Kemondo and a trip to Bumbire

Saturday March 26th 2011
The electricity went off at 7.30, then it started raining. We received a text from Pastor Mugarura to say that he was on his way from Bumbire Island to meet us at Kemondo. Our boat wouldn’t leave till the afternoon and his boat wouldn’t arrive till nearly lunchtime. There is only one round trip a day. So after breakfast, we went on a tour of the German mission's orphanage and school once the rain had stopped.
There are eight orphans' houses; each one has a coloured strip of paint on the outside wall that gives the house its name. Pictured is the "White House" and a staff house in the background. They are built of rather nice-looking brickwork and roofed with corrugated iron. Each house has 2 mamas and up to 15 children: 2 rooms for boys and 2 for girls. The children help in normal household chores such as fetching water and helping cultivate the gardens. Some of the children aren't true orphans but have parents who are too poor to be able to care for them – this isn’t surprising given that fact that quite a few families have 6-8 children.
We were able to go inside one of the new houses being built. The lefthand photo show the inside of the house, upper right shows the outside kitchen (jiko) and storeroom, and the lower right shows Gayle outside the house.
The primary school takes boarders, and there are 3 dorms for boys and 2 for girls, a total of about 160 children. The plan is to start a secondary school on the site so that the children can continue to receive Christian education, which is a feature of the primary school, as well as all studies being done in English. As is usual in Tanzanian schools, you start with just a Form One intake, then as each new school year starts, you add on a new Form One and the older students progress through the system until they complete the 7 Primary classes. The school itself is built as a quadrangle of classrooms with a central covered walkway. Gayle has her own office which is quite a good size (lower RH picture).
The entrance to the block of classrooms is quite impressive (LH). There are sheds housing dairy cows (photo lower right) and goats. As usual, lots of chickens are running around!
Gayle is trying to grow her own veges but is finding it hard in the sandy soil, and unfortunately, burying her food scraps to enrich the soil attracts dogs who dig everything up, and her small fence keeps getting wrecked!
Pastor arrived at Kemondo at 11.30 so we walked to meet him, which took about half an hour. Unfortunately there was still no electricity, so we couldn't buy any cooked food, and had to contcnt ourselves with some sodas that we were given by a brother of one of pastor's church members.
Our boat, called the Pajero (RH pic), started loading at 1.15pm but didn't depart until 2.30. I managed to climb the ladder OK, Bruce was steadying it for me. Some women get carried to the boat and boosted up over the side in a rather undignified fashion!
It was quite a fast trip, we arrived at Rushongo (RH pic) in just under 3 hours after stopping off briefly at two other landing places, one on another island. The lake was very calm and it was hot and sunny, so we were glad of the awning over the boat. Our previous trips to Bumbire were on open boats - perhaps they put the awnings up when it's the rainy season. They are not the most comfortable of craft to travel in, the seats, if you get one, are rather hard and uncomfortable - just a rough plank - and the crew have a stereo system - on this boat even a TV showing videos - that is turned up extremely loudly, and it really beats on one's eardrums. Perhaps it's supposed to distract people from feeling sea-sick!
Once we arrived onshore, pastor took us on a bit of a tiki tour through the village, trying to find the chairman, until we were left outside a rickety shack, which turned out to be the chairman's office! On our two previous visits, we'd met the chairman up the hill in a much better type of building.
Shortly after our arrival, we were invited inside, and a youngish man greeted us in English, and told us his name. Pastor reappeared shortly afterwards, and we found out that the young man was, in fact, the chairman that we'd been seeking! It's always important in Tanzania to introduce visitors to the local official, who usually notes down your details. On one occasion we were taken to a neighbour who we were told was the 'balozi kumi kumi' - a representative for ten households. During Nyerere's time, these men were very important in maintaining order and keeping records of who went where and when, and for what purpose. These days, they are almost non-existent.
After our brief sit down in the office, we continued on our way to Pastor's house. That entails a half-hour climb up a steepish hill, and we really were not quite fit enough, and it was hot and we were carrying our packs - Bruce had the large one and I had one of the two small ones plus a new cooking stove and some tomatoes for mama! We needed a few stops on the way up, much to pastor's surprise, and were quite relieved to reach the high ground. One of the church elders, Daniel, joined us on the way and then we were relieved of some of our burdens. However, I continued carrying the tomatoes and cooker - a small clay one that you can place charcoal in or even twigs. Pastor had bought them in Rushonga.
Much of the hillside is in quite short grass, but at the top there is a rocky, treed section, then scattered smallholdings growing maize, bananas etc, as well as open grassland. The Mugaruras live part-way down another steep hillside in a narrow valley above a stream. It's hard work fetching water each day as the hillside is steep and the path slippery, especially after the frequent rains. The children do much of this work, carrying 10 litres at a time - quite a burden for the youngest, who's only about 7. I felt rather sorry for him.
We found out that the eldest, Julietta, has left home, so Rosemary, her sister, seemed rather subdued, probably due to missing her sister so much. She's now about 12 and in Standard 4, so still has 3 more years to go before she can go to secondary school! She's got rather behind because the family has been struggling financially.
The youngest, Meshaki, is actually one of their nephews. One of mama's sisters died four years ago, leaving 3 small children, one was only a baby, and I'm not sure whether that one survived. It was put onto cow's milk and was only about three months old. Each child had to be placed with a different member of the family, as no-one could afford to look after all of them as well as their own It is a real struggle for the average Tanzanian to be able to feed and clothe his/her children, let alone find even a small amount of money to pay for schooling. Meshaki now goes to chekechea (pre-school) and is due to start school some time this year..
The house is built of mud bricks and thatched with hillside grasses. The thatch had started to break down, and Pastor had tried to fix it, but as there were still some leaks, he placed heavy black polythene over some poles that he'd positioned on the bedroom walls. As there are no ceilings in these houses, you can do things like this. Unfortunately the plastic didn't quite extend all the way to the outside wall, and when it rained heavily, we had to move our bags that were placed up on a board near this wall to escape the drips. Sometimes the end of the bed got a bit wet, and you could even feel the odd drop or two on one's face!
Mama first served us chai with some of the bread that pastor had bought. Later on, before bed, we had a cooked meal of chicken, a very salty mchuzi (the soup-like juices from the meat) and rice. It was nice to get to bed, but I didn't sleep at all well: we were visited by mice and I had a migraine.

Another casualty, Yasintha's baby, Shumbai's leg, water scheme

Thursday 9th July After sleeping soundly, I suddenly woke up, feeling queasy, so couldn’t get back to sleep. Unfortunately I vomited just before daybreak, oh dear, shouldn’t have kissed Bruce Tuesday night!
John came early with the news that Yasintha had a little girl at 2 a.m. but we hadn’t heard a sound! Apparently they don’t usually cry out, perhaps because the babies are so small/fine-boned? All the children get sugar to celebrate.
I felt too ill to do anything, so Bruce went out with John. His mum came to keep me company for a while, then I had a little rice and black tea at lunchtime, before going to sleep.
After being woken for chai mid-afternoon, I felt a lot better and went outside, joining a group of mamas who’d been beading. Esther’s lips were still sore, but her baby was better. Shumbai came up to me when I went back to our hut, asking for medicine and showing me a slightly swollen cut on her leg: she’d cut it with a panga that morning. After applying TCP & a bandage, I prayed it’d get better.
After Bruce came back with John, we went to Susannah’s hut, then to Yasintha’s to see the tiny new baby – I kept well clear. We were shown the candles, matches & fat that pregnant women save up. They also save up to 1 kg of sugar for the children. The fat is smeared on the newborn’s lips after its first feed; from then on it will get it every day!!!! No wonder Esther’s baby had a crook tummy! If the mother doesn’t have enough milk or dies, cow’s milk is heated & allowed to cool. The cream is taken off & cooked until the oil comes off, which is given to the baby.
From 3-4 months, it’ll have a mixture of ¼ cow’s milk: ¾ herb tea. The herb is supposed to prevent diarrhoea. At 1 year, the baby starts to get uji made with milk, mashed potatoes, & pieces of meat to suck. If a mother has plenty of milk, she’ll feed her child until it’s 2-3 years old, unless she has another baby too soon.








During our tea of rice + beans, Bruce told me about his day. First they’d visited a Seventh Day Adventist who’s been building dams to store water. He has planted 3 rows of trees – cypress, blue gum and another kind - around the dams to prevent silt washing in. He wants to build a hotel with 4 ensuite rooms over a large water tank, filled from the dams by foot pump.
They also visited a widow who looks after goats, her 10-year old son earns 2,000Ksh/month doing jobs for people.
The last visit was to an elderly man, Saruni ole Reson, an elder in the community. Part of his role is keeping the peace; he assured Bruce he wouldn’t allow anyone to bother us over any matter at all! He’s put 7 of his 49 children through university: one is now a doctor, another an accountant, etc! He’s the only one we’ve met who’s sold cattle to educate his children. Unfortunately the drought has only left him with 43 cows our of 283. He’s keen to let people use his shamba as a demonstration farm.
They returned via John’s house: the choo walls were finished, it was nice to see the fundi had actually done some work – we met him a couple of times going to work on his bicycle at 2 p.m. always with some excuse or other; some days he never even showed up at all!
Unfortunately poor Bruce had hurt his back bending down to demonstrate something near the dams, so was feeling rather sore and spent a bit of time lying on the bed to rest it over the next few days.

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).

Feed & water shortages, a miracle and seminar part 2.

Sunday July 5th Clear skies, cloudy/breezy later. We were taken outside after breakfast to where the cattle were eating mineralised salt out of hollowed-out tree trunks. 2 lively young calves ran out to join their mothers, but John said they won’t be like that in another month’s time.
After eating salt, the stock go to the water hole, then up the mountain to graze. Bruce advised the men to sell steers, surplus heifers and aged cows when the prices are high, and to buy more heifers when prices are low. We also shared a bit about NZ dryland farming. John’s dad in red in the goat/sheep corral (above); 2 little girls in their best clothes (right).
On the way to the baptist church, we passed one of Moses' 2 dams for stock/house water, where we saw a neighbour watering his small herd of cattle and his wife getting house water. Moses is sharing his scanty supply with neighbours who have none.







Left: June 2005 - full of water. Right: July 2009 - the small pond left at the back of the reservoir.
Moses actually got to church today, we walked together until our paths diverged: it was rather miraculous as he’d been practically housebound for weeks with painfully-swollen legs.
We arrived at 10.30 for another 6-hour service cum seminar - great fun! Several pastors preached, there was singing & items from different church choirs inbetween. I love the way they dance and sing so exuberantly, although afterwards I was a bit saddened to hear each choir is trying to outdo the others! Ezekiel’s little boy was part of one, his dancing outshone them all & received lots of applause! Dust was a problem today, both what was kicked up from the undampened dirt floor, and what was blown in from outside during strong winds. The floor was dampened the floor towards the end of the service, a bit too late really!
Bruce shared again, encouraging them to help each other in love. As most of the speakers weren't translated today, we couldn’t understand a lot of the preaching, it was mostly in Maa. I could translate the Kiswahili parts for Bruce though.
When a few went up for prayer at the end, John wanted to know if I wanted to take any pictures - but I refused, saying I prefer people to have their privacy. Afterwards I was amused when he asked how many cameras we normally have in church - he was so surprised when I said none! They are so used to seeing Wazungu taking photos during services that they think it’s normal! I had to explain we only take them at special events like weddings, dedications and baptisms.
It’s so easy to give the wrong impression! We’re sometimes asked how many servants we have in NZ, and in Bukoba, people used to ask us for work. Many missionaries do employ folk, so people end up believing that’s what we’re used to, & that we don’t know how to look after ourselves!
We had yesterday’s meal served again - cold: “God bless our stomachs!” We talked with a pastor from near Mai Mahiu, who has four children. He'd heard about the Inkoirienito tank, and was hoping we could help build another near him!
Back at the manyatta, we chatted with John’s father before having ‘supper’ at about 9 (the 5 p.m. meal at church was our lunch!). He was really sad we were returning to Luka's the next day, having waited 4 years for us to return, he’d wanted to have more time with us! He brought out the book on NZ we’d given, so of course the others wanted to see it which kept Bruce busy explaining the photos! This time we gave him a German chopping board; I'd been unsure about buying it, but he was delighted, & John said it would be very useful as normally they just cut up their meat in their hands!
We were woken up by what sounded like a stampede in the early hours - I thought it was the goats as they were making so much noise, one young one kept bleating for some time. In the morning, we were told it was the donkeys, they aren’t shut away at night here! We woke up feeling VERY tired!

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!