What a great trip, all too short though! I have been visiting Tanzania for 10 days to catch up on the ground and to see all the construction sites for the water project. I was really overwhelmed standing at the top of the hill looking down across the plain and seeing just how far this project reaches. It was totally different from seeing all the plans on paper! It is apparently twice the size of any project undertaken in Tanzania, I wasn't aware of this fact! The challenges were plain to see. Hiking up hills to get to the sites of the tanks showed just how much time and effort it takes in getting equipment and materials up to the sites. Men are carrying part bags of cement, sand, etc up these hills for miles! Men are living on the construction sites in tin huts! I was very pleased to see that we are now all communicating well and pushing for a quick outcome and to try to complete before the rains come. I met with the council, Wateraid, Nelson Mandela and the Ngaramtoni Water Board on my visit and heard that the money expected from the Tanzanian Government had not materialised and so this has been picked up by DfID for which I am truly grateful.
I met with the two young boys and their family at the start of my visit and it brought joy to my heart to see these boys wearing shoes and running about. A side effect of them staying at the Plaster House was that they learned Swahili, they had only known Masai before. Their feet were straight and I couldn't even see where they had had their operations.
I went to see a young 14 year old girl on this visit who had been brought to my attention through trustees in Tanzania. She is a double amputee. Through a contact in Rotary, who is himself an amputee, I talked to a charity that sends out parts for artificial limbs to a couple of centres in Tanzania. A doctor from the centre in Tanga made the journey over to meet with Sayuni and to take plaster casts to see what can be done. It was great to see the smile on her face from his visit.
I met Nelson Mandela personnel also to talk about the crop project and to update them on the work going on in the UK. We are bidding for funding with partners to do a three month test bed in Grimsby at the institute and then hoping to take the project to trial in situ up near Lengijave. I secured some land from the local chairman for this project so lets hope we are successful in getting some funding behind us.
Researching hotels and lodges was on my list and I spent some time looking for a central place to run some wellbeing retreats which would incorporate visiting National Parks to see the wildlife too. A small profit would go towards the charity's work.
Well, now I am back in UK feeling tired but very positive after my visit and looking forward to my next one which should be around the time of the commissioning of the water project.
I hope you liked this update and please let me know if you are interested in the wellbeing retreat, volunteering or donating or please feel free just to comment and let us know your thoughts.
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