The following morning we got up earilish again, as it was our day to visit the Worldvision Magugu ADP. Though pleasantly these early mornings were not a problem for me, as I was still pretty Jetlagged, and waking up at 3-4 Oclock in the morning. (Me not normally being a morning person at all!)
Our visit to the ADP was another African Travel experiance, with the transport and timing of everything not being what was on the schedule, kind of make it up as you go, and having the feeling of it just about being ready to turn to custard. (again I just happily chilled, and went with what happened when).
From the Campsite we were told the Arusha ADP was only about 10 minutes away, well it ended up being about 1hr and 10 minor something, down a dusty dirt road (a main road I believe) and we got to experiance more african driving, e.g. mostly on the wrong side, as it was smoother, and had less potholes, the size of their pot holes are something to behold, being the size of a small or some time large car, and there is no way you would want to accidently go through one at speed! Here again one of our guys got caught speededing by a cop with a Radar gun.
The visit to the ADP and villages was an incrediable experiance, here we finally saw what can be achieved by implementing some decent Govenmental structure over the villages, and some forward thinking/community wide initatives and projects.
We started off by visiting a Maasai Women's group (Magugu is in the Maasai area), and we were welcomed by them, which was an experience in itself. We had an opportunity to ask questions of each group before going to look at all their bead crafts and baskets they had for sale.
Then they fed us baked potato and some kind of chunks of tough meat (probably goat- being Maasai), and provided us refreshments, before farewelling us on our way to the World Vision Office.
At the World Vision office we were introduced to the Area Chairman and various other officials.
Background to this area -
1 Chairman over seeing area,
7 Villages
57000 people
Then we climbed back into the 3 World vision 4WD's and headed down some kind of ruggered/washed out track they call a road, to the site of where they have to go to get their existing water from, this existing water hole, is pretty much just that......a hole dug deep enough to find water, and is fully exposed to anamils/birds and all the associated deaseases and fecial matter they bring, these 2 holes are also at hi risk of getting contaminated by runoff from the surrounding area when it rains, also exposed to the full heat of the sun, making them ideal breeding ground for bugs. The water was very dirty, and possibly slightly stagnant. All the villagers collect water from here, and only some boil it. This is an important point as educating the villagers regarding the boiling of water is an important activity for ADP staff.
The fundraising we have achieved is going towards building what is called shallow wells, which go down deeper than these holes, and are also covered to protect them from animals and exposure, this means the water drawn from them is far easier to protect and is safer.
As we drove out, we passed a school (probably 200 - 400 kids) and they must have been released from class, because the whole lot came running across the field and yelling and screaming in welcome.
On arrival at the water holes, we stopped under a MASSIVE tree, and were greeted by a group of village women who danced and sang to us in welcome, before walking to the water hole and having a chat about what they currently do, and what the water projct is going to allow them to achieve. They have had a water engineer out to survey the surrounding area, and they are currently identifying the best potential locations to drill. Depending on the final amount raised, will depend on how many wells they are able to put in.
After this we got back into our vehicles, and bounced our way down another track through another village centre and out to another part of the water project, which had been completed, this involved widening and lining a canal channel over a length of 600m(the water comes from a river 2km away), This has allowed them to more effectively farm the surrounding 800-1600 Hectares. Their Rice yeld has gone up from 15 bags of rive per acre, to 30 bags of rice an acre, the canal project has also allowed them to farm this land all year round which they utilise for growing Maise and sugarcane. Although there is some drop off in water supply during the dry season. Because their rice is now of so high a quality, it is now shipped into the citys (producing 22000-27000 tonnes of rice per year). This gives them better income, and they have a higher likelyhood of achieving better housing, and being able to send their kids to school.
Seeing the development in this area and what had been achieved with these projects and the significant lift in standard of living, was a fantastic encouragement as to the support and difference we are making, (and this ADP still has 11 years to run.)
Thanks Mark! He has covered most of the visit which is great. I have a couple of additional stories to share here, however the reality of intermittant internet access (we just gained access yesterday) has made it difficult to access enough internet time. I will add more regarding this day once we return as it really was an amazing day with some defining moments. Overall, as Mark described, participants were enormously humbled by the activities of the community. It was especially fun to watch the sponsors who visited their sponsored children. They had smiles a mile wide and were quick to describe to anyone who would listen their entire visit in a play by play account. I buzzed at the thought of visiting my child in the near future.
Later that night we made our way (3-4 hours later) to a gorgeous hotel called the Marangu Hotel. A beautiful hotel reminiscent of the Constant Gardner, surrounded by fragrant trees and copious amounts of birds. This hotel sits in the foothills of Kilimanjaro.
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