Water, People and Places
(Unfortunately both Andrew and I forgot our cameras for this trip. This photo is of a pond in the area we visited but comes from http://thejimshelley.worldzonepro.com/tanzania3.html)
This past week I made a trip to the town of Tandahimba where Andrew Fraser and I met with the Head Water Engineer for the Tandahimba district named Peter. Peter is a go-getter. His energy to help people of Tandahimba refreshed us as his self-titled “all weather” work ethic kept us driving from village to village from 9 am to 6 pm. Peter and a few of his co-workers not only showed us various projects that have been planned or started he also took time to introduce us as guests to the head of every village we visited. Though he knows English well we spoke almost exclusively in KiSwahili so that Andrew and I got practice. It was a challenge but at the end of the day it felt good to see how much I could comprehend and communicate.
As we went from sight to sight he began to provide a framework for the water situation. The prognosis is not good. ”Any way you can help will be very appreciated.” He said, “even if you help only twenty people those twenty will share so that you will really be helping a hundred.” With the daunting task of providing thousands with the bare necessity of water he is thinking big with schemes well over the $100,000 range. Future projects are being modeled after a project that has already been completed and has been showing great success since 2006. The basic design begins with capturing rain water on a large scale by creating earth dams in valleys with existing ponds or marshes. The next phase would be to drill a bore hole near the dammed lake 10o to 150 meters down to where there is known to be a good reliable source of water. This allows the dammed water and other aquifers to ‘recharge’ the well during the dry season. Water will then be pumped from the well to a large tank up above the village where a multiple-spigot distribution center will be built to allow villages access to the water. Villagers will fill their buckets for around 50 Tzs (around 3 cents) with the money to be used for maintenance and eventual expansion of the system. Peter said the bore hole (drilling, piping, and other equipment) will cost around $50,000 alone. This is not including pump, pump house, generator, piping to the tank, tank, and distribution center. Peter has his work cut out but also seems to be well cut out for the work.
When we communicated that we might be more interested in more small scale projects such as half-village sized water catchment systems he showed us a nearby system that had failed due to poor planning and engineering. We were told that there are a few good larger catchment systems in operation but didn’t get to see them on this trip. All of the conversations and just getting a feel for the situation was very exciting and somewhat daunting.
Driving back on the bumpy dirt road hundreds of designs, ideas, and schemes flashed through my mind most if not all dismissed as quick as they had come. God-willing, I will be working on these kinds of projects in the future. In the meantime. language is still the focus. Walking down the valley to see a failed dam that had been built by villagers on their own I began a conversation with a Makonde farmer. When he saw that I was interested in learning ChiMakonde he took my hand and patiently, helped me repeat “What is your name? My name is…” in ChiMakonde over and over laughing at my mistakes and cheering when I got it right. My fumbling attempts were a huge hit with surrounding ChiMakonde speakers as they listened in as well. They would try a phrase or two on me and laugh at my over-emphasized confusion and exasperation. As they say in KiSwahili, “Kitu kizuri hakifanywe na haraka.” meaning “A good thing is not done quickly.” I’m still working away at KiSwahili but it was nice to get a glimpse of possible future work in and among the Makonde.
