Promise and Potential at HOCET

I returned for a quick weekend visit to the HOCET secondary school that I first visited in November (http://rachelintz.blogspot.com/2010/11/enjoying-food-and-friends-at-shamba.html). Many of the children at this secondary boarding school are orphans and are receiving a quality education. The school is seeking to be self-sustaining and agriculture may feature prominently in the these plans. There are some great opportunities, a lot of promise and potential, but some aspects still require a bit further development. And silly me is always so full of questions. Holes are being dug around school and in the central courtyard for trees (what kinds of trees? for food or firewood or shade or mosquito repellent or nitrogen fixation?). The students take chemistry and biology (why not agriculture too? is there anyway to connect that practical kind of learning to classroom learning?). The poultry project has begun, with nearly 1000 layer chicken (what is the market for the eggs and can there be some for the kids and some for the community? how can they maximize profits?). There's a river that provides fresh water and decent albeit sandy soils (how can the student gardens be promoted and maintained to diversify their diets? who will map out the master plan of what crops can be grown where?). So for the SWAHILI PHRASE OF THE DAY, I'll share my desire to see the development of an agricultural master plan = mpango mkuu wa kilimo

Journey from Arusha to Dar

It's possible to travel between Arusha and Dar es Salaam in less than an hour and a half by airplane, but there's something that you miss out on by jetting through the sky.

On the ride to Arusha I rode on the "super luxury" bus, and for about $15 I got a 10 hour ride cross-country in an airconditioned bus. We travelled safely under the banner imprinted on the windshield (Neema Za Mungu = Grace of God), and watched Tanzanian Christian music videos and film for the first half of the journey.

Riding back with the embassy vehicle wasn't quite as lively, with only two riding together rather than 50 in a bus, but it was still an enjoyable time, with several stops at small produce stands to stock up on lots of fruits, veggies, and staples for a fraction of the cost in Dar. And it was fascinating to watch the diversity of landscapes past by my window. All in all it was a good journey (safari njema).

So here are a few pictures from the journey.

Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa, with a fresh dusing of snow.

Sisal fields, which provide fibers for ropes and are one of the major export crops for Tanzania.

Kids returning from school near the mountains of Lushoto.

Typical houses in this part of the countryside, made of mud brick and thatch roof.

Hi-Ho-the-Dairy-O

Last week I got to visit a Dairy Cooperative, and had a great chance to talk with the board of this group of 300 women who have been able to improve their livelihoods and lives through the cooperative system that Land O'Lakes has introduced over the past few years. The women have a tank (made in Wisconsin) that stores 1400 liters of milk, and so every morning and evening they bring their milk to the center and every night it is sent on to the processing facility in town. I was quite impressed with the record keeping and business sense and how these women were doing so much to provide for their families. The men work more on coffee in this region, but it has not been nearly as profitable or predictable in price in comparison to dairy.
We also made a stop to see Josephine who was recently widowed, but has been able to provide for her family through the three cows and one calf that she keeps. It was wonderful to get to see in person the kind of work that USDA is supporting through the Tanzanian Dairy Development Program (see my blog post on launching this program).

SWAHILI WORD OF THE DAY: dairy and milk are both translated as "maziwa"

Bananas!

I have definitely have learned that Tanzanians love their bananas (ndizi). Up north I saw thousands upon thousands of trees full of this fruit that also serves as a starchy staple for many people. Thought I would share a few pictures of 1. a very full banana stalk, 2. a farmer, 3. the market where they get sold, 4. a tiny fraction of the bananas piling up to be transported across the country.

Shamba Darasa

In and around Arusha, I got to meet with a number of farmer groups and hear about the exciting work they are doing. I met with farmers being mentored on a large farm on how to become outgrowers for regional and international exports. Others were producing for the local market and applying new technologies such as drip irrigation or planting on raised beds. Yet another site I met with high school and vocational students who were eager to plant in a newly constructed greenhouse. A common theme was having a "shamba darasa", which is a farmer field school. In this common field, farmers could experiment with different approaches to see what would work best. I was encouraged to see USAID programs working closely with the local NGOs and government extension workers to actively support the smallholder farmers.

Rice is nice

While in Arusha, I took a bit of time to better understand the rice market. After Madagascar, Tanzania is the second largest producer of rice in East Africa, and there seems to be a lot of potential to grow. So while in the northern part of the country, I began my quest for greater understanding in the local market, where I was swarmed by retailers, showcasing their bulk rice from Mbeya and Magugu, and only a couple other locales which were at lower prices. Mbeya is literally across the country, in the southwest corner, but this aromatic variety is so popular that it's shipped up to the northeast. Magugu is a couple hours south of town, but is sold at nearly the same price as Mbeya. At the wholesale market across town, I met with Mama Tatu, who was eager to sell me her 100kg bag she had brought from Magugu. Just across the street, but in a starkly different environment, I paced the clean-swept aisles of the supermarket to find Mbeya and Magugu rice, along with a number of South African packaged parboiled and specialty rices. And in this lovely globalized world, I found Thai rice packaged for a U.S. company, sold in Tanzania. Later the next day I traveled down to Magugu to meet with an agriculture extension officer who shared valuable insights about the local market. And on my ride back to Dar, I continued my observations, as we passed by some rice paddy fields. I'm still far from being an expert, but feel like I learned a lot about rice this week. Here's a bit of Swahili for you, too. Mchele is the uncooked rice, but when it's cooked, it's called wali. Go figure.

Visiting Danny's Family

On Sunday, Iris and I visited Danny's family. Danny has a rather unusual story, but to make a long story short, he's from Arusha but going to school down in Dar es Salaam. Since he's a neighbor to Iris, we figured we would go and bring greetings. We first joined them for church (see last picture), which was only about 4 hours long. Danny's mother is part of the worship team and is passionate about singing and praying. We returned with them to their one-room house (the left part of third picture), where we enjoyed a delicious meal of rice and meat and vegetables. Danny has two sisters, ages 8 and 1-1/2, and the older of the two is going to St. Jude's. This school is for bright students from low-income families, and she's getting a top-notch education and is doing quite well in English. I was so grateful for the chance to spend the day with this kind and generous family.

The SWAHILI WORD OF THE DAY is mgeni, which means guest.

Lake Deluti

After the conference, my friend Iris and I decided to explore the beautiful outdoors around Arusha. Some of the national park and game reserve options in the surrounding area have pretty steep price tags attached, so we decided to set out on our own adventure that ended up being a spectacular day. I'll walk you through it, showing that it doesn't take much to have a great time [The exchange rate is about 1500 Tsh Tanzanian Shillings per dollar]:

Step 1: Board a dalla-dalla (local minibus) bound for TENGERU or USA. Don't be deceived, that second bus isn't headed to home sweet home, but instead to Usa River, just east of Arusha. While waiting for the dalla dalla to fill up way past capacity, buy popcorn and peanuts from a vendor who comes up to your window. [500Tsh for dalla-dalla, 500 for popcorn, 500 for peanuts]

Step 2: Arrive at Tengeru market, bustling with vendors with all kinds of fresh produce. Buy a bottle full of homemade mango-passion juice that's been poured into a used water bottle and hope that there aren't too many germs. Approach one of the women vendors to purchase a couple of bananas, and ask the best way to get to Deluti Lake, which is nearby. When you find out it's a 25-30 minute walk, ask her to help you find a good piki-piki (motorcycle) driver who can get you there faster. Jump on the back of the motorcycle and zoom down the dirt path. [500Tsh for bananas, 1000 for juice bottles, and 1000 for piki-piki ride]

Step 3: Arrive at the eco-tourism entrance gate with the hand-painted sign to "pay here first". After paying the foreigners price, proceed along the path around the lake. Admire the numerous species of birds and the beautiful trees. Gaze across the lake to Mt. Meru, Arusha's highest peak. After a long hike around the lake, treat yourself to a Fanta at the humble restaurant. [15000Tsh for foreigner's entrance fee, 1000 for Fanta]

Step 4: Get totally schooled by local kids who have invented a modified version of bowling or shuffleboard, using 7 used batteries. When they let you compete, set up 3 batteries on your side and roll the bowling battery towards the 3 that your opponent has set up. When you've knocked down some, he gets to use the bowling battery and the "pins" that have fallen down to try to knock down your batteries. First one to knock down all the opponent's batteries wins. [Priceless]

Step 5: Walk back to town, along the dusty dirt road, passing women who are returning from market with goods on their heads. Along the way, stop to notice the Livestock Training Institute (cool, ag stuff!) and the coffee plantations. At the market, haggle with the women to get a large ripe papaya. Board the dalla-dalla back to town. [1000Tsh for the papaya, 500 for the dalla-dalla]

Step 6: Learn the Swahili words for lake (ziwa), forest (msitu), and mountain (mlima).

ECHO conference in Arusha

Last week I got to have a crash course in agriculture in East Africa and meet some incredible people working in the field at the ECHO symposium in Arusha, Tanzania. Plenary and break-out sessions covered a wide range of issues from conservation agriculture to community animal health care to integrated pest management to sand dams to beekeeping. There was an appropriate technology fair, where I saw everything from water pumps to bicycle-powered cell phone rechargers. If the sessions themselves weren't packed enough with information, we also got to see some of the concepts put to work in the field - permaculture gardens, water harvesting techniques, and even a visit to the World Vegetable Center (the pictures featured here).

The second picture is of the moringa tree (mlonge in Swahili), which is refered to by some as the miracle tree. The leaves themselves are extremely nutritious and have been effective at boosting the nutrition and health of those living with HIV. The seeds can be crushed and used for purifying water. It's drought resistant. And so many other uses.

At the conference I met many people from a variety of backgrounds. Two men's determination and persistence
amazed and inspired me. They are leaders of a community-based organization who travelled two full days by bus to attend the symposium. They are passionate about improving the lives of people in their remote community, and wish to start up a farmer field school, a tree nursery, and possibly even a poultry farm. It was very interesting to talk with these Tanzanians who are offered some useful insights into the reality of rural life and agriculture in this country.

So the SWAHILI WORD OF THE DAY is mkutano, which means symposium or conference.

Spice tour

Working on ag in Tanzania, I knew that it would be very useful to go on a spice tour and learn a bit about this critical part of the agriculture sector, especially on Zanzibar.

It's amazing how much I learned in one morning - that vanilla is actually sort of an invasive vine, that cardomom grows at the roots of trees, that leaves from the arbaini tree can be boiled for a natural way to treat a bout of malaria, that mace is vibrant red and feels like plastic and is wrapped around the nutmeg seed, and that there's a pod that has bright orange natural dye that's used in tandoori chicken (pictured left).

I realized I actually knew so little about the origins of many of the items in my spice cabinet. Those dark brown cloves actually start out a vibrant red and yellow. And there's rambutan, a relative of the lychee that is a comical spikey red, yellow, and green fruit with a squishy, clear, delicious inside.

And all along, the tour guide helpers filled up our little palm leaf containers with samples from the trees, and fashioned all kinds of tree leaf ornamentation for us - I ended up with a frog necklace, two bracelets, a ring, and these stylin' profilin' glasses to complement my bride's maid basket of spice samples.

It's only appropriate that the SWAHILI WORD OF THE DAY is viungo, which means spices.

Listening to the Liturgy

For many of the Sunday's that I've been here I've gone to a liturgical church and I've appreciated the rhythm of the liturgy and that I know at the very least I'm going to hear two lessons, a psalm, and a gospel reading. And since my Swahili is still getting up to snuff, having the consistency of words that I know what they mean.

In Zanzibar I stayed at a guesthouse next to the Anglican church that was built on the grounds of the old slave market, after the end of the slave trade on the island in the second half of the 19th century.

Each morning I would hear the early morning call to prayer, since the island is 99% Muslim and a mosque was only a couple of blocks away. But on Sunday morning I also heard the 6am church bells ringing. And I stumbled out of bed to go to the early Swahili service.

It was interesting and I was surprised that there were more people present at the service than I expected, considering the small population of Christians in Zanzibar and that this was the early morning service. I caught a bit of the message, but the priest spoke a bit too quickly. So I found my mind wandering back to the Scriptures that were read the previous week that were still ringing in my head, because it runs so counter to the way that the world tells us to live:

Romans 12: Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone... If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink... Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

And even in the Old Testament reading, which sometimes includes not-so-palatable stories of death and destruction, there's this crazy account in 2Kings 6. The prophet Elisha sees the Aramean army coming, and his servant freaks out. Elisha says, don't be afraid we've got more on our side than they have on their side and prays for the eyes of the servant to be opened, and there's this supernatural army standing guard. Then Elisha prays that the Arameans would be blinded. Then he leads the blinded straight to the king of the people they were trying to attack, then opens their eyes again. The king of Israel asks Elisha what to do and whether to kill them. Elisha responds: "Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink and then go back to their master.” So he prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. So the bands from Aram stopped raiding Israel’s territory.

Isn't that just insane? I mean, who does that? What would the world look like if we sought to overcome evil with good, to feed our enemy, and didn't choose to repay evil with evil? What if the church as as revolutionary as that?

SWAHILI WORDS OF THE DAY: kanisa = church, mapinduzi = revolutionary