As we continued to handle construction and engineering priorities for the water project, our days have contained celebrations of hope and happiness in other areas as well.

Barbara & James with Lucia

A visit to Kishumundu Secondary School allowed a wonderful reunion with Lucia Mbuya, the 2012 recipient of ICBD’s Hope of the Future educational scholarship. We were delighted to hear that she had placed 8th out of all Tanzanian students taking admission exams for her current grade level. Lucia’s favorite subject is biology and she is now hoping to be a doctor someday “so she can help people in her country”. 

 Our Fulbright Scholar and Field Engineer Yana Genchanok welcomed her parents to Tanzania on Sunday, with a dinner at the Ngowi family’s home. We all enjoyed Eva’s wonderful traditional food as well as many stories, tall tales and some shared trepidations  as the Genchanoks looked ahead to climbing Mt. Meru this week. We finished the evening with Yana proudly showing her family the water distribution system. 

The Genchanoks leaving for Mt. Meru climb

 We spent a wonderful Tuesday driving up to Materuni village to see Eva Ngowi’s dream in progress’ for a Coffee & Curio Shop. About a 30 minute ride up the mountain from her home, some 30 to 40 tourists drive daily then park their cars at Materuni for a hike to the Nambe’ Waterfall. Eva negotiated a deal with the owner of a small shop that is currently under construction there,where she plans to have the Acorn Women’s Cooperative sell home grown coffee beans, coffee, drinks and snacks, and where the Acorn Women’s beautiful handicrafts may be purchased as well. 

Eva Ngowi smiles proudly in front of new construction

Eva and I also went into town to select some lovely Tanzania kitange cotton cloth to create products I will carry home to shops and boutiques in the USA. A stop by the Acorn Women’s workspace in Kyaseni the next day found the women hard at work already, cutting the new cloth and creating laptop bags, purses, and jewelry.

Creating handicrafts at the Acorn Cooperative 

With a group field trip planned tomorrow to the Hai District water project for ideas and learning, James and I took a one day safari today to Arusha National Park. Just an hour from Moshi town, we welcomed the chance to breathe deeper and connect to the soul of Africa through its grasslands, mountain slopes, forests and wonderful wildlife.

Barbara & James at Arusha National Park

We were invited this week to visit a church in the Meru area, about an hour from Moshi town. 
Leaving the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro we drove through the dry flat plains, dusty and near-barren from drought. We saw small children standing within a foot of certain death, as they vigilantly guarded the family’s goats grazing at the highway’s edge. We watched the Maasai herders walking countless miles with their cattle in search of even the smallest water hole, a residual blessing from infrequent rain. And we watched the owners of barrel laden donkeys  retrieving water from a rare roadside standpipe, having walked days for water.

Many people turn away from life’s challenges here in Africa, saddened by the depths of problems and convinced that real impact is not possible. But to turn a face from the problems means to turn away from the depths of the people themselves, all mirrors of the best and worst within us all.

As James struggled to regain energy after a week long bout of food poisoning, we tried to manage some work progress during prolonged electrical blackouts, phone failures and sub-saharan temperatures. Even with these small discomforts we realized for the thousandth time how blessed we are. And with grateful hearts we persevered, thankful for the opportunity to be of some slight service or bring momentary relief to a Tanzanian sister or brother.

African Evening Sky

Our first week in Uru brought its own reminders of how much cooperative effort is required in a community participation project. ICBD’s role continues to adapt to the project’s needs, but after the start-up investment and efforts, a great deal of the project then relies on the Uru community’s abilities to self organize and contribute wherever possible. 

Engineers Yana & James at work

 The distribution line from the Grandmother Well at Kimocholo to our initial four villages and sub-areas (10 access points) has been funded through Uru community contributions and subsidized with a loan from ICBD. This allows the communities full ownership and ensures sustainable management of the system. Many well intended projects here in Africa end up failing within 5 years due to poor planning for community participation or limited understanding of the people’s resources.

In our ‘pilot program’, a simple system of collecting monies for the pails of water being purchased at the access points, with accountability and a small ‘commission’ paid to the kiosk attendants, has been implemented. ICBD is assisting the community in the formation of a registered company, the Uru Waters Company, that will provide the community with transparent bookkeeping for monies collected. These monies will eventually cover the electricity needed to pump the water from the well and provide monies in reserve for system maintenance and repairs.

Typical Public Water Access Location

In the meantime, we are all working together to correct any small problems with the water system that are now appearing with water flowing plentifully along this first line. In fact, the water is flowing so abundantly within the new line, that we are being required to ‘slow the flow down’ with a simple pressure reduction approach (several concrete pressure boxes placed strategically along the line to slow the flow) so water doesn’t blast through at some points along the pipeline. Too MUCH water: what a good problem to have! 

After a week of meetings, systems review, planning and a little time taken for patting one another on the back… we finished the week Saturday in Moshi town. James, Yana and I had a scheduling meeting at the Union Coffee Shop, which is the people’s coffee cooperative for some of the world’s best and locally produced Arabica coffee. From the porch of the coffee shop and eventually from the balcony of our lunch spot Dela Chez, we took in the many sights and sounds of the busy Moshi people and streets.

Barbara at the Dela Chez

Street Corner Market

Public water access kiosk

Monday was a day spent driving and walking our Uru water system. This included the “Grandmother Well” at Kimocholo, the Unity Path pipeline bringing the water to the Ndshini cistern, and then following the pipe path through 4 villages which include numerous sub-areas. These 4 villages now contain 6 public access points for clean water from the Grandmother Well,with 4 more kiosks in progress.

We met and talked with many Uru people throughout our walk, asking questions about the water and the difference it is making in their lives. My favorite conversation was with a young woman carrying a tiny baby on her back, who thanked us “for bringing the water so close to her home”. Her daily walk for water has been dramatically reduced from hours to only minutes. Not only is she and her family enjoying safe clean water now, but she has more time available to her, greatly reducing the stress of her daily life.

As we walked and then stopped to look at the public access kiosks, the nearby manifolds with their new meters, and to speak with the people… I could hear Johnny Cash’s song “I Walk the Line” inside my head… over and over. Aside from the obvious correlation, I realized that this song was deeply appropriate for our walk, as it is a beautiful love song. So I smiled then hummed a bit louder, happy to be a part of a love story that connects hearts, hands, and hope around the world.

Barbara Touring the Water System 

James & Barbara at Ndishini Cistern

We stepped off the plane at 8:50 pm Thursday evening and commenced the ‘hurry up and wait’ process of obtaining our visas and then collecting our luggage. As we stepped through the doors into the public area we were greeted by almost 2 dozen of our dear friends and partners, smiling and hugging and laughing!

Alphonse had orchestrated this wonderful greeting, and arranged 3 large vehicles to escort us, our luggage, and this beautiful greeting committee to our Kitole Homes B&B in Moshi. At Kitole the manager had lit candles throughout the common living area, along with fresh picked flowers from the gardens. We were able to sit and talk with our friends, taking in the faces and changes that a year apart may bring to us all. Before leaving, the lovely women from the Acorn Cooperative sang a quiet ‘good night’ song… and James and I retired for much needed sleep… our hearts full of the joyful sight and sounds of ‘old friends’.

Mt. Kilimanjaro welcomes us again.

Our group arriving in Africa amidst wind and dust and a night sky heavy with a million stars, all bearing silent witness to life come and gone and come again. Here, the ground and the air and its people reflect our common origins, rooted in ancient times.

The many faces of Uru’s children: cautious, curious, smiling, laughing, welcoming, singing. Faces of this earth’s future, we work to leave the world a little better than we found it, for them.

The awe inspiring Mt. Kilimanjaro coloring all of life, tempering Africa’s heat, and still offering some glacial melt for water. It is this water that now runs deep, deep underground, that we have tapped for the Grandmother Well at Kimocholo.

A celebration of the ‘first water’ from this well, drank and shared with our group and many villagers, all blessing and giving thanks to the good God and for everyone’s fruitful efforts here and in America… for water and friendship.

Breathtaking views from Uru’s hillsides, overlooking fields of maze, small homes and huts, and Moshi town far far below.

Red clay roads full of rocks and holes and trenches, obstacles to certain movement, that became absolutely impassable with the onset of any steady rain.

Boisterous and quiet moments alike in the Ngowi home, full of love and family and gratitude for ‘all that is’.

The times of mourning for the loss of Alphonse’s mother, 104 years old and the oldest grandmother in Uru. For me, she was a friend and the African face of our Grandmother Well, an image of all the world’s women who work so hard for their families and children. It was a privilege to know her and an honor to be part of her passing, as we reflected on her life and the love she left behind. May we all be inspired by such perseverance and wisdom and service in the world… for her family, her community and in recent years… her ever present prayers for water.

As I say goodbye to the people and places who live on in my heart, I add my prayers to Justina’s prayers, for a good life full of love and hope, dignity and respect, in our global family of humanity. May God continue to bless us all with health and happiness, even as we give thanks for the challenges that make us stronger. And so it is, Amen.

On Kilimanjaro, people partake of food that is harvested and then eaten on that same day. There is no refrigeration, so good food management is vital to well being. Grain is ground, chickens are kept, eggs collected, fruit picked from the trees and if meat is eaten, it is butchered, prepared and consumed within hours.

One of the days that our group spent at Kishumundu Secondary School, brought a delay in lunch and the school schedule, because the farmer was late with the just butchered cow… and it had to be inspected by the local doctor… before it was consumed by the children.

As a vegetarian I have no problem being nutritionally satisfied for protein, with local legumes/beans as well as eggs, being abundant in Uru. And I am reminded of a bit of wisdom once said to me: “if you cannot be personally involved or even watch or handle your meat as it is prepared from ‘hoof to table’… you probably should not be eating meat”.

It seems a practical concept that draws attention to our innate body/mind wisdom. Is it really advisable to be so far removed from our food sources that we have no idea of… or are not part of… their beginnings, their nutritional value or their safe handling?

The mountain here also has great influence on the weather, and I have experienced several unseasonable storms, including hail, strong winds and sheets of rain. You take cover where you are and then deal with the affects afterward. I found myself in Moshi town yesterday when one such storm struck us. Waiting under a doorway of the YWCA, I made slow, pleasant conversation with others who had found shelter in the same way (I know only very little Swahili and their English was broken).

Alphonse and I began the drive back up the mountain towards his home, once the rain had stopped. We knew that at some point, the rough roads to his home would become impassable for my rented vehicle. The only questions were when and how far we would finish up by foot. He stated he was “glad that challenging circumstances had occurred”, so I “could experience and know how to handle the vehicle under such road conditions”.

We made it very near to our wonderful Grandmother Well and left the car in the hands of good people to watch over, before trekking the rest of the way up and down the steep, wet and very slippery red clay roads. “Po-le po-le”, slowly slowly, we carefully selected our pace and footsteps, arriving safely at home.

Everyday is a day of some challenge, and I remain amazed at the strength, fortitude and ingenuity required to live here. Water rushes and then dries up, crops fail, people fall ill and die. Life is lived here as our ancestors lived, exposed and at the mercy of hostile elements within the environment. But always, always, Uru lives as ‘community’, finding strength and support in the presence of all those around them.

The seasonal ‘big rains’ do not come usually until late March, April or even May, so this is an untimely but welcome rain for those who live here. Small roads and dry creek beds will become living rivers, with water rushing down the mountain side, gaining great momentum as it flows.

Unexpected rain relieves the long droughts, dampening the ever present red dust and reviving plants, animals and people alike, all of whom yearn for water. But as fast as these ‘roads turned to rivers’ swell, they will just as quickly dry up tomorrow, and the earth will crack open again under the heat of the African sun.

Our work progresses on the water project after Tuesday’s Uru East Water Board Meeting of 22 people including village representatives, 7 village chairpersons, our cooperating NGO and the assistant district water engineer. Four villages were selected to receive the water from the Grandmother Well at Kimocholo. This decision was based on topography, placement of existing and future cisterns, and to provide relief for those suffering the most from lack of clean water. Five thousand people will be served by this sweet water, a water so good… it requires no addition of chemicals or purifiers.

The Board also made the very courageous decision to pull out any and all very old pipes from these four villages, decaying remnants of colonial days, coffee plantations, mission churches and subsequent haphazard attempts at tapping into these old water systems. There has never been a single village-wide distribution of water here before, let alone of four villages. So the letting go of any old sources, however polluted or unreliable they may be, is a great act of trust and commitment to the common good.

With action being spurred on by my planned departure date next Tuesday, the four recipient villages have organized a mandatory work day this Monday. Every able bodied citizen will participate, digging out the old systems and making way for renewed life and opportunity in Uru.

Holding on to the banner in 40 mile an hour winds!

19,500 feet to the top!

A quick stop at TANESCO electric company also provided some additional information about cost estimations and regular readings on the electricity required to run our water pump, which is a primary budgetary concern for this Uru community.

SUNDAY began with 7am Mass at the Roman Catholic Church in Kishumundu. Ninety percent of the Uru East residents attend this church, so it is a community center, a means of dispensing important communications within the community, and a source of spiritual inspiration for the residents, as well.

Father Jumatano is new to this parish but has been a strong advocate for community support of our water project already. I have enjoyed his messages (once interpreted to me from Swahili) because of their strong advocacy for self initiative and self empowerment through individual and community participation.

Our cooperative project is really a model for global community initiative, at a grass roots level. And I am continually gratified at how the Uru people step up to the challenges inherent in working with our water project (distance, language and cultural challenges, communication issues (internet, electricity, lack of basic resources etc.). We in the USA have much to learn from these people regarding community organization and participation.

MONDAY was spent preparing for the 22 member Uru East Water Board Meeting, with suggestions for legal registering as either a Trust or Water Association and decisions to be made regarding the distribution of our water to the community. We are at the point for final selection of who will receive the water from our Grandmother Well at Kimocholo… which is being piped to the 2 existing cisterns we are repairing… and the third cistern we are building.

ICBD’s role is to suggest priorities and support decisions that will ensure sustainability and ecological considerations. This first borehole has enough water volume to provide the daily drinking water for 4 of the 7 villages in Uru East, about 5000 people. The location of the cisterns (holding tanks) influences some of the choice of recipients… but since water can be piped to public access points… good and selfless decision making is also required. These are considerations made for ‘the greater good’ and not individual benefit.

TUESDAY began with casual conversation while waiting for the arrival of all Board members. Mr. Tingitana laughingly shared a story regarding ‘ a junebug that is lying on its’ back waiting for someone to turn it over’. The implication was that the Uru community had been a ‘junebuggie lying on it’s back, waiting for the ICBD friends to show up and turn it over’, in this issue of water. I have been called worse in life.. and the image of the junebug with it’s legs swimming in the air made me laugh. And who among us has not waited or prayed and hoped for the ‘hand and stick of someone’ that will spur positive action in our lives? So then we all laughed… and laughed again… at our common predicaments, even as we thanked God and one another for ‘playing our parts’.