my placement. Tuesday we had an information meeting.

On Wednesday we started some school visits to get a sense of what we would be working with. No real surprises for me as the schools were much like those in Rwanda but for Bill, Louisa and Christa it was a revelation.

Children everywhere love to ham for the camera.

Some students sit 4 to a desk in this class of 42. The largest classes were about 60 and the smallest a sweet 18. Some teachers teach 3 out of 8 periods and in more isolated areas the teachers teach 8 out of 8 periods five days a week. There are some systemic changes that would help this situation. If a teacher has a note from the doctor saying she/he has to be near the hospital then they cannot teach 30 minutes ride out of town. It is not hard to get such a letter. Also many teachers are away for days, weeks, and months at a time because of childbirth, alcoholism or other causes. They are not replaced and the children sit teacherless in the classrooms. Little wonder why parents do not send them to school. Many teachers are sitting in the staff room all day or most of it. One of our aims is to have the teachers, one, at school and two, delivering lessons in the classroom.

 

 

Staff room – a good one    Classroom floor

Arrival – Hamjambo

I am in Tanzania as a Cuso International volunteer (Canadian University Service Overseas). They are in partnership with an English organization VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas.) Both organizations do the same kind of work in developing countries. VSO creates the programs and administers the work in Africa, Cuso does the same for Latin and South
America. This prevents duplication of work. The two organizations share the same vision of creating sustainable development through the teaching of skills rather than giving money or objects. The two main objectives are to develop programs with the organizations in the developing country and to supply skilled volunteers to facilitate the implementation of the programs. Both organizations have good websites if you would like to know more.

If you would like to support this work please give a donation in my name at this address: https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/donate.aspx?EventID=105573&LangPref=en-CA&Referrer=http%3a%2f%2fcusointernational.org%2fvolunteer

The donation will help develop programs or send another volunteer to facilitate sustainable development. Cuso uses only 10% of its income on administration. Both Canadian and American donations are tax deductible.

We were greeted in Dar es Salaam after more than 30 hours of travel with a blast of hot humid smoggy air as we stepped out of the airport. After settling in our hotel and spending the afternoon at the VSO offices we had dinner on the beach – picture 1.

After a day of workshops in Dar we moved to Morogoro for 4 days of language classes and effective classes they were. I already know much more Swahili that I ever knew Ikinyarwanda. The teachers were great, the preparation splendid and the curriculum effective.

Louisa, from England, Christa, from Belgium and myself are the new members joining the project team.

The 28 people in this In Country Training (ICT) plus Benji and Beatrice our master teachers.

The ten Canadians on ICT.

Part of our training was going to the market and finding some new words. Here is a boy at the dried fish stand with a sleepy shop keeper.

After language training it was back to Dar for 6 more days of workshops designed to give us an understanding of the work being done in Tanzania, cultural dos and don’ts plus meeting our project manager and discussing what our specific role would be. Then it was off to Bukoba.

Well, we had an African trip. Our plane was to leave at 11am. Then it was changed to 9am. We got to the airport by 7 am and they said the flight to Mwanza would leave at 2:50 pm which would mean we missed the Mwanza – Bukoba flight but we sat down to wait hoping we could check our baggage and go through security to where there was some food. When we got to the baggage check part after much talking on the phone (9:30 am) the man said hurry, hurry, hurry!!! We couldn’t understand it. After a while he said we were going to Kilimanjaro. I said no, no we want to go to Mwanza. It turned out we were going to Mwanza through Kilimanjaro. We had no time to do anything between the three flights (Dar to Kilimanjaro, Kilimanjaro to Mwanza, and Mwanza to Bukoba) but arrived in Bukoba a little after 3 pm just about on schedule but very hungry and thirsty. The runway here is packed earth – makes an interesting sound as you go along.

I hadn’t had enough water or salt so had a massive headache that was more than compensated for by getting our house. We are high on a hill overlooking the town and lake. Many trees including a lime tree and a papaya tree in the garden and one with weaver nests.

We have a large bedroom with windows opening onto the balcony and a queen sized bed, and a smaller bedroom with a single bed. We have a FRIDGE and HOT water which is really wanted here as the cold water is too cold for an enjoyable shower. The kitchen and bathroom are inside. These are all improvements over my accommodation in Rwanda. And we were chilly in the evening – a pleasant change after sweltering in Dar.

Construction

This will be mostly pictures. The construction materials in Rwanda and Kenya are soil blocks, cement, brick, and cement blocks. Basic houses are made with soil blocks formed frequently on the property and patched with hand applied mud. More prosperous homes are made from cement brick or baked bricks. Larger buildings are of cement and/or cement blocks again made close at hand. For many buildings the cement is mixed on the ground with men in bare feet – doesn’t seem to bother them.

The building above is seen in two installments about 6 months apart. Note the walkways up which they carry buckets or cement and other supplies. The look rather flat in this picture but are really akilter.

These three pictures are of the same building in Gitarama – a posh building for the Bank of Kigali. The first shows building the casings for pouring cement to form the pillars. I didn’t have my camera with me the day they were pouring cement brought in buckets by a bucket brigade that was formed by men and women. A man precariously perched at the top received the bucket. There was an automated bubble remover (sorry Bill) operated electrically with power supplied by with a long snaking cord. That was impressive enough but added to that, it was happening in a deluge Rwanda style.

You can see hard hats and in Kigali I saw some men high up with harnesses working on the outside of the buildings. These people have grown up leaping down steep uneven slopes. There strength, grace and balance are way above anything I have ever encountered. What would be patently unsafe for someone from our culture is well within their abilities.

All the wood you see is holding up the cement horizontals. It is not part of the building. When they are finished with that part of the construction it looks like this. The man you can see on the pile of boards is patiently taking out nails. This building is beside the VSO office so I have watched it emerge. The roof garden above what will be parking is an unusual touch.

How do they get the wood, well – The large log was taken in Butare at dusk. The other was in a rural area. That photo required delicate negotiations with the workers, some of whom were angry at the thought of being photographed. Some however didn’t mind and red shorts is definitely into having his picture taken. The angry ones turned positive when I gave the cooperative some money and instantly wanted us to take their pictures.

Saw sharpening happens on the site.

 

Wood is piled by the roadside. This is in Kenya – easy to tell because it is relatively flat. Construction crews come along and buy it from there.

Sometimes deconstruction happens first. The activity seen here is happening beside a primary school classroom. The children and adults scramble through the debris to get to the school. Well, I thought this was going to be mainly pictures but I seem to have written quite a lot.    

Travel in Rwanda

The king’s palace is displayed in a compound where his home was. Some of the buildings are original but this one, maybe 25 feet tall and more than 30 feet in diameter, has been rebuilt. The interior is stunning with woven room dividers. His bed was near the size of two king size beds together.

There is a fire pit in the center and a smoke whole at the top. Other similar but smaller huts were for the woman who looked after the milk. She was allowed to be married and that hut has a big bed – half the size of the kings. The second hut was for fermenting beer. The man with this job was not allowed to marry and has a small bed.

Well, for milk you need cows and this is the traditional Rwandan royal cow.

We visited the national (and only) museum in Butare on our way to Nyungwe Forest where we stayed at the Gisagura guesthouse and where we were entertained by a troop of vervet monkeys. Tony underestimated their abilities and lost his sandwich as he was about to take a bite. They would climb on the windowsill and the narrow ledge of the door.

Baby is getting a good cleaning after having a snack.

The paradise flycatcher – also an eyecatcher, was ouside our window every day. Along with a kind of hummer.

 

Tony was game for chimp trekking so we left at the crack of dawn and drove for an hour over unbelievably bad roads to the beginning of a long steep downhill walk. The whole time I was thinking “I have to come back up this in a little while.” Chimps are much more elusive. We managed glimpses but only really had a good look if you had binoculars. The one reasonable picture is a blurry telephoto shot. After chasing after the chimps for an hour we huffed and puffed our way back up the slope. The rule for all primate trekking is that you have one hour from when you first come across the target primate. This is the same for gorillas, monkeys and the chimps. The walk there and back can take several hours. After showering (hot showers this trip!!!) and resting, Tony again treated me to a sumptuous dinner at the Nyungwe Forest Lodge – actually he treated me a lot but this lodge is a wonder in itself.

For the last days of our trip Tony opted to see eastern Rwanda and Akagera Park. I hadn’t planned this as the animals here were the same without the big name ones that we saw in Kenya. However, it offered a delightful surprise in that we had park ranger in the car with just us. There were few other tourists or vehicles so we could appreciate the animals in a more natural setting. That’s a hippo in the background and a couple of old crocs. The picture isn’t blown up much. We were able to get out of the vehicle and approach the shore. Amazing.

Finishing up is an impala in motion.

I have a wonderful few second video of one leaping over another.

I will do another blog of roadside places in the three countries. If I try to do it as write about the parks it would make the blogs even longer. And I have plans for a couple more. I want to share my construction photos and do another snapshot of daily life now that everything is not so new.

I love to get comments or e-mails.

Rafting the Nile Cataracts, Gorillas and Other Good Things

That’s me in the white t-shirt hanging on for dear life beside Tony who is paddling like a pro. Before lunch we had eight in the boat but four left as they had just gone bungy jumping with the same company. We flipped a couple of times. Though one or two of the young sprogs (20 somethings) could get back into the raft, I had to be hauled over the side like a dead walrus sprawling, my face smunched against the bottom, ignominiously trying to get my head higher than my feet.

From the rush of rafting in Uganda we moved on to the gorillas in Virunga Park, Rwanda. This time the gorillas definitely outranked the trackers. I’ll only post a few pictures this time. We say the silverback (dominant mature male) with his family of 24 females, young males and babes. You can see the how close the ranger is. We were that close to!

There was also a 3 week old baby and though it is it is just a mass of black fur you can see the tenderness of the mother.

The trackers and the ranger (no hat) are a special type of gentle, caring people. The trackers stay with the animals all day and return to the town at night. Their bodies are solid muscle from running up and down steep slopes and hacking away vegetation with machetes all day. They wear rubber boots which surprised me. The gun is not for the gorillas who are not at all aggressive. It is for elephants or water buffalo which can threaten tourists. However, that is extremely rare.

At Musanze we also went on the Golden Monkey trek. A slightly easier walk than the gorillas. I found it difficult to get good photos as it was quite dark in the bamboo forest.

After the gorillas we relaxed a bit at Gisenyi on Lake Kivu. These fishing boats are so picturesque. Gisenyi is on the Congo border and there is a town on the other side. The gentle downhill slope to the crossing necessitated a ‘brakeman’ to hold back the laden carts.

Because we had a 4 wheel drive vehicle we were able to the lake road to Kibuye. Here I managed to get a smokin’ picture of the  volcano that is just across the border in the Congo about 50 km away.

The rest of the trip with some interesting roadside pictures and in Akagera Park next.

Amboseli Park

So on to Amboseli. This park is located at the northern base of Kilimanjaro. Most is very dry and supports little wildlife but near the center is a big swamp. The dominant group of animals is elephants. You can see they are knee-deep eating to their hearts content. In the background you can see some twisters which were a constant when we were there.

This bull elephant with a cow bird on his back was huge.. He was our major bull elephant and he was accompanied but a bevy of females and young but still almost fully grown elephants. The senior males usually travel on their own so we were lucky to have this family together.

I have a video that I can’t upload of two young males. One wanted to fight and the other didn’t. The one who wanted peace went down on his knees as a signal that he didn’t want to fight the other kept on coming. Our vehicle was trapped by others and we couldn’t move away from the peaceful one who was backing away from possible conflict. There were a few moments when we thought he would back right into our vehicle and he would have knocked it over. Below are giraffes with thorn trees and Kilimanjaro in the background ate picturesque. Kilimanjaro would appear with the morning light and be obliterated by clouds by ten in the morning.

We were lucky to see a hyena. They are quite rare now. You can see how dry and arid the land is. I have tons of pictures of Kilimanjaro but I am sure you have all seen more fabulous ones in publications.

Apart from the above the highlight of this park was visiting a Maasi village. They welcomed us with a dance and song. Another video of me joining in the dancing will be shown later when I have a better internet connection. The first is a picture of colliding cultures. This man worked at the camp, wore his kanga and shawl under his jacket and arrived for work on a moto with jacket and hat.

At the village I captured some children – shy but brave. The younger one ran into her house but reappeared with older children.

Then three children were delighted to have their picture taken. I think it is not clear here but they have flies crawling on their snotty noses. Didn’t bother them.

The birds were also fascinating – colourful. The camp had put out a feeder to attract them. I’ve forgotten the name of the colourful one but the second picture is a hornbill.

This wonderful ostrich is drying its wings. The graceful, striking herons are numerous. I don’t know what this last one is called but his colours you can guess at in the blurry photo are vivid. I’ll have to look up the names later. They are always my downfall.

Maasi Mara

Here is Tony at our tent in the Maasi Mara. Most people were intent on seeing the ‘Big Five’ – lions, leopards, elephants, water buffalo and rhinos – but for me everything was equally enchanting from the flowers to the birds and the sweeping landscape. We did manage to see four of the five, three in the Maasi Mara. Leopards eluded us even though our eyes were peeled to all tree branches.

For the most part, the animals were blaise wondering what all these stupid people with black boxes in front of their eyes were. Lions especially. As soon as one safari vehicle saw something of note it was radioed to all the vehicles in the area and soon there was a convergence of safari vehicles. If were lucky you got there before the animal(s) disappeared.

We arrived late afternoon and dropped off out things at the camp heading out immediately for the dusk viewing. This was for me the best time in the Mara. There was a huge herd of wildebeest on the move amidst elephants and lions were nearby.

This elephant has lost his tail and the next one has a broken tusks. Life in the wild can be rough.

We came across a pride enjoying a recent kill – probably a wildebeest. His manners were atrocious but I didn’t feel inclined to make any corrections. I include the dozing lion with the classic thorntree in the background for ambiance. This is a different kind of thornteee than the one in the previous post. The whistling thorntree is more of a shrub size whereas this one is majestic.

The antelope family enchanted with their beauty and grace. Impalas with their gently curving horns, Thomson’s gazelles with their graceful leaps, water bucks, elands and on and on.

Below are Thomson’s gazelles playing at dominance.

I caught some video – in Rwanda’s Akagera park – of a gazelle or maybe it was an impala leaping over another one. I don’t have the internet capability to put that in the blog.

We were supremely lucky to see a cheetah from a distance but he stayed there alert and tense for quite some time. I would live to have seen him/her run though I feel lucky to have seen one at all. I’m sure this young male lion is saying, “Go around. Don’t expect me to move. You’re on my land!”

The Maasi people were equally fascinating. They wear their traditional bright red patterned shawls – not just for the tourists. If one of the Maasi has gained education and works in town, upon returning to the village has to change into traditional clothing. The men herd the cattle – a gentle job requiring much walking but many hours of peaceful watching. Often there are more than one herding their respective cattle together so they chat endlessly. The women are responsible for everything else including building the homes. Many do intricate beadwork while the men carve, often in ebony, figures for the tourists. They wear elaborate beadwork necklaces. Many of the children go to at least primary school though some do not. We visited a Maasi village as dark was falling rapidly. In Amboseli park we had a better chance to see a village that was fully functional and not created for the tourists.

We gave this grandmother, mother and baby a lift to the market. The grandmother was insensed when I took her picture before they realized we were going to give them a ride. This is not tourist garb. Of all the people in Kenya the Maasi hang on to their traditional ways most strongly. They have however, changed the rite of passage to adulthood ritual of killing a lion. They realize that the tourist dollars are more essential to their welfare so they have adapted the ritual. A cohort of young men requiring the right of passage go out into the Mara but do not kill a lion (hopefully).

The next is a photo of inside home. The woman in the white and red striped shawl is

lighting the cooking fire. The men are hanging out doing the chatting with us. More will follow on the Maasi people in the blog from Amboseli park where we had longer in the daylight to appreciate the lifestyle of these colourful people.

Nairobi and Lake Naivasha

Sorry for the long delay. Not only do I have hundreds of photos to go through but on a new little notebook. I had to find a photo program and downloaded Picasa – then of course I had to figure out how to use it. Also the word on this computer (2007) has a different blog function than my big computer. I sent the big computer home for Bill. It really was too heavy to carry around easily. This setup is great but the learning curve has been slow.

Smiling in Nairobi, I joined my brother, Tony, who arrived from Toronto September 13^th. As you can see my hair is much greyer and I have more wrinkles, but less fat – still identifiable. We travelled for a month taking in a safari in Kenya, relaxing days at the beach in Mombasa, rafting on the Nile cataracts in Uganda, the gorillas, Nyungwe park chimpanzees and a glorious day through Akagera Park in Rwanda once again seeing animals unique to Africa.

In Nairobi we visited the elephant orphanage where there are many sad stories about why the baby elephants were abandoned. They are lovingly cared for under the auspices of the Seldrick foundation. We also visited the giraffe preserve. Then Tony treated me to dinner at “‘Carnivore” the premier restaurant in Nairobi where they serve meat you are used to plus crocodile, ostrich and others that are not endangered cooked on the barbeque pictured. I suspended being a vegetarian so I wouldn’t starve but mainly so I could have this experience. Every 5 minutes or so a waiter would appear at the table with a skewer of a different kind of meat. Everyone kept eating until they were stuffed. The ambiance was wonderful and the food delicious.

We joined our safari – first stop Lake Naivasha – first African animals. We boarded a small boat for the trip across the lake. On the way across the lake we saw pelicans and the fish eagle before we landed and walked to where the animals were. The magic of this place derived from being able to walk amongst the animals. In the game parks you are required to stay in the vehicle for the very legitimate reasons of safety. Here there were no animals of danger to us – zebras, giraffes, Thomsons gazelles, impala and others of the antelope family. I will only include the best photos from here as we saw these animals many times – each time as wonderful. The third picture is from a whistling thorntree; so called because ants make their home in these bulbous fruits and make a hole. When the wind blows it produces a whistling sound through the hole. You can just see the shiny black ants head in the hole. The fruits are about the same size as in the picture.

The other magical thing we say was fishermen in the water catching talapia. They sold one to the boatman so he could throw it out to attract the fish eagles.

 

 

 

Also the park harnesses steam from the underlying volcanic activity

I think the formatting will be difficult so I am hoping you can connect the pictures with the text. That white plume of ‘smoke’ is actually steam coming from a fissure in the ground. There is a facility traps this energy and uses it to produce electricity . There are also several cone centers like ‘Black Tusk’.

 

 

 

 

The next blog is about the Maasi Mara.

     

Education in General

 

Recess happens. The primary students have a really beat up ball for soccer. They are so agile and adept. The agility and strength of the people under 30 here is unbelievable. I tried to get a photo that showed the ball clearly but with no avail.

The schools are mostly organized into Primary 1-6 and secondary 1-3 which makes up the 9 years basic education that is supposed to be available to all Rwandan children. However, due to funding problems many schools require secondary 1-3 students to pay a fee of often 15,000 Rwandan Francs per semester (there are three in a year). This is just under $30 per student and many parents cannot pay this. Plus they need about 5,000 Rw francs for notebooks and pens. Many families live of less than this per month.

The primary students crowd around me at recess. So delightful to be wanted! I gave my camera to a student to take this picture. It was a treat for her and gave me a wonderful photo.

Those who do well in the secondary 3 exams (the old ‘O’ level in Britain can go on to senior secondary if their parents have money. Many of them board at schools which gives them a better chance of success as there is study time instead of working after school.

Those who do best in the secondary 6 exams are given scholarships to go to one of the government universities to study math and sciences though they can choose humanities but the sciences are heavily favoured. The next level can attend other degree granting institutions such as teacher training and can become teachers at secondary 4-6. The next level go to colleges such as the one I am working at that gives a teaching diploma for teaching at secondary 1-3. They frequently do not have a choice of subject to study. They also are not choosing to be teachers and most do not want to be. The students from Kigali have a much better chance of getting high marks. Many of the students at KCE are from rural areas. Teacher training for primary school is done in senior secondary.

Primary teachers work long days for 30,000 RwF or $50 a month. Secondary 1-3 teachers earn between 100,000 and 150,000 RwF a month ($ 166 – 250). So after training most try to continue their education and get degrees in areas such as business management. The turnover of teachers is great.

Most schools do not have running water. Hand washing is done by pouring water from jerry cans over your hands. There is an effort to have separate washrooms for girls in secondary so they can handle their periods. There is also a movement and donated supplies for girls so they do not have to miss school when they have their periods.

Meet Jean Pierre in the suit he borrowed for a school function – sitting at my computer.
His family is very poor. In order to pay for his secondary school, his sister had to drop out at the end of primary. Now that he is in college on a scholarship she is back in secondary 2 (grade 8) at the age of 20. Jean’s parents are adamant that the children get the best possible education even though it means a more difficult life for them. In May, when Jean was telling me about his family, (I had asked.) he was distraught, sitting with his face in his hands because he had just heard his sister had to drop out again as his parents did not have the school fees. He was not asking me for anything but … So now she is in school. The next child is in primary 6 and Jean says he will have to repeat the year because there is not enough money to send two children to secondary. And then there are 2 more younger ones. However, things might be easier for them when the older ones are working and can help pay the school fees for them. The secondary school Jean attended gave his work in the holidays so he could pay his fees though this meant he had less time for studying.

For $100 a year you can provide schooling for the boy from this motivated family. Could this be taken on as a school project?