I found it difficult to adjust to being back from the other side of the world in Tabora. Life is so much easier here by comparison. As much as I’d like to talk story about my journey this summer 2011 I tend not to because it’s hard for people to relate to, bucket baths for example! This is one of my stories..

Tabora to Kigoma & back.

I was able to arrange a free ride in a single engine 6 seater Cessna based in Kigoma.  It had been chartered by some guys I know who work for ATTT tobacco co. to inspect some of their projects & was returning with empty seats. I was joined by Marlene a German student whom I met at the Orion Tabora Hotel when we all had dinner together one evening.

Since the flight offer was not confirmed we decided to get a ride with one of ATTT’s vehicles going to Mwanza located on the shores of Lake Victoria, a 7 hr drive on a dirt road from Tabora. The plan was to take a bus on a paved road from Mwanza to Kigoma. The next day I got up at 5:30am since there was no power (a daily occurrence) at the Wilca Hotel where I stayed & washed & dressed by torch light. I had to wake up the security guard to open the gate, he was sleeping on the floor behind a couch in the open air foyer of the hotel.

On the journey to Mwanza local people were seen digging close to the road apparently looking for diamonds! Mwanza is a clean & orderly town frequented by NGO’s (non governmental agencies) it has a small airport which is a base for UN relief Aid planes.

We ate breakfast at the Tilapia Hotel a popular place for expats & a frequent getaway for the ATTT guys. We then dropped off  a Forestry company consultant at the airport for his flight back to South Africa. We were debating what to do, & after a couple of ‘phone calls to my friend Chris (ATTT) to inquire if there was still a chance of a free ride on the ‘plane, we decided to gamble & aborted the bus plan!. So off we went back to Tabora, later I joked about it being a long ride to take for breakfast, 14 hr round trip!!

As we were eating lunch at my friend Marks’ house (also with ATTT co.) the call we were waiting for came in from Chris giving the go ahead for the flight to Kigoma. My backpack was already packed, I traveled light with just a couple of changes of clothing. We called for a taxi & got to the airport ready to go on time!

Marlene had never taken a small plane ride before so it was thrilling for her. From my perspective as thrilling as it was (‘though not a first) it was really distressing to see so many roads, paths, & burning of trees to make charcoal, the smoke haze was 3 miles high. From the air the only areas free from smoke were the national parks.

I later learned from my friend Boni Haule whose job it is to hunt down poachers, that cutting trees down is also taking place in the parks. Tree burning is a hot topic of debate currently in the Tanzanian parliament. Between that the cattle & goats, the country will turn into desert in the next decade or so if it´s not stopped.

We stayed at the Kigoma Hilltop Hotel for 6 days which overlooks Lake Tanganyika, it was being refurbished so there was hardly anyone there. I swam in the swimming pool everyday, sat on a chaise lounge looking out over the Lake enjoying the afternoon breeze & watching the local fisherman sail by in their dhows. There were 3 zebras on the property which wandered around eating the grass, & a troop of vervet monkeys came to check us out when we sat on the deck outside the room.

The hotel offers a boat charter to Gombe which is a 2 hr ride from Kigoma $400.00 for 2 of us it which was out of our budget range. The receptionist saved the day & put us in contact with a local business man who is friends with the manager at Gombe National Park. He rented a local fishing boat to us with an outboard motor & two crew for $250.00.

We left from the Kigoma harbour early when it was still calm. Hugging the coastline we saw a few small fishing villages with lovely white sand beaches & the water was crystal clear. Great potential here for kayaking, canoeing, paddle boarding, even kite surfing in the afternoons when the wind picks up & offers some chop.

We passed several larger boats ferrying passengers up & down the lake from Burundi dropping people at some of the fishing villages. I wondered how many of them were illegal since the borders with Burundi as with many neighbouring African countries, are so porous.

Our guide for the tracking the chimps was Issaya Paul (he’s on Facebook). It was quite a challenging hike up & down some ravines, I got tangled in vines from time to time! The weather was overcast & humid due to rain squalls over the lake miles away. We were to discover the outcome of this later when we left Gombe national park.

A second guide also tracking the chimps was in contact with Issaya via a walkie talkie letting him know where they were headed. 45 mins into the hike we were advised to step to the side of the path & allow a mother chimp with a baby on her back to pass by. We were within a couple of feet of them!

The 2nd guide continued tracking & we joined him to watch a chimp family feed in the trees, one of the youngsters was named Tabora! When they came down out of the trees we followed them at the required distance of 10 metres. They joined up with two large mature males who were engrossed in trying to figure out what to do with a cap they had found! They kept sucking it while several youngsters waited until they became bored & took their turn! This kept them entertained for at least an hour!

We sat with them while they relaxed & groomed one another. The largest male lay on his back with one leg resting across the other one which was raised at the knee. He looked almost human in repose! His arms were as big as a large human leg! We were advised to avoid staring into their eyes for any length of time as it’s considered a threat. If any of the males started a charge, we were to hug a tree so they would know we were friendly\, tree huggers would love that!

Fortunately the chimps are used to humans so we were not in any danger of attack, which is just as well they are renowned for their strength, they can rip off a face with their fangs. So we were alert to their every move! The dominant male & boss of all the chimps at Gombe is Ferdinand. He is smaller than the older males with jet black fur, but to be the boss he is obviously strong & fierce.

A student from The Jane Goodall Institute was also there taking notes for research, all of the data is now kept at Duke University.

By 2:30pm I was ready to head back to Kigoma  a storm had come in & the wind created a large beach chop which made it tricky to get back in the boat! The swell rolled in at 4ft as we headed out, to avoid the nasty smell of fuel fumes Marlene & I sat in the front. After a couple of waves soaked me I moved to the back of the boat to sit in the sun in an attempt to dry off regardless of the fumes! Poor Marlene turned green & was sick she opted to stay in the front & remain wet!

Needless to say the trip back was unpleasant, getting off the boat at the shoreline in the harbour was also challenging! To make it easier for us to disembark the boat was pulled into the shallows with ropes . Swinging wildly we came dangerously close to ramming other boats already parked there causing lots of shouting & gesturing!

I sat on the grubby beach feeling tired & slightly nauseous wiping my feet dry with my socks,  pleased with the adventure. Ducks waddled past, a small boy played in the sand watching me curiously while his father stood nearby cleaning a fish.

When we got back to the hotel we were told we were very lucky to have seen the chimps. Some people go there several times or stay at the camps in Gombe & don’t see any at all.

I really liked Kigoma, a small clean town, & mellow friendly people. Having access to water & food takes the edge off the hard day to day business of survival. There weren’t many tourists as Kigoma is at the North East corner of Tanzania which makes it a long journey from Dar-es-salaam where the international flights fly in to. However now the Kigoma Hotel is the ticket agent for Precision Air which began scheduled flights in August to Kigoma from Dar-es-salaam via Mwanza which I suspect will bring in a lot of new business.. I hope it doesn’t ruin the area as it has in many other places.

Traveling back to Tabora was a complete contrast to the comfortable private flight to Kigoma. It was a torturous, smelly, dirty, dusty, hot 12 hr grind by bus, a third rate one at that. Dirt road all the way & frequent stops to pack people in butt to belly for extra money which was shared between the touts (conductors, but more like cattle herders!) & the driver. I can’t drink anything or eat on these buses as there is usually only one stop to use a semi civilized long drop latrine. After that it’s behind bushes at the side of the road. I preferred not to expose myself!

I sat in the very front next to a man who worked at the Kigoma Dept. Of Adult Education which later proved to be very helpful. These seats are the most dangerous, the buses have no seat belts so one would get hurled through the windscreen in a collision. The other passengers have the seats in front to buffer them, but very little leg room.

Marlene sat across from me behind the driver & his entourage of 6 touts (conductors). Next to her was one of the undercover policeman with an AK 47semi automatic rifle. The other policeman sat behind me, & later as the bus filled up would not have been able to protect us if he had to! These cops always ride the bus routes to Tabora due to it’s remote location & bad roads there have been incidences of armed bandit attacks.

The bus became more & more packed, a lot of standing room only passengers were mothers with babies on their backs & toddlers at each hand. Some of the children cried with fright when they saw two white people, obviously a first time experience! The small children had to sit on the floor in between the adults legs. One toddler was left sitting on the floor in front of my feet at which point I had reached my limit of allowing these children to be placed at such risk. The man from the Kigoma Dept of Adult Education sitting next to me was also becoming concerned & I asked him to intervene.

He shouted at the touts & the driver accusing them of treating the children like cattle threatening to report them to the authorities. Pandemonium followed as the driver & touts argued back, I jumped up getting into the fray, yelling in Swahili that I would also report them to the Tabora District Commissioner who was a friend of mine! I caught a whiff of alcohol on one of the touts which further fueled my concerns, & accused him of drinking. Marlene looked totally bemused at all this because she didn’t understand Swahili but could tell it was serious!

Shortly after that the tout with the alcohol breath & the mothers with babies were dropped off. The passenger load thinned out a little & there was no more trouble from the driver or the remaining touts. In fact the head tout was very solicitous & asked me a couple of times if I was comfortable & said that I could now relax! Later a friend suggested that perhaps the mothers of the babies were not so happy because this was the only mode of transportation they could afford. A ticket for a reserved seat cost 25,000sh roughly $20.00 one way, a lot more than they make in a year.

Finally back at the Wilca Hotel, dirty & exhausted a hot water bucket bath felt positively luxurious!

*Total kilometers traveled by bus all over Tanzania 3.828 km = 2.37860 miles
Kigoma-Tabora 672k, Tabora-Morogoro 885k, Morogoro-Arusha 624k, Arusha-Morogoro 624k.

At the end of June 2011 I returned to Tabora to work on another Carina Water Project. Kitete School was selected by my colleague Christopher Nyamwanji Chairman of Sudeso (Sustainable Development Solutions). Coincidentally the area has sentimental value to me! It is located across the road & a roundabout from a former German fort which is now the barracks for an army battalion of the Tanzania army. I used to play squash there with John H. Owen the father of my children Carina who was born in Tabora, & Adrian who was born in Somerset UK.

For the duration of the project (6 weeks) I stayed at the Wilca Hotel  owned by William & Cate Camara. It was only a couple of miles away from Kitete School so  I walked to the site every day. I spent about 3 hrs daily taking video of each stage of the building of the tank which is depicted in the video.

Thanks! Asante (Swahili) Mahalo (Hawaiian)
Jacqueline Simone Ambrose
Director Carina Water Projects Tabora Tanzania.

Click here to see a first draft of a video we’re editing of the project.

Click here to see photos & descriptions of the stages of building a tank July 2011 at Kitete School in Tabora Tanzania

2/7/2011: I’m already preparing for project#3 but so far only $1,500.00 has been donated. I’ve sent a dvd of the film to Moffatt Productions Honolulu hoping that Uncle Tom will be inspired to hold a benefit concert! Also working on some ideas locally. I need all the help I can get, any suggestions are welcomed! To be continued..

Tabora region population 1,717,908,Tabora Municipality population 188,808 , with 93,362 males and 95,446 females,according to 2002 National population census.
Area of the region is 76,151 square kilometers,approximately 9% of Tanzania.
Kitete primary school data
Total number of pupils 916 distributed as 483 boys and 433 girls,
School teachers total 28 with 23 females, and 5 males.
Rainfall is averaged at 1100mm per annum.

The “Carina Water Wells Project Tabora Tanzania“ film placed 3rd (sustainability category) in an on line international film contest ViewChange.org  The site is sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Click here to view the film
http://www.viewchange.org/ videos/carina-water-wells- project

ViewChange. org has launched an on line international film competition to find powerful new stories about the progress being made in achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These short videos will be used to raise awareness, inspire action, and accelerate the worldwide movement to reduce extreme poverty by 2015. Jacqueline came to me with a bag full of mini digital video tapes about 6 weeks ago and we cobbled together a 5 minute film and entered the contest. The film depicts the construction of a well at Kwihala Village & a rainwater harvesting tank built at Isukamahela School. The villagers take ownership of the wells/tanks & sustain them, a key component for empowering them towards self-sufficiency. Many babies & children die of preventable diseases caused by contaminated water.

To watch the film and vote go here:

Friday July 17th 2009

Jambo!

Saturday July 11th – I went to check the writing on the well & catchment tank, there were a few mistakes but these were corrected. The writing is very big, much larger than I anticipated & can be read from some distance! I was told that it didn’t matter because many people (including politicians) would be able to read it without their glasses, which they are reluctant to put on it seems some things are the same!!

FYI- the Prime Minister was a no show at the opening of the new St Stephens church due to violence in Mara northern TZ which borders Kenya. He had to mobilize the army & police to stop the killing (39 dead). It was all due to cattle rustling which is common at that border. Tanzanians elsewhere are very peaceful & caring.

Monday July 13th – By chance I met the District Commissioner (DC) Moshi Chang’a at the The Orion Tabora Hotel. He was attending a meeting with young Tanzanian politicians including the son of the President of TZ (Jakaya Kikwete) whom I also met & had a brief opportunity to tell them what I’m doing here. I took advantage of the occasion by inviting Mr Chang’a to come & see the project.

He is a Muslim short rotund, very dark & commands quite a presence! I had seen him at the opening of the new church, & thought he was a radio personality!! Of course they haven’t got such a thing here in Tabora!. He did some fundraising at the end of the ceremony raising an impressive amount from local politicians, police commissioner & the like. He is well liked & respected for getting girls into government school programs.

Canon Peter Warr of Canterbury Cathedral also joined us, he is staying in the Bishops guest house which is why I wasn’t able to. The Anglican Diocese here is very conservative, men & women don’t stay under the same roof in the Bishops guest house. Peter’s donated a huge amount of money to build a school & a 40’ container of medical supplies for St. Philips clinic. All of us associated with the Tabora Diocese get free medical care like malaria pills which cost a lot in EU/ USA.

Wednesday July 15th – We went to meet Mr Chang’a at his office to pick him up & had to wait around for 40 mins or so while he dealt with a constant stream of people. I’m getting used to this hurry up & wait!

I wanted to remind him of the awful road leading to the project which also goes to Livingstone’s museum. I suggested to Mr Changa’a that he might consider getting some work done on the Kwihala Village road since the museum is the only thing of interest internationally in Tabora! One has to be very diplomatic in these sensitive matters! Canon Peter reminded me that tourists pay a fortune to drive on such roads!

I told Mr Chang’a about my father’s work with PWD on the trucks which built the road from Dar to the Zambian border, & the footage he filmed of the museum. He offered to put a proper plaque w/glass on a wood stand with a dedication to my parents as a gift to me.

He was amazed that I came back to TZ to honour my family as well as help the poor in his rural district.Canon Peter blessed the well at my request just like in Hawaii!.

Afterwards we had a meeting with the village water committee in what was a former chiefs house dating back to post Livingstone. The last chief is buried there along with some who had been killed fighting the Arab slave traders. Mr Chang’a informed me that at one time there was a woman chief who was also a Princess & a Queen. I’d like to hear more about her, there is a lot of history in Tabora region.

Mr Chang’a is a good orator, motivator & has a great sense of humour! I was able to follow the gist of it, which was I had come from very far away to do the water projects & it took me 4 years to save for the trip (true!). I could have given the money to my grandchildren, but instead I chose to come to Tanzania & contribute.

He said Tanzanians should learn from that & contribute whatever they can for the water project. The villagers who are subsistence farmers put up 52,000 shillings (approx $50) & will open a bank account to fund the maintenance of the well & catchment tanks.

Of course he would like me/Christopher to do some water projects in his home district! It’s hard to believe that it’s only last year when the government started doing water projects?! There are now more people than there are funds in the total budget.

Thursday July 16th – Christopher & I drove about 10k out of Tabora to a small building in the bush to meet up with Johnny Kazimoto the district health officer who is featured in the video of the first well at Inonelwa on the Carina Water Wells website & Youtube.

He was giving basic sanitation lessons to the water committees of the Dowser catchment tank, the Maui RC tank & well. They comprised of mzee’s (seniors), a mother & child & schoolboys & girls. I filmed it & Christopher took some photos too.

The thing I’ve found the hardest to deal with is the bathroom facilities, except for the hotels they are all pit latrines, the high end ones have concrete floors! If you are lucky there is a bucket of water with a jug to wash your hands & flush with!! I’ll never get used to it but am unwilling to forgo my morning cups of tea, so just have to grin & bear it!!

However I will miss being here, I’ve been adopted as part of the community. On the short walk to & from the hotel I’m sometimes greeted by name even ‘though I don’t recognize the person.

That’s how I encountered Johnny Kazimoto (district health officer) he was on his motor bike by the side of the road. I heard him say Ambrose & looked back briefly I didn’t recognize him & thought he was on a cell ‘phone talking to someone. Ambrose is not an uncommon first name for a man.

He then called Jacqueline so of course I stopped to chat. He now has accreditation in pest control. I told him the villagers at Inonwela Village (where we went together to see the location for Carina’s well in 2005) have offered me a plot of land. I mentioned that I don’t think I could live there due to snakes & mosquitoes, he promptly said he would go there & eradicate with “green” environmental products!

We will visit there next week because I need to move the plaque to a better location it’s getting damaged on the well. I’ll see what location they have in mind & mull over what to do with it. Needless to say there will be a lot of red tape which I’m not prepared to deal with. But then again I have got the DC Mr Chang’a on my side!

He is going to look into getting copies of the court cases my former husband John Owen heard as District Magistrate between ’60-’63. My son Adrian doesn’t know anything about that part of his father’s life. However knowing the hurry up & wait way of life here that might take some time, so I’ll have to return next year!

As I write this the church band are singing a slow song/hymn outside, this happens daily. The children in the Diocese compound break into singing & hand clapping every afternoon. Inside St Stephen’s chapel nursery school little children are noisily running around in their pretty purple uniforms. Roosters & hens run in & are chased out of the development office the hen laid an egg on top of the sack of Tabora Anglican Diocese T-shirts!

Faintly in the distance is the call for prayer from the Muslim mosque in town. Christians & Muslims live peacefully together in Tabora. One of the pastors Elias wrote a dissertation on the subject which is very interesting. I hope to use part of it for the documentary I hope to make the African Film Commission in LA is interested more about that another time

The Tabora Orion Hotel is another world, travellers coming & going, many NGO’s notably the Millennium Village project which the musician Bono is involved with. Farmers were given sunflower seeds & $100.00 as a loan which they were to repay with product. Inonwela Village (where Carina’s well is) is involved & I’m glad to hear they are one of the better projects.

It’s not doing as well as they hoped, & they’ve lost a lot of money. The problem with these efforts in this case is they apply USA methodology, e.g. bottom line profit margins. They then leave, it’s disheartening. Sustainability & a way for people to find their own way of living which is better suited to their environment is the way forward.

I think it’s wrong to try & drag them into the 21st century they are ill equipped to deal with it. What’s more we in the 1st world have turned them into beggars dependent on foreign aid for food. It’s so obvious to me returning here, stepping back in time. We need to help them help themselves.

The tobacco company guys are regular visitors of the hotel it’s sort of like their club! They play pool which I’m invited to do occasionally, smoke (ugh!) & drink plenty which I can’t keep up with & tell stories! They fly to their projects in a private king Air jet which is based in Malawi.

A couple of weeks ago I found out the accountant for the tobacco company a Brit, rents a house owned by the Tabora Diocese next to the compound with a swimming pool. I have a standing invitation to swim there which I’ve done several times. It’s not heated so very refreshing after dusty drives out to the project.

Everything is dry now so dust everywhere, I coughed my way through the first month but have adjusted to it somewhat. When walking I always carry a handkerchief with eucalyptus oil on it which I clasp to my nose very few seconds!

On Fridays-Sundays the Tabora Orion Hotel has a live African music band which begins at 9:30pm-3:30pm. I enjoyed the first couple of weeks & got out on the floor to dance, men dance with men & women alone or together. No one minds they just move in their inimitable African rhythmic way.

But the same songs are repeated & extremely loud so I now dread the weekends! I had the foresight to buy ear plugs en route so when I can’t take it anymore I retire to my room with 4 poster king size bed & mosquito net. Shut the windows on the music side, turn on the fan put in the plugs & try to sleep!

Tabora, town teems with bicycles made in China driven by Africans from the outlying areas with goods, chattels & passengers. They pay no heed to traffic laws because they don’t understand them! Motorcycles & vehicles, including huge trucks & buses drive helter skelter (no speed limit!) belching diesel fumes & dust clouds add to the chaos.

Somewhere in the melee of this a policeperson may be spotted waving their arms around in a feeble attempt to control the situation! At night there is always some music throbbing from somewhere, Africans love to sing & dance it’s in their blood! It brings some joy to the hardship of their daily lives.

I’ve taken advantage of Christopher the development officer’s absence on another project to write this final missive. Due to the cost of the internet I’m unable to send all photos taken but you can see them when I return.

Attached are some to show the completed projects. We will go to the well again next week with Mr Chang’a to plant mango trees & take photos of he & I doing that. When we were there on Wednesday, there was so much going on between tea & corn meal served at the school, a flat tyre & time constraints it was overlooked!

I leave Tabora for Dar on July 29th, stay there for 2 nights (hopefully meet with the Presidents’ son again!). Then to Arusha August 1st-August 10th to visit my brother back to Dar & leave for London August 11th.

Aloha!

Jacqueline