The Tanzania’s team updates are like buses – you wait ages for one then two turn up at once! It’s great to hear from them and to get an insight into their last couple of weeks in their own words. Thanks to Rebecca for taking the time to send this to us.

The Final Countdown

First of all, apologies for the late update. The past few weeks have been super busy, as we have been coming toward the end of the project. Last Thursday, we finally came to the end of the work and finished!

Last week we focused on finishing the stove building for the new kitchen. This entailed lots of brick laying, mud mixing and general cement inhalation. We have now built two stoves at Managha, one 3 pot stove and a smaller 2 pot stove. As we have also built one at Frederick Sumaye, the entire team are now proficient stove builders. There was also the problem of the kitchen floor (or lack thereof). This meant filling it in with mud and bricks, ready for the smooth cement floor that is now in place. We have also added a chimney and windows, which makes it far more pleasant to cook in there. We also limed and sanded the outside of the kitchen in preparation for painting, and the building now looks far brighter than before. We have now completely finished the kitchen, and it looks great. Best Tanzanian kitchen going, I’d say.

On Friday we also had the pleasure of watching it being used for the very first time, and it was great to see all the kids getting a big lunch of rice and beans. School lunches are something we take for granted in the UK, and we even have the ability to complain about the nutrition values – whereas over here, the kids are lucky to eat in school.

Another highlight of the week has been seeing the fruits of our market garden! After ploughing, digging, and raking the land, we planted peppers and mchicha (like spinach). This week we have seen the mchicha sprout out of the soil, so we know it won’t be long till it’s used in the feeding program.

Although the feeding program has been our main focus, we have also found the time for fun and games. At the beginning of our trip, we were presented with 25 tyres and some very solid ground. We can now present to Managha school, 25 tyres well and truly stuck in the ground, ready for play. (We would like to pay extra credit to Felix for this, he’s been our human JCB!). Hopefully, these will be used for educational number games, which introduce interactive learning to the children at Managha.

The team are finishing off the week with a surprise visit to the Massai (crazy!), Safari in Tarangire National Park, and an evening in Arusha on Wednesday. We’re all getting tired and are definitely ready for home, but we’re also going to miss the kids here.

‘Badai’ for now,
from Rebecca at Team Tanzania