Nourish in Tanzania

So we have an internet cafe right in our hostel so it is a lot easier for me to get on here while we are in Lushoto also why this is the first post with some pictures.

The first picture is of one of the fish ponds here in Lushoto. These fish farms are the main purpose of our visit here since they are a very sustainable project and seem to be quite successful. The one in the picture is a farm sponsored by Heifer international and the Lutheran church at a school for the mentally disabled and autistic. The pond is cared for and maintained entirely by the students and the fish are harvested and consumed at the school. Ponds such as these can be started by anyone that can dig them near a water source and the church will provide the "fingerlings" or baby fish that in a matter of 6 months will repopulate the pond and from then on be self sustainable. So far we are going to help to rehabilitate a pond for a local farmer and look into sponsoring other ponds in the area.

Since we lack the manpower to create a pond we have been spending our time volunteering at a orphanage also part of the Lutheran church, as you can see in the picture baby Steve and Amina playing in the nursery.

Lushoto as I believe I mentioned in a previous post is a mountain village and therefore provides for some incredible views the most famous being from the Irente Viewpoint which is where I am standing in the last picture. That is all for now, we will be here for the next 4 days after which we will be traveling back to Tanga/Pangani while stopping on the way in Kilimanjaro to check out some parks. Salama.

p.s. internet connections are painfully slow and the power went out on me once already so if there are no pictures rest assured there will be eventually.

Mambo, vipi? We are all well and now in Lushoto which is in the Sambara mountains and absolutely beautiful. So before I get into some good news that we have had about the project in Tanzania and news about Pangani I think it is necessary to bring everyone up to speed about the importance of these chickens.

SO, currently in most villages across the country families own "traditional chickens" which are free-range chickens that do not require coups and run around the village and return home at night. The problem with these chickens is that since they run around everywhere it is not uncommon for them to be stolen, eaten, or killed in other random ways. Also the eggs that they lay require fertilization from other "traditional roosters" so these eggs are not necessarily laid where families can collect them or they hatch i.e. they pose little economic utility. Therefore the core of our purpose here has been to give families "modern chickens" which is the direct translation from Swahili but they are basically the souped up chickens we are used to that lay an egg a day without fertilization. Here is where the coups come in, since these are not as street smart as the free-range chickens most families have if let out they would eat things that would harm them and probably not return home etc. So in building the coups we provide a place for the modern chickens to reside etc. Now another problem with modern chickens is that they are higher maintenance requiring expensive food and vaccinations so our solution is to make hybrid chickens in a process called "upgrading" basically we stick a modern rooster with traditional hens which pop-out hybrid babies that lay an egg per day and are also a littly tougher than pure modern chickens. The end goal being that hybrid chickens grow to lay enough eggs per day for families to more than triple their current income by selling them.

Now then for the good news, on our last day when David and I were distributing the last of the supplies to all the families along with instruction booklets that we made we found out that 1 of the 5 families already had 2 hybrid eggs only a day after we had put the rooster with the hens!!! Hopefully you all share in our excitement.

That same day the rest of the group took a trip to Pangani to the fishing village to see how best we could assist them. After having a harrowing ride there they met with the town council and much to their astonishment found that the villagers most wanted us to help them by providing them with exactly the same project we already did in Tanga! So i suppose more chickens are to come.

Will update about lushoto later but i am out of internet time. Hakuna ma tata.

Posted by Krao at 9:51 AM 0 comments

So it has been a lot longer to get back on here than i thought, but we have been hard at work and eager for shower and bed after long days of building huts. We have finished all 5 of our coups and they turned out extremely well. Yesterday and today we have been purchasing all of our poultry and the associated materials such as food and vaccinations etc. today david and i are fortunate enough to deliver all the chickens to the families who recieved coups and to the other families who we are giving a few chickens to as a gift. Rachel, Noreen, and Boni will be travelling to Pangani for the day to meet with the chairman of the fishing village to sort out exactly how we can help them.

Best news of all is that tomorrow we will be living all these chickens for good to go to Lushoto to the Lutheran Church where we will be working with the fish ponds and the orphanage there. Don't get me wrong i love chicken but after david was defecated on and a week here i think we are all ready to move on. Tanga will be missed though. Take care and keep it real.

Connected once again. We finally got to our final destination on sunday night after 3 straight days of travelling. We arrived in Tanga to our much better than expected accomodations at the Inn by the Sea which is exactly how it sounds (I also lucked out and got one of the ocean front rooms). We visited the Amboni caves yesterday which are limestone caves that are extremely massive spanning miles. After that we got to business meeting with the local officials who are aiding us in selecting the families that will be recieving aid as well as helping with logistics in construction of the coups. It was a very enriching experience walking through the villages and meeting all the Mama's (the ladies of the house) and kids along the way. It is amazing how much delight the kids get out of having their picture taken and shown to them. Tomorrow we will begin contruction for the first few families and gather supplies for the rest of the project. Now that we are somewhat settled and learning our surroundings posts should be more frequent. I also hope to get some pictures on here assuming it doesn't take hours to upload them, I am using dial-up after all. Usiku mwema.

-tik

Hello people, everyone has safely arrived in Johannesburg in good spirits and high expectations. Tomorrow the four of us will be flying out of Jo-burg to Dar es Salaam to meet with Boni our guide and then drive straight to Tanga where we will begin the chicken coup/cow pen project. It may be a while before we have internet access again so it may be a while until my next post, but keep checking.

-tik