I will be taking part in the Bristol 10K run in mid-May. This is a genuine challenge, as I have had to lose over 9 stone to ensure I am fit enough to run the entire course.
I’m raising money for three different causes, all of which can be found on my GoFundMe page.
It’s been a year since I returned from my last trip to Tanzania. Due to events in real life (aka now having a mortgage) I won’t be heading out in 2016. I am still in regular contact with many of the guys in the village though –Facebook and WhatsApp simplifies this hugely. Life is still tough for pretty much everyone. None more so than the elderly and disabled.
Thanks to donations from friends and from Our Lady Queen of Heaven School in London, I have been able to help out in a few areas around the village. Here are a few of the main things we’ve achieved.
With some of the funds raised by a sponsored walk at OLQH, we provided desks and chairs for a classroom at the blind school.
A couple of friends are supporting Jose and Gaston through their education. I’ve also been able to provide a number of other children with school uniforms. There is an infinite demand for more, as many of the children wear little more than rags to class.
Frank looks like being the first real education success story. He received help to finish his schooling – no mean feat when fewer than 1 in 10 pass the equivalent of GCSEs, let alone A-levels. This photo is from his A-level graduation ceremony. He went on to win a very scarce scholarship to a Technical College where he is currently in his first year. Whilst he has no fees to pay, it is up to him to cover his accommodation, food, university books, transport, exam fees and 20 other impediments to learning. Frank is exceptionally bright, friendly, humble and hard-working. Some money is in place for his second year, but I really need to focus on finding the rest of it.
Last summer I put a request on Facebook to see if any friends might be able to help supply the final items needed to finish building this house for a family in the village. A number of people got in touch and we provided the roof, cement to finish the walls, and the door and window frames. The leftover money found its way to other much needed projects.
At Christmas time, I selected 30 families who face particular hardships, to each receive the equivalent of £7. This is enough money to buy a meat, rice, vegetables and sodas so they can all have a proper Christmas feast. In these photos, the leader of the blind in the region, Mr Omari, is handing money to two of the recipients: John, who has a club foot, and Mariam, who is blind.
OLQH also supplied the funds to provide all 12 families who live at the Blind Centre with hosepipes, shovels and seeds. They have been requesting these for years. There are a couple of standpipes available, and in the past they would fill 20 litre buckets with water and then navigate their way to their plot of land. Backbreaking work and a task made much harder when you have no vision. The hosepipes will enable them to irrigate their gardens so they can feed their families and sell surplus in the market.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed money, read my witterings, or shown interest (both genuine or feigned) in what is happening in Buigiri Village. There are always little projects taking place and I’ll post another update before my next trip. Finally, good luck to Stuart who has given up beer for the entire year to raise money for a project next year – you are a stronger man than me!
Saturday, 3rd January
I have been staying at Buigiri Blind School this trip but all the children have been away for the Christmas holidays. Today they began to drift back to the school. This is quite a logistical mission. There are approximately 65 boarders and they are spread over an area the size of Spain. Most families don’t have any means of communication, yet despite this, the system works. Fortunately the first children back were kids I have known for a few years. From left to right is Ezekial, Jose, Nico and Abubakkar. They all got football shirts and wind up radios.
Next up was a visit to see Zawardi. His father set up the adult blind centre many years ago and he passed away two years back. Zawardi now runs the place and it was good to sit down and chat about the future of the centre
Abel is the village photographer and each trip I bolster the hardware he uses to earn a living. A friend of Dawei’s, called Caroline, gave us this excellent digital camera. Abel is the perfect man to receive it.
We had the leaders of the Tanzanian League for the Blind over for dinner. This is the first of the final three nights of entertaining and send-offs. I provided the house, but the others all arranged for a feast to be prepared. That gave way to the speeches. Tanzanians won’t say something in 5 words if they can say it in 25 words. I like to reciprocate in kind but I am yet to find I’ve hit the point where I lose the audience – these guys have endurance.
Sunday, 4th January
The children brought us a chameleon to replace the one which passed away. I am not too sure we should be entrusted with much more of Tanzania’s wildlife though.
Mamma Gordo came to see me as her husband was paralysed and needed help getting to a hospital with a spinal unit. I’ve pretty much run out of money but she won me over with her smile and I contributed enough for him to get there.
There were some heavy rains the previous night which caused problems with the cement in the goal ball pitch, so I popped along to see the damage being repaired. I am really pleased to be able to support the blind school in this way during this trip.
Sarafina is next up to pay me a visit. I have been helping her for the past few years as she lives independently of her family. Albinos need special care. Partly due to their skin being very susceptible to cancer, but mainly because many are killed annually so their body parts can be used in witchcraft. She wants to attend secretarial college, but I could only offer to help cover her living costs.
Next up was a visit to Nuru Children’s Choir where Dawei taught them the moves to the song Africa which he had choreographed last year for his own choir in England.
Monday, 5th January
Pasquina is from a village five hours north of Buigiri. Years ago I went through many villages and found two blind children to join the school. Salim is the other. Getting them not only into education, but also into a community of other blind, is the achievement I am most proud of in Tanzania. They returned to the school today, so I supplied them both with a bucket to wash their clothes and in each bucket were toothbrushes, toothpaste, sweets, biscuits, soap and skin cream.
We hand out more of the radios. Wind up radios are brilliant for young visually impaired children. They don’t have the money to buy batteries and they are more in need of audio stimulation than other kids.
We also took this opportunity to clear out loads of things from the house, such as clothes, braille playing cards, a Bop-it and football shirts.
And this is the Bop-it. Mr Boa is certainly enjoying it. and I always try and bring a couple with me for the school.
Our next stop is the rehab centre for more maize distribution. It is a hard and dirty job, but very rewarding.
Another distribution… another line-up
Imogen, a future star of Bristol Rugby… somehow
We wave goodbye to the last of our football shirts. We had enough adult Chelsea shirts to form a team
The children help carry the maize back to the houses
A friend gave me an iPod to bring out. I loaded it up with audiobooks and decided Mr Omary was the best man to receive it. Not only is he blind, but he has been a huge support for us this trip in many different ways. He also has electricity and is currently learning how to use a computer.
Omary wanted us to have our photo taken with his family. The man smiles constantly until you put a camera anywhere near him. He must have a sixth sense for it.
Our final night is always a celebration with the teachers. First up, we had twenty children for dinner. They were then turfed out and it was the turn of the ten fellows here to eat. The women at the back did all the cooking and were exhausted by the end of the night.
Buta turned up midway through. She is at a secondary school for the deaf and my mother and a friend have supported her living costs in the past. Costs are far higher in secondary school as opposed to primary, so I was able to take the sting out of it all, but not cover everything.
We left the village early the next morning to go on a short safari before flying back to the UK. At the airport I by chance met a woman who reads my wesbite – so hello Dorah! Small world. Looking back on the trip, I’d say this was possibly my most successful yet. In the past there can be a little unpleasantness at times, but that was entirely absent from this trip. New people are now in charge in some areas and the future looks promising.
My trips would be entirely fruitless were it not for the work and support of many people back in England – whether it be people who gave me a single phone or football shirt, to people like Stu, Eddy, Monkey and Sue, amongst many others, who gave me bagfuls of goodies they’d collected. Then there are the schools: Our Lady Queen of Heaven in London, St Joseph’s in Hertford and Ampleforth College in Yorkshire. My sister Imogen helped organise boxes full of shirts, phones and everything else from two of the schools. OLQH and Ampleforth were also brilliant at fundraising, this was topped up with bits from friends and in total I spent £5000 on 90 separate projects.
Saturday, 27th December
We headed back into Dodoma to spend the day with a group of Deaf people. Dawei trained as a sign language interpreter and it was interesting to see how he managed at communicating, given that in Tanzania they use a mixture of BSL and ASL, with some other signs chucked in to the mix too.
We arrive home and Joel pays us a visit. I helped set him up with a small shop which supports his family, but keeping a business going when so many people rely on you is very tough.
Sunday, 28th December
I covered this day in a photo diary which can be found here
Monday, 29th December
We have another road trip lined up for today. We head to Bahi, which is one of the last districts for me to visit in this region. We make a pit stop to buy lots of rice but feel a little guilty having the man break apart his rice pyramid.
Whilst my efforts tend to be focussed on Buigiri village and Dodoma town, it is always pleasing to get out to the more distant towns and villages so that people do not feel like they are being ignored.
Apart from food, we also handed out white canes, mobile phones and talking watches
When we were finished we headed to town to stay in a hotel – one night each week is spent having some R&R and this would take the form of a chinese meal.
The highlight for me was being presented with this plate. I asked the waitress if this meat was free and she looked confused.
Tuesday, 30th December
Selfie!
We spent much of the day in town and I try and avoid taking photographs there because the people are not quite as friendly as in the villages. Here is a pic from the evening, back in the village. The dog has adopted us, and as we walked to someone’s house she spotted three Giant African Snails marching in formation.
Wednesday, 31st December
I wrote earlier about visiting a woman with cancer whilst boys were playing marbles outside. Unfortunately she passed away two days previous and this was the day of her funeral. They don’t hang around in hot climates. We would be unable to attend the service so instead we joined the men of the community in the churchyard whilst the grave was being dug.
The previous day the duck we were given by the witchdoctor vanished into thin air. These boys found her and brought her back to us.
The nephew of the deceased woman turned up looking a little like a camp grim reaper.
We were missing the service because we had appointments in town. First up was a visit to Lucy’s house. She is a remarkable woman. A few years ago she saved up 150,000tshs (£60) and then used this as capital to generate an income by lending money out and charging interest. Within two years she had 4,000,000tshs (£1700). When I came here in 2011, she had formed a relationship with a man who was clearly no good. Sadly, whilst everyone could tell this, she could not. He ended up selling everything she owned and disappearing. Around the same time, I set up a project so the blind could generate an income making soap. This did not work out, but that capital was then used by the blind to start a microfinance bank. They loan small sums out, and charge high interest. It is easy to make a profit if you have capital, so people are happy to pay fairly extortionate interest rates. Each month, the profit is then gifted to a blind person for them to start their own project. Lucy was given 500,000tshs (£200) and now she is back to where she was pre-husband. She has also expanded in to trading charcoal and buying and selling clothes and shoes. She is now building a large home, supports her mother and daughter, and is fortunately single.
She was extremely grateful for being given the second chance that she piled me up with gifts.
Next up was a visit to see Peter Gabriel. Great name. Many of the blind here have to rent rooms. They are often turfed out with little notice and so many of them dream of building their own homes. Peter has done just that. I have given him some iron sheets and sacks of cement in the past and he has managed to get together everything else he needs.
This year I have helped him with a small project getting water piped to his front door. He can then sell buckets of water to local families and use this money to support his family. In his neighbourhood live many of the blind who often beg in town – this year is the first year I have not recognised anyone on the streets. It may just be chance, but I think it might also show the positive impact my projects and the work of the Tanzanian League for the Blind are achieving.
After visiting Peter, we returned to the centre of town to celebrate New Year’s Eve with some friends. It was a fun night which started with the brave decision to eat a seafood platter a long long way from the sea, and ended with an even braver decision to try out a nightclub. We didn’t arrive til 11.15pm and my neurotic self thought we wouldn’t be able to get in – but the place was empty. Fortunately by midnight it was heaving and the atmosphere was great.
Thursday, 1st January
I first met Martha several years ago when she was orphaned due to AIDS. A friend in England kindly provides her with a little support. I was given a present to bring out for her and she was ecstatic to receive it.
My friend’s son also supports Moussa in a similar way and he too recieved a present, as did another child sponsored by a third person. He also got a football shirt.
These guinea fowl have proven to be a right nuisance. First I was led to believe they were in fact peacocks which I’d be eating (before I saw them, I hasten to add). Then when I bought one, I made the mistake of not handling it. It looked big enough to feed ten, but it was all feather and no meat. So we had to quickly go out and get a second one for the pot.
The main job for the day was making videos of the kids. A school in London had made short videos of 12 children asking questions to the children here in Tanzania and my job was to have a bunch of children provide answers. It went surprisingly smoothly, despite these three camouflaging themselves into the upholstery and carpet.
This was a first for me: attending an opening of a girls’ loo block in a neighbouring school. This is the biggest project I’ve done this year and I was very pleased to see it completed before I left – well, almost completed. It just needed the door attaching.
Friday, 2nd January
My second major project is the rebuild of the concrete sports area. The blind kids use bottles filled with sand as a ball and they hear it moving along the floor. The place was so badly potholed over years and years of use, that I am really pleased I can help fix it.
Next up: maize distribution. My old school, Ampleforth College, held a sponsored swim last year to raise money for food and I have used a large part of it to buy 1800kg of maize. This morning we were giving 40kg to each of 45 people who live in the village and face particular adversity – perhaps due to being frail, blind or unable to walk.
The whole process was well organised and ran smoothly – but it was hard work shifting 120kg sacks and then splitting them into smaller amounts.
Mission accomplished
Next up was a trip to the nearby town of Chamwino to do much the same again, just on a smaller scale. There were 12 families this time.
This man entertained us with his traditional musical instrumet while we worked. When he shook hands with me, he could remember me from my handshake from 7 years previous.
The obligatory line up
The whole job left this boy exhausted.
I will spare you all a sleep photo. This is a rare moment of peace in the living room. The bottles are left over from dinner the night before and the place could do with a bit of a tidy.
I was at the village bar the night before and collapsed into bed around 1.30, so I was a little tired getting up this early
Dawei and I leave the house.
We meet two friends. The four of us, including our shadows, head out. We are accompanied by a three legged dog called Shida (Swahili for problem). We must make for a strange sight.
We arrive at the church. We are there for the Baptism of Baby Tom. From now on, there shall always be a Tom in Tanzania.
We are told to arrive at 7.30 but it turns out things don’t start until 9. This level of punctuality is common place here, but I stupidly never learn and keep turning up on time. There is music playing though, so I have a bit of a dance
We are surprised to see our friend John. It turns out he is part of a small choir which will be singing.
The main man himself: Tom
We take our seats and manage to avoid being ushered to the very front
I chuckle at the slight inappropriateness of the girl’s top
Tom was fast asleep when he was lifted up to be baptised – his ensuing tears could have refilled the font
When we walked in, Dawei thought the font was a bowl to clean your hands and wash your face
I had prepared myself to stand up and introduce myself to the congregation, as is the custom for visitors. I wasn’t expecting to be dragged to the front.
After the service, we all file out. Everyone is formed in a circle outside and you walk around the circle shaking hands with everybody before joining the end of the line
There were perhaps 200 people, so it took a little while
I think this photo encapsulates how we feel after several hours of waiting and then being in church.
We stop for a quick liquid top-up. It gets pretty warm here and it is too easy to dehydrate.
We arrive at our destination: Tom’s grandmother’s house where we have been invited for lunch
The choir are also here. I know 4 of the five choir members well but never knew they were friends with each other, let alone sung together. They had superb voices. Individually they lead very hard lives, being blind in one of the poorest regions of one of the poorest countries is not exactly great, but when they sing together they really create something amazing.
Food time: rice and beans.
After, we head outside and spot this young woman
She wasn’t the only kid around though
I chat with some of the guys about the problems they face. George smashed his leg up pretty bad and needed to have a follow-up x-ray done in town
As we left, we spotted this example of local recycling
We arrive back in the school – this monument gives a potted history of the place
The school is on its holidays and so the only children here are the kids of the teachers. This is Nina, whose father is a good friend who teaches at the school
We get home and spy our cook Anna on the steps. All the cooking happens outside on a charcoal fire and it is such a slow process, which is why we employ someone.
I am visited by Isiah who is a builder when he doesn’t have an arm in plaster. Much like George, he was looking for small help getting to town for a checkup and to have the plaster changed
Albert and his brother Alfred pay us a visit to drop off a gift of damsons and a fruit which may be a guava
We hand out another football kit to a local boy. We have 60 shirts here, many of whom were gathered together by the Dempsey family in London called who took it upon themselves to get very involved in this work.
More visitors. More problems.
We make a break for it when our car comes to collect us.
On the left is Daodi. He is a much revered witchdoctor and each year he invites me to his home. His father is blind and I give him some support and Daodi is fantastic at reciprocating. On the right is Mr Omary. He is a fantastic help whilst I am here. He is a leader in charge of all disabled people in central Tanzania and that helps give me lots of access to people who it would be tricky to contact otherwise.
Daodi has several wives and he is keen that all his children learn the local dances so that the culture of the tribe is preserved for another generation.
It makes for fascinating viewing
We are not the only people watching, behind us are dozens of children
Daodi joins in the dancing. This is the first time I have ever seen him get involved and it felt exceptionally special. His hat and shoulder blades are made from monkey fur.
After the dancing and speeches, this little girl helps to clear up.
Our net stop is to visit the cows. These are 4 of the 7 cows the father of the witchdoctor now owns as a result of me starting him off with a small chicken project a few years ago.
Before we leave, Daodi kindly presents us with a duck to take away
The poor thing was so docile
We arrive home and spot this fellow outside the house
There is an intricate handshake which the guys do here which involes high-fives, finger flicking and bashing elbows together. We have managed to get a few to add this manoeuvre to the end
Food time. There are always 8-15 people here at supper time who need feeding and we usually have 4ish kg of rice and 2kg of meat prepared. We messed up today and supplied far too few sweet potatoes to take the place of the rice, so there wasn’t much to go around
Meanwhile some of the children meet Mr Duck. It is wrong to play with your food, but I guess we can make an exception.
Just before I go to bed, I see online that England is covered in snow. This photo of a snowman reminded me of the sand sculpture from earlier, just at a somewhat different temperature.
tomintanzania 