Week Twelve August 31 September-6- Getting kicked out of the country

After meeting with the immigration officers in Mwanza, they confirmed that we will need to leave Tanzania this week in order not to overstay our visas. So we are going to Rwanda for the weekend (Road Trip) ha ha----in order to get new visas.

Week Eleven August 24-30- THE WEEK OF PUMBA

After weeks of running around like crazy people, we finally had a chance to focus serious efforts on how to make our job site more efficient. Without getting into the details, we got our workforce more focused on specific task and had each worker specialize in a particular component of the project.

And now to PUMBA.

Pumba is rice chaff, which is the by-product after winnowing rice. It is also the material that locals use to fire bricks. The search for Pumba is a serious endeavour that only the determined and unrelenting individual will succeed. Pumba is always in high demand and usually is purchased a week or even month ahead of time (which is very rare in this part of Tanzania). After much frustration, we heard talk of a possible supply, several villages away. So, we dropped everything and went to investigate this lead. Fortunately our sources were good and we were able to secure a supply of Pumba to get us started firing bricks. No champagne cork popping yet, the search still continues….

After Eleven straight weeks of eating rice every night we asked Kishosha if there were any other kinds of food that we might buy to cook for dinner. He thought about and said, “What about rice mixed with lentils?” Last night, we had rice again for dinner.

Week Ten August 17-23- BRICKS

After several weeks of testing the bricks that we had been producing for our classrooms, we came to the conclusion that we needed to find another brick solution. So the problem with the bricks that we were creating was that they did not hold up to water and our soil was not condusive to the Kenyan made brick machine. After trying many different soil and cement mixtures and contacting the manufacturer of the machine, we decided that we could not go forward with this brick type. So, we got a local brick expert to come to our job site to test our soil for use in making mud fired bricks. His conclusion was that our soil was a perfect candidate for this type of brick. With this green light we wasted no time is training our workforce to start producing these mud fired bricks.

Week Nine August 10-16- OUR FIRST DAY OFF

After dropping the last of our guests off at the airport, Jake and Valerie got to relax by a pool, use a sit-down toilet, and drink a beverage that has been chilled in a refrigerator…..HOW GREAT!

Then we picked up Eleanor, Sam, Joe, Mark, Lydia, and Lucy. While Eleanor, Jake, and Kishosha got busy meeting with government officials, Sam and Mark threw themselves into fully understanding the local art of the area by working and talking with the local artists of Ntulya. On the business end, Eleanor, Jake, and Kishosha secured a revised copy of the memorandum of understanding, a document outlining the support of the local government for our project and outlining their responsibilities in supporting our work, While Mark and Sam got to work on a massive power object (traditional piece of art, containing locally made dawa, or medicine) in the form of a 12 foot teacher and student made of cement, rebar, and other materials from the job site.

It was such a pleasure having everyone’s energy and enthusiasm on the job site at the compound.

Week Eight August 3- 9- THE BARN RAISING

So let’s be honest… Anyone would be nervous about the entire board of directors and their families arriving to check the progress on a job site. Fortunately, we had nothing to worry about! Their visit was great. Everyone worked hard trying out all the various tasks that were happening on site. They dug foundations, moved water, made cement blocks, moved bricks, planted euphorbia, and got involved just about everywhere. Greg Cook, Carol Ann’s personal contractor, and his family, Jill, Derek, and Brea were extremely helpful. Greg helped our team on the ground with his extensive knowledge and experience. Thanks Greg! The week ended with a local holiday called Nane-Nane (Eight-Eight, August 8th), Farmers’ Day. About 300 people attended a huge celebration with snake dancers, local ball games, and a huge feast. Benjamin, Jill and Digger’s son, even joined the snake dancers, showing no fear in the presence of an eight foot python.

Week Seven July 27-August 2- SUPPLIES… SUPPLIES…SUPPLIES…

So we got a lot of supplies.

And the First Four Foundations are well on their way.

Residents of Ntulya answered our aggregate problem by offering to make aggregate on site at fair price by using rocks from the hill of our job site. Within days of them starting, the hill came alive with the sound of pounding. Then Aimee, Mark, Blakey, and Clay picked up Jill, Digger, Benjamin, and Clare from the western gate of the Serengeti and brought them back to Ntulya.

Week Six July 20-26- THE BIG VILLAGE MEETING

The focus of this week was an ALL villages meeting (meaning the 14 hamlets that will be served by the primary education school that we are building). So we had the meeting and were pleased to have Mama Theresia who was a gifted speaker and was able to rally the hamlets to help focus volunteer efforts to help on the job site.

Also this week, we GOT WATER!!!! Successfully the pump was completed and we could finally start pouring our foundations. We also secured a contractor to aid us in moving forward.

Week Five July 13- 19- A VERY TRYING WEEK

So the week started out really well with our contractor starting work on the first four classroom foundations. Then the work started to become very difficult. The first of a serious of unfortunate and trying events was trying to secure aggregate. The difficulty with securing aggregate was the local producers formed a cartel and would not sell it to us a reasonable price. As a solution we had to start trucking it in from over 30 km away. This was an enormous cost in fuel, which was almost as high as the cost of the material, but this was still a cheaper solution than buying from the people in our area. The second was thee injuries on the job site that required Jake to start his own hospital ambulance service, for emergency room and follow-up visits. The last of these hospital visits was delayed when Jake looked out into the distance and saw a big orange glow rising above the trees. This orange glow turned out to be the flames of five homes belonging to residents of Ntulya . Quickly he and Kishosha, our on the ground Sukuma expert rushed to the join everyone trying to help grab items from the homes before the were lost to the fire. If this was not enough after these unfortunate events, our contractor had a stroke and could no longer work on our project and Valerie got extremely ill.

WEEK FOUR- July 6-12- THE CONTRACTOR AND DRILLING THE WELL

So we finally got our contractor on board.  This process was arduous because we had to negotiate quite extensively.  Jake and Valerie had to prove to themselves and to the contractor that a classroom foundation trench would not take two weeks to complete.  So they and a couple of villagers started digging a foundation and completed it in one day.  The contractor, Pius, finally understood our dedication and determination and came down not only in his price, but also his construction schedule.  This busy week ended with the first traffic jam in the village of Ntulya.  It only lasted for a minute, but the three drilling trucks and one other car that were brought in to start the bore hole were a lot for the normally quite pathways of Ntulya.  The equipment brought a lot of excitement and anticipation.   Even with a water survey in hand, there is no guarantee that you will actually hit water.  Therefore, when we did, there was much cause for celebration.  Not only did it mean that we could move forward with construction, but it also brought the promise for relief during the long dry season for years to come.

WEEK THREE - June 29-July 5 - THE WATER WELL

The week started out with the search for the best water well drilling company.  The hydrology company that Africa Schoolhouse hired to survey our land recommended 3 possible bore hole locations and 3 different companies for us to get quotes from for our water well.  All of our ground rescources highly recommended Maswi Drilling Company, but we reviewed all of our options just to be sure.  In the end, after much laborious research our conclusion was that Maswi Drilling was indeed the best.

WEEK TWO JUNE 22-28 THE DRIVE AND NTULYA

The crazy Americans are always trying to stretch the day.  On Sunday, Aimee, Jill, Jake and Valerie woke up at the crack of dawn to drive across the Serengeti (a 6 hour drive) and to Ntulya (an additional 5 hour) all in one day.  Valerie states that it was interesting to experience the Serengeti and all the animals for the first time driving across it as fast possible in a Land Rover.  After arriving in Ntulya, the village where the primary educational school is being built, the four of us were off and running.  First, we met with surveyors, who we had hired prior to arriving, to survey the land which Africa Schoolhouse purchased from the village to build the school.  Next, Jill and Valerie walked the purchased plot of land and started the process of laying out the four classrooms before Jill had to return to the States.  Then, we interviewed a highly recommended contractor Pius to possilby aid in the construction of the primary school. 

WEEK ONE

Flying into Dar es Salaam and once on the ground the hunt for the perfect utilitarian vehicle begins.  Aimee and Jill looked at over 100 vehicles and then once Jake and Valerie got on the ground they all looked at about 20 more!  After about a week of looking at every possible option in Dar with no perfect matches,  we decided to fly to Arusha to look at a Land Rover that fit our parameters to a T.  We go into Arusha, looked at the care, got it checked out by a professional garage and then purchased it.  It was the ultimate match!!!  While in Arusha, Valerie and Jill drove to Karatu to study the architectural tectonics of a newly built medical dispensary and a children's orphanage.