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!