Matipwilli, Tanzania: Our job is done!

Welcome to the new Tanzania kitchen range. This tough outdoor kitchen is built to withstand searing heat inside and outside it’s modern structure. It’s open air design and military grade cooker can accommodate up to 400 people.... Joking aside, there’s still a bit of tidying up to do but our job is done! School dinners won’t ever be the same again. I wonder what the first thing they’ll cook will be? Shame we won’t be here to line up with the other students to find out. It’s really difficult to put into words how I feel about being a part of this project. To build something that a community really needs, with the community, in a foreign country, learning to communicate, work and laugh along side each other has been an amazing experience. For now maybe it’s best just to say I’ve got the biggest smile on my face and a cold beer in my hand. Now where’s that beach..............

Matt Pettifer
DWC Participant
Tanzania, January 2012

Matipwilli, Tanzania: Books and school supplies for all!

I wish all of the students and parents in the Juniper Ridge Community could have been here when we shared the books and resources that were purchased with the money ($1000) you raised. The books are beautiful! There are many titles set in Africa, stories of African children with African names globes, maps, games and much more. The book the young children were most excited about was the book that Ms. Alonzo put together with pictures of all of the classes. The children here were clamoring to take a look at the pictures of you. I am sure it will be taken out of the library until it is tattered and torn. They liked looking at the classrooms and at the playground and at our library. Your actions made a huge difference to children half way around the world!

I visited the primary school and it was really different from our school. There were 8 classes from Kindergarten to grade 7, but there were only 5 teachers! The students worked quietly until the teacher came to their class. I think this may be something we could try at home. What do you think? The classes were large with about 50 students per class. Six students would share a bench and a desk that was a little larger than our desks. I was dismayed to see that the walls were bare. There were no pictures, no maps, no posters, no games..just bare walls. I think perhaps the humid weather means that materials do not last as long, but I was sad to see that the students had so little. It means that our donation is that much more important.

The students all wear uniforms and most stand up when they are answering or asking a question. They were quite surprised to hear that it is -30 degrees at home or colder. They also enjoyed hearing about wearing lots of layers of clothing during the winter and having to shovel snow. I really enjoyed my visit to their school.

Today we finished the building of the kitchen at the secondary school. It was much harder work than I anticipated, but I am thankful for all the help we received from the students at the secondary and primary schools.

Deep Pannu
DWC Participant
Tanzania, January 2012

Matipwilli, Tanzania: A wonderful experience

It has been a wonderful experience here, waking up in the morning by nature at precisely 6:10am, cicadas and birds serenading us awake. Kisampa is a wonderful place, will miss the outside showers and sleeping with wonderful warm breezes coming off the land. There are very few bugs and I didn’t expect that, quite the opposite, eating outside at night by candlelight has been to beautiful starry skies.

The project has been a lot of work but so satisfying to work with such a great team and today having the Matipwilli school boys show up to lend some muscle. It enabled us to get the last of the cement flooring done in quick order. Buckets of cement were being filled and flying down the chain so fast one could barely pass of one with out the other being there.

One of the best parts is the ride back to Kisampa after in Richard's Land Rover and then relaxing in the Pavilion with everyone before running to our Bandas to get showered up. It is a little sad knowing tomorrow is our last day at the project, hope we get pictures from the next group of the kitchen in operation.

Jane Irvine
DWC Participant
Tanzania January 2012

Matipwilli, Tanzania: Received much needed help from the students

WE FINISHED THE CONCRETE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After mentally preparing myself over breakfast for a full day of shoveling it was a sigh of relief at the work site to see the cavalry arrive. The pupils from the school literally rolled up their trousers, some took off their shoes too, and then went at it with vengeance... or maybe it was the thought of how much better their school dinners might taste with the new kitchen. Tomorrow is our last day. All we have left to do is pull an old army stove that’s been re-painted into position, and tidy a few things up. The end is in sight.

Matt Pettifer
DWC Participant
Tanzania January 2012

Matipwilli, Tanzania: Kitchen is almost done!

Making good progress with the kitchen. The roof is on and we’re now back to mixing concrete for the floor. This is the last big job to do so we are sucking it up and getting ‘er done. Having to stay pumped for it too as we’re gonna be doing this for the next couple of days. We’re sooooo close now. Two highlights from today were:

1) After lunch we went into the village to give them vitamins, school books for their library and pens and paper for the school kids (It’s all stuff brought in by the team). The village committee and a load of kids were there to accept them. It was like Christmas but without Santa. Good thing he wasn’t there as I think he’d of passed out due to the heat.

2) I had that chat with the trailer.

Matt Pettifer
DWC Participant
Tanzania, January 2012

Matipwilli, Tanzania: A hard day of work

We worked hard today! I shoveled dirt, filled potholes in the road leading to the school, mixed cement to patch the pillars we poured a couple of days ago, sanded cement pillars, and painted the big outdoor oven. Actually I did not do all of this by myself, it was a group effort. The group also raised the trusses for the roof and tied/nailed them into place. The best part of the day was when the students from the primary school came and moved wheel barrow loads of sand for the foundation of the floor. Tomorrow we will pour cement for the floor. It was hot and sweaty work, but it sure feels good to see things falling into place. Tomorrow we will finish the roof in the morning, and then visit the primary school in the afternoon.

Deep Pannu
DWC Participant
Tanzania, January 2012

Matipwilli, Tanzania: A disagreement with the trailer

I got bitten by a crocodile!!!!!!!!

Actually, no I didn’t. But I did manage to injure myself today and I’m trying to pass it off as a crocodile bite. We were filling a hole in the road to the school with the dirt from the work site (nothing gets wasted here) and I had a disagreement with the trailer. The trailer won of course and for good measure scalped a good chunk of skin off the front of my shin. Ow!!!!!!!!! I was hoping we were going to deal with it Tanzanian bush style where we use ants to bite the wound shut and use bark from a tree and grasses to dress it. Apparently antiseptic cream, gauze and a bandage is way more effective!!! The trailer is in the background of the shot with me holding my trusty shovel. When we’ve we’ve finished the job me and my trusty shovel are gonna have words.

Matt Pettifer
DWC Participant
Tanzania, January 2012

Matipwilli, Tanzania: Visiting the secondary school

Today we had to work hard at the secondary school where we are building the kitchen. The kitchen is coming along well and it is rewarding to see the results. Part of our group visited the secondary school where we had a question and answer session with students in grades 8 through 12. They asked very interesting questions and we enjoyed answering to the best of our ability. Thankfully the teacher and headmaster spoke English as none of us were able to speak Swahili. It was nice to be in their classroom and to be able to share part of this experience with them.

Deep Pannu
DWC Participant
Tanzania, January 2012

Matipwilli, Tanzania: Work continues and we meet the students

Back at the work site today. Fortunately there was no concrete mixing – phew! But there were more trailer loads of sand to be shoveled up and added to the pile in preparation for when we do need it. Anyway, today was more about checking the pillars out and getting the roof up. Our new kitchen is finally starting to look like a building... Well, kind of! More importantly, we took time out just before lunch to actually meet some of the students. They sang their national anthem for us which was awesome. Serious lump in your throat stuff.

Matt Pettifer
DWC Participant
Tanzania, January 2012

Matipwilli, Tanzania: Experience has surpassed my expectations

Where to begin........My experience thus far has surpassed expectations. The group, work project & accommodations have come together so well. There has been much laughter & joke telling as we get to know one another whilst working on the project (which is on-schedule) or sitting around the campfire in the evening before dinner.The new kitchen for the school in the village of Matipwili is beginning to take shape.

Our journey into Matipwili from Kisampa Camp, our stunning base, takes us through lush scenery. Each day we see something different, wild life so far include Colubus Monkeys, Baboons & Crown Thorn bill birds. The children in the village are delightful and seem to take pleasure in our arrival at lunch time when we take a break and enjoy a traditional home cooked meal by the locals, who are very friendly and supportive of the work we are doing here.

After just few days we have experienced so many different aspects of life here in Tanzania, too many to write about, many more to come. This is a surreal experience in a beautiful country and having great co-workers. I am really happy to be part of this trip with Developing World Connections.

Judith Hall
DWC Participant
Tanzania, January 2012

Matipwilli, Tanzania: National park and beach time

We headed to Saadani National Park today. The plan was to see more animals and then head to the coast to hit a beach up. We were told the park is relatively new as far as these things go so the animals aren’t that familiar with humans. They’re a bit shy apparently – no kidding (just want to reference my comment from before about 12 people in Land Rovers again here!). That being said saw my first giraffe which was mind blowing. Didn’t realize something so big with such long legs and neck could be so graceful. And hide so easily when it wanted to too. Weird right. You’d think they’d stand out for miles – they don’t! And with the thought of having to mix more concrete tomorrow the beach was the icing on the cake. Swimming in the Indian ocean says it all.

Matt Pettifer
DWC Participant
Tanzania, January 2012

Matipwilli, Tanzania: A friendly visitor...

We’ve got two days off now and today we have planned for a day safari and a night safari around the camp. Two things I’ve learnt are from both these trips are:

1) Always have your camera in your hand turned on at all times and...

2) Twelve people being driven around in two Land Rovers with spot lights doesn’t really help coax the wild life out.

That being said I did see some cool animals. The colobus monkeys were pretty rad, you should google them. They have totally white babies apparently. I guess it’s so you don’t lose them if you put them down. More importantly I saw this in my bed first thing before rolling over this morning. Yikes. Not only have I now got the ‘thousand yard stare’, I’ve also developed an OCD thing where everything gets banged, flipped and then looked inside 3 times…. EVERYTIME!!!

Matt Pettifer
DWC Participant
Tanzania, January 2012

Matipwilli, Tanzania: Kisampa

Well... the foundations are in and the pillars are up. It still doesn’t look like much so maybe now is a good time to talk about where I’m staying. The camp is called Kisampa and it’s a 30 minute drive from the village. It’s up on a ridge line overlooking the flat plains of the wami river valley. We’re staying in huts called bandas. I’ll let the photos do the talking here but they’re amazing – just like out of a film. Showering is interesting. Being butt naked, facing the African bushes, under a bucket, is quite the way to start to start your morning. Probably quite the start for the wildlife too...

Matt Pettifer
DWC Participant
Tanzania, January 2012

Matipwilli, Tanzania: Put in another hard days work

Well... If the foundations and 8 trailer loads wasn’t enough, try mixing that into concrete by hand. 6 wheelbarrow loads of gravel and sand (12 in total), 2 bags of cement, water and a shovel. With everyone chipping in it definitely makes the work easier but still, it’s backbreaking stuff. Luckily it had rained first thing and was overcast so it took some of the heat out of the day. Soaked in sweat and covered in concrete, it felt good to get the foundations started and half of the pillars done. That and the ride back felt amazing. Driving to and from the work site in an open air jeep with Baboons running off in to the distance definitely puts a new perspective on perks of the job.

Matt Pettifer
DWC Participant
Tanzania, January 2012

Matipwilli, Tanzania: Building a new kitchen at the school

We started work at the school today for the new kitchen. Their current dilapidated one feeds 400 students. I will no longer moan about not been able to find a clean bowl at work or the fact that someone else is using the microwave. We dug out the foundations and shoveled 4 trailer loads of sand and 4 trailer loads of gravel for mixing cement today. Thankfully we’re mixing the cement tomorrow, it was tough going today. Especially as the humidity and sun really zaps your strength. That being said it was another productive day and very exciting to start a project from scratch.

Matt Pettifer
DWC Participant
Tanzania, January 2012

Matipwilli, Tanzania: Welcome to Africa

Where do I start... We land, line up to get a visa to enter the country and meet our driver taking us to Kisampa, our final destination. He informs us that we have 60km of tarmac, 40km of dirt road and 17km of ‘challenging’ road to deal with. He didn’t tell us, until the bus got stuck on the challenging road, that we had a river crossing by canoe too and then we were getting picked up by jeep to get us to our camp.

Welcome to Africa.

Matt Pettifer
DWC Participant
Tanzania, January 2012

Matipwilli, Tanzania: Amazing start to the trip

We left for Matipwilli (the village where we're working) at 7:45 this morning. We’ve got two projects to do whilst we’re here. The first is building a new roof for the old part of the market which will connect to the new part. The second is building a new kitchen for the school. Today we were working on the roof. It was hot and humid but the work went pretty quickly with no hick-ups. The only real distractions we’re the kids who we’re off school and just wanted to play. It was a crazy combo of one minute nailing corrugated iron sheets to a wooden frame and the next having 10 kids hanging off your arms (one on each finger – no joke either). What an amazing start to the trip and the perfect welcome to Tanzania and Matipwilli.

Matt Pettifer
DWC Participant
Tanzania, January 2012