A trip to Isanzu

Thursday July 23rd The day started slowly, bibi was cooking rice for breakfast, and Michael catching up with his washing. As the house floors looked very dirty, with lots of puddles of wax and scraps from tea, I decided to do some sweeping - and for once, no one else had the grass broom! Once that was done, I found a twig one for outside, happy to relieve Michael of that chore to spare his sinuses, but it took ages, 1½ hours! Bruce was collecting & chopping up firewood for bibi, but as they don’t store it till it’s dry, the fires are terribly smoky and inefficient. Bibi reckons it’s the smoke that’s damaging her eyes, every so often they get very sore & weepy & she can’t see very far. Some passers-by were amazed to see us working, so bibi told them, “They’re the children of the household.”
One day she said if I was Michael’s mother, then I was her daughter & Bruce her farmer! She’s even offered us a piece of land to build a house on! Michael wants us to build a BIG house with four bedrooms so all our children can stay – but we said we like little houses, or could build a big one so he & his wife & children could live in it with us, but he didn’t seem so keen on that idea! Lots of people have asked bibi to sell them a piece of land but she’s keeping it for the family. If she dies, Mama Joyce will oversee it as oldest surviving child. Each member has their own portion to garden but any one of them can build a house there & live on the shamba, including us!
Whilst Bruce was away bathing, I took a photo of little Michael, Ibrahim, Jeremia and Michael outside the old house. Enock turned up just as Michael finished in the bafu. I sat in the back with the two Michaels and Jeremia, Bruce in the front. It's only about 1/2 hour to Isanzu by car, it's the other side of Nzega. I was glad that Enock was the only driver, the car seemed to slide a bit in the dust as he veered around the obstacles, tooting his horn to clear the way!
Isanzu is a tiny collection of dwellings and a small duka or two. Babu Mathias and Bibi Belta live on a shamba down a short track off the 'main' road. There are several traditional huts dating from the time all the family lived there. Babu is one of Michael's great-uncles.
Bibi was practically jumping up and down to see us, exclaiming, “It’s just like a dream!” over and over again. She was absolutely overjoyed to see Michael again, he is much loved by many people. We were taken inside a hut and sat together in one of the two rooms. The home-made wickerwork chairs only just squeezed through the doorway! After a nice chat with babu we ate lunch together.
They have five children: Rachel is Pastor Jonas Kulwa's wife, Musa is a carpenter, Zahabu is another son, Esther works in Dar and Neema is married. Bibi came from Mwanza originally, so Babu has been to the Sukuma-style Catholic cathedral there. After lunch, we talked about the Sukuma language. Michael found a hymn book and New Testament that had an extra portion including the Lord’s Prayer, the Apostle’s Creed and the Ten Commandments. He read them out & I copied - fun! Then he wrote the Lord’s Prayer on a piece of newspaper, I tried reading it out loud by myself apparently quite correctly - everyone was amazed, they find it terribly hard to read Kisukuma, they’re only used to speaking it, early schooling is done in Kiswahili.
Later on, we sat under a large mango tree chatting before going for a little walk through part of the shamba, which produces peanuts, maize and sisal. There are also mangoes & various palms, including dates & one with fruit resembling large coconuts that contain a large edible seed full of oil. The well was dry but Bruce thinks it just needs digging deeper. Nearby was a clump of straggly rosella plants.
Back at the mango tree, we were shown the long poles in its fork bearing maize cobs - a traditional method of storage. Nearby, sisal leaves and fibre were in various stages of preparation for weaving into rope or making other things.

Pics: left = Baba Enocki, Babu Matthias, Jeremia, Bibi Belta, Michael, little Michael, and Bruce outside one of the huts; right = Jeremia at Isanzu;
On the way back to bibi’s mid-afternoon, we stopped at the attractive-looking orphanage to meet the children plus another staff member. Unfortunately, little Michael didn’t want to get out of the car to play with them.
Back at bibi’s, we were given a large bag of peanuts to shell – I found it quite difficult, only doing one nut to Michael’s five, and my fingers got really sore! After a short break, Michael showed me how to do it properly & suddenly I could almost keep up and didn’t get sore at all!
L = ‘Michael in the bush’ (the bougainvilleas at bibi’s).
Eventually he decided he'd had enough, so after taking a photo of him 'in the bush', we walked up to the large rocky hill in the distance, where little Michael had had fun the day before sliding down the rocks.
It’s a little way from the shamba, down the Tabora road, and is quite impressive – the rocks rise up sharply off the plain behind a collection of a few huts and a couple of dukas.
It was a bit of a scramble to reach the top, but once there, there were lovely views over the surrounding countryside - bibi’s is way in the distance just past a dust cloud on the left of the road, top right!
As dusk was coming, we climbed back down an easier route, returning to the road via a different path to enter the shamba via the short driveway behind the new house, edged by attractive native trees that babu left when he cut down the rest that were growing in this part of the shamba; Michael says they look lovely when they flower in the wet season.
Shelling peanuts continued even after dark, sitting round on stools outside the porch of the old house, where bibi was preparing rice. Mama Lucia’s oldest girls turned up a bit later.
We had quite an interesting and varied conversation – Michael said he’d tar-seal up to bibi’s house & put in pipes running with milk if he became an MP!!! Bibi said her 12-15 goats won’t be enough for the bride price for five grandsons, but I said there were only two really needing them: Michael and Jeremia as they have no parents. Also the other three are a lot younger, although the 3rd Michael (yes, another one!), Mama Regina’s oldest son, is in Form 4.
After a rather late tea with all mama Lucia's daughters, their mother, and a young Uncle John, we had a short time of fellowship together before going to bed around 10. However, I was kept awake by the guys shelling peanuts in the sitting room – still! I thought we’d finished them!

Kisiwani

Monday 13th July What a sleepless night! The neighbouring bar played LOUD music all night. After checking the time at quarter to four, we decided not to try to get back to sleep, so had a shower and got up. It'd been hot, but we'd only had the fan on low so it wouldn’t make too much noise!!! Needn't have worried about that!
We went downstairs just after five, Michael turned up at half past, looking a little embarrassed to see us waiting! We took a taxi to the bus station due to safety reasons. There was tight security at the gate, only one person is allowed in at a time, & if you don’t have a ticket, you pay 200 Tsh. I guess it's to discourage touts, salesmen and pick-pockets.
After putting our packs under the bus, we climbed on – it was a long way up! It had three seats each side and seven across the back where we sat, Bruce in the middle stretching out his long legs! We started having a lovely chat about Michael’s favourite subjects: history & politics, his new room, etc. It was rather a shock when the ticket inspector came round and found some other people had the same seat numbers as us! He decided Bruce and I should move forward, but I was so disappointed, I felt like telling him we'd been apart for almost two years and were just starting to catch up! However, I decided not to cause a fuss! It seems seats are quite often double-booked; different agents selling them - although they each get a seating plan with their seat allocations on it. Some companies are sell tickets twice over just to get more money.
The bus set off very late, 7.45 a.m., but we didn’t know why! There seemed to be interminable discussions between the inspector and some of the passengers.
There were good roads as far as Korogwe, which we reached at noon, stopping for 1/2 hour. Not much further on, we turned off onto the A4, a dirt road. The landscape became very dry: baobabs/thorn trees, not much other vegetation. After a while, interesting mountains started to appear, rising sharply out of the flat plain. Some of the many rivers had water, but others were dry.
Closer to the mountains, there were lots of big trees, flowing rivers, but no grass. Late in the afternoon, we started to stop at every little village to drop people off, before coming to a final halt in Kiswani (‘on the island’) in the Same district at 4 p.m. There's no sea or lake there – but it’s like an island of flattish land surrounded by tall mountains! If you click on the map to enlarge it, you'll just make it out near the Kenyan border, half way between Moshi and Tanga.
The last section of road was SO bumpy that the person in front of me nearly hit his head on the padded piece housing the seat lights/ventilator! I think there were sore bottoms all round!
We were met by a few folk who helped us with our bags. After crossing back over the bridge the bus had driven over, we went up a small dirt road to a house surrounded by a big hedge which we entered through a large gap: Mama Rosa’s.
Mama Rosa is the sixth of Michael’s grandmother’s seven daughters, and she is only five years older than him (33) – but her husband, a doctor, is called ‘the mzee’ (old man) as he’s 62! Unfortunately he was away in Mbeya, attending to a family matter. They have two boys, Frank (Standard 4), and Michael mdogo (little Michael to distinguish him from ‘our’ Michael!) who’s repeating S1 – he started school the year before, but has only just turned six: usually they start at 7 in Tanzania. There are 7 standards (Kenya has 8) in primary school. Only about 10% of Tanzanian children ever get to secondary school, although the government is trying very hard to make more schools available. There are two primary schools, a kindergarten (chekechea) and a secondary school in Kiswani.
The house has an open-plan lounge/dining room, two bedrooms (the main one has a bucket-flushed European toilet!) and a traditional choo off the lounge that leads into a large storeroom. We were amused to see an electric stove being used to store pots and pans in the dining room! The cooking is done over an open fire outside in a small lean-to jiko (kitchen).
Pic: lounge/dining room showing the low table where we ate. As it only sat four, the others ate at a big table near the back door behind the sofa.
After our things were put in the boys’ room, we bathed in mama’s ensuite using a jug of water. We had black spicy tea at 5.30 - yummy, and the bread & oranges that Michael had bought on the way. It was our first food: we'd left too early to eat breakfast, and we only had enough change to buy water on the way.
Some visitors came to greet us: a young man, Ntarula, who’s from Kigoma but is studying Form Three here, and a young lady called Francisca, recently married, also from Kigoma. Her husband turned up later.
When Michael tried to switch on the TV, he got a small shock & the power went off - the fuses didn't blow so that was a bit scary!
We went for a nice walk with Michael 'round the block' after inspecting the section around the house, which is surrounded by hedges on three sides, and tall trees near a stream on the fourth. It was sad to see so much bare soil where there are normally plants – the drought has been bad here too. Michael was surprised to see that the banana palms had died since February.
Then Rosa took us to see the family's guest house, it was their former home. It isn't far away, and has a small mill on one side and Rosa’s pharmacy on the right. The front door is up several tall concrete steps leading into a lounge containing a sofa, with 1-2 bedrooms on each side. Half the wall between it & the next room, which also has 1-2 bedrooms on each side has been removed. There is also a small kitchen annex at the back leading to outside. Each bedroom has a bed, mosquito net + ‘self-container’: a small room with squat toilet on a small platform, a tap that doesn’t work (you use a bucket!), an open space for washing with a hole in the wall to drain out the water.
The small two-room pharmacy only had a few stock medicines & bandages. Michael told Rosa about Bruce’s rash, which had reappeared on Sunday, so she had a little look, and was sure it'd just go away again. We hadn’t been sure whether it was a staph rash or caused by poorly-prepared beans - but it wasn’t terribly itchy & TCP seemed to calm it down. Some of the wheals were a whole inch across!
They also own a restaurant + bar behind the guest house: the outdoor tables stand under a thatched roof under huge trees; the bar/servery are in a little kiosk on a raised concrete area with more tables. She sells fried pork + soft drinks as there are no girls to serve in the bar.
We returned to Rosa’s for a nice dinner at 8.30: meat mchuzi (stew) and rice, followed by pieces of banana and oranges, before returning to the guest house to be given a couple of rooms there.
It was a bit noisy for a while, there were lots of people outside talking & laughing (in the bar?) till late. I woke up far too early, so spent some time thinking and praying about Michael & our children, thanking God for the opportunity to see them all this year. I was sad that we'd missed 8 hours of conversation on the bus by having to sit apart!!!
It was impossible to get back to sleep once it was five: the mosques started up, the bus honked its horn, the first trucks roared away, roosters began to crow & people talked outside as they started off their day!

Interesting plants on Mt Suswa

Wednesday July 8th Cloudy & COLD today! Bruce woke up feeling much better but had come out in a big rash on his arms, legs, back & neck. I had nothing, so it wasn’t insects in the bed! John was away before dawn to go to Narok so it was a quiet morning. Bruce sat with Luka outside his hut, whilst John’s mother visited me in ours, then Susanna + another mama came, with a little bare-bottomed girl who wet our doorstep! They run round like this till they learn to control themselves - not really sure how they get trained!
After uji at ten, I visited Raheli and some of her five children, before being called back to our hut for plain rice/black chai at midday, when Ezekiel arrived. After going off with Pastor Petro to pray for mama Esther, we all went for a walk on the lower slopes of Mt Suswa.
In one ravine, the rocky river bed has deep (up to 10 metres!) water-filled fissures in the hard impervious rock, which can be used for building tanks & houses. The rocks downstream are soft and porous. There are so many kinds of volcanic rocks around Mt Suswa, including lava, pumice and scoria.
The men stopped from time to time to show us different plants/trees, telling us about their uses: the red roots of one are used for a healthy soup; the sap of another for poison arrows – a drop or 2 will kill an elephant! trees just grown for shade; olive twigs used as toothbrushes; a soft-leaved tree (no tnorns for once!) used for brooms and to clean hands.
On our return, we visited Pastor's small boma. He only has 13 left of his 60 sheep/goats: a billy goat he wants to kill for fat, two ewes each with a lamb, four does each with a kid. He has been given 30 acres (a standard plot) higher up the mountain, and will move there once his house is ready. We drank chai in the boma!
We had tea early – 8 p.m.! John back later, so we only had a brief chat before going to bed.

Dr Bruce, visiting the mamas, school visit postponed

Tuesday July 7th Bruce was a bit feverish and feeling a bit dizzy, so he rested most of the morning, although he was called out to attend to Luka, who'd cut his head with a panga. He was very happy to have Mzungu medicine and a new razor – with a HANDLE, after Bruce shaved off some of hair, used a Dettol wipe, then applied TCP cream + a bandage to the cut, which healed well.
An elderly part-blind man turned up to greet & thank us + all the others who’d contributed food aid. We were pleased to find out that the church had been targeting the very old & the very poor, and had also started a ‘work for food’ scheme – asking people to divert water to the large dam at Inkoirienito.
John then walked to school to let them know we couldn’t come, they’d expected us to arrive after assembly! They postponed the visit to Friday, and John decided to go to Narok tomorrow instead of today.
Lots of people came to ask after baba, Susanna wanted to know when he’d eat again, thinking it very strange to ask for plain boiled rice with NO oil, and black tea with just a little sugar! They put oil/fat into everything & make the tea quite sweet. We also asked for uji (maize porridge) for supper, but they thought it'd make us get up a lot in the night; they only drink it in the morning, but we only got up once!
While Bruce rested in bed, I was invited to visit the mamas in their homes: Susannah, Joyce & Esther. I was surprised to see Esther spooning something into the baby’s mouth, she’s 1 month old, but her husband, Pastor Petro, back from a few days away, told me it was medicine for a stomach upset. Esther hads a problem with her lips too and couldn’t eat properly.
Lastly I went to Maria’s, the largest home on the manyatta. She's Luka's first wife. I'd never been into the outer room before, on our first visit we'd slept in the second room behind a curtain while John slept in a side room off of ours. Luka & Maria had used the outer room where the cooking area is. It's very large.
Shumbai came over to show me her science and Kiswahili books, also a Christian book from an Mzungu. She's a lovely girl and loves science & maths. She's only in Standard 6, age 14.
John and his brother Daniel were back late that night. Daniel’s very quiet and only knows Maa, he isn’t a Christian yet. Their mother has 7 children: John, Daniel, two married daughters living elsewhere, Yasintha, Soinkan (15-16) & Pirisat (10-11).

Visits to Ezekiel and John Nkalo, Inkoirienito church.

Friday 3rd July A sunny day, but a cool breeze.   Visited in the morning by Frank, in Standard Five aged 13, one of Raheli's sons.  He tried to speak a little English with us: “Will you come to the house of my mother?” 
More men came to visit and tell us their problems, including Ezekiel Nkalo who we’d met in Duka Moja.
Ezekiel had 300 sheep/goats and 200 cattle, he now has 50 sheep/goats + 30 cattle; 2 wives and 12 children (aged up to 12).
John Nkalo, his brother, had similar numbers of livestock, but has fewer cattle left now.  He has 4 wives and 20 children! He's the chairman of Enkiloriti School Board.
Pastor Daudi from Inkoirienito AIC only has 5 cattle left now.
Ezekiel has been saved five years, but already had 2 wives; the first is a Maasai chosen by his family; the second is a Kikuyu married for love!  He'd like to be a pastor but would have to forsake a wife.  Bruce says he can still be an evangelist. 
We walked to Luka's dam for human/stock water - nearly empty, it should be nearly full!  Then we walked to the maize/bean plantation (left). Eland & giraffe








had got over the boma in the night and eaten some of the plants that have survived.  Only a few look any good, they are in a damp spot where water/urine drains from the yard: some half dozen had tassels or silks, the rest were small & stunted.  We were told that maize crops grown near towns/villages are at risk of theft, people bring donkey carts to take the cobs to sell in Nairobi! Then we visited some of the sites where dead livestock (above right) that died near home were taken, but hyenas had pulled some down the hillside.  Most died on the mountains, too weak to cope with the 2+ hours' walk.  We saw no feed suitable for cattle, only a picking for a few sheep/goats.








Pics: feed situation (left); the best feed (right): just a few square metres of 1 cm long grass!
Back at Luka's, they were helping an old man, walking with two sticks, onto a motorbike to take him home.  He’d come the night before, thinking we’d brought relief food with us, very disappointed that there was none. We had chapattis, chai and a wash before walking to Inkoirienito church. 








The large government-built reservoir has been fenced to keep out livestock, they are only allowed in in supervised groups.  The intake area needs altering to prevent erosion and silting, water has been entering below the concreted stone area. It has never had much water in it since it was built in 2007. Pics: left = 2007, Bruce is way down the far end! Right = water remaining 2009.
The church water tank built with funds from NZ shows a little seepage, it's nearly full, being conserved for John’s wedding!  Pic: 2007 after thanksgiving service.
A large area has been cleared near the church to use for a school or kindergarten.


We walked to Ezekiel’s house past more heaps of bones and the remains of his failed watermelon crop. On the way we'd passed close to the River Elina (right).  Steep gorges fill with rushing water from the mountains when it rains.  Many cattle are lost each dry season, falling down the banks trying to get to the grass in the river bed.  There were LOTS of flies there. 
His 4 year old son came to meet us, dancing for us with incredible skill!  He's said to be an excellent mimic & singer, and wants to be a pastor! 
We talked about the problems in the area and the need for sponsors/aid whilst we drank chai and ate rice and potatoes together. 
Enkiloriti Clinic started 3 years near the primary school but is unusable, as it has no roof. Going to Duka Moja for treatment is very expensive.
The Primary School doesn’t have enough teachers; no suitable teachers' houses; the parents can’t pay teachers’ salaries – non-government teachers rely on these, they have only passed Form 4.  To work for the government, you need a College diploma.
After walking round Ezekiel's shamba, we went to his brother's, but only his wives and some children were there.  They have also lost many stock on the mountain, but some died near the huts. 
The men were amused, as we sat on stools outside, by a boy uttering strange cries - I was embarrassed to be told that the first were those of girls before circumcision, the second those of boys! 
Pic: nice view of distant mountains, huts + donkey corral: the poor things only got let out at midday! 
Amusing sight: 2 little girls carrying shoes in lesos on their backs, each holding a jar of VERY dirty water – their ‘babies’ and ‘milk’!
Returning to Luka’s through the bush, one section was so slippery I was given Luka’s stick to help!  There was some kind of monkey in the trees, but I only caught a brief glimpse. 
We were visited by 2 girls in the evening: Shumbai and Dagili, + some women: Mary (just had her first baby), Maria & Susannah.  I was given 2 bracelets, both made by Shumbai: 1) Kenyan flag design from Shumbai; 2) “I love you” given to Bruce by Susannah, but too small - given to me instead!

second day in Oxford

Wednesday 17th Hard to sleep in as our room was light by 4! I phoned my other aunts to plan our visits, but had to let Aunty Doreen know we wouldn't be able to get to Cornwall owing to the distance and the shortness of our stay in the UK. We all walked to the university gardens, coming back via the canal towpath, admiring the interesting long boats and gardens right to the water’s edge, picnic furniture ready for use. It was windy but mild.
After lunch, we'd just started to play a Bach cello/piano sonata when my 4th cousin and husband arrived, Derek and Shirley Owen. We looked at the family tree together + some old photos, having a nice chat over afternoon tea. They're about mum and dad’s age, with 3 children born from ’62-68! Derek used to work for the Bible Society as a book-binder. Picture below: Uncle Norman and Aunty Mary.