Greetings from Ireland, thousands of miles and a world apart from Suji. My name is John and I had the privilege of being the project leader of the build in Suji last November.
The plan called for 15 experienced builders and two weeks of hard work in order to complete the 30 metre by 10 metre extension to the secondary school in the remote village high up in the Pare mountains in northern Tanzania. Working 8 hour days for 5 days a week we would finish the project and have time for a Safari before returning home. However this plan of mine went out the window when, after weeks of radio interviews and other promotional activities, our volunteers turned out to be, (how shall I put this) well, less than desirable.
There was a DIY handyman (yours truly), a former plasterer, now a desk jockey in a council office in Birmingham (Sean), a retired teacher, albeit a frequent volunteer in Africa (Gerry), a dairy farmer, who thinks a shovel belongs in a museum (Noel), an electrician, the only trade we did not need (Niall), a film maker from a family of concrete contractors, whose admiration for Stanley Kubrick, although informative, was little use when laying bricks (Peadar), a cockney, now living in Leitrim, handy enough with a hammer though (Darren), a stonemason, even though stones in Suji were as scarce as tradesmen (Tom), and a youngster from Sligo, who never set foot on a building site before, but was willing (Enda).
As if this was not bad enough we were joined by recently qualified teachers from Galway (Jim), Mayo (Aine), Leitrim (Aisling), and Donegal (Belinda and Aaron) who insisted on helping out. (helping out?).
Last but not least our volunteer force was complete with the inclusion of an economics researcher and teacher (Maureen).
Much has been said already of our arrival in Suji, the project itself, the friendships formed, the lifelong sense of well being achieved and I concur with all these sentiments. I would like to add that this group of individuals from separate parts with separate ideals and separate hopes and ambitions, all saw the enormity of the task ahead and somehow merged into one entity and with one mind set - to complete this challenge.
When asked about Suji, I remember the friends I have made (friends I will most likely never meet again, but friends nonetheless), I remember the hard work, the fun, the debates, the jokes, the tricks, the local pubs, the food, the lack of hot water (we didn't really have a jacuzzi in our house), and the little sisters I acquired (thanks a lot !!).
But best of all, when faced with a difficult task or an impossible situation, I remember what we achieved in Suji and I can take on the world.
See, I told you all I was full of s**t.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
Thoughts on Suji by Sean Murphy
Hello, for those of you that don't know me, and for those who do but have already forgotten, my name is Sean, also known as Jack to some people, I grew up in East Galway but have lived in England for almost the last quarter of a century.
I return home on a regular basis to the old sod to see my mum and siblings and in August this year we called to see my sister Maura who lives in Co Clare. Over dinner her husband John told us of his plans to construct an extension to a secondary school in East Africa later in the year under the auspices of TANZANIAN VILLAGE RENEWAL. http://tanzanianvillagerenewal.blogspot.com/
During the conversation my wife said I should go, I dismissed the comment and put it down to wine induced chit chat, However what you do not know is that my wife has the canny knack of being right 95% of the time, and sure enough 6 weeks later (following a dollop of "pillow talk") I found myself contacting John and volunteering to go on the charity trip.
A couple of weeks prior to going my wife asked me if I was worried about the forth coming trip and in an attempt to look macho I said of course not, but secretly I was concerned, would I live up to the charity's expectations?, would I be able to keep pace with the young wipper nappers?, would I be able to hack it with the professional builders? and above all would we be able to deliver on our commitment?
Its all very well making promises from afar.
Sunday 31st October 2010 was a chilly, dark morning, the onset of winter and at 4.00am all the team met up for the first time at Dublin airport for the flight to Tanzania, people struggled under the weight of luggage, hurleys, levels, and trowels protruded from all sides, a swift turn in the wrong direction and a possible mishap for life. The builders carried lump hammers, saws, chisels, tapes, hawkes and trowels, the graduates carried books on grammar, poetry and prose, maths, history, geography and all sorts of ologies.
Amazingly we all checked in on time and within our prescribed weight limits.
14 hours later we touched down at Kilimanjaro international airport on a warm sultry evening, the sense of anticipation was now great but we were in safe hands, Mr Clancy heading up the builders and Mrs Mescall in charge of the charity.
Maureen and John said they would organise our visas, this was great, no queuing, no standing in line, it was only a matter of minutes and we would be on our way. However, after about 15 minutes waiting I wandered outside and sat on a bench, it was a beautiful balmy evening.
For those of you not familiar with Kilimanjaro airport, its no Heathrow or JFK, we were the only plane that evening, those that got off mostly comprised of walkers and climbers heading for the mountain which the airport was named after. As we waited patiently some of the others came out and joined me, heels were clicked, fingers tapped and cigarettes were smoked, time rolled by, still no Maureen and John.
A mere 60 minutes later Maureen and John returned with our visas, this was our first experience with Africa and apparently "you cannot rush these things".
Not to worry Maureen said our carriage awaited, I had visions of an air conditioned bus with piped music, tv, mini bar and toilet facilities. We marched out looking for our transport walking straight past the vehicle parked on the forecourt, as we wandered by Maureen said, here your carriage, I glanced over my shoulder only to see an aged Chinese mini bus.
Somehow we had to fit 20 persons plus a small truck load of luggage into this compact vehicle, for a full 30 minutes we loaded, unloaded and re-loaded the luggage. Suit cases were stacked on their side, on their end and on their edge, all to no avail. Rucksacks were placed on top of the suitcases, face up, on their back and on their belly, all to no avail.
Tiredness eventually won out, we gave up, squashed in and sat on top of the luggage. A full 2 hours and 30 minutes after landing, we finally pulled out of a now deserted Kilimanjaro airport. That night we stayed in a nearby motel as it was now fast approaching midnight.
Welcome to Africa.
The following morning we set out for the final leg of our leg of our journey, which Maureen said would take 3 hours, but I am sure you are getting the trend, it somehow turned into 6 hours
"You cannot rush these things" or as the locals say "This is Africa"
As we trundled along the bus finally turned of the main highway (don't think M6 or M25) onto a dusty dirt track which ran down through the middle of a huge expanse of sisal, 10 minutes later we were at the foot of the Pare Mountains. Maureen piped up and said Suji is at the top of the mountain, "we are nearly there", by now I was doubting Maureen's assessments of gauging African timescales, it looked a doddle 15 minutes tops, but say no more it actually took 1 hour 15 minutes.
The pare mountains comprise of deep V shaped valleys and the Suji School sat on the rim of one of these valleys. On the day of our arrival some of the school children were on sentry duty and as we zig zagged up the mountain track, they alerted the other children of our arrival. Within seconds I could see hundreds of children pour out of the classrooms and line the final couple of hundred yards of our journey.
The reception was tumultuous, akin to a winning football team returning home with the cup, it was truly humbling, flags were waved, banners were hoisted and horns honked, we were treated to a series of Swahili singing, dancing, acting and speech making. This was followed by a banquet fit for a King.
We worked hard over the next 2 weeks but it was enjoyable and rewarding, the team got to know each other very well (some more than others !), the four young graduates threw their lot in with the hairy bum builders and Jim organised the school children into perfect chain gangs as and when necessary. Day by day the assembly/dining hall took shape and unbelievably we virtually completed what we set out to do.
Considering we were all strangers at the outset tied together by the common thread of helping the children, very soon friendships blossomed and a rapport grew. Trusses were made, bricks were laid, walls were plastered and roofs were sheeted without a single bad word or squabble.
Suji itself is a beautiful place unspoilt by modern living and untouched by multi national companies, my advise is see it before it disappears. at no time during my stay did I feel vulnerable or intimidated.
The children are bubbly and keen to learn, they are also have good manners and arrive each morning well turned out with polished shoes and sparkling white shirts, I have no idea how they do this.
Their parents spend the day fetching water and fire wood in addition to tending to their crops on small allotments perched on the steeply sloped valleys. Its hard work and they walk great distances each day, gyms are not needed here.
Six months ago I would not have imagined that I would volunteer for charity work, let alone in Tanzania, the experience will live with me for a lifetime and I have many fond memories to cherish.
However, none of it would be possible without the help of many people, to many to thank in this short slot but word of gratitude to the following;
to Marie and Dominic without your support what would I do, to John Clancy for planting the idea, to Maura for supporting us, to Noel for entertaining us along the way, to Maureen for organising the event, to Aisling, Aine, Belinda, Aaron & Jim for mucking in, to Peader, Niall, Tom, Enda, Darren and Ger for your help and patience, and of course to my Mom for simply being my Mom.
As for future charity work for me, who knows ! ask Maureen ?
I return home on a regular basis to the old sod to see my mum and siblings and in August this year we called to see my sister Maura who lives in Co Clare. Over dinner her husband John told us of his plans to construct an extension to a secondary school in East Africa later in the year under the auspices of TANZANIAN VILLAGE RENEWAL. http://tanzanianvillagerenewal.blogspot.com/
During the conversation my wife said I should go, I dismissed the comment and put it down to wine induced chit chat, However what you do not know is that my wife has the canny knack of being right 95% of the time, and sure enough 6 weeks later (following a dollop of "pillow talk") I found myself contacting John and volunteering to go on the charity trip.
A couple of weeks prior to going my wife asked me if I was worried about the forth coming trip and in an attempt to look macho I said of course not, but secretly I was concerned, would I live up to the charity's expectations?, would I be able to keep pace with the young wipper nappers?, would I be able to hack it with the professional builders? and above all would we be able to deliver on our commitment?
Its all very well making promises from afar.
Sunday 31st October 2010 was a chilly, dark morning, the onset of winter and at 4.00am all the team met up for the first time at Dublin airport for the flight to Tanzania, people struggled under the weight of luggage, hurleys, levels, and trowels protruded from all sides, a swift turn in the wrong direction and a possible mishap for life. The builders carried lump hammers, saws, chisels, tapes, hawkes and trowels, the graduates carried books on grammar, poetry and prose, maths, history, geography and all sorts of ologies.
Amazingly we all checked in on time and within our prescribed weight limits.
14 hours later we touched down at Kilimanjaro international airport on a warm sultry evening, the sense of anticipation was now great but we were in safe hands, Mr Clancy heading up the builders and Mrs Mescall in charge of the charity.
Maureen and John said they would organise our visas, this was great, no queuing, no standing in line, it was only a matter of minutes and we would be on our way. However, after about 15 minutes waiting I wandered outside and sat on a bench, it was a beautiful balmy evening.
For those of you not familiar with Kilimanjaro airport, its no Heathrow or JFK, we were the only plane that evening, those that got off mostly comprised of walkers and climbers heading for the mountain which the airport was named after. As we waited patiently some of the others came out and joined me, heels were clicked, fingers tapped and cigarettes were smoked, time rolled by, still no Maureen and John.
A mere 60 minutes later Maureen and John returned with our visas, this was our first experience with Africa and apparently "you cannot rush these things".
Not to worry Maureen said our carriage awaited, I had visions of an air conditioned bus with piped music, tv, mini bar and toilet facilities. We marched out looking for our transport walking straight past the vehicle parked on the forecourt, as we wandered by Maureen said, here your carriage, I glanced over my shoulder only to see an aged Chinese mini bus.
Somehow we had to fit 20 persons plus a small truck load of luggage into this compact vehicle, for a full 30 minutes we loaded, unloaded and re-loaded the luggage. Suit cases were stacked on their side, on their end and on their edge, all to no avail. Rucksacks were placed on top of the suitcases, face up, on their back and on their belly, all to no avail.
Tiredness eventually won out, we gave up, squashed in and sat on top of the luggage. A full 2 hours and 30 minutes after landing, we finally pulled out of a now deserted Kilimanjaro airport. That night we stayed in a nearby motel as it was now fast approaching midnight.
Welcome to Africa.
The following morning we set out for the final leg of our leg of our journey, which Maureen said would take 3 hours, but I am sure you are getting the trend, it somehow turned into 6 hours
"You cannot rush these things" or as the locals say "This is Africa"
As we trundled along the bus finally turned of the main highway (don't think M6 or M25) onto a dusty dirt track which ran down through the middle of a huge expanse of sisal, 10 minutes later we were at the foot of the Pare Mountains. Maureen piped up and said Suji is at the top of the mountain, "we are nearly there", by now I was doubting Maureen's assessments of gauging African timescales, it looked a doddle 15 minutes tops, but say no more it actually took 1 hour 15 minutes.
The pare mountains comprise of deep V shaped valleys and the Suji School sat on the rim of one of these valleys. On the day of our arrival some of the school children were on sentry duty and as we zig zagged up the mountain track, they alerted the other children of our arrival. Within seconds I could see hundreds of children pour out of the classrooms and line the final couple of hundred yards of our journey.
The reception was tumultuous, akin to a winning football team returning home with the cup, it was truly humbling, flags were waved, banners were hoisted and horns honked, we were treated to a series of Swahili singing, dancing, acting and speech making. This was followed by a banquet fit for a King.
We worked hard over the next 2 weeks but it was enjoyable and rewarding, the team got to know each other very well (some more than others !), the four young graduates threw their lot in with the hairy bum builders and Jim organised the school children into perfect chain gangs as and when necessary. Day by day the assembly/dining hall took shape and unbelievably we virtually completed what we set out to do.
Considering we were all strangers at the outset tied together by the common thread of helping the children, very soon friendships blossomed and a rapport grew. Trusses were made, bricks were laid, walls were plastered and roofs were sheeted without a single bad word or squabble.
Suji itself is a beautiful place unspoilt by modern living and untouched by multi national companies, my advise is see it before it disappears. at no time during my stay did I feel vulnerable or intimidated.
The children are bubbly and keen to learn, they are also have good manners and arrive each morning well turned out with polished shoes and sparkling white shirts, I have no idea how they do this.
Their parents spend the day fetching water and fire wood in addition to tending to their crops on small allotments perched on the steeply sloped valleys. Its hard work and they walk great distances each day, gyms are not needed here.
Six months ago I would not have imagined that I would volunteer for charity work, let alone in Tanzania, the experience will live with me for a lifetime and I have many fond memories to cherish.
However, none of it would be possible without the help of many people, to many to thank in this short slot but word of gratitude to the following;
to Marie and Dominic without your support what would I do, to John Clancy for planting the idea, to Maura for supporting us, to Noel for entertaining us along the way, to Maureen for organising the event, to Aisling, Aine, Belinda, Aaron & Jim for mucking in, to Peader, Niall, Tom, Enda, Darren and Ger for your help and patience, and of course to my Mom for simply being my Mom.
As for future charity work for me, who knows ! ask Maureen ?
Friday, December 17, 2010
The Cocks Crow in Suji
Those of you who are of a certain vintage and lived in the Irish countryside will remember when the cock crew each morning and it was a sign of bay break. In Suji the cock near our house started at 4.30 a.m. and he sent all the cocks in the village into a cacophony of sound which reverberated around the hills. Our cock seemed to be the leader or was that just because he was nearest to us? Ah… it was a great sound on mornings one, two, three and four and brought back memories of our childhoods; bright sunny mornings, sunshine filled days, the beach, the football match and not a cloud in the sky - what year/decade was that?
Morning five 4.30 a.m., grumbling noises from the occupants of the house “ Does that cock ever shut up”? Mornings after that - death to the cock by many means! “He might be tough in the pot though”! Rahema has chicken for dinner – maybe it’s one of the cocks!
Aisling and I take turns filming with Peadar’s camera when he is busy building. I am sure there will be cocks crowing on every piece of footage. It will be interesting editing all of that. Each of us had our new digital cameras also and the cockerels abound on every video.
What about the calf (or was she a cow) at the back of the extension we were building? This was not a happy cow! She bellowed all day, every day and is heard on every video so again more editing for Peadar! The cows and calves are tied up, in an open sided shed which has a thatched roof, all the time. The owners give them grass, banana leaves and any other bits of available food. They are tied in because they would eat the vegetable in the gardens otherwise. The people are mostly self sufficient so everybody has a garden. When you think of a cow in Suji you must forget “Friesian” – these are small black cows about the size of a weanling in Ireland
Here is a look at the gardens I spoke about which also gives you an idea of how beautiful Suji is. This is the perfect place to do some hill walking but one’s expectations of hot showers, must be forgotten about. The water supply can be intermittent to say the best about it. Some houses have a good supply most days but of course it is a cold supply so back to the old days of boiling if you want a hot bath. The track up the mountain is one hour’s drive off the main Dar es Salaam Tanzania
Here also the wonderful people who are so welcoming and who want to talk, laugh and sing with you. The food is all grown locally and without the use of insecticides.
I wish I could be in Suji for a year! I hope Jim, Aaron, Aine, Aisling and Belinda enjoy every moment of their year in Suji Malindi Secondary School
The Paré Mountains
While Tanzania is noted for certain exotic locations; Zanzibar, the Serengeti, Mount Kilimanjaro and nGorongoro Crater, very few people have heard of the Paré Mountains. These mountains which are on the border between Tanzania and Kenya are however very noteworthy in their own right. They have in fact been endowed with world heritage status, and as such, are the last remaining repository of highly endangered flora and fauna, among which are six species of indigenous birds.
On a more fundamental level the indigenous trees which are being so ruthlessly (rootless) removed will not only deprive these beautiful mountains of some unique species but will also result in the mountains themselves being washed away. This fact is totally unknown to the people who live here.
Having visited three of the many villages which go to make up Suji I was surprised to find that one village Malindi appeared to be highly Christian with the church of the Seven Day Adventist being foremost in their Christianity. Of the two nearby villages one was Catholic/Lutheran and had a marvellous choir. The other village appeared to be wholly (holy) Muslim. In all three, on our one day visit, we were treated like royalty. These are wonderful people.
On a more fundamental level the indigenous trees which are being so ruthlessly (rootless) removed will not only deprive these beautiful mountains of some unique species but will also result in the mountains themselves being washed away. This fact is totally unknown to the people who live here.
Having visited three of the many villages which go to make up Suji I was surprised to find that one village Malindi appeared to be highly Christian with the church of the Seven Day Adventist being foremost in their Christianity. Of the two nearby villages one was Catholic/Lutheran and had a marvellous choir. The other village appeared to be wholly (holy) Muslim. In all three, on our one day visit, we were treated like royalty. These are wonderful people.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Building at Suji
We show pictures and videos on this Blog of a lot of building work being carried out so we would just like to give you the background to this. TANZANIAN VILLAGE RENEWAL is a registered charity founded in 2007 by Michael and Maureen Mescall from Kilmihil, Co. Clare. The couple had been visiting Tanzania for many years and have very good friends there. One of those friends; Professor Gad Kilonzo asked if we would be in a position to build an extension to the secondary school in his native village Suji and also if we could scource teachers in Ireland for the school. The school had 450 pupils and only 2 teachers.
We decided that it would be best to see the school and the proposed extension so a friend of ours, John Clancy from Corofin, Co. Clare and I went to Suji in November 2009. We were struck by the beauty of Suji and the surrounding Paré Mountains; by the quality of the natural food all grown locally; the welcome of the people and pupils and by the courtesy shown to us. Suji is situated about 8000 ft. high in the mountains and the only access is a dirt track which is very steep and in wet weather is treacherous. That apart the journey to the village has the most spectacular scenery. The foundation for the new extension had commenced but was not complete so John suggested that the villagers should complete the foundation work and that we would then consider building. The people living in the village have a wonderful quality of life in a clean, unpolluted environment but they are cash poor. All materials had to be hauled up that mountain by lorry and this was expensive so the charity Tanzanian Village Renewal sent some funds to cover the materials and labour for the foundation. This was duly completed and photographic evidence sent to us . So the villagers had upheld their end of the bargain now it was up to us to fulfill our end.
We had to find builders and teachers!
Ah I thought it will be easy to find the teachers where I work, in NUI Galway but how to go about it. Next step was to approach Professor Jim Ward , the Registrar in NUI Galway and Lorraine McIllrath from Community Knowledge Initiative in the university. Both of these people were very supportive of the idea of university involvement with the project. We emailed all postgraduate students and received many replies but we finally found 5 people who were really interested. Those students were:
Aisling Mitchell, Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim.
Belinda Crossan, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal.
Aine Staunton, Tourmakeady, Co. Mayo.
Aaron Cunningham, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal.
James Lovett, Newcastle, Galway.
The students agreed to fund their travelling and day to day expenses in the short term and the university and Tanzanian Village Renewal agreed to pay them a small salary during the year in Tanzania. The students also decided that the would like to do a bit of building and therefore agreed to travel with the builders, get to know the lie of the land in Suji and at least settle in to a new lifestyle in the company of a few "from home".
Then to find the builders. One would expect that in these recessionary times it would be easy to find builders but this proved to be a very difficult job and took a lot of time and effort to find the right people. Even though there are thousands of builders, carpenters, electrician and plumbers out of work in Ireland as we all know, people were afraid to commit. Everybody who would come would have to pay airfare, accommodation and for food so this was a scary commitment when one had no job. We took to the airwaves and the printed media. We carried out interviews on Clare FM, Mid West Radio and Weeshie Fogarty of Kerry Radio gave us an hour to talk about the work of the charity. We eventually sourced enough people and set the date for travelling as October 31st. 2010 for a two week period.
Those travelling would be:
John Clancy, Corofin, Co. Clare.
Maureen Mescall, Kilmihil, Co. Clare.
Noel Murphy, Ballymacward, Co. Galway.
Sean Murphy, Bermingham, U.K.
Niall Culkin, Co. Sligo.
Enda Gilmartin, Co. Sligo.
Ger Heverin, Castlebar, Co. Mayo.
Tom Philbin, Castlebar, Co. Mayo.
Darren Maguire, Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim.
Peadar Mitchell, Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim.
and the 5 teachers mentioned above.
We flew from Dublin to Kilimanjaro and were met by Professor Kilonzo and a mini bus to take us to Suji. Then the fun began! Aaron and Belinda had the kitchen sink in their bags as they were staying for a year! The builders travelled with small bags which were rather heavy due to the hammers, saws, trowels and levels.
How to get all the people, the luggage and a few more people into the mini bus. It took planning and ingenuity! John in charge of course! Even though everybody was tired, they were good humoured and of course the idea that all of us would be allowed to travel in such an overcrowded bus was very new to people from Ireland who are used to rules and regulations. The trip on the dirt road to Suji caused some consternation as we thought the bus would not make each hill - but it did and the driver got a resounding cheer, more from relief at the arrival rather than his driving I think!
The schoolchildren were out on top of a hill waving and cheering and they then put on a marvellous concert for us. The sang and danced with that wonderful sense of rhythm that the Africans have. We were welcomed by the villagers and then fed very well. The teachers stayed in one house, the 5 younger people in another house and the older more "set in their ways" people in another; all accommodation provided by the villagers.
This was the first time in Africa for most people so the "Asian Toilet" caused a bit of shock initially! Once the site was inspected, John set out the work schedule. We would get up at 6a.m., breakfast at 6.30a.m., on site at 7 a.m., lunch at noon, finish at 5.30 p.m. shower, and dinner at 7p.m.,
Rahema would cook for us. She started each day at around 5a.m., got the fire going ( mostly scraps of timber and bits of trees), and did not finish until nearly 8.30p.m each night. She was a treasure, good humoured, good cook and practised her English with us each day. If we wanted something Rahema knew who to contact, she produced potatoes for breakfast, lunch and dinner - The Irish need their spuds!!!! Not that many Rahema!
Not to go into too many details of the building but we built, roofed and plastered the building in 12 days! Everybody worked to the best of their ability every day. The 3 girl teachers, laid bricks, plastered, carried, fetched and were given a genuine "clap on the back" by the builders. 10 local men helped and we trained them in building, plastering and roofing and the Irish left them all their tools before they departed. The building was 100 m X 30 m so it was a great achievement to finish it in the short period of time. Multiple **** to everybody!!
The population of Suji are mostly 7 Day Adventist so Saturday is their holy day so no work. They get ready for the holy day early Friday evening and Saturday is then spent at church. We were invited to their services and this was a wonderful experience. Imagine hearing the echo of choirs rebounding from the hills all around as you walked to one of the churches. If one heard any of these choirs in the National Concert Hall in Dublin one would say they were brilliant. All ages had that wonderful musical quality which seems to be in every part of their beings. We loved their services and looked forward to each Saturday. We also walked the hills and just spent time enjoying the peace and tranquility and appreciate many things that we had experienced in our youth but had forgotten during the mad Celtic Tiger days in Ireland.
After dinner we had the entertainment. Peadar, gave a dissertation on Marx, Ger's topic was religion, John did the magic tricks, Noel and Sean supervised the quizzes, Enda updated us on the soccer, Jim recited poetry, Niall and Darren interjected with appropriate quips when people were waffling, Tom exuded calmness at all times even during the hottest part of the day when the sun was beating doen on his blonde curls, the girls provided the glamour, Aaron provide all technical knowledge in regard to mobile phone and Internet connections. Me, I provided the water and a limited supply of beer! This was a highly intellectual building site! The teachers, gave classes in between laying bricks. English, history, geography, maths, economics and biology. The pupils were hungry to learn. They helped us on the site and they tried to teach us Swahili and we tried to help with their English. This was education with fun, style and dust in about 25 c.
Of course the villagers had party to send us on our way home. In the new building of course! A great time was had by all.
We decided that being in Tanzania the home of Safari we should at least see some animals before we took the plane. The mini bus was engaged once again to take us to the game park and then to the airport. Not as much luggage this time as the teachers and Peadar were staying on in Suji. So did we see the Big 5 - most definitely no but we saw the Big 5 holes that the mini bus got stuck in! "All out", "Rock from side to side", "push" "Get out the shovel" " You are standing on my hand" "How will I get on the plane with this muck" could be heard resounding all over the game park. Then slight panic - we wont make the flight! Get this driver to get a move on - driver no word of English - Irish no word of Swahili! Sign language very useful here but not much good as the bus had no third gear and groaned on every hill.
Sean and Jim in the front seat urging the driver on who looked at them with mild disdain. Some people falling asleep but the real sign of panic was when cool John began to get slightly panicky! We made it. No time for good bye just race through security. The teachers and Peadar had to face the return journey and up that mountain road again while the builders sat in the comfort of KLM.
Peadar is an award winning film maker and is making a film about the building, the teachers and the village. It's a slow job editing all the footage and he has promised that the launch will be in Manorhamilton and we will all be invited! We look forward to that! He is staying in Suji until Christmas and is currently teaching English to the adults in the village. Tanzanians with Leitrim accents - I cant wait to hear it.! His sister Aisling is teaching English to small children. Aaron is teaching and coaching the soccer team in the school. His team were narrowly defeated by the locals recently but I am sure they will improve under Aaron's guidance. Let us know what's happening Aaron and put up a picture of your team. Belinda and Aine are teaching and are on rat extermination detail as well as planning the Christmas trip to Zanzibar. Aine loves Tuna and Mayonnaise which is not available in Suji so if the reader is so disposed you can send to Aine in care of the Post Office Suji!!!! Jim, well Jim has taught the pupils and the builders one word in Irish, English and Swahili!! Or is it a universal language? Jim is currently touring around Southern Africa and will return to Suji when the school term starts in January.
That's it for now - drop a comment in the box as we would love to hear from you.
We decided that it would be best to see the school and the proposed extension so a friend of ours, John Clancy from Corofin, Co. Clare and I went to Suji in November 2009. We were struck by the beauty of Suji and the surrounding Paré Mountains; by the quality of the natural food all grown locally; the welcome of the people and pupils and by the courtesy shown to us. Suji is situated about 8000 ft. high in the mountains and the only access is a dirt track which is very steep and in wet weather is treacherous. That apart the journey to the village has the most spectacular scenery. The foundation for the new extension had commenced but was not complete so John suggested that the villagers should complete the foundation work and that we would then consider building. The people living in the village have a wonderful quality of life in a clean, unpolluted environment but they are cash poor. All materials had to be hauled up that mountain by lorry and this was expensive so the charity Tanzanian Village Renewal sent some funds to cover the materials and labour for the foundation. This was duly completed and photographic evidence sent to us . So the villagers had upheld their end of the bargain now it was up to us to fulfill our end.
We had to find builders and teachers!
Ah I thought it will be easy to find the teachers where I work, in NUI Galway but how to go about it. Next step was to approach Professor Jim Ward , the Registrar in NUI Galway and Lorraine McIllrath from Community Knowledge Initiative in the university. Both of these people were very supportive of the idea of university involvement with the project. We emailed all postgraduate students and received many replies but we finally found 5 people who were really interested. Those students were:
Aisling Mitchell, Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim.
Belinda Crossan, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal.
Aine Staunton, Tourmakeady, Co. Mayo.
Aaron Cunningham, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal.
James Lovett, Newcastle, Galway.
The students agreed to fund their travelling and day to day expenses in the short term and the university and Tanzanian Village Renewal agreed to pay them a small salary during the year in Tanzania. The students also decided that the would like to do a bit of building and therefore agreed to travel with the builders, get to know the lie of the land in Suji and at least settle in to a new lifestyle in the company of a few "from home".
Then to find the builders. One would expect that in these recessionary times it would be easy to find builders but this proved to be a very difficult job and took a lot of time and effort to find the right people. Even though there are thousands of builders, carpenters, electrician and plumbers out of work in Ireland as we all know, people were afraid to commit. Everybody who would come would have to pay airfare, accommodation and for food so this was a scary commitment when one had no job. We took to the airwaves and the printed media. We carried out interviews on Clare FM, Mid West Radio and Weeshie Fogarty of Kerry Radio gave us an hour to talk about the work of the charity. We eventually sourced enough people and set the date for travelling as October 31st. 2010 for a two week period.
Those travelling would be:
John Clancy, Corofin, Co. Clare.
Maureen Mescall, Kilmihil, Co. Clare.
Noel Murphy, Ballymacward, Co. Galway.
Sean Murphy, Bermingham, U.K.
Niall Culkin, Co. Sligo.
Enda Gilmartin, Co. Sligo.
Ger Heverin, Castlebar, Co. Mayo.
Tom Philbin, Castlebar, Co. Mayo.
Darren Maguire, Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim.
Peadar Mitchell, Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim.
and the 5 teachers mentioned above.
We flew from Dublin to Kilimanjaro and were met by Professor Kilonzo and a mini bus to take us to Suji. Then the fun began! Aaron and Belinda had the kitchen sink in their bags as they were staying for a year! The builders travelled with small bags which were rather heavy due to the hammers, saws, trowels and levels.
How to get all the people, the luggage and a few more people into the mini bus. It took planning and ingenuity! John in charge of course! Even though everybody was tired, they were good humoured and of course the idea that all of us would be allowed to travel in such an overcrowded bus was very new to people from Ireland who are used to rules and regulations. The trip on the dirt road to Suji caused some consternation as we thought the bus would not make each hill - but it did and the driver got a resounding cheer, more from relief at the arrival rather than his driving I think!
The schoolchildren were out on top of a hill waving and cheering and they then put on a marvellous concert for us. The sang and danced with that wonderful sense of rhythm that the Africans have. We were welcomed by the villagers and then fed very well. The teachers stayed in one house, the 5 younger people in another house and the older more "set in their ways" people in another; all accommodation provided by the villagers.
This was the first time in Africa for most people so the "Asian Toilet" caused a bit of shock initially! Once the site was inspected, John set out the work schedule. We would get up at 6a.m., breakfast at 6.30a.m., on site at 7 a.m., lunch at noon, finish at 5.30 p.m. shower, and dinner at 7p.m.,
Rahema would cook for us. She started each day at around 5a.m., got the fire going ( mostly scraps of timber and bits of trees), and did not finish until nearly 8.30p.m each night. She was a treasure, good humoured, good cook and practised her English with us each day. If we wanted something Rahema knew who to contact, she produced potatoes for breakfast, lunch and dinner - The Irish need their spuds!!!! Not that many Rahema!
Not to go into too many details of the building but we built, roofed and plastered the building in 12 days! Everybody worked to the best of their ability every day. The 3 girl teachers, laid bricks, plastered, carried, fetched and were given a genuine "clap on the back" by the builders. 10 local men helped and we trained them in building, plastering and roofing and the Irish left them all their tools before they departed. The building was 100 m X 30 m so it was a great achievement to finish it in the short period of time. Multiple **** to everybody!!
The population of Suji are mostly 7 Day Adventist so Saturday is their holy day so no work. They get ready for the holy day early Friday evening and Saturday is then spent at church. We were invited to their services and this was a wonderful experience. Imagine hearing the echo of choirs rebounding from the hills all around as you walked to one of the churches. If one heard any of these choirs in the National Concert Hall in Dublin one would say they were brilliant. All ages had that wonderful musical quality which seems to be in every part of their beings. We loved their services and looked forward to each Saturday. We also walked the hills and just spent time enjoying the peace and tranquility and appreciate many things that we had experienced in our youth but had forgotten during the mad Celtic Tiger days in Ireland.
After dinner we had the entertainment. Peadar, gave a dissertation on Marx, Ger's topic was religion, John did the magic tricks, Noel and Sean supervised the quizzes, Enda updated us on the soccer, Jim recited poetry, Niall and Darren interjected with appropriate quips when people were waffling, Tom exuded calmness at all times even during the hottest part of the day when the sun was beating doen on his blonde curls, the girls provided the glamour, Aaron provide all technical knowledge in regard to mobile phone and Internet connections. Me, I provided the water and a limited supply of beer! This was a highly intellectual building site! The teachers, gave classes in between laying bricks. English, history, geography, maths, economics and biology. The pupils were hungry to learn. They helped us on the site and they tried to teach us Swahili and we tried to help with their English. This was education with fun, style and dust in about 25 c.
Of course the villagers had party to send us on our way home. In the new building of course! A great time was had by all.
We decided that being in Tanzania the home of Safari we should at least see some animals before we took the plane. The mini bus was engaged once again to take us to the game park and then to the airport. Not as much luggage this time as the teachers and Peadar were staying on in Suji. So did we see the Big 5 - most definitely no but we saw the Big 5 holes that the mini bus got stuck in! "All out", "Rock from side to side", "push" "Get out the shovel" " You are standing on my hand" "How will I get on the plane with this muck" could be heard resounding all over the game park. Then slight panic - we wont make the flight! Get this driver to get a move on - driver no word of English - Irish no word of Swahili! Sign language very useful here but not much good as the bus had no third gear and groaned on every hill.
Sean and Jim in the front seat urging the driver on who looked at them with mild disdain. Some people falling asleep but the real sign of panic was when cool John began to get slightly panicky! We made it. No time for good bye just race through security. The teachers and Peadar had to face the return journey and up that mountain road again while the builders sat in the comfort of KLM.
Peadar is an award winning film maker and is making a film about the building, the teachers and the village. It's a slow job editing all the footage and he has promised that the launch will be in Manorhamilton and we will all be invited! We look forward to that! He is staying in Suji until Christmas and is currently teaching English to the adults in the village. Tanzanians with Leitrim accents - I cant wait to hear it.! His sister Aisling is teaching English to small children. Aaron is teaching and coaching the soccer team in the school. His team were narrowly defeated by the locals recently but I am sure they will improve under Aaron's guidance. Let us know what's happening Aaron and put up a picture of your team. Belinda and Aine are teaching and are on rat extermination detail as well as planning the Christmas trip to Zanzibar. Aine loves Tuna and Mayonnaise which is not available in Suji so if the reader is so disposed you can send to Aine in care of the Post Office Suji!!!! Jim, well Jim has taught the pupils and the builders one word in Irish, English and Swahili!! Or is it a universal language? Jim is currently touring around Southern Africa and will return to Suji when the school term starts in January.
That's it for now - drop a comment in the box as we would love to hear from you.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
pics from Suji
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| Aisling, Aine and Belinda |
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| Arriving in Moshi |
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| Peadar, Darren, Amos and Aisling building |
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| Niall, Darren and Peadar (The morning after) |
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| Tom Enda (Looking Busy?) |
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| Noel, Charlie and Ger + Audience |
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| Rahema Cooking |
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| Ladies with Semi Naked Men |
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| View from Suji |
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| Amos the Acrobat |
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| Aisling, AAron and Sean Plastering |
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| Maureen , Rahema (Feel my Belly) |
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| See no Drink! |
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| Noel & Sean Posing! |
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| Men & Maids |
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| John's Idea |
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| The Black & the White of the job. |
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| Ready for the Party |
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| The Joys of a Safari |
NUI Galway Graduates volunteer in Suji Tanzania.
5 graduates from NUI Galway are currently in Suji, Tanzania and will stay there for one year to teach in Suji Malindi Secondary School. The graduates are, Aine Staunton from Tourmakeady. Co. Mayo, Belinda Crossan and Aaron Cunningham from Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, Aisling Mitchell, from Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim and Jim Lovett from Galway.
The graduates arrived in Suji on November 1st. in the comapny of a number of builders from Ireland in order to build an extension to the school. The teachers became builders for two weeks and while great work was carried out by everybody it was done with a sense of fun and good humour. (More later on the builders)
The teachers will teach a variety of subjects including English, Mathematics, History, Geography, Biology and Economics. The first term starts on January 15th. 2011 but the teachers have been doing dummy ( no pun intended) runds for the past couple of weeks. They have also commenced English language classes with more mature students as well as smaller children and again the classes are conducted with humour and fun.
I am sure the teachers will update this blog and tell you about their first impressions of Suji and Tanzania! These will be worth reading!
The graduates arrived in Suji on November 1st. in the comapny of a number of builders from Ireland in order to build an extension to the school. The teachers became builders for two weeks and while great work was carried out by everybody it was done with a sense of fun and good humour. (More later on the builders)
The teachers will teach a variety of subjects including English, Mathematics, History, Geography, Biology and Economics. The first term starts on January 15th. 2011 but the teachers have been doing dummy ( no pun intended) runds for the past couple of weeks. They have also commenced English language classes with more mature students as well as smaller children and again the classes are conducted with humour and fun.
I am sure the teachers will update this blog and tell you about their first impressions of Suji and Tanzania! These will be worth reading!
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