Direct from the Field!

Bringin' home the bacon!

2011-11-18T18:22:00.001+03:00

Women farmers here in Karatu want access to livestock because livestock can be a lucrative business -- a mature pig of around 80 kgs can fetch $170. To respond to their priorities, CPAR Tanzania launched a pig campaign last Christmas. Here's what has happened since:

In collaboration with local agricultural extension officers, we provided training in pig management to 80 women – 21 of whom are heads of their households. Topics covered included types of pigs and their selection, caring for pigs and piglets, feeding and pig nutrition, simple pig house construction using local materials, parasite and disease control, marketing, price negotiation and record keeping.

After constructing their pig houses, 80 sows and 20 boars were distributed to the women in their communities -- Kambi ya Simba, Kilimatembo and Rhotia Kainam. It's uneconomical -- well, not just uneconomical -- to match one boar to one sow, so we organized one boar for four sows. The women responsible for the boars ensure that they're in good health to provide quality services to the sows, while the rest of the women bring their sows once they show signs of being in heat.

With proper management, a boar can service sows for up to 5 years after starting the mating process. After that, the boar will be too weak to mate and produce healthy piglets. At that point, the women caring for the boars can sell them for not less than $200 each.

Each woman is responsible to train and pass on two three-month old female piglets to another woman who in turn is required first to construct a pig house. So far, an additional 80 women have been selected -- doubling the initial project investment -- and the pig passing has begun with 20 women receiving piglets. This 'pay it forward' principle will continue.

Cash in the hands of women leads to paid school fees, more nutritious food and healthier happier kids. After that, a common priority is to lay the foundation and get started on constructing a modern house.

World Health Day Challenge 2011 -- Mother and Newborn Health

2011-10-08T18:41:00.000+03:00

Bunda was abuzz this past week with training for Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs). CPAR Tz staff teamed up with Bunda District Health Department to deliver a dynamic workshop for 32 TBAs from 14 rural communities.

The ‘Continuum of Care’ approach to Mother and Newborn Child Health recognizes that the health and well-being of women, newborns and children are closely linked and need to be managed in an integrated manner. It ensures that the health care needs of women and their children are addressed from pre-pregnancy on through the early years of a child’s life. The first dimension of the Continuum is ‘Time’ -- from pre-pregnancy through pregnancy, childbirth and the early days and years of life. The second dimension of the Continuum is ‘Place’ -- linking home, community and health facilities.

The purpose of the training was, first of all, to emphasize the importance of TBAs providing education in their communities and linking pregnant women with their local health centres to allow for early screening of complications and the four visits necessary for the full range of antenatal services and delivery. They learned about the importance of a Birth Plan for every pregnant woman, and about the development of referral plans. They learned about PMTCT (Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV).

In the event of unforeseen circumstances where a TBA must perform a delivery, the training focused on the elements of a clean, safe delivery. (Although pregnant women are encouraged to deliver at the health centre, in reality in Bunda around 70 per cent of pregnant women deliver at home.)

TBAs learned about recognizing and responding to danger signs during pregnancy, delivery and immediately after delivery (e.g. the most common emergencies are hemorrhage and birth asphyxia). The mother must be visited within the first 24 hours of delivery, and again within 24-72 hours to examine mother and child for bleeding and infection. The TBAs learned the basics of hand washing, clean cord care and a clean cloth to wrap the baby. They discussed the importance of immediate and exclusive breastfeeding. Other important topics were Immunization and Family Planning.

Training aids included babies and pelvic models...

The TBAs were provided with safe delivery kits equipped with razor blades, soap, sterile gloves, string and a rubber mat.

TBA Leticia Mussa receives her safe delivery kit

The TBAs also received bicycles which will help them reach pregnant women for education, counseling and referral plans.

TBA Subyeki Eliasi with her new bike

TBAs offer a great entry point for education – for example, engaging pregnant women in discussions about malaria and use of bednets for both the women themselves and children under the age of five can have a huge impact on Mother and Child health.

Canadian students sharing communication skills with CPAR Tanzania Staff

2011-06-28T16:43:00.000+03:00

CPAR Tanzania takes a huge foot step towards communicating its work in Karatu and Bunda to the rest of the world

Communicating our work with people requires willingness, motivation and skills on how to present stories, photos, videos and to explicitly show how, through CPAR's support, rural communities come forward to prioritize their needs in order to achieve a better quality of life.

CPAR Tanzania offices are based in program areas of rural Karatu and Bunda Districts, the advantage of this is that CPAR Tanzania has enjoyed, and is still enjoying, a close relationship with the communities it works with. This has resulted in the "fairly smooth" implementation of its programs. On the other hand, being away from the city, poses obstacles towards career development, particularly when you look at the pace of technology change in the communications field.

In order to overcome this challenge, CPAR Toronto in collaboration with the University of Manitoba (through World W.I.S.E. at the International Center for Students) selected four students to participate in a Service Learning Program, which included, among other programs, communication training for CPAR Tz staff.

The selected students were Scott Jarosiewicz, Mallory Giardino, Jacklynn Stott, and Katherine Davis who each spent six weeks with CPAR staff "rotating" their skills, taking quality photos, using flip video, manipulating photos, editing videos, and creating and maintaining blogs. Presentation skills, and how to enhance our communication with the public, was part of the training as well.

"This really is an interesting program, we've always been taking photos and videos but didn't know what to do afterwards. With this program it means that we can diligently send stories from a Tanzanian perspective, express our opinions about development work, and communicate directly with Canadian public through our blog. It's just perfect" says Nderingo, CPAR Tz field staff.

"This training has improved our skills. With quality videos and photos, we can definitely make less work for headquarters in editing photos and videos" says Deo, CPAR Tz field staff.

"Much as the program takes a lot of logistical effort, it is worth it" says Japhet, the CPAR Tz Country Manager, " it is a factual, eye-opening experience, that will help us to better communicating with the rest of the world and tell it about our work."

Doing good work is a good thing, but communicating to people about the good work is the best way to get each of us involved.

World Health Day Challenge 2011

2011-03-29T19:00:00.001+03:00

CPAR's 6th Annual World Health Day Challenge is coming up next week on Thursday, April 7th -- World Health Day! We invite health professionials and other interested people to donate a portion or all of their day's income to support safe motherhood in rural communities in Bunda District. As Japhet in the above photo is urging you to do, please Donate a Day for Africa! :-) (Japhet was actually perched very precariously on a rock high above Bunda town and Lake Victoria for this photo.)

Leticia Mussa with one-week old baby she delivered

We will be collaborating with Bunda District Health Department to provide training for Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) like Leticia Mussa (check her out on You Tube) . Their key role will be stressed as one of identifying pregnant women in their communities, providing them with education and information, helping them prepare Birth Plans, encouraging them to deliver at the local health facility and assisting them with a strategy to get to the local health facility. The role of men will be strongly stressed.

Very importantly, TBAs will be trained to identify complicated pregnancies for early referral to Bunda District Hospital, and they will learn about PMTCT (Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV) and how to protect themselves. We will provide TBAs with safe delivery kits equipped with sterile gloves, aprons, plastic sheeting, razor blades, soap, string to tie the cord, etc. Although the jury is still out in Tanzania on the official role of TBAs in "safe motherhood", the fact remains that over 60 per cent of rural women give birth at home. Our goal is to make sure that this happens safely.

World Water Day 2011

2011-03-22T18:59:00.002+03:00

Meet Sikitu Joseph (left, in yellow), Farmer Field School (FFS) Facilitator and member of Haruzale Water Committee, the body responsible for managing and maintaining Haruzale's Community Borehole (deep well) established by CPAR last November. We visited Haruzale last week and talked to Sikitu about the impact the borehole has had on her day-to-day life.

Sikitu used to walk 5 km to Lake Victoria twice a day -- at 6:00 a.m. and again after lunch -- to fetch a bucket of green, slimy, contaminated lake water for her family's needs. Each trip would take from 2 to 3 hours. Sometimes she would go by bike and carry 2 buckets at a time.

Now with the borehole nearby, Sikitu spends more time focusing on her farm and conducting small business activities to generate cash -- she sells mandazis (donuts) and eggs and uses the money for her kids' school needs and household items like kerosene and cooking oil. But the big thing for Sikitu is her time and effort saved -- spending hours every day carrying heavy loads of muddy water is unpleasant and exhausting.

Crucial to the long life and success of the borehole is the management style of the water committee -- 3 women and 3 men selected by the village government. In Haruzale, each of the 200 households served by the borehole contributed about 70 cents towards opening a bank account for the borehole. Now each household is required to pay the equivalent of 35 cents every month. This money is deposited in the borehole bank account and will be used to service and, when necessary, repair the borehole and the pump. Each household is also required to contribute about 15 cents every month to pay for the security guard appointed by the water committee to watch over the borehole. To save wear and tear on the pump, the operating hours are from 7am to 12 noon, and again from 2pm to 6pm daily. The security guard makes sure the timetable is followed. Sikitu and the other water committee members are confident that their borehole is going to be in operation for a very long time.

Energy Saving Stoves

2011-02-25T15:28:00.002+03:00

Learning how to construct energy-saving stoves

Women in rural communities have to walk increasingly long distances to look for firewood. This is a tedious, time-consuming burden for women and girls and detracts from time spent in girls going to school and women participating in activities that will generate income. From an environmental perspective, the use of large amounts of firewood for cooking has contributed to problems of deforestation leading to soil erosion and land degradation -- undermining agricultural efforts to produce food.

three-stone fire

The local three stone fireplace is the most common method of cooking in rural Tanzania. It is easy to construct and requires no investment of time or money. It uses a wide range of fuel sources but a lot of heat and fuel are wasted, a considerable amount of smoke is produced and children are prone to serious accidents due to the open features of the fireplace.

Back when CPAR Tz first started working in Karatu District, we learned that various models of energy saving stoves had been introduced but none had been widely adopted. We wanted to promote energy saving stoves because they use about one-third the firewood of the three-stone fireplace, so we decided to consult with rural women to find out why the stoves weren’t popular.The women complained that they couldn’t roast maize, the stoves didn’t produce enough light and the intensity of the heat tended to destroy their pots. Furthermore, they were expensive to construct because they used cement and burnt bricks. And, the women objected to the use of chimneys because, as they pointed out, a little smoke is a good thing to keep snakes and scorpions out of your house.

CPAR Tz shared this information with women from the Arusha-based Centre for Agricultural Mechanization and Rural Technology (CAMARTEC) who had already worked to design an energy saving stove that addressed women’s concerns. In addition, they had taken “kitchen management” to a whole new level by tackling women’s comfort and efficiency in the kitchen.

Testing the soil

Since that time, we have promoted mud cookstoves (“Mkombozi”) that women can build and maintain themselves using locally available materials -- clay soil or ant hill soil, fresh cow dung, “lomay" (a local tree that produces a jelly like substance used as a binding agent), gravel and water.

Mixing the goop

These same local materials are used to construct stools so that women can sit comfortably while cooking, and can be used to construct shelves so that kitchen utensils can be tidily stored and easily accessible.

Using wood and paint containers

The tools required to construct the stoves are a knife or machete, a bucket, two pots or paint tins of 5 liter capacity and a piece of flat wood for compacting the soil. With the exception of the paint tins and flat wood, all are readily available at the household level. The paint tins and flat wood can be procured for about $2 and then continuously recycled to other households. All the necessary measurements are calculated using one’s hands.

As part of the “kitchen management” training, women learn to keep the kitchen clean, arrange kitchen items conveniently, maintain the stove, store firewood properly, keep cooking utensils covered and sprinkle the earth floors with a bit of water before sweeping to minimize the dust. They learn energy saving tips such as reducing the firewood once the food has come to a boil, covering the pot with a lid whenever possible, avoiding overcooking, soaking raw foods such as maize and beans before cooking, chopping certain foods into small sizes before cooking, using dried wood for less smoke and better use of energy, and preparing everything first before lighting the stove.

Traditional Iraqw houses don’t have windows so cooking over the three-stone fire fills the house with smoke. The Mkombozi stoves are constructed, at women’s request, in place of their three-stone fires. It’s easy to see on the mud wall exactly where the smoke hits so, keeping in mind that some smoke in the house is desirable, the women are encouraged to put in a small window so that a lot of the smoke can escape.

Demonstration -- although this pot should ideally be covered...

Cooking stew and roasting maize

Results from using the energy-saving stoves include use of 3 sticks of firewood instead of 10; faster cooking times; the ability to leave food cooking on the stove and tend to other activities; far less smoke leading to a reduction in eye inflammation and respiratory problems. One unexpected result was that some of the women trained have been able to turn their new skills into an income-generating activity. Our most recent training was facilitated by Rosalia, one of the first women trained by CPAR Tz in 2004. She even makes small modifications to the stove to make it more user friendly, e.g. making the burners two different sizes to accommodate the variety of pots found in households.

Rosalia (left) instructing Sabina

The "Face of Giving"...

2010-12-15T16:07:00.003+03:00

This little piggy's going to market...

We've launched a "Pig Campaign" this holiday season to raise funds to purchase pigs for women's income-generation in Karatu District. Our goal is to buy 110 pigs -- 90 female and 20 male -- and distribute them to 90 women in the communities of Rhotia Khainam, Kilima Tembo and Kambi ya Simba. Cdn $70 per pig includes purchase, transport, training, and follow-up and monitoring by CPAR field staff.

Women’s income-generating is an important component of CPAR’s Food Security Project. Our rural women partners want livestock to generate income – specifically pigs and dairy goats. Before they receive the pigs, we train the women in pig husbandry – how to care for the pigs, what to feed them, how to prevent and treat conditions like worms and foot & mouth disease – and the women are required to build a simple pig house out of locally available burnt bricks or thatch.

Nderingo with Rebekah Lazaro and her pig

Each woman receives one female pig, and the male pig is shared among five households or so, depending on their geographical location. The gestation period of a pig is 114 days – poetically 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days. One litter is usually 8 to 12 piglets, and pigs can have 2 or even 3 litters in one year. One 90 kg 8-month old pig can fetch Tsh 270,000 (about Cdn $260), and they are immensely marketable in Karatu, Arusha and as far away as Dar es Salaam. Pork is popular!

CPAR's “Pay it Forward” principle requires each woman recipient to pass on 2 female pigs and training to two additional women. Considering that the average annual income of many households is only Cdn $288, pigs are an excellent boost to household cash. And, it's a well known fact that when women have access to cash it goes to support children's education, buy food for the household and improve the health of the family.

Our goal is to raise Cdn $7,700. Please visit CPAR's Face of Giving website today to purchase a pig and put cash in the hands of women.

Blog Action Day 2010: Water in Tanzania

2010-10-15T18:50:00.006+03:00

Today is Blog Action Day 2010, and thousands of bloggers all over the world are blogging to draw global attention to the vital human right to safe, clean water. It is appropriate that we -- CPAR Tanzania -- should be blogging about water today because as we speak community members of Kerekekere village are accessing borehole water for the first time ever, and we have commenced drilling of another borehole at Haruzale village.

Members of Kerekekere Water Committee training in borehole maintenance

First borehole water at Kerekekere

Water is a huge challenge in rural Tanzania, so we've been taking a variety of approaches to supporting communities to meet their water requirements. This includes construction of rainwater harvesting tanks in primary schools; micro-irrigation schemes for women's vegetable and fruit gardening; and most recently support for community boreholes.

Words don't do justice when describing the kinds of water sources people are forced to turn to for their daily needs of drinking, cooking, bathing, handwashing, doing dishes and washing clothes. So, here are some shots...

Fetching water for home use

School kids fetching drinking water

Washing dishes and bathing in Lake Victoria

We are committed to supporting community solutions to water challenges and, as long as we can continue to obtain funding (the challenge of every non-profit organization), we will keep plugging away at the local level and telling you about it on this blog.

School kids drinking rainwater

In the meantime -- don't waste water, be grateful for the luxury of drinking from the tap and please feel free to donate to CPAR Tanzania through our website at Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief .

Boreholes in Bunda!

2010-09-24T11:43:00.030+03:00

We have ventured into new territory. After six years of building rainwater harvesting infrastructure in primary schools in Karatu District, we are taking a different approach to address water challenges in Bunda District. Subsequent to hydrogeological and environmental assessments of Bunda, located in the Lake Victoria watershed, boreholes (deep water wells) are found to be a feasible solution to water problems faced by our project communities.

Karukekere village is a farming community about 8 km from Lake Victoria which is the largest lake in Africa, divided up among Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. (As a point of interest, the White Nile flows out of Lake Victoria at Jinja, Uganda.) Karukekere community members have depended on seasonal sloughs and water from the lake -- both contaminated -- to meet their water needs.

As Japhet, Nderingo and Elizabeth were on hand in Karukekere, pretty stressed out as we all waited for the drillers to strike 'gold', all of a sudden water erupted (see the photo above). Actually, any water project is stressful. With rainwater harvesting, we anxiously await the rains. With boreholes, even with the best information, there's still no iron-clad guarantee that you're going to end up with a reliable source of good quality water. That being said, things are looking very good at Karukekere as we await the results of the water analysis.

Drilling is but one component of a water project. How the water will be used is the really important focus. Tanzania's National Water Policy stipulates that every water point must be managed by a Water User Group (WUG). The WUG, made up of local women and men, ensures that the water source is used effectively and efficiently, and is conserved, protected and maintained. The WUG mediates any disputes that might arise and the members serve as representatives at District and Catchment level. CPAR is collaborating with Bunda District Water Department to train and support the Karukekere WUG, and we will then turn our attention to promoting good sanitation and hygiene practices.

Kildonan-East Collegiate - Tanzania 2010

2010-05-31T08:43:00.022+03:00

It's been a long time coming... but after four years of global education in the classroom and inspired fundraising for our school rainwater harvesting activities, 18 students, 4 teachers and 7 family members from Kildonan-East Collegiate in Winnipeg finally arrived in Karatu to meet the kids, teachers and parents of Qaru Lambo and Gilala primary schools, and experience some things that life here has to offer.

Our first stop was Qaru Lambo Primary School where the Kildonan and Qaru Lambo kids got to meet each other and hang out for a very full, wonderful day.

Everybody signed the school guestbook, visited all the classrooms, the students sang and the whole community got involved. They welcomed our guests with a sumptuous lunch and celebrated with drumming and dancing.

The Kildonan students reciprocated with a resounding rendition of the "Hokey Pokey". Hey, you can't go wrong with the "Hokey Pokey".

By the end of the day, the Qaru Lambo kids and the Kildonan kids were playing competitive games of soccer, volley-ball and netball.

And that was just the start of the adventure. Check out Kildonan's blog of their experiences at KEC Tanzania 2010

Micro Irrigation at Work!

2010-05-07T17:19:00.036+03:00

Farmer Field School women's groups in Kambi ya Simba are in the process of establishing large vegetable gardens and fruit orchards with the help of micro-irrigation equipment. Treadle pumps like the MoneyMaker pump and simple drip irrigation schemes can revolutionize production in arid areas dependent on rainfall.

As the women tested the pump, pumping water from a nearby stream, they were amazed at the velocity and reach of the spray.

Operating the MoneyMaker pump is kind of like working out on a stairmaster, and the school boys love it... at least, they do now until the novelty wears off.

Drip irrigation is very simple. A large bucket is placed on a stand, and lines of plastic tubing are laid throughout the garden. Water is applied (or "dripped") on a slow, even basis at root level so very little is wasted through evaporation or run off.

Simple, but very effective considering the time-consuming, tedious alternative of fetching bucket after bucket of water from the nearest water source to water by hand.

Gilala Primary School

2010-05-07T16:04:00.005+03:00

Work is almost complete at Gilala Primary School, the second school supported by the students of Kildonan-East Collegiate in Winnipeg. Rainwater harvesting tanks have been constructed and the VIP latrine is a work in progress. Our CPAR Tz colleague Japhet Emmanuel was in Winnipeg recently where he met with Kildonan students to discuss the impact all their efforts have had on school children's lives in Karatu and to further prepare them for their upcoming visit to Tanzania. Check it out at Japhet in Winnipeg

Plant a tree!

2010-04-13T12:34:00.023+03:00

The long rains are upon us, and have been for a while fortunately, so tree planting has been in full swing. With Earth Day 2010 looming, this seems like a good time to talk about the multi purposes and endless benefits of trees in Tanzania.

First, the macro benefit. Simply put, trees breathe in carbon dioxide, which poisons the air and contributes to global warming, and breathe out oxygen which is essential for life. It thus makes good sense to plant trees and use them responsibly.

Popular trees around here include fruit trees like guava and papaya which contribute to a healthier diet. Cassia trees provide shade and firewood, and serve as a windbreaker to control soil erosion. They beautify the environment with their bright yellow flowers.

Croton Megalocarpus provide building materials, live fencing, firewood, fodder, shade and medicine. Their leaves enrich the soil.

Grevillea Robusta are widely used among farmers for agroforestry because they grow fast, help control soil erosion, don't compete against food crops for nutrients and sunlight, and their leaves help to replenish the soil. They also attract bees. Other uses include firewood and timber.

The Acacia family is amazing. Acacia Drepanolobium, the mbalimbali tree, supplies firewood, fencing material, goat feed and is used to construct toilets. Acacia Xanthophloea, also known as the fever tree, is a source of building materials, live fencing, fencing posts, firewood, fodder, soil improvement through nitrogen fixing, and medicine. Acacia Tortillis, the umbrella thorn, is great for hosting bee hives, live fencing, fibre (rope), firewood, construction of furniture, tool handles, needles and even dye.

Manihot Glaziovii is a drought resistant species that provides shade and serves up vegetables during the lean season.

The Neem tree in addition to providing magnificent shade is used as a natural pesticide and has multiple medicinal uses.

Firewood is the main source of energy in rural households so ongoing tree planting is vital. People understand that. There is a big demand for seedlings. We have a tree nursery in our office compound which is becoming increasingly popular.

World Water Day 2010

2010-03-22T14:24:00.015+03:00

Kids and rainwater at Mikocheni Primary School

Water! Here in rural Tanzania, we think about it and we worry about it constantly. Happily, it rained heavily on Saturday night and again last night. We were concerned that "the rains" had stopped in which case farmers, food production and the entire Karatu water supply would have been in trouble. Now it seems that "the rains" just might be continuing... but of course we can't be sure.

The theme for this year's World Water Day is "Clean Water for a Healthy World". Our Rainwater Harvesting project in rural primary schools harvests rainwater off school rooftops to provide clean water for drinking and handwashing which can then be recycled for cleaning classrooms and latrines, and planting trees.

Under our Food Security program with local farmers, we will be exploring other cost-effective forms of rainwater harvesting, such as plastic-lined open storage "tanks" made of earth, and the use of simple water technologies like treadle (foot operated) pumps to lift water from its source, and gravity-fed drip irrigation systems using tubing and buckets. We are presently training groups of women in Kambi ya Simba village to use these micro irrigation technologies to create large vegetable gardens. More on that later...

Conservation Agriculture in Zambia

2010-02-24T15:37:00.026+03:00

Zambian farmer Maryo Lazaros showing his farm field

CPAR Tz was invited by the African Conservation Tillage (ACT) Initiative to go on a study tour to neighbouring Zambia to see Conservation Agriculture (CA) in action and learn from Zambian farmers. Deo has returned to Tanzania with some new ideas to try out with Karatu and Bunda farmers. He met farmers in Zambia using special hoes, called "shaka" hoes, to dig basins for planting maize. For farmers who cannot afford CA equipment such as the Magoye ripper (about $200), this is a more economical approach to practicing minimum tillage CA. It involves using a rope and shaka hoe to dig a series of basins in a straight line at even intervals for planting maize.

The Farmer Field School members in Karatu are impressed by the shaka method and have chosen to apply it in their fields. The good news is that it has finally started to rain in Karatu so the planting season for maize is happening now.

Karatu FFS members digging basins

Another discovery in Zambia was the Msangu tree (Faidherbia Albida). This indigenous tree is referred to as the winter shade tree because, unlike most trees, it loses its leaves during the rainy season. The leaves are mulched into the soil, enriching soil health, and the tree doesn't compete with crops for sunlight. As a result, crops planted close to the winter shade tree do very well.

Zambian CA farmers are also rotating maize and soy crops. Soy beans have multiple advantages -- they are nitrogen-fixing so enrich the soil, they are an effective cover crop and they are very nutritious. The farmers process the soy beans by first boiling them for 45 minutes to remove trypsin, a toxin, and then they are dehulled and dried in the sun. The soy beans are then milled to produce soy flour which is used for porridge, ugali and soy biscuits, or mixed with cassava flour to make soy-cassava cake. Soy flour fetches a good price on the market, much higher than soy beans, so we are checking out the potential market for soy flour in Tanzania.

Back to Blogging...

2010-01-25T12:49:00.019+03:00

After a slight break in blogging, we're back for 2010! Our Bunda basecamp is up and running and Bunda farmer field schools are at work in their fields. Bunda's major growing season is November-December while Karatu's big season is starting now.

We provided ox ploughs to members of Karatu Farmer Field Schools (FFS) in November and December, and distributed short maturity papaya seedlings from our tree nursery for planting around households. The recipient farmers will in turn serve as a source of papaya seeds for other community members. Most recently we've been delivering improved maize, lablab and pigeon pea seeds to FFS members to establish revolving seed loan funds. After harvest, they pay cash for the seeds into the revolving fund, and are then able to purchase seeds in bulk the next planting season to distribute to a greater number of farmers. We actually purchased the lablab seeds from our FFS farmers from previous years, who continue to collaborate successfully in Savings and Credit Cooperatives where they pool their funds to provide loans to the members.

Our problem now is the lack of rain in Karatu...

World AIDS Day 2009

2009-12-01T12:26:00.033+03:00

On the occasion of World AIDS Day, we'd like to celebrate PLWHIV (People living with HIV) who are making a difference.

In August 2005, when ARVs (anti-retrovirals) finally arrived in Karatu District, two brave women joined the treatment program and asked CPAR Tanzania for education about HIV&AIDS. We started a support group for women living with HIV and provided access to small business loans. By December 2006, 35 women strong, they decided to go public with their status by marching proudly and loudly through the streets of Karatu.

Today, CPAR Tanzania's "partner", UMATU (Upendo na Matumaini) (Love and Hope), is an NGO of 60 women living "positively". And they haven't stopped shouting. We partnered with them to do education outreach and counselling of PLWHIV and other community members. People increasingly sought them out for information and education.

In 2007, Canadian journalist Valerie Pringle heard about UMATU and initiated a fundraising campaign in Canada for construction of UMATU Centre, a multi-purpose complex housing office and meeting space, training centre, handicrafts and bakery/future café.

As UMATU built their capacity to plan and deliver dynamic outreach education, in 2008 they received funding from the Stephen Lewis Foundation to implement an education outreach project. This led to increased levels of testing for HIV in Karatu District, and many more HIV positive people joining the treatment program. The positive results UMATU achieved then led to a second grant from the Stephen Lewis Foundation this year to continue their outreach education.

UMATU has dealt a severe blow to stigma and greatly raised awareness and understanding in Karatu District. At UMATU Centre, they are busy baking bread & cakes, sewing cloth handbags, making beaded jewelry and renting out their training centre, all with a view to making sales and achieving sustainability. Out in the community, they are educating people about human rights, gender issues and HIV&AIDS, encouraging women and men to test, know their status and take action. They are now facilitating new support groups of women and men together.

The women of UMATU are an inspiration to everyone they meet, and an important example of the amazing things that can be accomplished when people come together to support each other.

UMATU members themselves say it best:

I feel so empowered now that I know that other women
here are in my position…

My life has changed so much since joining UMATU - we get
educated here and with this knowledge, we educate the society...

I feel so good that this group has gotten this far, we are really helping each
other, we advise each other and we make each other happy just by being able to
talk to each other about living with the virus...

Everyone, from family level to District level, knows our HIV
status. This has encouraged many women to come out and join our group, and now men, who were the biggest obstacles in the families, are coming forward for
education.

There is hope to live, that’s part of being a member of UMATU. We meet every Wednesday, we share life stories… there is really a lot of hope.

I have so much hope right now. I know that death is necessary; I killed all my fears and worries. I mean honestly, everyone has a day to die, and mine will come but not because of HIV&AIDS.

Say NO - Unite to End Violence against Women

2009-11-25T11:35:00.040+03:00

Today is the "International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women" and the first day of the "16 Days of Action against Gender Violence Campaign". The right to live violence free is a fundamental human right denied to many women and girls living in areas where gender based violence (GBV)is endemic. According to the WHO (World Health Organization), among women between the ages of 15 and 44, acts of violence cause more death and disability than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents and war combined.

In Tanzania, 1 in 3 women have at some point been physically and/or sexually abused by their partner. In a society where women have traditionally been considered to be inferior to men, acts of GBV, including intimate partner violence and rape, can be seen as normal and acceptable. In typical "blame the victim" fashion, women and girls are often blamed for causing or provoking GBV. Blame and shame prevent women and girls from speaking out, reporting to authorities and seeking treatment and support for GBV. The situation is worse in rural areas due to lack of access to information and distance from services.

During our first participatory baseline exercise in rural communities in Karatu, GBV raised its ugly head most often in the form of "marital rape". While preparing the “Activity Profile” -- an endless list of their daily activities from early morning to bedtime --women described the “husband regime” at the end of the day. Exhausted by arduous physical activity with no time to rest, the "husband's regime" was the last demand required of them before they could finally go to sleep. During our most recent partipatory baseline exercise in Bunda District, GBV in the form of "household conflict" appeared on the Seasonal Calendar as a routine "activity" that occurred in the time period immediately following harvest.

GBV is a major obstacle to women's "empowerment" and the achievement of gender equality, a central goal of CPAR Tz's work to improve Household Food Security. We therefore tackled the issue right at the beginning by incorporating GBV in our Farmer Field School (FFS) curriculum along with Human Rights, Gender Equality and Sexual and Reproductive Health issues. For example, we'd be standing with FFS women and men in the middle of a farmer's field, examining the crops, and raise the subject of domestic violence. Farmers, men especially, began to make the link between violence against women and women unable to concentrate to work productively in the fields.

Last year we went back to our first community in Karatu to take a closer look at the impact of our approach. Through household questionnaires, focus group discussions and interviews with farmers and leaders we learned that there had been a dramatic shift in gender relations and the position of women in both the household and the community. Village leaders reported that women were speaking out in community meetings and asserting their right to equal control over household resources. Farmer Field School women and men reported that next to an increased year round food supply, greater self-confidence, improved relationships between husbands and wives, and a marked decrease in household conflict were the most important changes that had occurred as a result of the project. Greatly encouraged by these results, we are committed to continuing to keep gender issues including GBV front and centre in everything we do.

We talked about Violence against Women at UMATU's weekly meeting today, and they brought up lots of examples in Karatu such as FGM (female genital mutilation), wife-beating, discrimination against widows, etc. We will be campaigning together over the next few weeks, engaging women and men in discussions on human rights and GBV, and UMATU specifically will be addressing the link between GBV and HIV& AIDS.

“Our goal is clear: an end to these inexcusable crimes - whether it is the use of rape as a weapon of war, domestic violence, sex trafficking, so-called “honour” crimes or female genital mutilation/cutting. We must address the roots of this violence by eradicating discrimination and changing the mindsets that perpetuate it.”

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Message for the International Day for the
Elimination of Violence against Women
25 November 2009

A Word on Conservation Agriculture and Farmer Field Schools

2009-11-04T12:33:00.023+03:00

We often refer to Conservation Agriculture (CA) and Farmer Field Schools (FFS) without explaining clearly what they are. Considering that CA and FFS are the foundation of our Food Security Program, for those of you who are interested, here goes:

Conservation Agriculture is an approach to crop production that aims to increase and sustain high levels of production while at the same time conserving the environment. As practiced here, it's based on the application of three principles:

1. Maintaining a permanent vegetative soil cover through planting cover crops and leaving crop residues on the field to protect the soil surface from wind and water erosion;

2. Minimum disturbance of the soil by planting directly through the mulch to maintain the soil structure and retain moisture in the soil;

3. Intercropping two or more crops. For example, the staple crop here is maize which is a shallow-rooted plant that extracts nutrients from the soil. Pigeon peas on the other hand are a leguminous crop with deep roots that can break down the hardpan (compacted soil caused by repeated plowing) and fix nitrogen in the soil, thereby contributing to a healthier more productive soil. Intercropped together, maize and pigeon peas compliment each other.

Farmers, especially subsistence farmers, never put all their eggs in one basket. Understandably, they take a cautious approach to any changes in their methods of food production. The practice of Conservation Agriculture entails a significant departure from conventional agriculture. We therefore start with women and men farmers coming together to form Farmer Field Schools, which are "schools without walls" where farmers can share information and experiment and learn together in a participatory process facilitated by CPAR Tz. They start by applying the CA practices together in an experimental plot over one cropping season. They meet regularly to closely observe their fields and document the progress. Once they see and experience for themselves the positive effects, for example less labour due to no clearing of the land; no soil erosion during heavy winds and rainfall; and a bigger yield at the first harvest, they take the methods home to their household farm. Some farmers start practicing CA on their own plots immediately, others wait until the harvest before they are convinced that this is an approach worth trying.

Farmers from Karatu and Bunda Districts have now completed their formal training in Conservation Agriculture. The intensive training was conducted on a training of trainer basis for 20 women and 20 men farmers who have now returned to their communities and will help CPAR Tz train many more farmers in newly formed Farmer Field Schools. An important component of the training is use of CA implements such as the hand operated jab planter which plants through the soil cover, and the draught animal powered ripper which cuts furrows through the soil cover and places the seed directly in the ripper furrow. Other CA equipment exists but to keep the costs down we focus on the jab planter and the ripper along with ox ploughs for mulching the cover crops and crop residues into the soil.

And that, in a rather large nutshell, is Conservation Agriculture 101. The impact of Farmer Field Schools on farmers, on the other hand, goes way beyond learning new agricultural methods. At risk of boring our readers, we'll leave the wonders of FFS for another posting.

Please don't stop fundraising for Awet!

2009-10-20T14:58:00.011+03:00

Construction of Awet Girls' Dormitory is complete. Now we need to build latrine/shower facilities and purchase bunk beds. We have yet to reach our goal of raising Cdn $65,000. The good news is that we are only Cdn $10,000 short. We've been discussing this shortfall today, breaking it down like this: If 10,000 people each gave $1, Awet would be set. If 5,000 people each gave $2, we'd be there! If 1,000 people each parted with $10, that would be it!

We appeal to our friends and supporters to dig into your pockets and spare some change. Please visit CPAR's website to make a donation. Every little bit will help us reach our goal to ensure that Awet dormitory is ready for girls at the start of the new school year in January.

Blog Action Day 2009: Climate Change

2009-10-15T12:55:00.028+03:00

Today is Blog Action Day 2009, and the purpose is to draw attention to the topic of "Climate Change". Controversy around the causes and consequences of "Climate Change" and "Global Warming" is kind of irrelevant. Fact is, here in Karatu District subsistence farmers have an extremely close relationship with their physical environment. We are presently waiting for the short rains, which should be occurring about now and which many fear will be late or not arrive at all. It is hot, dry and dusty, and water is in short supply. For those households with power, electricity cuts are frequent. But, rather than sitting around talking about climate change and what a downer it is, farmers are taking action to responsibly manage and improve their physical environment.

In anticipation of the upcoming rains, they are ready to plant thousands of seedlings. CPAR Tz’s nursery is ready to go with a variety of seedlings for agroforestory and planting around households. Many farmers are practicing Conservation Agriculture, leaving cover crops and crop residues in the field for mulching, adding nutrients and conserving moisture in the soil, thereby preventing erosion and using any and all rainfall to its greatest effect. They conserve and transport manure to the fields instead of burning it and relying on expensive chemical fertilizers. Simple energy saving stoves, which consume 1/3 the firewood of the traditional three-stone fire, are in growing use and there is considerable interest in alternative sources of power, for example solar, which is not yet an accessible and affordable technology to a rural household.

Learning from the example of subsistence farmers in rural Tanzania, CPAR Tanzania's message this Blog Action Day: "It doesn't matter who you are or where you are, you have a responsiblity to respect and care for the environment."

Click on the Blog Action Day logo to see what everybody else is saying and get ideas on what you can do.

Participatory Baseline Exercise Bunda

2009-10-05T17:12:00.002+03:00

CPAR Tz's team is back from three weeks in Bunda spent facilitating a participatory exercise in rural communities to learn about their food security related issues and priorities. The team used participatory tools -- village histories, community mapping, transect walks, wealth ranking, seasonal calendar and gender activity profile -- to investigate issues in depth with community leaders and farmers. The exercise resulted in each community preparing an Action Plan to address their priorities, which include increasing crop production through use of improved seeds and improved agronomic practices such as proper spacing, strategic weeding and timely harvesting. CPAR Tz will be introducing the practice of Conservation Agriculture to the District Agriculture Department and women and men farmers in Bunda.

Sexual and reproductive health issues including human rights, family planning, FGM, HIV&AIDS and gender-based violence were discussed at length, with gender-based violence emerging as a particularily hot issue. Household conflict even showed up as an activity on the Seasonal Calendar during the period immediately following the harvest in April. Women are responsible for most of the grueling farmwork --weeding, harvesting, threshing, cleaning, drying, etc. However, when time comes to decide on disposal of the harvest -- how much for household use, how much to sell -- the man steps in, decides on his own with no consultation and keeps all the cash. Bunda women are more than ready to take on the full spectrum of human rights and gender equality issues. After having a strong and positive impact on household conflict and gender relations in Karatu rural communities, CPAR Tz's team is looking forward to tackling gender issues in Bunda.

Here's our nurse Husna helping out on Karukekere clinic day!

Graduation Day at Awet

2009-09-29T19:04:00.002+03:00

Awet Secondary School was buzzing last Thursday as graduation ceremonies were held for the Form four students. Of course, they haven't actually graduated yet -- they write their exams in October -- but everybody forgot that little detail for the day and had a really fun time. Our summer volunteers, who are now back home in North America, will be pleased to know that Awet brought in DJs with an excellent sound system from Karatu town (run on generator) and we danced to Marlaw's "Pi Pi" on autoplay...

On a serious note, keeping in mind that Awet Secondary School is the top performer in Karatu District and 17th out of 78 secondary schools in Arusha Region, school statistics from 2008 show that of a total of 122 Form four students (65 girls and 57 boys), only 12 girls but 41 boys qualified for acceptance into A levels (Form five and six), the entrance way to higher education. Another 37 girls scored Division "four", which although considered a pass does not gain them acceptance into A levels, and 13 girls were out of the running completely.

Students throughout Tanzania write standardized national exams, and this is a challenge especially for rural schools where it's a constant struggle to attract and retain good teachers and just keep up with day to day living. But the low performance of girls is very disturbing. We hope to help turn this around at Awet with support for the girls' hostel, which will allow girls to escape most of the drudgery of endless chores and focus instead on their education, and a continued focus on gender issues and creating an environment in which girls can build their self-confidence.

Bunda District

2009-09-17T14:16:00.015+03:00

After focusing our work in Karatu District, Arusha Region during the past six years, CPAR Tz is now expanding northwesterly into Bunda District in Mara Region, near Lake Victoria. We'll be implementing our new five-year Food Security project in both districts. Our team is presently in Bunda District preparing to facilitate a participatory baseline exercise in rural communities.

These are the members of Ragata Village Council. On the right is Gerald, Bunda District Crop Officer.

Here's Gerald, Japhet and Mohammed with members of the Village Council of Karukekere.

On arrival in Bunda earlier this week, CPAR Tz's team found the district under quarantine with a cholera outbreak. However, Bunda District Health Department has taken swift measures to control the outbreak so it is pretty much business as usual with severe food restrictions and a big emphasis on hygiene.

Travel between Karatu and Bunda involves a safari through Ngorongoro and Serengeti National Parks, so we're essentially guaranteed an encounter with giraffe, zebra, wildebest, elephants and lions. On a recent trip we even observed a pair of cheetahs sauntering through the savannah, and watched two lionesses stalk a herd of gazelles.

Awet Girls' Hostel Today

2009-09-16T16:32:00.007+03:00

The hostel is looking great! The fundis are doing finishing work and painting inside, and we brought the windows and the doors to the site today. In case anyone's wondering why the site hasn't been crawling with fundis (construction workers), it's because Sadiqi is big on quality control. Too many cooks....

Speaking of food, the students have harvested maize (corn) from the school farm so were 'busy' shucking corn today. The maize is boiled together with beans to create "makande", a nutritious yet tasty mainstay of the school diet.

Party at Qaru Lambo Primary School

2009-09-04T17:48:00.015+03:00

We were invited to Qaru Lambo Primary School to celebrate their new rainwater harvesting tanks and latrines. The kids put on an amazing show -- lots of drumming, dancing and singing. There's a seasonal "lambo" (slough) nearby where they had been getting their drinking water, leading to all sorts of stomach problems. Now they're making jokes about it...

This project is supported by students at Kildonan-East Collegiate in Winnipeg as part of a larger program of development education and action. They're learning about development issues in the classroom and initiating a variety of activities, including selling perogies Perogy Power, to raise funds to support development initiatives in the field in Karatu District. Next year 2010 they will visit Tanzania to see and experience "development" in action.

School Water Committee Training

2009-08-28T17:39:00.017+03:00

We've been training primary school water committees at our most recent rainwater harvesting schools, Haraa and Qaru Lambo. Mohammed, our rainwater harvesting co-ordinator, and Sadiqi, our master fundi, facilitate the component concerned with management and maintenance of hardware and water, while Husna, our public health nurse, facilitates the health and hygiene aspect. Each water committee is comprised of teachers and students. We try to maintain a gender balance -- our approach to everything we do -- but it's a little difficult in schools where female teachers are outnumbered by males, a common occurrence in remote rural schools. CPAR Tz firmly upholds the basic human right to food and water, so our water committee trainings always include snacks, sodas and water.

Qaru Lambo School Water Committee, with Husna & Mohammed

Haraa School Water Committee

Photo update of Awet girls' hostel

2009-08-20T17:43:00.009+03:00

Participatory Baseline Exercise

2009-08-17T15:14:00.032+03:00

We are facilitating a participatory baseline exercise in Karatu rural communities to develop our new food security program. Using participatory tools like community mapping, transect walks, seasonal calendars, wealth ranking, resource ownership and control, activity profiles and focus group discussions, we have the opportunity to spend time with women and men farmers to get to really understand their situation, and to assess and make plans together to implement a food security program that will get their desired results.

Transect walks are taken through designated areas of the community to observe people, topography, use of natural resources, cropping patterns, water points, etc. to identify problems and opportunities. It's a chance for community members together with a facilitator to observe and analyze stuff going on in their communities from a fresh perspective. And, there are always surprises like stumbling upon children who should be in school...

The Seasonal Calendar lays out weather patterns and activities that occur on the farm during the 12 months of the year. As a partner of rural communities, it is important for us to understand the challenges, responsibilities and pressures farmers face at particular times of the year. Timing is everything in agriculture so CPAR Tz and farmers need to be clear on when, for example, farmers need access to improved seeds and other agricultural inputs, and which times of the year they may have time to participate in training sessions.

Women and men are separated for various activities in order to capture the unique and often very disparate perspectives of both sexes. One of the more interesting exercises is the "Activity Profile" whereby women and men work in separate groups to lay out a day in the life of a woman or a man. When the profiles are presented to the larger group, much laughter ensues when the women need several sheets of flip chart paper to present their day, and the men can usually stretch their daily activities to 1/3 of one sheet. After the initial laughter comes reflection and analysis as to why their days and hence their lives are so unequal...

Let's Talk!

2009-08-13T09:53:00.010+03:00

The "Sister Du's" are winding up their program with the girls at Awet Secondary School. After much discussion, reflection and laughter, the Tanzanian school girls and the Canadian nurses have learned a lot from each other. The subject matter has been substantial -- human rights, gender issues, sexual and reproductive health, building self-confidence, setting goals and overcoming obstacles. On Wednesday, the girls performed an igizo (skit) for the entire school. Building on their own experiences, they portrayed obstacles faced by many Tanzanian girls wishing to further their education. The girls themselves played all the roles -- the exasperated girl, the supportive but powerless mother, the chauvinistic father, the predatory boyfriend, the 'role' of HIV&AIDS -- and the result was both entertaining and disturbing. The theme for the performance was "Let's Talk". Post performance, there is a lot to keep talking about.

Looking Good!

2009-08-04T15:21:00.004+03:00

Work is proceeding well at Awet Girls' Hostel. We expect to get the roof on in the next week.

Sister Du!

2009-08-03T11:18:00.012+03:00

cool, self-confident women with their own unique flare!

Sherry, Sylvie, Deana and Karolyn -- nursing prof and students from Algonquin College in Ottawa, stayed on with us after the great Kili-Awet adventure to facilitate a dynamic exchange of gender, human rights and sexual and reproductive health education with the girl boarders at Awet. After spending lots of time with the girls, they are now way cooler than any of us CPAR Tz staff.

"Bongo Flava" (Tanzanian Hip-Hop)

Team From Concentrate!

2009-07-30T10:23:00.007+03:00

Team From Concentrate, a group of Stanford engineering students and grads, has linked up with CPAR Tz in Karatu on a mission to work with rural communities to develop affordable and reliable off-grid electricity. They arrived with an assortment of solar structures and immediately set to work in CPAR's office sawing, sautering and gluing to get their prototypes ready for the communities. On Monday they set off for Maghesho. Read about their experience at FromConcentrate

Amanda, Bryan, Lesley and Greg en route to Maghesho in CPAR's pickup!

Is it football or is it soccer!?!

2009-07-23T11:25:00.000+03:00

Saturday was our visitor's final day at Awet. Canada challenged Tanzania to a 'soccer' game and Tanzania accepted the challenge to play 'football'. 'Football' is taken very seriously in this part of the world. Among CPAR Tz staff alone, 'Manchester United", "Liverpool", "Chelsey" and "Arsenal" are ardently supported. In fact, when our visitor 'Chelsey' introduced herself to Awet's 600 school kids, they all nodded knowingly.

The game itself was interesting. In the absence of jerseys, there was initial bewilderment over who was playing for which team. The Canadian/North American team (joined by CPAR Tz's 4 American volunteers) recruited several Tanzanians, and the Tanzanian team recruited several North Americans. While the players were sorting out their confusion, the Tanzanian team moved in and scored two quick goals. The North Americans then pulled it together and the game ended with a 3 all tie.

The Tanzanians have now challenged the North Americans to the next game to take place somewhere in North America...

Visit to CPAR project sites

2009-07-21T09:59:00.000+03:00

On Friday we set off on bumpy dusty trails to visit rainwater harvesting at Ayalaliyo and Mahhahha Primary Schools. Now that they have access to water, Ayalaliyo school has started a banana plantation. Nderingo explained to our guests the practice of conservation agriculture. The Dolichos lablab bean, a cover crop, has been planted throughout the banana plantation in order to suppress weeds, protect the soil from sun and rain, retain moisture, and as a nitrogen fixer to enrich the soil.

In the meantime, the kindergarten kids were playing some game that had them singing sweetly with their teacher before tearing back and forth across the field at full speed!!

After rainwater harvesting, we travelled on through the dust to Regina Aloyce's house in Bassodawish. Regina has a lot of stuff going on. She showed us her vegetable garden, her papaya trees, and her chickens, goats and pigs. Our visitors had the chance to enter her traditional Iraqw house and also the modern house made of burnt bricks and iron roofing sheets that she and her husband are building.

A Day at Awet

2009-07-20T13:35:00.002+03:00

On Thursday, we spent an amazing and yes productive day at Awet Secondary School thanks to the superior organizational skills of Head Master Mr. Malle. We were 'warmly' welcomed, signed the guestbook and met the teachers. Then we moved outside to meet 600 school kids. They sang "Wonderful Day, Wonderful Time" to put us at ease and then belted out their school song and the very popular "Tanzania song" (Tanzania nakupenda) which describes how much Tanzanians love their country. Kambi ya Simba community members rounded up the program with rousing drumming and dancing. Then the heavy lifting began. The Algonquin group lined up to shift three large piles of big heavy concrete blocks from the ground to the hostel building. Then they helped to apply mortar and lay the blocks. The walls started to go up!! In the meantime, the schoolgirls watched from the steps of the adjacent girls' hostel. Pretty soon interaction stepped up between the guests and the girls to the point where all of a sudden, believe it or not, a little group was doing the Macarena...

Algonquin visit to UMATU Centre

2009-07-17T18:18:00.000+03:00

Our wageni (guests) from Canada arrived on Wednesday and their first stop was UMATU Centre where UMATU women welcomed them with their usual flair. After a tour of the offices, kitchen/bakery and training/activity centre, some serious shopping took place. Our guests pretty much bought up UMATU's current supply of khanga bags and beaded jewelry. It was a very good day for UMATU's income-generating aspirations.

After the shopping spree, to everybody's great surprise UMATU produced a beautiful, uniquely decorated birthday cake they had whipped up for Sue Ellen. After Sue Ellen blew out the candles, we all shared the delicious carrot cake. UMATU women are really honing their baking skills. Next week -- banana loaf.

Awet Secondary School Girls' Hostel

2009-07-13T12:21:00.000+03:00

The dusty road to Awet

School Secretary Samweli prepares for the students' return

The new girls' hostel at Awet (adjacent to the existing girls' hostel)

CPAR Tanzania is all set for a visit this week by climbers, students, faculty and community members of Algonquin College in Ottawa. This community of people has raised funds in Canada to construct a girls' hostel (dormitory) at Awet Secondary School, a remote rural school located in Kambi ya Simba (Camp of Lions)here in Karatu District.

The group is presently climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and will be arriving in Karatu on Wednesday. If they can still walk after their Kili ordeal, they will hike to UMATU Centre Wednesday afternoon to see the product of last year's adventure when another group of Canadians, under the creative leadership of journalist Valerie Pringle and adventurer Ben Webster, raised funds, climbed Kili and helped to construct UMATU's beautiful yet functional centre. Ben is also leading this year's tour.

In the meantime, we're getting ready for the group to participate in construction activities at Awet. By last Thursday, the foundation was close to completion, as you can see in the photo. By this Thursday, our visitors will be helping to raise the walls.

Boarding facilities for girls are crucial for girls to successfully complete their secondary education. Secondary schools are few and far between, so most girls live quite a distance from the nearest school. And, if a girl does live at home while going to school, homework and sleep take a backseat to household chores -- fetching water, looking for firewood, taking care of small siblings, cooking, cleaning, etc. -- so her chances of doing well in her studies are greatly compromised. The new hostel at Awet Secondary School is going to have a very positive impact on girls' attendance and performance.

2009-05-26T16:52:00.000+03:00

UMATU Centre is buzzing with activity these days. Today, Hedwiga was making bread, Sabina and Witness were churning out colourful kanga and kitenge bags, and Subira, Anna, Theresia and Victoria were doing beadwork. Everybody's been getting lots of practice and we're now getting ready to do some serious marketing of all the beautiful handicrafts.

Haraa Primary School Update

2009-05-15T10:04:00.000+03:00

With funds raised in Canada during CPAR's World Health Day Challenge campaign, work is well underway at Haraa Primary School to construct two 30,000 liter rainwater harvesting tanks. The community has gathered local materials -- rocks, gravel and sand -- used in the construction activities, and community members are hard at work digging the pit for the Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP) latrine to be constructed next. We delivered gutters to the school and met three boys carrying water, which is unusual and actually kind of refreshing since girls are normally sent off on this grueling chore. Both teachers and students are looking forward to having water on site.

Still Baking

2009-05-14T13:26:00.001+03:00

The women at UMATU are really getting into baking. Today they made bread, buns and a carrot cake. After a bit more practice, they'll be ready to scale up and open their bakery to the Karatu public. Here at CPAR, of course, we've already dived into UMATU's mighty delicious and very filling bread in a big way.

Bread

2009-05-05T17:44:00.000+03:00

What a great day! UMATU women (and CPAR staff) learned how to make bread, quite literally from scratch. We started out by visiting the local market to buy wheat grown in nearby Mbulu Mbulu. We visited several stalls before we bought a debe (big bag) of really good looking wheat. Our next stop was the milling shop to get the wheat winnowed (separating the chaff from the grain) and ground into flour. Then we headed back to UMATU's spacious kitchen. After carefully measuring out the ingredients, we got into some serious dough preparation. The result was six beautiful loaves of golden, fragrant -- and healthy -- bread! Nderingo says it's the best bread he's ever tasted. UMATU's bakery is officially launched!

Earth Day 2009

2009-04-22T16:46:00.001+03:00

Today is Earth Day and the Internet is teeming with tips on “living green”. Earth Day Canada’s Top Ten Actions include tips like:

Buy what you need, not what you want
Replace indandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs
Walk, cycle, car pool or use public transportation
Support local food producers
Hang your clothes to air dry
Take short showers instead of baths
etc., etc.

It’s interesting to compare living “green” in Canada with life here in rural Tanzania. For one thing, people constrained by poverty are hard pressed to buy the things they need much less those things they really want so that addresses tip number one. Most of the light bulbs used in Karatu are fluorescent energy saving bulbs because electricity is so expensive that people have to take measures to keep their costs down. Lights here don't go on until it is truly dark! Oh, and that's only about 5 per cent of Karatu's population -- 95 per cent don't have access to electricity.

Less than three per cent of people in Karatu own vehicles, and public transport is a constant struggle so the vast majority of people bicycle or walk great distances. Most of the food consumed is grown locally – maize for the staple food and tomatoes, onions, cabbage, carrots and green peppers for the stew. The bananas for dessert are grown only 20 km down the road in Mto wa Mbu. All the animal products – beef, chickens, eggs, pork – come straight from local farms.

Doing your laundry in Karatu means filling a basin half full with water (a precious commodity that must at all times be conserved), washing all your clothes by hand and hanging them on the line to dry in the sun. Showering involves filling a small bucket with water, soaping up and then scooping up water with a small container to rinse off.

One challenge is the proliferation of plastic water bottles, many discarded by the tourists passing through. Although there are no established recycling facilities, the bottles are recycled informally and used to carry milk, cooking oil and kerosene to meet day-to-day needs. Another challenge is the plastic bags that were introduced in the 1990s. The government has recently banned most of them, but the ban is slow to take effect. UMATU members are presently sewing bags made from local scraps of cloth as an environmentally friendly alternative.

Hmm, all in all... we’d say we’re pretty green...

Rain!

2009-04-08T09:48:00.000+03:00

Clip art courtesy of DailyClipArt.net

The rains have arrived -- a month late -- but they are finally here! After missing the expected 'short' rains in October-November, the production of food depended on the timely arrival of the 'long' rains in March-April. When March came and went without a drop, we feared watching crops wither in the fields and the need for Food Aid in Karatu District. A huge burden has been lifted and the transformation from fear and resignation to smiles and celebration is truly great to behold.

Tour d'Afrique 2009

2009-03-30T19:10:00.000+03:00

Cyclists with this year's Tour d'Afrique passed through Arusha this month on their annual bike safari from Cairo to Cape Town -- Arusha is the halfway mark. The Tour presented 7 California bicycles each to UMATU, ALPHA (Arusha living positive & with HIV&AIDS)and MIHV (Minnesota International Health Volunteers)for their health outreach activities. Here's a photo of UMATU and ALPHA members with the bikes at Masai Camp in Arusha. Meanwhile, back in Karatu, MIHV volunteer Sarah is training UMATU members in sewing and beadwork. They are starting to produce really cool bags, purses and 'spicey' potholders filled with cloves from Zanzibar.

World Health Day Challenge 2009

2009-02-24T11:03:00.000+03:00

CPAR is gearing up for this year's World Health Day Challenge on April 7th. We invite Physicians and other Health Professionals to donate all or a portion of their proceeds on that day to support community development projects like the establishment of safe water and sanitation facilities at Haraa Primary School here in Karatu District.

We asked the Haraa school kids about their current water situation.

“The water source is very far from school, and the water is really dirty and contaminated. We use the same source as livestock, and that is not very good for our health.”

“This water source is seasonal, and when it dries up we have to go far into the forest to fetch water and in this forest there are wild animals which are dangerous to our lives, animals like elephants and hyenas, and this forest is more than 6 km from school, up in the hills so we spend more than 4 hours going there, which can affect our academic performance.”

"We walk a long distance to the water source and then back with a bucket load of water on our backs or on our heads. During the dry season, the problem becomes more serious because we have to walk several kilometers to the forest to fetch water. We can get harmed by wild animals and that’s why we need water here in school.”

Please check out our World Health Day Challenge website at www.donateaday.ca

Seed Fair

2009-01-27T17:11:00.000+03:00

Karatu District missed out on the short rains this year. Although many farmers planted beans in expectation of rain in October and November, it didn't happen. Most of our communities averaged less than one day of rainfall so the beans withered in the fields. Nevertheless, in expectation of the long rains in late February and March for Karatu's major growing season, the farmers are going ahead with field preparation and seed selection. In response to the farmers, CPAR is conducting a seed fair this week. Nderingo and Deo have teamed up with the local seed supplier to visit each community and ensure that the farmers will have timely access to the kinds of seeds they want -- namely short maturity maize and pigeon pea seeds, sunflower seeds and lablab beans.

Implementation of simple irrigation methods like manually pumping water to the field through, for example, the moneymaker pump, is a challenge in our communities due to the lack of natural springs, lakes or rivers. Farmers are reliant on rainfed agriculture which is why CPAR promotes "conservation agriculture", a technique of conserving moisture in the soil through planting cover crops and leaving crop residues in the fields after harvest.

UMATU Centre 2009

2009-01-16T14:17:00.001+03:00

We are happy to report that UMATU moved into their new Centre just before the holiday break in December. Our next step is to furnish the training area and the kitchen/bakery. UMATU continue to do daily education outreach and the full group meets together every Wednesday. Through their outreach activities, they have supported the creation of a new group of women and men living positive. "Amani" (Peace) are meeting every Friday at UMATU Centre, with UMATU members facilitating their education on matters related to living positive -- ARVs, managing side-effects, nutrition, the importance of attending clinic regularly, treatment of opportunistic infections, and mobilizing other people to get tested so they can understand and manage their health status.

Reflection on the final days of 2008

2009-01-06T16:08:00.000+03:00

On World AIDS Day we spoke about Maria, admitted to hospital seriously ill with AIDS-related symptoms. Marie died on Sunday, December 14th. Had this been Canada or any other northern country, she could have been saved. Here, we have access only to first-line drugs, nothing magical to bring people with full-blown AIDS back from the brink so to speak. UMATU and CPAR feel more strongly than ever that people need to get the message loud and clear -- "don't run from being HIV positive. If you wait until you get sick, it is probably too late."

Just after Maria died, an UMATU member was admitted to hospital. Her family had talked her into returning home to her village, far away from the treatment program. She became ill and when we visited her in hospital, we found her having a bad reaction to a drug she had already been found to be allergic to. A doctor had administered the drug without reading her chart or consulting with medical staff from the Treatment Centre. Again, it was very helpful for UMATU, and CPAR this time, to step in to assist. We provided a mosquito net, light bulb, food of course and even medicine after the hospital pharmacy announced that the medicine we needed was finished. We also lobbied in earnest. After this experience, the Treatment Centre and the Hospital, which are located on the same compound, are communicating more effectively with each other. And, we're talking about the importance of people taking more responsibility for their healthcare, for example, knowing the names of the drugs they are taking and the drugs they are allergic to, and instructing health personnel accordingly.

UMATU Centre Gate & Guardhouse

2008-12-10T14:26:00.000+03:00

Karatu is kind of in holiday mode at the moment. Monday was Eid al-Haj, the Islamic festival of the annual pilgrimage -- the Haj -- to Mecca, and Tuesday was Tanzania's Independence Day, celebrating 47 years of Independence from Colonialism.

On another note, UMATU Center is fenced and gated, complete with a strategically situated askari (guard) house. Against all odds, water is flowing and the electricity works so UMATU should be moving in later on this month or by early January at the latest.

December in Karatu

2008-12-08T16:13:00.000+03:00

World AIDS week outreach came to an end yesterday with drums and drama at Karatu Market Day. The drama troupe Simba Masai joined CPAR and UMATU to put on a high-energy show. There was a huge turnout at the market, the last one before Christmas, so a lot of people took a break from shopping and auctioning livestock to take in a rather entertaining approach to HIV&AIDS education, counselling and testing.

World AIDS Week Outreach

2008-12-05T14:38:00.000+03:00

In collaboration with Karatu District Health Department, CPAR and UMATU are conducting outreach activities at Karatu monthly market sites around the theme "Let's test and know our status". CPAR and UMATU talk about the benefits of getting tested so that depending on the result, one can take steps to stay negative or learn how to live positively. They are provided counselling services and District Health are offering testing services. Yesterday at Endabash over 50 people chose to test. Today the team is in Mangola, tomorrow they will travel to Mbulu Mbulu and on Sunday they will offer services at Karatu town Mnadani (market), the largest market in the district. UMATU members circulate through the hordes of people providing small group and one-to-one counselling and education on protecting oneself and others from HIV, proper use of condoms and they encourage people to test, if not at the market then at a designated health centre.

World AIDS Day 2008

2008-12-01T18:20:00.000+03:00

Today is World AIDS Day. The purpose of this designated day is to motivate and educate about HIV prevention, putting an end to stigma and discrimination, the importance of testing and knowing one's status, and the demonstration of "positive" living. First thing this morning, UMATU and CPAR learned about the death of a one-year old girl and admittance to hospital over the weekend of her young mother, Maria. Maria is HIV positive but has been living in denial. Now her CD4 count is low, her immune system is weak, and she has developed opportunistic infections. The hospital here is severely understaffed and patients don't get the care and attention they deserve, so UMATU has started a "hospital-based care" program modeled on the "home-based care" program. As soon as we heard about Maria, UMATU members went to see her to express their sympathy for her loss, to encourage and counsel her, and to ensure that she was getting proper care. It was a good thing they got on top of the situation. The doctor on duty hadn't even heard about the case but after talking to UMATU promised to examine Maria and take appropriate action. UMATU spent time with Maria, helped her with food and drink, and made her comfortable. Maria now says that she is ready to talk honestly with the doctor and start the treatment program. UMATU will be following up tomorrow. Without their intervention, the prognosis for Maria would be grim.

CPAR Tanzania today

2008-11-20T17:56:00.000+03:00

We've been gathering information about Mahhahha Primary School, next in line for rainwater harvesting and sanitation activities. Established in 2004 with the self-help efforts of the women and men farmers of Mahhahha, the school is located 31 km from Karatu town near the edge of the Rift Valley escarpment. The school has 472 students – 237 girls and 235 boys -- and 8 teachers -- 2 women and 6 men.

The school's nearest sources of water are a seasonal hand dug shallow well 3km away and a hand pump shallow well 5m away. Both are shared by people and animals. The only sanitation facility at the school is a 6-unit latrine that is shared by girls and boys. Attendance levels are low, with only 51% of girls and 49% of boys attending regularly. Teachers report frequent complaints of stomach ailments and headaches, and sometimes children even faint from dehydration.

The District Education Department has ordered all schools to establish tree nurseries and plant trees but this is difficult given the lack of water for human consumption and health and hygiene. Given the circumstances, landscaping is not a big priority. Nevertheless, over three years the school has managed to plant 500 trees during the rainy season, and 250 are surviving.

CPAR Tz will be constructing two 30,000 liter rainwater harvesting tanks and an 8-unit Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP) latrine designated for girls. Other schools participating in this project have seen a marked improvement in children's health, attendance, performance and general state of mind once they have access to drinking water and water for handwashing. Privacy for girls is also an important issue that gets addressed once they have their own sanitation facilities.

SACCOS and Landscaping

2008-11-17T16:59:00.001+03:00

UMATU members have completed their Savings and Credit Co-operative Society (SACCOS) training and are now ready to establish group savings, an important step in their progress towards financial independence. Instead of saying "jabini" ("cheese") for the photo, they were saying "ushirikiano" ("cooperation"). Shabani's son Fazil has completed Standard 7 and is awaiting the results that will determine his entry into secondary school. He is helping with landscaping (planting stuff) around the site, along with UMATU Centre's two Masai askaris (guards), Namayai and Leyyo.

This week in Karatu...

2008-11-12T10:03:00.000+03:00

UMATU Centre's wall is going up. Deo and Mohammed travelled to the neighbouring district of Mbulu to check out the availability of piglets to purchase for our women's household piggery activities. UMATU, Nderingo and Naisosion, our new financial officer, are spending the week immersed in SACCOS training with the District Cooperative Officer in order for UMATU to take the next step in their process of becoming a full-fledged Savings and Credit Co-operative Society. Co-operatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. As a Co-operative Society, to borrow from the International Co-operative Alliance's definition, UMATU will officially be an "autonomous association of people united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically controlled enterprise". The photo shows them taking a break from training to throw a soccer ball around.

Next for UMATU Centre...

2008-11-07T15:40:00.000+03:00

Construction of a wall is underway -- burnt bricks and gate at the front, and fence wire and bougainvillea at the sides and back of UMATU Centre. We are also in the process of installing the two water tanks. And, we had a visit this week from a bakery equipment supplier in Nairobi to discuss UMATU's needs for getting the bakery underway. More on that later!

Paprika!

2008-10-23T13:06:00.000+03:00

Today at the UMATU building site, Shabani and the guys are fixing the doors, testing the toilets and applying other finishing touches. After much consultation, we finally settled on the colour for the centre -- paprika! We were trying to match the colour of the building with the colour of Karatu soil, and we think we hit it right on! Next will come the water tanks -- one well above ground and one underground -- necessary to manage Karatu's erratic water supply. We will also be constructing the mandatory security wall around the centre. The kids in the photo find the goings on at the site quite entertaining, and they were really interested in the camera.

Pig Training

2008-10-23T12:05:00.000+03:00

Over the past few weeks, Nderingo and Deo have been co-facilitating pig training with the Karatu District Livestock officer. We are targeting vulnerable, i.e. low-income, households, particularly focusing on female-headed households and households affected by HIV. The training covers such topics as how to construct a simple piggery structure; prevention and management of diseases; feed formulation; and reproduction. Many people keep free range pigs. We are trying to discourage this practice because pigs are vulnerable to diseases and parasites, and when they are running around freely they tend to destroy crops and have a negative affect on health and hygiene around the household, as you can see in the photo. Pigs are a lucrative income-generating activity in Karatu Distict. Pigs are prolific -- a sow can have on average two litters a year, and one litter can yield 12 piglets -- and a six-month old pig can fetch $80 to $100.

Nyerere Day

2008-10-14T15:03:00.000+03:00

Today is Nyerere Day in honour of the first President of Tanzania, Julius Nyerere (1922-1999). Known as "Mwalimu" (Teacher), Nyerere made sure that people from different ethnic groups and religions attended school together and thereby grew up together. He successfully united over 120 ethnic groups into one country speaking a common language, Kiswahili.

Although it's a public holiday, the guys are at work at UMATU Centre. It's in the final stages now, with painting underway. Next will come furnishing the bakery, organizing training and launching activities.

Choosing Colours

2008-10-08T10:38:00.000+03:00

It's time to paint UMATU Centre, inside and out, so we're talking about colour. Shabani took the liberty of splashing bright pink on the window frames and bars, declaring "ladies like pink", but UMATU and CPAR "ladies" have quickly divested him of that notion. Needless to say, the "pink" is going and will be replaced by "white". Other colours will be chosen to match Karatu's notorious red soil, which oscillates from dust to mud depending on the season.

UMATU Counselling Workshop

2008-10-07T14:34:00.000+03:00

UMATU is receiving support from the Stephen Lewis Foundation to conduct outreach education in Karatu District on topics related to HIV&AIDS, including how to live "positively". People find it hard to believe that the UMATU women are living with HIV because they're so dynamic and they look so good! UMATU members recently participated in a counselling training workshop to learn more about effective communication and engaging people in discussions about sensitive issues. This involved a lot of role-playing and sharing personal information, especially about problems experienced with men. Although women tend to be more open about HIV&AIDS issues, men generally are reluctant to go for testing so it's an ongoing challenge for UMATU members to get through to them.

CPAR Study Tour 2008

2008-08-26T12:06:00.000+03:00

CPAR Study Tour 2008 has officially begun in Karatu. After a dusty, dusty walk around Karatu yesterday, the group convened at the office this morning for a brief briefing before heading out to pay a courtesy call on the District Commissioner and then continue on to see Rainwater Harvesting in action in rural primary schools. Japhet's briefing included him sharing his dismay while in Canada last year at seeing Africa portrayed in the western media as a continent of war and hunger and hopelessness. His hope is that the study tour will reveal a whole different side of 'Africa' -- one of motivated people working hard (much harder than anyone should ever have to work actually) to improve their lives.

One member of the study tour, Sarah Swan, is blogging the experience. Check it out at http://www.cpar-studytour2008.blogspot.com/

Check out UMATU Centre!

2008-08-22T17:56:00.000+03:00

UMATU Centre is roofed and the finishing work -- plastering, doors, windows, painting, etc. -- will now begin.

Quick Update on UMATU Centre

2008-08-12T16:26:00.000+03:00

We are getting very close to the 'mabati' stage. The 'mabati' (iron roofing sheets) will be on in no time. There is a lot of illegal treecutting going on throughout Tanzania. The timber you see in the photo has been legally and responsibly harvested from a managed woodlot on the slopes of Mount Meru in Arusha. For every tree harvested, a tree is planted.

Nane Nane Agricultural Fair

2008-08-07T16:06:00.001+03:00

A huge group of us -- 44 farmers, District Extension Officer, 6 CPAR staff and 3 university students on field placement with CPAR -- had a really good time at the Nane Nane Agricultural Fair. We looked at different varieties of jam, honey and cheese, and checked out juice, tea and wine made from the rosella plant. In addition to maize cakes and biscuits, we tasted delicious 'lablab' cake. Lablab is the legume that CPAR promotes among our Karatu farmers both as a cover crop to protect and enrich the soil, and as a nutritious protein for household consumption. We saw a huge 32 kg pumpkin, a 7 foot long stalk of bananas, decorative clothing made from goat hide, and really cool furniture made out of rice husks mixed with soil. The farmers enjoyed visiting demonstration plots of vegetables, maize, sunflower, banana and fodder. They had the opportunity to meet other farmer field school members both from Karatu and other districts, and exchange ideas and experiences about livestock keeping and crop techniques. They were really impressed by the pig and dairy goat husbandry demonstrations. They shared information from their own dairy goat activities, and were keen to learn more about pigs since they are in the process of starting piggeries.

UMATU Building Site Today

2008-08-05T15:47:00.000+03:00

This is how things are looking at the site today. The next step will be roofing. On another note, tomorrow we are taking 44 farmers (22 women and 22 men) to the Nane Nane Agricultural show in Arusha. Nane Nane is a public holiday in Tanzania. It is held on the 8th day of the 8th month (August 8th). That's right! "Nane nane" is "eight eight" in Kiswahili. It's a day for farmers, and others, to exchange information and ideas and get inspired. We're hoping to get some new ideas on agro-processing and adding value to farmers' products.

Dairy Goats

2008-07-25T15:04:00.000+03:00

Recently Nderingo and Deo roamed around neighbouring districts, venturing over 200 km away from Karatu to buy goats. They'd find several in one location, load them up and travel together to the next location. Bit by bit they gathered up 100 rambunctious goats and made their way back to Karatu. CPAR Tz is supporting rural women's household nutrition and income-generation through distribution of 80 dairy goats and 20 male goats (beberu). So far, 80 women have undergone training and taken possession of dairy goats. They are sharing the male goats. Each woman will provide training and pass on her first born female goat to another woman, and so on and so on and so on...

Until now, goats have been owned by men. With this initative, women are busting through the gender barrier with full support of the men who know that resources in the hands of women benefit the whole family.

Latest Scoop on Rainwater Harvesting & Sanitation

2008-07-25T14:36:00.000+03:00

Construction is completed on the rainwater harvesting tanks at Shauriawak Primary School. The school has already planted a few seedlings in anticipation of having access to water. Community members dug the pit for the ventilated improved pit (VIP) latrine, and now the fundis are lining it with rocks. Kind of a grueling task but very effective in preventing latrine cave ins during the rainy season.

UMATU Centre Update

2008-07-24T18:09:00.000+03:00

It's a lot quieter around here since Team UMATU departed, but UMATU's building is progressing very well. We were discussing landscaping ideas with Shabani today, while UMATU members were doing education outreach at the Counselling and Testing Centres at Karatu District Hospital and District Health Centre.

Many hands make light work!

2008-07-11T15:09:00.000+03:00

Things were buzzing at the UMATU work site today! UMATU and our wageni (guests) carried bricks, many many bricks, and hauled sand. The builders among us learned from Shabani a simple yet effective method using water and a string to measure the bricks and make sure the walls are even. A lot of work was accomplished. At this rate, these buildings will be finished in no time!

What a Day!

2008-07-10T19:40:00.000+03:00

Our guests from Canada arrived today, fresh from climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. UMATU sang and danced up a storm, showering them with bright red Bougainvillea petals to welcome them to Karatu. Energy was high, the sun shone brightly (it's winter here now so this was a good thing) and everybody had a moving, wonderful time. After meeting UMATU at their temporary office, we all walked, or danced, and sang down the road to visit the building site. There we met Shabani, our master builder, and he is ready for those who want to build to meet him at the site tomorrow morning. The rest of us will visit schools and farmers. Stay tuned.

Chickens!

2008-07-08T18:12:00.000+03:00

We've started a demonstration chicken project at the office with 10 indigenous hens and one indigenous rooster. In only two months, they've produced plenty of eggs and 3 hens have hatched 26 baby chicks. There is a common notion that in order to have productive chicken husbandry it is necessary to start with at least one "improved" rooster. We are demonstrating that the key to healthy chubby chickens is to feed them nutritious food available locally, provide a safe environment to protect them from predators and, very importantly, make sure they get medicine in a timely manner to prevent diseases.

And the walls went up!

2008-07-02T16:35:00.001+03:00

Well, not quite but they're on their way! We visited the building site today and are so impressed by the quality of the work. This is going to be one fine-looking building. Our 40 visitors arrive next week and they are looking forward to participating in construction activities so at this point we don't want the work to move too quickly.

Maghesho Focus Group Discussions

2008-06-26T09:33:00.000+03:00

We are presently conducting a mid-term monitoring exercise of our Food Security Program. Focus group discussions held with women and men of Maghesho reveal that the period of the "lean season", i.e. months spent searching for food, has disappeared completely. Farmers have increased their food production and diversified their income-generating activities through our training and support for the practice of Conservation Agriculture, chicken rearing, dairy goat husbandry and vegetable gardening. Working together in groups -- farmer field schools -- has led to interesting changes in individuals' lives. Women in particular talked about their increased confidence in speaking out both at home and at community meetings.

Back to UMATU's Building Site!

2008-06-16T17:39:00.000+03:00

After allowing a couple of weeks for the foundation to settle, work is once again underway at the site. By the time our 40 visitors who made all this possible arrive in mid-July, the walls will be going up and they'll be welcome to pitch in and help our fundis (builders) if they are up to the task after their grueling climb up Kilimanjaro. Here's a photo of Shabani, our master fundi, who is making all this construction look easy.

Impact of Farmer Field Schools

2008-06-11T11:43:00.000+03:00

We are currently investigating results of CPAR's "farmer field school" approach in Karatu rural communities, and are very encouraged by the number of households that have increased their food production through the application of conservation agriculture methods. There has also been a huge impact on gender relations -- revolutionizing the relationship between wives and husbands at home, and among women and men in the communities -- through increased communication, self-confidence and respect!

Diggin' the trench!

2008-05-30T16:25:00.000+03:00

This is hard work! Esilalei community members are digging the trench and laying pipeline to get water from the main source to Esilalei primary school. It's tough terrain with a lot of rock so it's heavy slugging. They've completed 750 meters and they've got another 5 km to go.

The youth huddled around the mobile phone are listening to Shakira. It takes some ingenuity to keep your phone charged in the absence of electricity.

Jengo Update

2008-05-28T15:49:00.001+03:00

Things are looking good at the UMATU building site today!

Water for Esilalei School Kids

2008-05-26T14:39:00.000+03:00

Last year, a group of artists from the United States visited Tanzania and were captivated during their visit to a primary school in the Masai community of Esilalei near Mto wa Mbu, Monduli District, a neighbour of Karatu. They met with the head teacher to learn about the challenges facing the school. When they heard that the school was using scarce funds to purchase water and have it trucked in, they decided to pitch in and help. They returned to the States and connected with AfricAid, an NGO supporting girls' education in Tanzania. AfricAid in turn linked up with CPAR Tanzania, and we are now working directly with Esilalei community to support their efforts to get water to their school.

The group of artists launched a successful fundraising campaign and work is now well underway to excavate a trench from a District water source, lay pipeline and establish water points at the school. CPAR has appreciated the opportunity to get to know Esilalei community and we've really enjoyed our meetings. Our meeting with the Laibon, the local spiritual leader who has 300 children, 16 wives and 3,000 head of cattle, was particularly interesting. We helped the community move some equipment to the construction site of the new Laibon primary school. Classes one and two will be accommodating 127 of the Laibon's kids. It's great that he's committed to their education. We would like at some point to engage the community in discussions on sexual and reproductive health issues, but we will first need to earn that right.

Excavation has begun!

2008-05-22T12:41:00.000+03:00

Excavation has begun on UMATU's land. The happy people in the photo are Japhet from CPAR, and Prisca, Marietha, Sophia and Angela from UMATU. This has been a long time coming so we're all happy, relieved and a little nervous because, of course, we want the place to be perfect. Current plans include construction of:

- an office building, where UMATU can organize and implement its outreach activities. UMATU members go out into the community to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS, and encourage people to test and know their status. Those who test negative are shown how to protect their status through active prevention methods. Those who test positive are encouraged to join the treatment program, join a support group and live healthy, fulfilled lives "positively", as demonstrated by UMATU's active members.

- a bakery because Karatu is in desperate need of some decent bread. Luckily, UMATU wants to fill that niche and run a successful business that will help them sustain their activities.

- a training centre (classroom) for ongoing education and skill-building activities in the community.

Primary School Rainwater Harvesting

2008-05-21T14:22:00.000+03:00

Access to water is a challenge in Karatu District. Kids are punished if they don't bring a container of water to school, but scarce water is needed at home making it a source of contention among students, parents and teachers. Attendance and performance are down as children leave school early when their thirst becomes unbearable. And, normally girls are sent out to look for water so they miss a lot of school time and are at risk of encountering drunk men, snakes and other dangers.

One of our activities is construction of two 30,000 liter rainwater harvesting tanks and 8-unit ventilated improved pit (VIP) latrines targeted for girls at rural primary schools. Handwashing and drinking stands are also set up. We train school water committees made up of kids, teachers and parents to maintain the infrastructure and manage the water supply, and to promote improved health and hygiene practices at school and at home.

Kids report that teachers, parents and children are in harmony these days. Children are no longer plagued by waterborne diseases and stomach ailments, and attendance has increased. Schools are able to attract and retain teachers, and even school performance has improved as children and teachers are better able to focus on schoolwork. Dry environments have been turned into oases. Schools have started fruit orchards and planted shade trees, and teachers living at the schools are able to supplement their food requirements with vegetable gardens.

So far, we've established rainwater harvesting at 15 schools, and our goal is to reach the remaining 70 primary schools in Karatu District.

JENGO LA UMATU

2008-05-19T17:10:00.000+03:00

In an exciting initiative, a group of spirited Canadians from Bishop Strachan School in Toronto launched the UMATU Fund Campaign and have been hugely successful in raising funds towards construction of an office/ business/ resource centre for UMATU. UMATU has been brainstorming ideas as to how they will use their centre to raise awareness, provide education and conduct business. As the dream moves towards reality, we've managed to purchase a nice piece of land for this purpose, not an easy accomplishment given Karatu's current reputation as a hot destination to purchase real estate. UMATU and CPAR are thrilled, the plans are drawn up and we are all anxious to begin construction, which should start within the next couple of weeks.

UMATU

2008-05-16T12:23:00.000+03:00

In September 2005, two women approach CPAR Tz. They had just joined the newly introduced HIV & AIDS treatment program at Karatu District Hospital, and due to the prevailing stigma and lack of information, were feeling isolated and alone. They wanted to learn more about HIV & AIDS and asked if we could help. The next day, Karatu's first support group for PLHIV (people living with HIV) was born. We facilitated education on all sorts of issues, from basic human rights, sexual and reproductive health issues, treating opportunistic infections, maintaining good nutrition, etc.

During World AIDS Week in December 2006, UMATU members chose to go public with their status – a landmark event in Karatu. They conducted outreach education during World AIDS Week, and on World AIDS Day marched through Karatu town and spoke out on human rights and abolishing the stigma at the town’s celebrations. As a result of their openness, more women started to come forward and UMATU’s membership continues to grow. Members are now equipped to offer counselling, small business training and treatment and nutrition advice to new women members as complementary services to the existing ART program. The group chose the name UMATU (Upendo na Matumaini) (Love & Hope), registered officially as a community based organization, and today has a membership of 56 women "living positively".

UMATU's vision is that all people living with HIV & AIDS are living “positively” as respected, fully functioning members of society. They are committed to abolishing stigma through education to encourage people to test, know their status, know their options, and for those who are positive to join the treatment program and be part of a support group so that they can know their full spectrum of human rights and live positively.

Food!

2008-05-15T11:14:00.000+03:00

After previous years of drought, and the need for food aid, we've been fortunate in Karatu this year to receive good rainfall. We work with Farmer Field Schools (FFS) which are groups of women and men farmers who experiment with improved farming techniques, usually on a plot of land allocated by the community, and then take lessons learned back to their own "shambas" (farms). With the application of Conservation Agriculture methods, this year's crops are looking good, and we look forward to a successful harvest of maize, beans and pigeon peas.

We've been promoting local drought-resistant crops like cassava, which has multiple uses. The tubers can be dried, milled and the flour used to prepare ugali, the staple porridge, and the nutritious green leaves can be consumed fresh or boiled, and dried and saved for future consumption. Sweet potatoes are a nutritious food that can be boiled and consumed directly. Lab lab is a cover crop planted to increase nitrogen and conserve moisture in the soil. The seeds are a good source of protein, and once the leaves have dried they are fed to the farmers' dairy goats.

We're also helping farmers improve their local storage facilities so that the harvest can be conserved for future consumption and the surplus safely stored to sell at a time when the best price can be obtained. This is particularly important now with the negative impact on Karatu of rising global food prices.

Papaya is a particularly good food for boosting the immune system. We work a lot with PLHIV (people living with HIV), and keeping nutrition levels up is a challenge. We've been raising papaya seedlings in our tree nursery and distributing them to farmers. They've proved to be very popular. Access to papaya will really make a difference in terms of improved nutrition and also income-generation.

Karibu Karatu!

2008-05-14T17:34:00.001+03:00

We are CPAR Tanzania, a non-governmental organization (NGO) supporting community initiatives to improve agricultural production and achieve year round food security; to provide water and sanitation in primary schools through construction of rainwater harvesting tanks and ventilated improved pit (VIP) latrines; and to support people "living positively" with HIV through education and access to small business loans. All our activities are crosscut with education on Sexual and Reproductive Health issues such as Human Rights, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), Gender-based Violence, Family Planning, Safe Delivery, and Safe Sex. We've been working in Karatu District, Tanzania since 2003.