Jumping to
conclusions!
To Engorora
village to visit the man, Moses, who lives away across the hill from the
village. I wanted to visit his fishpond because
we have been asked to make some recommendations for a prospective volunteer.
His fishpond is operating well, but before we could get into the detail of it
all, some angry men came to take away his hosepipe accusing him of causing the
school and village to run out of water!
Ok, I left them
to it as I thought it was essentially a village matter, but wondered where the
village government guys were because I know them! They argued on, getting
nowhere so I threw my oar in to suggest that someone look into the reservoir to
check the water level [I was prepared to look myself]. One of them climbed on
top of the reservoir and found that it was full! The problem was, it turned
out, a blocked outlet – somehow a plastic bag was shoved in there! Looked like
sabotage to me! The hose was returned and I suggested they apologise to Moses –
actually they did.
Then to the
Moses’s house to assess the trees he planted and generally they are very good –
I reckon the ones on the hillside have not been watered quite the same, but are
ok.
Beyond his
planting we found a small indigenous fruit tree, so took some fruit to extract
seed – we will distribute plants here and in the other villages.
We took milky,
sweet tea with Moses and his wife who was keen to receive a few bougainvillea
plants – we can do that. As usual the special request is for white ones.
Across the main road
to meet with Francis to ask him to host a school field visit - he had no
problems – and will liaise with Alfred. Poor old Francis had really good growth
on his trees, but one night several marauding donkeys swept through and
demolished them. As there was still good soil moisture, we replaced them but
they are considerably behind the rest in the group. Francis had trialed with
some success, the use of stones or small rocks to weigh down mulch.
To the school to
arrange the visit – all activities will be Monday. We also delivered some toys,
photos and letters from Otepopo primary school back home. For a wee English
lesson, Nai and Heri, had translated the letters – they did well.
I had suggested
a format for the letter exchange – how far do you walk to school? What is your
favorite subject? What is your favorite food? What is your favorite leisure
activity?
It is fair to
say that each school did not quite grasp the concepts of the other.
Their eyes glazed
over during my reply when, after they asked if one person from Otepopo could
visit the school, or one from here go over there, I explained that the
aeroplane travelled at 800km/hr and the actual flying time between New Zealand
and Kilimanjaro airport was 36 hours.
For kids who
rarely, if ever, had travelled in a vehicle, my explanation was simply beyond
them.
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