Farewell, Longido!

Farewell, Longido!

We’re home and the adventure is over! Wow! Seven weeks just flew by.



When we left Longido, we took the shuttle bus north to Nairobi. This was the last view we had of the guesthouse:

The large opening you see is the door off the lounge. Left of the lounge is the kitchen. Next time I see the guesthouse, I will be staying there!

In my last entry, I mentioned that we were going to go on a short safari. We spent three nights and four days on a safari that included three of Tanzania’s wonderful national parks. We had a terrific guide: he was very knowledgeable, a good, safe driver, and fun to be around. The experience was one we will not soon forget. (In case you are interested, I’ve put a link to his site on this blog.)

This is an old male buffalo. Apparently they typically live separate from the herd.

Zebras are often seen with wildebeests. Zebras see well and smell poorly. Wildebeest are the opposite: they smell well and see poorly. Apparently they stay together to look out for each other. Nice metaphor, isn’t it?

And, of course, the elephants. They are so huge, and yet they can be so gentle and peaceful. One day in Terengire National Park, we saw several family groups, a total of over 80 elephants before we stopped counting!

This one is a teenage male that was really strutting his stuff. His raised trunk and flapping ears mean he is about to charge. He was giving a troop of baboons a really hard time!

This was probably the largest elephant we saw. We came across him suddenly in the middle of the "road, and caught him by surprise. Our driver showed him “due respect” and we were all fine!



After the safari, we returned for our last week in Longido. The guesthouse construction continues to progress steadily.

The water for the guesthouse will come down from Mount Longido. It will be stored in a large underground reservoir. The hole in the picture is for this underground tank. It was about 24 feet across and about 7 feet deep. It was dug by four men with shovels in about 4 days! Now the tank will be constructed and plastered and then back-filled. The top will be a reinforced cement slab with a manhole for testing the water.

The glazier has been busy putting glass in all of the windows. The screens come next.

The rooms have now all been plastered and the floors are all finished. You can see the plasterers putting the finishing touches on the interior courtyard. The outside of the building will be next. Note the scaffolding. I wonder what a Ministry of Labour Inspector would have to say!

The finishing will come next – so many details to get right. Other Tembos will be there over the next weeks so I am very confident that the guesthouse will be everything we have dreamed…and planned! This project is the talk of the village. Everyone is working towards its success so that it will support the other work of TEMBO!

Our work is truly making a difference in the lives of the people of Longido. But we are only able to do this because of some of the wonderful people we have met and who are working with us. This is Nai and her granddaughter Sharon. Nai is a wonderful, wise friend that is very well respected in the village. We are delighted to have her as one of the trustees of TEMBO Trust.

So it’s goodbye again. I love to come home, but there is a piece of me that loves and lives in Longido.

If you decide to visit Tanzania, I know a great guesthouse in Longido! There’s lots to see, lots to do and the people are ever so warm and welcoming!

Karibu!

Arlene.

Habari rafikis!

Habari rafikis!

It’s over five weeks since we began this adventure! We seem to have accomplished a lot…we’ve certainly been busy!...but there is always lots to do!

This morning we climbed a ways up Mount Longido. We were high enough to get a view of the plain at the base of the mountain. In the photo you can easily pick out the Guesthouse. The village of Longido spreads out to the left of the picture. Just a little past the guesthouse is the main road between Arusha and Nairobi. If you’re having difficulty finding it, I’m not surprised…it’s paved, but barely 2 lanes wide and no shoulders!

Work inside the building is progressing steadily. The ceilings have been filled and primed and are now being painted. The mud brick wall that you see will be treated and sealed, then left exposed.

The rough floors are finished by packing down about an inch and a half of wet sand and concrete, and then applying a thick layer of concrete. After that dries slightly it is finished to a very smooth surface, and cured over a number of days. In the photo you can see some piles of rocks. These will be used in the septic soak pit.

The windows are installed very roughly and then the sills and frames are finished with smoothed concrete and mortar. The worker in the picture is a magician with a trowel.

This week we ordered furniture for the guesthouse: bed frames, tables and chairs. Stewart has been busy while we have been here making luggage racks that can double as a bench, and hook racks that will be installed in the rooms. He used a battery operated skill saw and power drill. These tools generated a lot of interest!

Maria is a young woman we sponsored who completed teacher’s college about a year and a half ago. Currently she teaches English to three classes of about 75-80 students each. She has some books but not enough to go around, so students sit up to 5 to a desk to share a book. Maria’s students are mostly Maasai children who speak only Maa until they start school. Then they are taught exclusively in Swahili until Grade 3 when English is introduced as a subject. I had “Bingo” and “Snakes and Ladders”, so I showed Maria how to play. She thought these games would be great to help teach the kids their numbers in English.

This week we were in the neighbouring village of Kimokouwa to place more micro-finance loans. These women are part of Mary’s literacy class. (Mary is our employee. She is on the left.) Although they can now print their name, they preferred to “sign” the loan documents with a fingerprint. We now have loans out to 9 groups of women, with a total of 97 women participating.

Let me introduce you to some of our neighbours. Mama Faraja is probably the most important person in the neighbourhood; she is also the hardest working person I know! She is always looking after half a dozen kids in her small 2 bedroom house; she gardens, does laundry, cooks, heats water for all of us, and raises chickens. She just never stops. And she is always laughing or singing! She is truly amazing. In the photo, she is showing off part of her corn harvest. One of the people who was here in January with the “Travelling with TEMBO” program helped her plant this crop. She is obviously delighted. Thanks John!

This is Napellel. She is one of the children who is currently living with Mama Faraja. She is very shy, but I have discovered that she loves to colour.

No blog would be complete without a picture of Arnold! He is Mama Faraja's grandson and as you can see, he is a real charmer!

The sun falls quickly. By 6:30 it is dark and another day is over.
Next week Stewart and I are doing a short safari. We are looking forward to it, but we will miss Longido!

Kwa Heri.

Shangazi Tembo.

The latest from Longido!

Habari!

It’s hard to believe that we’ve been here nearly three weeks! We have definitely settled into the pace and are thoroughly enjoying our time. The days start at sunrise, about 6:30, and end at “lights out”, about 9:30. Where we are staying we have generator power from 7:00 to 9:30, so there is sort of a “natural” curfew!

"The Guesthouse at dusk."

The construction of the guesthouse is continuing steadily. The interior plastering is complete, the ceilings are completed in most of the rooms and the window frames have all been installed. The plumbing and wiring are about half done. The photo above is taken uphill from the guesthouse looking out over the plain.

"The view from Room 7"

The windows are typically African: metal grills with panels that open. In Tanzania, metal frames are preferable since wooden frames are susceptible to termite damage. The glass has not yet been installed in these frames. I guess that comes later.

"A well-earned break!"

The guesthouse water supply will come from the top of Mount Longido. Longido is lucky: the water quality is quite good, and the water supply is relatively plentiful. In dry times, there can be water shortages, but usually they are not severe. We are employing local people to dig the trench several hundred yards long for the water pipeline. The water has almost reached the building…perhaps we will have water by the end of this week!

"A site meeting...one of many!"

The building will have solar power. In the photo, I am with two of our staff, Mary and Nai. We are discussing the location of the solar panels with our contractor. The water heater and water pump will also be powered by solar.

The guesthouse is certainly taking a lot of our time, but we are working on our other TEMBO projects as well. TEMBO has a small micro-finance program that is very well received by the villagers. Last summer we gave loans to about 30 women. The women are organized into groups of ten, and we loaned each group $1,500 USD, or $150 USD per woman. The term of the loans was one year. Last week, the loans were paid off…not one missed payment and not one late payment! Because the first loans were successful, we gave these women a second loan of $300 USD per woman.

"New loans!"

As you can see from the photo, the women were delighted!

We conducted interviews of the women before we started the second loans. We asked them if the loans made a difference to them. We received comments like:

“I was able to earn money for medical treatment for my daughter.”

“I was able to pay for my child’s school uniform.”

“I was able to buy more food for my family.”

Our micro-finance program is modelled closely on the work of Mohammed Yunus as described in his book, Banker to the Poor.

"Longido Community Library - The Children's Corner"

All of the kids are on a month long school break, so our library is full every day. Stewart built some new shelves that will hold the collection for small kids. They now have their own special section and they love it!

"Two of our youngest readers! "

In the library we now have almost a complete set of text books for the secondary school syllabus. These are the most popular books in the collection! Many secondary students come to get a little one-on-one time with a text book!

Matthew Fitiael Mosess.

Matthew is 23 and is currently working as a guard for the District Commissioner. When he was completing Form 4, he had some serious family problems and he failed his exams. He told me he was devastated because he thought he had lost his chance for an education. When he came to Longido with the District Commissioner, he discovered our library. He immediately started to spend his spare time in the library. In November he resat his Form 4 exams and passed. Now he has also passed some of his Form 6 exams, and hopes to complete Form 6 next January!


Matthew's dream is to go to University to study Social Science, specializing in Public Administration. He told me that after he has some experience, he wants to be a politician to change his society! He has big plans and big dreams!


When I asked Matthew what improvements he would suggest for the library, he said we should get more text books so more people are encouraged to study in the library and get an education!


"Traffic jam in Longido"

Earlier to-day, Stewart and I were walking over to visit the guesthouse site and check on the progress. This is a walk we do daily, and occasionally more often. Sometimes, we are slowed by the traffic!

More news soon!

Kwa heri!

Shangazi Tembo.

Greetings to you from Longido!

Greetings to you from Longido!


For those of you who don’t know me, perhaps I should introduce myself. I met Jo and Marian about four years ago and was inspired by the dream they had for TEMBO. Now I am a member of the Board of Directors for TEMBO, and very enthusiastic about our work! At home, I am Arlene McKechnie. In Longido, I am Shangazi TEMBO. (The English translation is Auntie Elephant. Sounds better in Swahili, doesn’t it?)


My husband Stewart and I are here in Longido for about seven weeks. Our trip is primarily focussed on the Guesthouse, although we will no doubt be involved in many other aspects of TEMBO’s work in this community. There are always so many things to do!


On June 1, we flew to Nairobi, Kenya. From Ottawa. The trip takes about 24 hours and there is a time difference of seven hours. We stayed in Nairobi for a day to recover before we travelled on to Longido. While we were in Nairobi, we visited the David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage. This is a marvellous place that hand raises elephants that have been orphaned, usually by poachers or human/wildlife conflict. The orphanage only permits visitors between 11:00 a.m. and noon, and they are only allowed to see the younger orphans. After the age of about two years, the only humans the orphans see are their keepers. This is for their protection so that when the elephants are released into the wild, they will not be dangerously comfortable with humans.

Bottle feeding the baby!

Elephant milk is not available, so these babies are fed human baby formula…thirty litres per day until they are about two years old. We know this one is nearly two because you can see her tusks beginning to appear.

Best Friends Forever!

The keeper told us that the little elephant in the front was badly traumatized by the death of her mother when she arrived, but she eventually bonded with another of the orphans and now they are virtually inseparable. Elephants are such social animals that it is important to honour this relationship, so when these best friends are released they will be released.

Every class has a clown! This baby couldn'y contain herself. She really played up to her audience!

The next day we took the bus to Longido, about three hours due south on the only road between Nairobi and Arusha. As we approached Longido, I could clearly see the Guesthouse from the road. It was thrilling!

Construction of the Guesthouse started in January when Jo was here. (You might want to check out the link to Jo’s Blog on the right hand side of this page to follow the early construction phase of the building.) As you can see, it is coming along very well. You can see the “mushroom roof” which covers the inner courtyard. It has several translucent panels, so during the day, it is bright and cool inside. The plans include a “patio” off the lounge, where you can see the large door opening. The work that is going on now is mainly inside: plastering walls, installing ceilings, plumbing and wiring.

Nai’s Nursery

The building is on a two acre plot of land that sits beside a dry river bed and at the base of Mount Longido. There is a fence around the entire site and a large gate. Nai, one of our employees in Tanzania, has started some trees that she intends to use to start landscaping!

“A Curious neighbour”

Wild donkeys wander the countryside. This one was looking through our fence. She seemed terribly interested in what we are doing. Perhaps another reason for a fence!

Joyce Roman

Walking around the village of Longdo, we have been approached several times by girls that are being sponsored by TEMBO. They are always very grateful for the opportunity we are able to give them. The first day we were in Longido, we were visited by this young woman, Joyce Roman. She was sponsored by TEMBO to go to teacher’s college. She came specifically to thank TEMBO for her sponsorship. She was very grateful for the opportunity to go to school. She graduated this spring and has been assigned by the government to teach in a small remote village. She will have to stay there for three years before she can teach in a place of her choosing. She told us that her starting salary will be about 100,000 Tanzanian Shillings per month, or about $85.00 Cdn. She is very excited to be starting her career.

We plan to do regular postings so you can follow the progress of the construction.

Stay tuned.

Kwa heri!