Previously:
You may already know of our exploits last
year – how, somewhat unexpectedly, one dark evening, just as the moon was
rising over the hills, we found ourselves in rural south-east
We spent an exhilarating four weeks helping with innumerable day-to-day activities as our friends struggled to cope with routine maintenance, care of the children, desperate water shortage and problems with food provision. All this whilst at the same time battling their way through the complex procedures essential to establishing a High School on site so that education could be provided at secondary level! Student numbers shot up, staff numbers fell, problems were encountered and often overcome by ingenious if improbable means and we were lucky enough to be part of it all.
We left with some concerns as to if and how Heartbeat, with relatively meagre income or sponsorship could survive. Dickson, his family and staff had very little time or experience to organise and structure everything to meet the stringent government requirements.
Our involvement continued after we came
home. We kept in touch by text and (often erratic) emails and were able to put
Heartbeat in contact with some organisations in
We learned a bewildering amount about the way charities work, the complications of donating directly to overseas causes and much, much more.
The
But it didn’t work out so, cold and
miserable in late November, we sent a brief email to Dickson saying we might be
able to visit …and received an immediate response so warm and inviting that we
promptly dropped everything, booked our flight and left cold, snowy
Changes:
Good…
A welcome party of Ben (Dickson’s son) and
Zack, a local entrepreneur and our contact from last year met us at
Our immediate impression, on the bumpy, 3
hour journey across country was of greenness! This year, some rains have
fallen; the plants, flowers, birds, animals - even the people - all look much
happier!
A lot of progress has been made over the past year at the Home and High School: water pipes have been mended, a ground water pump has been installed by Living Waters (http://www.livingwaters.com/ ), electricity has been connected to the school (a family effort involving Dickson’s uncle and brother-in-law suffering somewhat from the heat – they were used to the cooler climes of Nairobi) and Home - preparations are even being made to extend it to Dickson’s own house.
Existing buildings have been altered for greater security and/or to comply with requirements for school registration. High School student numbers have fallen to more manageable levels but last year’s intake (all Form 1) are now spread out between Forms 1, 2 & 3 so new buildings have been started to provide more classrooms.
The teachers now all have qualifications that comply with regulations and the school has an experienced Principal (unfortunately out of action during our stay – victim of a motorcycle accident locally suspected to have occurred after he had had “one for the road”!).
The Nursery School has shrunk considerably. Most of Heartbeat’s children are now beyond this stage and there is alternative provision in the village. This relieves a little space and money for other purposes – but we both missed the very small children.
A clear distinction has been made between
the Home (now Ng’ambwa Children’s Home) and the school (Heartbeat High). The fruit farm, next door, now managed
by Dickson’s brother, Edward, has just – after last minute pleas to reduce the
inexplicably high transfer charge - been purchased by Heartbeat International (
Heartbeat International were actually paying one of their biennial visits at the time we were there! If you’d like more information on their views and activities visit http://www.heartbeatministries.ca/JosephProject/IntroPageToJoseph.htm.
Having laptops has allowed the school to include Computer Studies in the curriculum – considered vital to give the students a head start when it comes to employment - though some have suffered during the early days of generator! We are not sure that the presence of a lizard living in the printer is too helpful either! The laptops have also freed up the desk PC allowing Ben to set up his own music studio where he and his group are working to produce rap – both live and recorded – to educate against the evils of drugs and alcohol.
Ben is also raising funds by hiring out the Play Station and some of the other games consoles to villagers when they visit the Sweet Waters Hotel – our usual watering-hole!
Sophie and Evans are now married and expecting their first child in June.
The school has a clear mission – it actively seeks to give poor or disadvantaged children who have done well in their (free - ish) Primary schools the opportunity to continue their education in a secure background without fear of stigmatisation or victimisation. This ideal, and the quality of the Children’s Home have been recognised and approved by the Kenyan Government. We heard many accolades given by various ministers and commissioners at the official opening which took place whilst we were there.
Nyolo Primary School, and its headmistress, Mrs Kiora continue to cope with the frequent changes in student numbers as children are placed in or retrieved from the Home’s care. Through careful management and awareness of government initiatives, together with a very active PTA, they have even managed to replace some of the classrooms that were worst affected by subsidence!
A lot of this progress has only been possible because of the growing recognition that help must be actively sought out. Some must come, voluntarily, from the local community - working for nothing is NOT demeaning. Self-reliance and self-sufficiency must replace the long-established feeling that someone else (usually from overseas) should sort things out.
Most importantly, the “bad” cow has had a calf!
On a national scale, government is being de-centralised as part of the move towards the new Constitution. It is hoped that this will peacefully end the power –sharing which some feel prevents many changes for the better from happening.
...
and Bad
However, there are two sides to most things!
The water supply is very erratic – causing
major consternation to the Canadians when it ran dry – they were not as used to
African showers as we were. Collection
and storage remain constant headaches especially now there is the farm to
irrigate. Tanks are very expensive, but not always easy to use and can need
instant, ingenious repair!
The Living Waters ground water pump had resolutely refused to function for months causing much research into the type of electricity needed to run it. Even anointing with oil and, somewhat biblically striking it with a stick, failed to produce any result immediately. However, it miraculously relented later, and produced water for church volunteers to wash the children’s clothes.
More water means more insects. Though there
are still very few mosquitoes, minute
The rains can cause quite devastating storm damage.
Although Mama Catherine was rejoicing in catching water in every available receptacle on this occasion, we were told not to go downhill to the village when the storm finally abated because of dangerous damage (houses were said to have been “lifted up”) and we saw evidence – uprooted trees and lop-sided houses the next day
With so many activities going on and so many visitors, Dickson’s house seemed quite overcrowded: teachers, workers and family were all accommodated, resulting in quite a strict schedule for the girls learning the domestic skills of cleaning, washing, cooking etc! Hopefully, things will be easier in future with the extra accommodation at the fruit farm.
Even de-centralisation and government recognition is a double-edged sword. The Children’s Officer and the Human Rights Officer are regular visitors – in one week alone 6 children were deposited with Dickson with virtually no possessions and without any funding! The proportion of non-fee paying students in the school is now alarmingly high and everyone (including us) is working round the clock to find funds and sponsors locally, nationally and internationally! This is a very real concern since school fees are set within limits by government (ostensibly so no-one can poach students through very low charges or exclude them by very high ones) so there is no possible chance of Heartbeat being able to use fee-paying students to finance the others.
Nyolo may have their new classroom but they are still desperately short of furniture (the local, cheerful fundi – called Friend – does his best)!
Movement towards the new Constitution has highlighted discrepancies, misuse, abuse and corruption across the East African Union countries with respect to Tax Exemption on imports for charities. In an attempt to clean things up, a system so complicated and time-consuming has been set up that virtually nobody understands it. This is causing a frustrating and expensive bottleneck in foreign aid.
Activities
& Donations:
So what did we do while we were at Heartbeat? And where have the donations we were trusted with gone?
Fewer students and more local involvement meant my chopping and washing-up skills were in less demand this year but Brian’s photography was, once more, much wanted!
We mostly worked in administration, setting up templates on the computer for the many official lists, schedules, timetables etc. that are needed for government checks.
A spreadsheet was needed to show fees and arrears – we helped with the design of that. Previously, this had all been done by hand – no small challenge when you are dealing with thousands of Kenyan shillings!
We helped gather and process the information essential on admission to the Home or High School – hearing some pretty horrific stories in the process and worked to produce a comprehensive brochure for the Canadians to use as they attempt to find sponsors for the students and children.
With half-term exams approaching, we were much in demand for typing exam papers for the teachers – we had to guard the laptop day and night so no one got a sneak preview!
Our piece de resistance was a programme of events produced at the very last minute for the official opening ceremony – so that each dignitary and honoured guest got a memento of what should have taken place – not all of it did as a very late start meant people (and animals!) were restlessly waiting for their much anticipated feast!
We met the new “good” cow donated by the Canadians. It yields much more milk than local cows but also has to be fed much more. This caused jealousy amongst the other cows - they broke from their tethers beside the road on at least one occasion to career home as they saw a sumptuous feat being provided for the newcomer!
A couple of remarkable coincidences occurred. Evans (pastor and co-ordinator of the project) was visiting area headquarters at Wundanyi on business one day when he unexpectedly met the Home’s neighbour. Curious, he made various enquiries and learned that the man was, that day, transferring the deeds of some land to his sons. Suspicious because Heartbeat had purchased some land from the man several years ago but never actually collected the title deeds, Evans made more enquiries and, yes, it was the same land! Police intervention was called for and proceedings were held up whilst Evans raced home and returned with proof of purchase. The transfer was annulled fortunately, it turned out that the land in question was behind the Church, where the school had been built – transfer could have allowed the sons to demand its demolition once their father died.
Then there was the laboratory. Before registration can be completed, Kenyan High Schools must, currently, have a Science laboratory. Heartbeat was in the process of converting a building into one but had run out of funds. The teachers had heard of a school that was closing and was willing to sell their laboratory equipment at a reasonable price to the first comer. The Canadians were willing to buy the equipment, but what was the point if there was no floor to the building?
Your donations allowed us to pay for the floor, a job made much easier by including a wheelbarrow.
Quick reactions secured the equipment and final touches (cupboards, sinks etc.) are now being added! The barrow has already earned its keep in many and various ways!
We learned that money you had donated at Christmas had been used to buy smart, new clothes for the children in the Home whilst earlier donations had helped maintain gutters and drains in an attempt to improve water collection on the Heartbeat site. Some money had also been used to provide transport for many young people to attend a church convention during the summer holidays. This was run by a local organisation that works to keep youth involved and occupied within their community, hoping to keep them away from crime and drugs. Another donation provided this group with a digital camera – so they can show us what they do next year!
We were able to settle (temporarily, at least) a long-running dispute between admin and teaching staff as to the relative economies of paying for photocopying or printing oneself. We invested in a spare packet of paper and printer cartridge!
The remaining money is partly to be used to
fund the freight charges for deliveries of tools and computers to various local
organisations including Heartbeat. This is a scheme run by Tools with a
The final part will go to build a permanent water storage tank at Heartbeat. This will be part of a scheme also run by TWAM who have agreed to visit the area and assess it for suitability later this year. There is little doubt that the scheme will go ahead as it is very much in line with current Kenyan government initiatives and the whole area is very excited about it!
However, if current import problems are not
soon resolved, this money will be used to complete the laboratory at Heartbeat
and to provide sports equipment via a scheme called Alive and Kicking (http://www.aliveandkicking.org.uk/
).
You may also like to know that hand-made,
Italian leather shoes can be bought even in rural All your gifts and donations were greatly
appreciated and publicly acknowledged during the eventful (4 hour) Sunday
Service which was peppered with
analogies: Heartbeat is travelling on a train – a slow, unpopular method in We
move on: Taveta Soon after this, it was time for us to
leave, and head towards the border, unusually clearly marked out by
Kilimanjaro. We were on our way to Our journey did not begin quite as
expected: the first matatu was dangerously empty, the second, too old and
driven by a mad man, the third, too full…eventually Evans flagged down a
passing car and four complete strangers kindly agreed to take us plus luggage
to Taveta. It was a squash, to put it mildly, but, given the unbelievably
rutted, ridged, crevassed main road, it was probably just as well we were
securely wedged in for the four hour (100km) drive across the almost
deserted A visit to the bustling market and the
World War I cemetery, a reassuring check on Kilimanjaro, a pleasant drink in the hotel garden, delicious
fish and chips, a good night’s sleep (despite an amazing carpet of beetles) and
an interesting early morning conversation with a man balanced many feet above
the ground painting the balcony outside our room prepared us for the border
crossing into Tanzania. Obtaining visas and currency turned out to
be unexpectedly easy (though the number of Tz shillings per Kenyan shilling
(18), UK £ (180) or $ (1400) is so large that advanced Maths was repeatedly
required to have some idea of what anything cost). Then we insisted on trudging
across no-man’s land dragging our luggage behind us until someone took pity on
these stupid people, who would neither ride on the back of a motorbike nor pay
a taxi to take them over, and directed the dalla-dalla (Tanzanian matatu) to
extend its normal run and pick us up! The journey to Moshi (near the foothills of
Kilimanjaro) revealed many things: this area of In Moshi (and later, in Arusha) we
discovered with some relief that the Kenyan obsession with multiple televisions
in every public place is not always shared by Tanzanians. However, the relative
peace that might provide is filled, around St Valentine’s Day at least, by
innumerable weddings, loudly celebrated by processions of pick-ups carrying
brass bands around the town. We also learned that Traveller’s Cheques
are virtually unexchangeable in Our guide, Living Temba, spent the day
introducing us to Chagga history and culture with fascinating tales of his life
as a porter on Kilimanjaro, of the
medicinal and domestic uses of many wild plants (some, like Busy Lizzie and
Wandering Jew, we recognised as UK house plants) and trees together with
alternative cures for sties in the eye and tonsillitis! You would never believe just how useful a
yucca leaf can be in marking boundaries, giving directions, conveying messages,
apologies or honouring the dead! We visited a waterfall that looked just like a
film set, a traditional Chagga house and burrowed our way down into the caves
used as safe-hiding from marauding Maasai.
Finally, we learned to share a calabash of
the local banana beer in an acceptably polite manner – despite its foul smell
and appearance. It does seem to improve with each mouthful but I still prefer
the wine version! Arusha: Thus fortified, we moved on to Arusha, near
Mt Meru. What the hotel lacked in views, compared to Moshi, it more than made
up for in the quality of its food – an interesting blend of African and Italian
cuisine! Arusha has some very interesting museums.
The Unfortunately for the Brits, endless
skirmishes with the locals taught the Germans a few handy tricks when World War
1 came, leaving them undefeated, only ceding control to Britain as a result of
post-war treaties. British dominion doesn’t seem to have had much impact
although it did allow, indeed encourage, the resurgence of different cultures. Nyerere believed in open government where
education was the key to everything. Worker involvement, together with
ownership and gender equality, could lead to a self-supporting nation. And it
seems to have done pretty well, despite a nasty little war with Idi Amin in Again, very interesting: this museum charts
evolution – some of the earliest human remains having been discovered in
Tanzania - tells you things you’d rather not know about resident insects,
proudly displays a local environmental initiative (the fishpond) and,
fascinatingly, reveals the different views held by today’s youth on
colonialism. Despite these obvious attractions, we
discovered that Tanzanians do not pursue tourists and tourism with anything
like the aggressive vigour of Kenyans – though the batik and Ting-Ting salesmen
can still be pretty hard to shake off! We left this cultural break early one
morning on a 6-seater Cessna, bound for So
we dropped him off on an almost brand-new, grassy landing strip where two Dutch
entrepreneurs who wanted to get to Arusha decided they would hitch a lift! Finally, we reached We were given a very comprehensive tour of
the school, meeting many people and having its progress charted, from inception
as a school for ex-pat children in the 1950s to the current situation where
most of the students are local Tanzanians. Many – including Muslims - are
sponsored by the Diocese, and efforts are being made to hand over the running
(administration and teaching) to Tanzanians over the next few years - without
compromising standards. The school is constantly changing staff and
volunteers – apart from those in the Nursery, most are from NZ. It is a fascinating blend of English curriculum
modified to be acceptable (and understandable) both to the much more relaxed
New Zealanders and to the local people, who have a much stricter, more serious
approach to education! You have to demonstrate a desire for, and
the potential to benefit from, a cosmopolitan education to get a place, and from
pre-school up to IGCSE, division into classes is similar to that in Tanzanian
schools. Assessment is less frequent (biennial exams) and discipline less harsh
(NOT corporal). Students are encouraged to ask questions, which doesn’t go down
well with the local inspectors who feel this shows an inadequacy in teaching! Overall
this effort to equip young people for life in a multicultural society of mixed
race and religion seems to be appreciated and supported – and it’s very
exciting! Eventually, CAMS hope to provide A-levels –
at present students have to go to a Tanzanian Form 5 and 6 or an IB School if
they want to continue their studies - and their greatest ambition is for former
students to return as teachers. Buildings and resources are much better
than those at Heartbeat but they
have the same constant problem of obtaining funds by sponsorship or local
initiative. Currently, they are exploring the possibility of using a commonly
available fungus, together with bean and maize plants to enrich the soil. If
this works, they hope to raise large numbers of trees to be sold (as a
sustainable fuel source) to surrounding villages where clay ovens are much in use. We spent a delightful evening with Berts,
Kate and Henry in the MAF compound, getting the low-down on life, as a white
person, in the area. Unlike Bura, here you are expected to accept that you are
“different”, and that difference has strings attached to it – you are not
encouraged to try to disappear within the local community! The following morning, we were introduced
to some of the other projects supported by the (Anglican) Diocese, involving a
medical centre, physiotherapy clinic, pathology lab and more! There’s also
Carpenter’s Kids (http://www.thecarpenterskids.org/).
This scheme aims to set up contracts between villages in many different parishes
and the charity. Fifty children from each parish (who are considered to be both
most in need and most likely to benefit from it) are selected and provided with
the necessary uniform and equipment to attend Primary School – the families are
also supported, they get mosquito nets amongst other things. When they complete this stage of education,
the best students gain places in free government secondary schools whilst
others can apply for support to continue their education at a good secondary
school – even if that means leaving their area. It’s a different approach to
that in A widespread and complex scheme to handle,
Carpenter’s Kids has an amazing team of hard-working individuals but is, again,
quite heavily dependent on volunteer help. A wander round the area, rounded off by a
pleasant meal with Vicky and her family, left us rested enough to view the next
stage of our travels - a 10 hour bus journey on a reasonable road through
mountains, across plains (where forests gradually turned to coconut and oil
palms with tobacco plants growing in the spaces) to Tanga - by
the Indian Ocean - with equanimity! Tanga: Although initially very strictly limited to
seated passengers only, once the town was left far behind, we saw another
example of the elasticity of African buses and were grateful for our (somewhat
cramped) seats not to mention the comfort stop – a conveniently placed lay-by
which could cope, in natural surroundings, with enormous numbers of people
seeking relief with much less delay than more orthodox amenities! We also quickly realised that the Kenyan
obsession to disrupt travel with innumerable police checks is matched by the
Tanzanian desire to weigh and reweigh transport at every possible opportunity. At Tanga, we had our first (and only) problem
with taxi and hotel booking. Having lured us, by his cheap price, into a taxi,
the tout got a lambasting from his driver. The price would not even cover
petrol costs (it helps to know a little Swahili)! His efforts to wheedle more
money out of us thwarted, he attempted to take us to a hotel we hadn’t booked.
We held out against all this, being somewhat surprised to actually arrive where
we intended. However, despite having accepted our booking the day before over
the phone, no one had checked out and the hotel had no space. More haranguing – and gentle revealing that
we did actually understand a little of what they were plotting – ended us with
us being taken to a different hotel. Actually, it was probably much nicer and
not much more expensive, but it took a refreshing shower (which erupted upwards
like a geyser, cleverly exiting through the ventilation grill and returning to
flood the doorway) and a night’s sleep (with interludes of howling dogs) for
this to sink in! We enjoyed the faded evidence of German
colonialism in Tanga - pretty much all decaying and unremarked: the Boma (now a
museum - but the man with the key had gone away), the Court, schools and hotels
as well as the RC Cathedral and the beautifully maintained Greek Orthodox
Church. We even found a delicious
pizzeria in a beautiful garden! Bathing from the small hotel beach was
wonderful, as was dinner beside the Despite an unexpected enthusiasm for
immigration checks, tourism seems much reduced; many hotels were shut and few
long-distance buses were running – which is why, without the help of a friendly
Tanzanian returning home from Leicester, we might have ended up in Return
to Finally installed in space and comfort on
the right bus we set off…to convince people anywhere and everywhere in town
that they really wanted to go to Later still, we began the scenic route on
reasonable, if unsurfaced, roads (it was a bit hard to reliably place food or
drink in our gaping mouths) through coconut groves and remote villages to the
border. Leaving The problem was not with the passengers –
just a lengthy procession of form filling - but the cargo! We were relieved not
to see our bags amongst the pile of luggage being enthusiastically and
suspiciously ripped, stabbed and forced open during detailed questioning! Then there was the mysterious re-seating
exercise as the bus approached the Likoni ferry to enter We’d stayed at the Manson last year and
were glad to be back to familiar surroundings – floor 5 is labelled 9, there’s
a welcome committee of crows that arrive early each morning and depart in
amazing style each evening, just as the mosques come to life and, as in most
places, the ballcock doesn’t work so the toilet overfills. While based here, we played real tourists,
taking an overnight safari to the Shimba Hills. Foster picked us up then took us to collect
our fellow travellers – a young couple (enthusiastic bird-watchers) staying in
one of the fancy, Diani beach hotels on the south coast. Arriving at Shimba, we
drove past distant buffalo, a posing bush buck and the cash crop trees of cashew nuts,
palm oil and mangoes to meet Omar.
He escorted us on a walk to the We lunched in our tree house hotel by the
pond, watched by a fish eagle and watching a monitor lizard. Guinea fowl queued
up for scraps behind the kitchen while colobus monkeys entertained us in the
trees. Later, it was time for drinks, “bitings”
and the sunset, surrounded by baboons (maybe even an elephant – heard but not
seen) near a freshwater spring. Omar’s family had lived in that area before the
Wildlife Services dispossessed them to create a National Park so he knew all
sorts of fascinating details. Now in his “sunset years”, he had worked as a
game warden with many famous naturalists all over A massive dinner, back at the hotel, was accompanied
by the unexpected sight of the water lilies opening! The glugging and clicking of frogs and insects sent us to sleep
ready for our dawn drive. In Africa, the early morning and early
evening light, as the sun suddenly rises or sets, is indescribably clear and
beautiful and that morning was no exception. We were glad we had been on a
plains safari last year – a forest safari is less dramatic. The cover means the
creatures are smaller, harder to spot and much more nervous when located.
Despite this we saw wood owls, warthogs, bushbuck, trumpeter hornbills,
bee-eaters, a Hartebeest as well as – unique to this location and much larger
than expected, sable antelope! We
even got close up to a bush elephant and its baby! Returning to Even then, the excitement wasn’t over! We
had arranged transport with a friend of one of the hotel workers. He turned up
in a somewhat clapped-out car, was held up by police because of problems with
his licence but managed to deposit us at the airport to join the first of the
many, slow queues which brought us, uneventfully, back to cold, snowy England. What
next? It’s
pretty certain we shall go back to We need to check out a lot of things but,
if feasible, shall probably commit to Heartbeat is very dear to our hearts but we
feel that the work they are doing there might actually be compromised by two
resident white people – and they can’t really afford to support us. Helping transfer the school to Tanzanian
management is an exciting prospect, the infrastructure to support us is already
there – and we could still visit Want
to get involved? Why not volunteer? There is a great variety
of activities and accommodation (from homestays through compounds to hotels) to
suit all tastes just waiting for you in Bura or Management skills would be particularly
appreciated as would anything to do with fruit-growing. Whether your skills are
in IT/Admin, teaching, sports, building/maintenance, domestic or youth work,
child care, environmental or horticultural development … whatever, you can be
sure of a wonderful welcome, great care and an unforgettable experience at the
Children’s Home, the fruit farm, any of the schools or other local projects.
And it’s not as expensive as you might think. If you are going to If you can’t get away, everyone we spoke to
was very keen to get advice, exchange ideas and experiences – let us know if
you would like to get in touch by email. Perhaps you have information or suggestions
that could lead to setting up links with schools, colleges or Sports Clubs?
There’s a real desire for sports equipment – and a keen following of football ( Do you know of If you’d like to donate to Heartbeat –
money is best at present – you are welcome to do so either through us, through Heartbeat
International (http://www.heartbeatministries.ca/JosephProject/IntroPageToJoseph.htm)
or directly, for small charge, by Moneygram.
There are details of how you can supports CAMS on their website: http://www.cams.ac.tz/joomla . If you can’t do any of this, don’t worry!
Just think about what you’ve read and talk about it so other people get to
know! Thank you!
For an update, please click here.
