STT-op Press

STT takes part in the British 10k

2011-07-12T18:20:00.001+01:00

On Sunday the 10th July a team of runners took part in the London 10k run. There were around 26,000 people taking part and included over 500 charities! The run takes in some of the most famous and best loved sights of London...Westminster, Big Ben, the River Thames and the Savoy :) It is a 10km route, mainly flat but with some useful downhill moments. I was lucky to have a partner in crime to complete the race with, otherwise I'm not sure I would've made it all the way around...(huge thanks Ann).
As last year in the Great South Run the STT team comprised of runners (and joggers) of mixed genders, ages and ethnicities...with our youngest runner this year being 21 and the oldest...well that would be telling wouldn't it (71 and proud!!). We were also delighted to have our local MP, David Lammy, striding out in front. After completing the race in one hour and four minutes David said:
"I am very pleased to be supporting Sunseed Tanzania today. I have been training hard and greatly enjoyed running with the team in the knowledge that the money we raise is going to such as good cause".
To name all of the motley crew would be a bit over the top (you know who you are - Ann, Kath, Nabil, Jamie, Ellie and David) but I send them a great big thank you for taking part and helping to raise some much needed funds for STT.
The fastest of the crew was Jamie with a time of only 56mins (run Forest run...) and the slowest, predictably was myself at a snails pace of 1hr 32min. I am seeing this as an opportunity for improvement next year...and if you think you could do better we would love to have you on the team to show us how :)
The total raised comes to just over £2000!! A huge big thank you our supporters and especially our families who sponsor us in these crazy endeavours :)

Preperation has already started for the British 10k 2012 - we need runners and sponsors. The race is some way off, but please contact me as soon as possible if you would like to take part - admin@sunseedtanzania.org

Pete completes the Edinburgh marathon

2011-05-24T21:52:00.001+01:00

On the 22nd May 2011 Pete Baillie, son of our treasurer (Kerr Baillie), took part in the Edinburgh marathon. This is the letter he sent to our Chair ...

I’m 38 and did this as a kind of mid-life crisis, ‘must do before 40’ sort of challenge. Or possibly ‘must do while I can’ challenge. I’ve been training since the middle of January, clocking up 67 training runs totalling 756km or roughly 18 Marathons in preparation. Training has been done on work time at lunch, at night on rainy winter days running the country lanes around my house with a head-torch on and at weekends taking an ever increasing chunk out of family time. Luckily, living near the coast and having had a few nice weather Sundays towards the end of training, the inevitable long Sunday runs have been from my house and down to a beautiful local beach to meet up with my wife Claire and 18 month old son Lachlan for a few picnics and playing on the beach.

I was determined to do it in under 4 hours (good enough to not ‘need’ to do it again any faster)! And I was determined to raise as much money as I could for the charity that my father has supported for so long. This has been a present from me to him and a tribute to all of his hard work and dedication over the years at least as much as it is an effort on behalf of a worthy charity in itself. Thanks go to my colleagues at work who have covered me while I dug into the working day for training and for their sponsorship, and to all the many friends and family who all generously contributed. Thanks also go to my wife Claire who supported me and pushed me out on training runs on days when I didn’t feel like it or had other things that seemed more pressing and to Lachlan who was always delighted to see me when I got home or to the beach.

The day itself was tough. I had flu a week before the race so that knocked the end off my training schedule and put a few doubts in my mind as to how strong I was going to be and the weather felt tough. A strong headwind for the last third of the race and some freezing squalls of rain really drenched me and slowed me down but looking on the bright side, the day after the race the weather was truly appalling! The country ground to a halt under cancelled trains and fallen trees in storm force winds and torrential rain so I was actually very lucky with both the conditions and the support of Claire, Lachlan and my family on route, plus great crowds along the way. All this got me over the finish line in just under 3 hours 52 so I’m delighted to have hit both objectives of raising money and getting in under the magical 4 hour mark.

Pete Baillie

The Institutional Energy Programme

2011-01-20T22:43:00.001Z

In January 2011 STT launched, with the encouragement of the Regional Administrative Secretary (the most senior civil servant in the Dodoma Region), an additional programme; the Institutional Energy Programme (IEP).

The aim of the IEP is to provide:

~ an institutional sized Rocket stove to primary schools and orphanages in the Dodoma urban area

~ a tree seedling or plant seedling nursery and, where there is enough room, a trial plot where children can grow horticultural or field crops which are inoculated with mychorrhiza.

This work will be supported by training relevant staff and children in how to establish and maintain the nurseries and plots.

As the Dodoma urban area incorporates 91 state primary schools and 14 orphanages STT has set itself a considerable task. The initial planning for the pilot school and pilot orphanage is now underway. This will be followed by an audit of the schools and orphanages and the development of a strategic plan for completing the IEP.

Boil tests have been completed to examine the benefits of using these industrial stoves.

The Boil Test

To thoroughly cook most foods, the temperature of a cooking device has to be above 80 degrees centigrade. The boil test utilised helps measure how long a stove can maintain heat. It also shows how quickly the stove is able to heat up and how quickly it cools down.

1) The stove testing times contains 2 phases: one hour to fully heat the stove and one hour when no fuel is added to the stove.

2) To start the boil test, a fire is made that can reach the boiling point quickly. Afterwards, fuel is evenly distributed for the remainder of the first hour.

3) The amount of water boiled should always be the same (2 litres for family stoves, 15 litres for community stoves).

4) The fuel is distributed into two separate piles and weighed before the boil test. For our boil test, we used 7.5kg of fuel per stove.

5) The evaporated water is measured in the event that a "Percentage of Heat Utilized" figure needs to be calculated.

However, the objective of the BTF is not to evaporate water, but to heat up water quickly and to keep it above 80°C over an extended period of time in relation to a fixed amount of water and a fixed amount of fuel. [i]

[i] http://www.biocoal.org/8.html

Birds enjoy sheltering from trees

2010-02-16T15:26:00.012Z

This is my first blog for 2010; comprises different information from different occasions, I can’t wait to share with you all. I hope that you will enjoy reading it. My story begins with a family of two birds building a nest between the wall and roofing timber of my house, at the same time there is tree planting activities going on. Tree seeds are germinating with a help from being inoculated with mycorrhiza (Root fungus) trees are growing quickly because the fungi is helping trees resist drought, ants are beginning to live on the small trees, then tree frog (Chiromantis rufescens) birds are starting to multiply and runs out of space then those who don’t have space are start living on branches of trees near the house. One day I tried with my children to count them they were more than thirty! And there are visitors who come for a short time then leave e.g. Chameleons (Chamaeleo chamaeleon), Cotton strainers (Dysdercus decussatus) bats and lizards.

Mycorrhizal training at Canon Andrea Mwaka School
On 22nd February 2010 Amy Auguston, Gideon Massaka and I went To Canon Andrea Mwaka School (CAMS) for a meeting with teachers of the school to discuss and find out the possibility of working with them. Canon Andrea Mwaka school is a primary and secondary school that belongs to the Anglican diocese of central Tanganyika (D.C.T). During the meeting CAMS staff told us that they are interest in our work and are willing to work with us. On 29th January 2010 we started mycorrhizal training we managed to finish the theory session, dug the hole but didn’t manage to find acacia tree and finish establish the trap pot. We agreed to continue on the next Friday. On 5th February 2010 Gideon and I went to CAMS to finish training and establish trap pot. Other things we discussed included the possibility of building institutional stove for the school, and crop trials if we can manage. For the stove they asked us to do cost estimation then give them the actual costs then they will decide whether they can afford or not. They are also interested in doing field visit with their students in some of the villages where STT is working. They suggested two village visits the first to be on 5th of March 2010, the second to be in between May/June.

Mycorrhiza crop trials in Manhumbulu

This year we are planting bell peppers (Capsicum annuum) some of them with mycorrhiza and some without, and some maize with mycorrhiza and some without mycorrhiza the reason for doing this is to find out if mycorrhiza can help to improve crops resistance to drought and help farmers to be sure to harvest when rains are not sufficient. Obed Lameck is looking after the plot and the last time I visited he had planted the peppers and was waiting for rains to plant maize. The seedlings looks okay and I have prepared forms to help Obed to record every activities involved during the growing and harvest.

STT Landcruiser

We have sold the Green machine and we have been busy trying to find a better vehicle suitable for our village visits, in doing this we were getting advice from Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) Mechanics in Dodoma, after searching for some time we thought it is not possible to find in Dodoma then we decided that may be one of us (Gideon) have to go to Dares salaam. But when Gideon was preparing to go to Dar, through our network of friend were told that there is a car for sale that seams suitable for our work. Then we called the owner to bring it to the office, after we saw it arranged to take it to MAF for checking, the results showed it was not in bad condition. Considering the costs we will have to incur if we go to Dar, we thought there is no need to go to. We started the process to buy it; we have completed paying the owner now what we need is to finish signing paper work but the car is already in our office. It is Land cruiser GX 4X4 (that looks like our first Land cruiser Prado).

Obtaning Nanenane plot
On 30th January 2010 we were reallocated at another plot at nane nane. After getting the plot we were instructed by Tanzania agricultural society organisation to make sure we go Capital Development Authority (CDA) to get drawings of the building and start building immediately. STT need to think the type of simple building; calculate costing decide if we can afford and when to start the work.

Levina takes a journey...

2010-01-18T15:37:00.006Z

I was very much interested with my trip from Dodoma to mwanza for Christmas holiday, my journey was very fun but a bit hard because I used to cross three regions, Singida, Tabora, Shinyanga then Mwanza.I was very much happy to see my parents because I have never been at home for more than 1 year and a half. After 3 days in Mwanza, then I went to see my grandfather at the Island called Ukerewe which located inside the Lake Victoria.Ukerewe is the largest Island in Lake Victoria and also the largest Inland Island in Africa. The Island belongs to Tanzania and is about 535 Square kilometres. I closed the Lake by ship for 3 hours, it was an enjoyable trip because it was the harvesting season for crops like maize, cassava and rice also plenty of fruits like mangoes,oranges,tangerines and pineapples, for sure people from Ukerewe are very much Healthier because of the availabilities of food and also the island is very famous for fishing activities and the most types of fish are Tilapia and Nile pearch.When I was there I tried to built the rocket stove to my grandfather’s kitchen and I left the stove while it was not yet dry, my grandfathers neighbours were also very much interested to have the stoves in their homes but my holiday were at the end so I didn’t managed to build another stoves. But I promised them when I will have another holiday I will try to go there and build some stoves to their homes feel so sad to come back without building another stoves while people are in need with the stoves.

This is the ship I used to travel from mwanza to Ukerewe Island in Lake Victoria.

Passengers entering inside the MV Victoria to start the Journey crossing Lake Victoria.

The part of Mwanza where people built their residences to the Hill.

Levina

An accident on the road

2010-01-04T15:53:00.000Z

I started riding a motorcycle when I got my first appointment for field work at MIGESADO in 2001. Since then I became a good long distance motorcycle rider and enjoyed my job, but the same year (2001) around August/September I had an accident on my way from the field approach to Dodoma town. I was going a bit fast, but not so much, when I met the corner with a slope and my motorbike turn around and I fell down. I get injured to my leg and a little problem to my neck, and the motorbike got a problem also to the steering. I reached home wounded and almost all my body was pained. From that time I started afraid of riding a motorcycle very fast. It was at this time that the idea came to me of going to the driving school for getting a car driving licence.

Gideon

Merry Christmas from STT

2009-12-07T16:20:00.000Z

It was so much amazing working at STT as my first appointment after my studies without any working experience but STT accept me to work with them as a Team. I thank Anna Tracy my first PDO who show me the way before she sign out her contract with STT and Lillian Nsyenge who also show me my responsibilities as PDA before she leave to Dar es Salaam after her wedding, without forgetting my colleagues Gideon and Justin who also give me more experience and encourage me when I get challenges in my daily tasks.

During our daily village visit I met some challenges which gives me strength and competences and those challenges comes from our STT car, the first moment happened soon after when I joined STT when me, Anna (X- PDO) and Justin we were on the way to Nzuguni (cancelled village) for monitoring it was rain season when our car stuck inside a mud hole, we spent more than 2 hours trying to come out of the mud for sure I was very much disappointed.

Another day I remember when me and Justin we were back from the village we got a puncture on the fore right side tyre and the car went out of tarmac road to the ditch, we spent more than 2 hours and a half changing the tyre and I help my colleague to remove the puncture tyre by using a Jack and put a spare tyre, I was shocked and tired enough.

Another moment I remember it is when we were back from Mpunguzi village visit, we stuck somewhere to the forest for some hours when our STT car stop suddenly after the electric wire inside the bonnet cut off, we remain at the road until some electricians come from town to help us while the sunset. For sure I was very much disappointed with the car we use because we risk our life for using it.

But hope full we are going to get a new car as soon as possible and I would like to thank the donor who support STT some money for buying a new car. God bless him/her. All in all my shocked sometimes disappear because I have the opportunity to work with an Amazing team of people who encouraged me sometimes when I was shocked and from 5th January 2009 when I start working with STT up to this moment I have enough experience to work with community especially in the village and I enjoy much.

MERRY CHRISMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Update from Dodoma

2009-11-24T13:09:00.002Z

Hello STT friends and supporters! The STT team would like to apologize for the recent lapse in blogging. We have been hard at work here in Dodoma, and we promise to keep you more regularly updated on our activities. I have now been in Dodoma for more than 9 months. Being Project Development Officer with STT is a challenge, but it also brings a host of rewards and joys. Each day, as I become increasingly familiar with the people of Dodoma region and the economic, environmental, and social difficulties that they face, I am even more convinced of the necessity and impact of STT’s work. The past couple of months have been an especially exciting time for STT, with a record amount of stoves having been built. Villages such as Chololo and Nzali are building 50 or 60 stoves a month! The current total of STT stoves is now more than 1100, which is more than double the amount of stoves at the beginning of the year. It is very inspiring to see the builders being so active and enthusiastic about their work, and to visit satisfied customers using their new rocket stoves. Of course the dramatic increase in stoves has meant much busier and more hectic village visits for the STT team, as we attempt to see all of the stoves. With rainy season approaching, it is very hot in Dodoma, and the sun is especially fierce. Therefore village visits can be very hot, rushed, and sweaty affairs! The team keeps lots of water handy for guzzling, and I’ve taken to carrying a parasol, to protect against the worst of the sun’s rays. But even the tiring weather cannot dampen the enthusiasm and excitement about STT’s work. Later this week we are having our regular (i.e., held every 4 months) meeting of builders from STT villages, to discuss the stove project. At previous meetings the village representatives have shared and learned from one another—sometimes while fostering a friendly rivalry about who can build the most stoves! I’m looking forward to witnessing even more collaboration among the different villages. The builders certainly will share their own lessons learned and their tips and ideas for increased stove building success. We’ll also be announcing a target for number of stoves to be built in the first half of next year, and a reward (a mobile phone for the builders’ monitor) for those villages which reach the target. This is a repeat of this past year’s hugely successful target and reward scheme, in which the builders of Nzali, Makoja, and Chololo won bicycles for their stove-building efforts. Just as the bicycles have facilitated travel to new customers around the villages, the mobile phones will improve communication among the builders and STT staff. And, as a prized reward, the mobile phones will hopefully encourage even more record-breaking numbers of stoves built! Stay tuned...Amy

Goodbye from Lesley

2009-01-05T18:08:00.001Z

I have now come to the end of my contract with STT and arrived back in UK just before Christmas. The UK has felt particularly cold, especially as our heating broke over Christmas! Overall my time with Sunseed was an enjoyable and rewarding experience. It has been a privilege to work with such an excellent team. Over my last month, village visits showed an increase in both stove numbers, which has been encouraging and is a sign some of our hard efforts are starting to pay off. Stove performance and rates of use are also improving. I have particularly liked the way STT works very closely with the rural communities and is thus able to respond to the challenges faced in order to make the projects more relevant and acceptable. Momentum is in place for STT’s work to continue in 2009 with new villages welcoming us to start the projects there. STT will also continue to support existing villages where knowledge of our work is spreading. The many challenges have helped me gain excellent experience that I take with me into future roles. I have just been offered a Project Officer role with i-HUG (Help Uganda Grow), which works to provide education opportunities for children in a slum area of Kampala. The project management skills and experience gained with STT will be applicable to this new role and will help me to meet the new challenges. Asanteni sana na kwa heri (Many thanks and goodbye). Lesley

STT VISIT NURU CHOIR OF ANGLICAN CHURCH IN MAKOJA

2008-09-04T20:04:00.001+01:00

Nuru is an Anglican Church choir in Makoja parish within the Diocese of Central Tanganyika (DCT). The group have other different kinds of activities apart from singing spiritual songs, they compose songs to make the community aware of outstanding matters concerning their day to day life e.g. Environment, Aids etc. (after receiving their request STT trained them on the production and use of mycorrhizae for tree planting). On the 14th of August 2008 STT team received an invitation from Nuru choir to visit them at their church. Among the people who visited was Mama Kevin (my wife), Christowaja (Gideon’s wife), Lillian and Elifuraha Elisha a friend of the team from TAFORI (Tanzania Forest Research Insistute). Elisha was very impressed by the choir’s Environment song and promised to go back with a video camera to film it. We were given some work to do during the service I led the service, Gideon preached, Christowaja (Gideon’s wife) and Lilian read the first and second readings. In the end of the service Rev.Silla the pastor of the Parish introduced us to the congregation, we gave brief information about our work then the pastor encouraged them to go and have lunch quickly so that they can come on time to hear more about the information we have come to share with them. In the afternoon the leader of the St.Peters Church Mr. John Saigwa explained that they appreciate our work and said that we need to work together to accomplish our goals. Then he invited me to explain about STT and our work in general, before speaking I gave opportunity to my colleagues to say whatever they want to tell the congregation and share their experience. Mr.Elisha explained why all people need to take care of Environment and told them that God needs us to do so that’s why he created garden before he created man. Then it was my turn to speak. I spoke about different environmental changes and asked them if they are aware of any changes in their Village, I asked them if they know the meaning of the name of their village (Makoja-Shells). And asked an old man to tell us how he compared the number and size of freshwater shells found in Makoja in the 20-30 past years and now. He said in 30 years time the number and size of shells have dramatically declined when I asked why he thinks this have happened he said destruction of forests have caused the weather to become unpredictable. Before finishing my speech I related our work to what the Bible says about environment. Bible verses: “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope is in the Lord. For he will be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river. And will not fear when heat comes; but her leaf will be green and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruits” (Jeremiah 17:7-8). Dry and unproductive land is like a cursed land and productive land is blessed that means people make the land blessed or cursed by the way they handle it, if they use it carelessly they pay the prise by it being cursed and unproductive. But if is looked after well then people get the reward of it being blessed and productive. STT is trying to reduce the habits that damage environment by introducing fuel efficient stoves and replacing the land that have been depleted of trees, with trees inoculated with mycorrhizae to make them more resistant to drought. “Thus says the Lord God, I will take also one of the highest branches of the high cedar and set it out. I will clop off from the highest topmost of its young twigs tender one and will plant it, on a high and prominent mountain. On the mountain height of Israel I will plant it, and it will bring forth boughs, and bear fruits and be a majestic cedar. Under it will dwell birds of every sort: In the shadow of its branches they will dwell. And all the trees of the field shall know that I, the Lord have brought down the high tree and exalted the low tree and, dried up a green tree and made the dry tree to flourish: I the Lord have spoken and done it” (Ezekiel 17:22-24). Planting trees is a blessed work God wants us to do it that is why there are many examples of trees being given in the Bible. NB: Tanzanian government is urging people to plant at least 10 tree seedlings per year for every household. Let us keep doing the blessed work for the well being of our world and our future generations. I wish you all the best. Justin.

During the Nane Nane exhibition

2008-08-12T16:39:00.002+01:00

It is 5km from Dodoma town to the Nane Nane ground where an exhibition took place in Nzuguni village. It was an amazing day for me with the crowds entering and leaving from pavilion to pavilion both built temporarily and permanently within the Nane Nane area. The brown dust raised by the crowd leapt and danced among the bushes that grew near the ground. However, the dust also caused me suffering from flue, headache and malaria the next day.

We displayed STT’s posters inside the Vice Presidents’ office pavilion among other NGO’s. I was among the STT staff giving explanations to people passing around inside the pavilion. It was so exciting for me to give an explanation for two Ministers, ie the Deputy Minister for natural resources and the Minister for Vice Presidents’ Office. Both of them asked a lot of questions including about the challenges facing our implementation. While a few visitors were asking joke questions, the reality was a busy day for me gaining experience of answering on the spot questions about STT and our activities. The most memorable event for me is when the President of Republic of Tanzania Hon. Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete visited our pavilion and shook hands with us. It was a big surprise to ever happen to me, to get in touch with the president during Nane Nane rather than watching him on the Television.

Gideon

Photo: Justin and Gideon in a stall at the Nane Nane

Community Mapping Exercise

2008-07-29T11:15:00.001+01:00

It’s been a while since I last wrote and a lot has been happening. STT has been pleased to have a few visitors over the last month or so. Mike and Bridget Bridgewater (some of our trustees from the UK) have been here and we’ve got four students from the Institute of Rural development Planning in Dodoma doing a six week placement with STT. Everyone has been involved in a big monitoring and evaluation exercise we’ve been running in two of our older villages Membe and Chamwino. The Bridgewaters have been a fantastic help and I hope I have half as much energy as they do when I get to their age as they’ve put us all to shame!

The students have also been put through their paces. They’ve been doing a fairly intense program of participatory rural appraisal techniques in both villages for our monitoring and evaluation and I think they’ve been knocked off their feet a little bit. They assure me however that they’re learning a lot and I hope it will help them to complete their studies next year and become a new generation of fantastic development professionals!

The last two weeks the STT team and the students stayed some nights in Membe to complete the research, which was a nice experience for me as I haven’t had the chance to stay in the village in Tanzania yet. It should have been a very peaceful experience, being away from the noise of the city and being able to see the stars, but I was lucky enough to have Gideon with me, who loves to tell stories and jokes so we were entertained the whole night as we sat by the fire waiting for our evening meal to cook. He literally had half the community in stitches.

For now we’re looking forward to working out the results from the monitoring and evaluation and focusing on intense sensitization activities in the villages. Also next week we’re going to be part of a big agricultural/environmental show for a national holiday ‘nane nane’. It looks like the pace is set to continue for a while yet.

Anna

Photo: Community mapping exercise led by IRDP students

The Road to Progress

2008-07-04T15:40:00.002+01:00

I have now been living in Dodoma for just over a year. A milestone marked by a much needed break to the UK to see friends and family, appreciate all the home comforts (especially the hot showers) and plenty of salsa dancing and strawberries.

One year on means that we are now back in the dry season, which makes for easier off-road driving though the visit to Nzali last week proved it is still possible to get stuck in mud as we crossed the river. Fortunately this time we could reverse out of the ditch and avoid getting very wet! It has been a good year for rain and it has been good to see all the sunflowers and greenness, which is in complete contrast to the dry and dusty landscape of the dry season.

Over the last year, there have been several changes in town – street lights, litter bins and seemingly endless road repairs (causing chaos in the process with no one quite sure where to drive). On our last visit to Nzali it was encouraging to see some of the worst rural roads under repair, which should make a big difference to the long drives.

STT has also progressed. We have now trained stove builders in seven villages in the Dodoma region and the team is responding well to the challenges. A recent assessment of the project showed that many people were not using the new stove with the knock on effect that no one else gets to see the benefits so demand for the stoves stagnates. The lack of use of the stove generally reflects lack of knowledge or confidence about how to use it or because there was a problem with the way the stove was built.

Thus we have rethought the project to be better able to support builders and other community members. Innovations to the chimney design, in order to ensure wind does not blow smoke back inside the kitchen, have so far proved effective. Our work is continuing through cooking, demonstrating and further training for builders on how to use and market the stoves. Cooking demonstrations so far are encouraging with the benefits clearly seen to those taking part. There is a long way to go but the team is working hard to ensure the stoves are high quality and work well for those buying them.

Lesley

Photo top: Preparing food for a cooking demonstration;

Photo bottom: Extending the chimney outside has proved effective at shielding the stove from the wind

Precious moment – May 2008

2008-05-22T15:15:00.002+01:00

The four months I have spent with the STT team in Dodoma since February this year have been exciting and meaningful to me. Being part of the team that is committed to improving the livelihoods of the rural community has given me courage to move on with the job.

The activities I am involved with in STT include stove building training done in Chamwino, Nzali, Nzuguni and Chinangali 1. I have participated in mycorrhiza training session at Chamwino Primary School as well as facilitating marketing research and focus group workshop with Nianjema at the STT office. I am currently assisting the film crew in translating the promotional film to English.

I am impressed with the positive response of the community to the stove project delivered in the villages of Nzali, Nzuguni and Chamwino. STT has a unique approach that creates a sense of belonging and ownership to the community which eases the delivery and implementation processes of both stove and tree projects to villages. Village leaders, stove builders and recipients are free to discuss various matters on the rocket stoves with STT team and thus increase interaction.

Seeing the commitment of community groups and the trust they have built with STT makes me feel good and value my job. For instance, Nianjema Group in Chamwino Ward had a bad image of NGOs however through the participatory approach of STT, the group gained faith to work with STT in the wonder basket urban project as their income generating activity. What a precious moment with STT!

Lilian

Photo: Lillian conducting a cooking demonstration

Living in Harmony with other Organisms - Being Environmentally Friendly May 2008

2008-05-04T15:23:00.004+01:00

Hello everyone, this is my first blog. I have a mixture of stories to share with you all. Firstly, I have to say thanks to God and Mother Nature for providing all things that surround us which we enjoy. This is a harvest time so people are busy harvesting at the same time having ripe fruits from the forest (wild fruits e.g. baobab, black plums e.t.c.). In the last month we (STT team) have been busy doing sensitisation in Nzuguni village which was not very successful. This was caused by the poor organisation of the village. The audience on that day was represented by seventy villagers from four neighbourhoods (leaders decided to arrange three meetings) in different locations which is good… but they didn’t inform us.

Sensitisation in Membe started poorly, we had to go around the village to collect dancers of the Sayari group ( group of traditional dancers) to attract the attention of the villagers. Then other dance groups came from the Anglican church in the Village so in the end the meeting was successful and many people turned out.

Gideon and I conducted mycorrhiza training at Makoja primary school, Chinangali 1 primary school, and Mahata primary school, as well as being involved with training of stove builders, in Chinangali 1.

On another occasion we had a meeting with stove builders at Chinangali 1 during which we enjoyed the presence of two Agama lizards (Agama agama - seen below) and one Nile monitor (Varunus niloticus) in the village office. Some people were scared of them but after I explained that they are harmless and how important they are for the environment, people seemed to understand and they were relaxed.

Gideon and I went to Membe to monitor stoves and had a meeting with stove builders, after visiting the stove owners’ households we sat at Philemon’s house to discuss problems. The stove builders pointed out several problems but the main problem is that during the rainy season until harvest time most people stay in their fields. After planting, crops need to be looked after to stop wild animals from destroying them and they have to be guarded against Baboons (Papio anubis), Vervet Monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) and Wild pigs (Phacochoerus aetiopicus). Wild pigs cause a lot of damage to crops in the night, while baboons and monkeys can destroy an acre of crops in less than fifteen minutes! The stove builders asked us not to worry because people are harvesting crops and soon they will be retuning to their houses. They expect to have more orders from recipients in the coming weeks.

Lastly, but not least, is the challenging task of driving an old and problematic Toyota hyrax car! But it still takes us to our destinations even if means a real challenge.

I wish you all the best.

Justin.

Photo: Agama agama lizard

Film Crew Visits Dodoma Office

2008-04-04T15:49:00.005+01:00

The arrival of a film crew to Dodoma in March was by far the most enjoyable part of volunteering for Sunseed. Before their arrival I had drawn up a storyboard for a promotional video to demonstrate Sunseed’s work in the region. The purpose of this film is to achieve further funding for STT by presenting it to businesses in the U.K.

It was non-stop work for the two weeks in which the film crew were here. And the majority of it went according to plan! We were able to film stove testing in Chamwino village, where everyone was more than happy to participate in the filming. We also got some great interviews with two local stove builders.

The Sunseed team were filmed at work in both the villages and the office. We were also able to get great footage of Justin teaching mychorizza and rocket stove theory in the classroom.

The footage taken of Sunseed’s urban project (wonderbaskets) was specifically desgined so that those women producing the baskets (the Nianjema Group) can use the same material to advertise their work.

Unfortunately on our last day of filming, due to heavy rains, we were unable to pass the river to Membe village. This was disappointing not only for ourselves, but also for the villagers there, who had gone to great lengths to organise singing and dancing, as well as more interviews. Last minute change is the nature of filming, however, and the team thought quickly on their feet. We headed back to trusty Chamwino village where everybody was extremely helpful in ensuring we got the footage that we were missing.

I would like to thank everybody who participated with such enthusiasm in the filming: the villagers, members of the Sunseed team, district forestry officer and the film crew themselves. All that is left to do now is complete the editing in the U.K. and prepare for the funding that will (hopefully) ensue.

Louise

Photo: Film crew in Dodoma

2008 - A new year and a new face of STT

2008-03-04T21:21:00.003Z

I can hardly believe that this is my sixth month here already. I arrived last October and I still feel like I’m learning new things everyday. I’ve been working hard on learning Swahili and improved stove construction. I love Swahili, but stove construction involves a bit of jumping around in mud so it comes out on top.

STT has undergone a real transformation since I’ve been here. After being dumped into the deep end with a tumultuous visit from Sheilah in November, STT decided to go it alone. Since then we’ve got new staff, a new office, a new car and some brand spanking new villages to work in. I’d like to welcome our new Tanzanian colleagues Lilian Nysenge and Gideon Massaka to the team and also Louise Ashley a volunteer from the UK whose been helping us with the adjustment and will be with us until the end of March. Dodoma has also undergone a transformation. The rainy season has made what once was a dry, dusty dessert into a lush jungle. I can hardly believe the change in the villages and amongst the people too. It’s meant the stove project has been a bit more challenging though! Good rains mean that people are out on the farms all day and the roads to our more distant villages have become a serious driving adventure! Lilian and I have been busy taking the urban project forward. This week we will be continuing research started by Victoria by visiting a Wonderbasket project run by World Vision in Mpwapwa. World Vision runs many projects along similar lines to STT and we think they’re many opportunities for us to learn from each other. This month we’ve got a film crew from Falmouth University coming to visit us. They’re comparing the impact of environmental/development work in Tanzania and the UK. They should also be squeezing in some time to shoot a promotional video for STT. Louise, who’s got a background in communication and development, has been a valuable asset in helping us organize it. So as you can see STT has started 2008 with a bang. I seriously doubt that the next few months will be any different. That’s it from me for now, keep in touch.

Anna

Photo: Anna and Amos in Chamwino preparing mud for stove building

Christmas greetings from Dodoma

2007-12-18T21:47:00.003Z

Hi everyone, its now over half way through December and it doesn’t feel like Christmas is coming. I have seen two Christmas trees though Dodoma has its own Krismasi trees with bright red flowers this time of year. Also until the rainy season started last weekend it had been about 35°C. The rains finally started last Saturday night after a week of some rain and then a couple of weeks of sweltering heat. There has been torrential rain everyday this week and thunderstorms, though mainly all at night. It’s turning everything green and completely transforming the landscape. I thought I had finally learnt the route to Membe to find the route looking completely different! The rain is also making driving more interesting, with huge pools of water on the road and having to decide how to drive through them. Justin typically starts a day in the field by asking if I’m ready for a challenge and has warned us that after Christmas we will be getting stuck many times. Still Justin is good at directing and apart from a few scary moments we haven’t got stuck in mud yet! Work has been very busy over the last few months (thus this update is long overdue) and many changes taking place. In October, we welcomed Anna to the team as the new Project Development Officer and this meant that in November, we said goodbye to Victoria who will be missed. The projects are progressing well and it is good to see some of the hard work paying off. The DEP III pilot has been running in Membe and three Dodea villages. We trained stove builders from each village to build the rocket stoves we observed in Kenya. It was very encouraging to see the enthusiasm of the builders and how everyone got fully involved with building. This was also a good chance to practise my Swahili as I took one group for the practical sessions. Following training we held meetings in each village to explain about the stove and try and increase demand. The event in Membe was particularly good, with a traditional dance group having composed songs especially about the new stove. Coming to the end of the pilot phase and there are at least 70 stoves in the 4 villages and generally of high quality. We had a successful launch of the programme in November in Membe with traditional dancing and stove demonstrations. We were also presented with a list of 19 residents of Chamwino village who would like a stove, helping us to choose chamwino as the next village to work in. Our initial meetings in Chamwino have also proved successful, with strong support from the village leaders and 8 leaders adding their name to the list of those who want stoves. The Landcruiser has to be returned before Christmas after being particularly helpful for our work over the last year. Mr Mbenna has been as supportive as ever and we have just received the good news that he has found us a replacement vehicle. All being well, Anna and I should be driving the Toyota Hilux back from Dar after Christmas. The New Year holds much in store for STT including having two new employees and several new villages to work in. That all for this update – happy Christmas and best wishes for the New Year!

Leslie

Photo: Christmas Tree in Dodoma

Leslie joins STT

2007-08-09T13:45:00.001+01:00

Hi everyone, let me first introduce myself. My name is Lesley and I started working for STT at the end of June as a replacement for Cat. It was a little daunting at first especially considering the high standards set by Cat and Victoria, but so far I have been made to feel very welcome and have now settled well into living and working in Dodoma. I previously lived in Tanzania, in 2003 as a volunteer with Student Partnerships Worldwide. While I had not previously been to Dodoma, this experience meant I had some understanding of Tanzanian culture and Swahili. My Swahili was very rusty at first, but has steadily improved and it has definitely helped to have been in Tanzania before. I was introduced to Dodoma by Cat and my induction to life here included dealing with bank queues, computer break downs and driving practice. While, driving here is not as scary as I expected, I managed to get stopped twice by traffic police on my first day driving. They checked my licence and the tax disc and let us go on. Fortunately, we had organised my Tanzanian driving licence the day before!

After two weeks here, Justin and I went to Kenya for training from a successful GTZ stove project. We had an excellent visit and learned a lot from our very generous hosts. We learned about a new stove design and construction as well as the whole project process. Kenya was a great experience, not least for the luxury of hot showers in Nairobi and one night’s five star accommodation at the Holiday Inn, courtesy of Kenya Airways and a delayed flight. It has given me a good basis to start work for STT. On our return to Dodoma, I was thrown straight into the busy work life, reflecting on the lessons for STT from Kenya and getting stuck into to stove building, so Justin and I could perfect our skills and get very muddy feet!

Other news from Dodoma; we have four students from the Institute of Rural Development and Planning (IRDP) working with us on placements. They have been assisting us in collecting baseline data to inform DEP III. This is an opportunity for them to experience working in villages, including the hazards involved, like the car breaking down. Luckily, Action Garage lived up to its name and went quickly to the rescue, twice in one day, after a series of punctures! We have also been researching three new villages in order to choose one to start working in. We aim to establish tree nurseries in the community and school and build and test the stoves we saw in Kenya. These visits have also not been without incident after I got the car stuck in deep sand and had to be dug out with the whole village primary school watching! Still luckily the villagers and Justin came to the rescue! Best wishes, Lesley

From old friends to new

2007-07-20T18:34:00.004+01:00

What can I say.

Goodbye Cat, you will be sorely missed and thank you for your hard work with STT. Yep, Cat has gone – left on the 1st July and Lesley her replacement has arrived, is settling in well and not long after arriving has gone to Kenya with Justin for 10 days. I for one am very much looking forward to the new stove design that they will bring back with them. Also have to say a big CONGRATULATIONS to my very best friend here Dr. Eunice as she is leaving Dodoma for very new and green pastures studying a postgraduate in paediatrics at the prestigious Makerere University in Uganda – CONGRATULATIONS EUNICE.

I said at the end of June, I really wanted a holiday before July and yeah! I have had a couple of weekends away to Dar es Salaam to visit my friend Eunice’s parents. However, I have also had some official work trips to Dar es Salaam which have not come at a good time considering the all that is happening at the moment. Fortunately I have managed to balance things at work. I had to go to the Prime Minister’s Officer to make an application for ‘compliance’ so that STT can comply as an NGO under the new NGO Act. All NGOs have to do this exercise! Must say a big THANK YOU to Patron of STT Simba Mbenna who has helped enormously by directing me to the right offices and Ministerial buildings. June has also seen me working with Trustee Bridgette Bridgewater on sourcing insulation material for a potential urban HRC project as well as pricing. The types of material we are currently looking at are foam, polystyrene, and dry grasses as well as plastic bags. Foam is turning out to be quite expensive while the cheapest material seems to be dry grasses. Justin and I took a trip to a village called Swaswa known as the major source of dry grass in Dodoma. And sure enough when we go there dry grass was all over the place – what we need to find out is if poor and middle class households are willing to buy a product which uses dry grass as an insulation material. The four placements came at the beginning of July rather than the end of June to sign their programmes for their six week placements. They will start on the 23rd July, the week STT begins its new baseline research into the DEP II stove project – the findings will help inform the design of DEP III. All seem very keen and ready to get stuck and do lots of hard and physical work. They will also get involved in stove building – which will be very dirty work! Well better get back to things here. Take care and see you all next month!

Changing places - visitors and staff

2007-06-20T09:45:00.001+01:00

Hi again, or in Kiswahili Habri gani. Hope everyone is well and good to see you have returned to read the latest happenings in Dodoma. Well after the hectic month of May things are as always hectic and busy – but organised. After the visit of the STT Chair and Treasurer in May Cat and I have lots to do and prepare for particularly Cat as her contract will be ending soon! The Chair has given us lots to act upon such as organising stove training for our technical officer and the new PDO with GTZ in Uganda or Kenya. STOP PRESS – just been informed that they will be going to lovely Kenya for a tough 10 day training in Kissi. I’m now on the case with trying to organise their travel arrangement, transport, accommodation, finances and itinerary. On the 19th June we had more Trustee visits this time from the Bridgewater’s – Mike and Bridget, their annual visit to the programme is always very useful and productive, capitalising on their years of experience in Tanzania and involvement with STT. They often provide essential support and training in key STT areas such the stoves. I am hoping Bridgette will support me with lost of her knowledge and experience in my research on a potential urban intervention with the Heat Retention Cookers (HRC). Initial scoping has finished and I am writing a methodology for the next phase of the research. It is also holiday period for many Dodoma professionals so my liaison officer at the Dodoma Municipal Council (DMC) who I work with is on leave until July. Good to see that the Bridgewater’s will be staying with us for a while – a whole six week! We are sure to keep them busy. It will be all action here in the office in June as we will be overflowing with staff, me, Cat, her replacement Lesley, Justin, the Bridgewater’s and x4 students that will be taking with STT as placements from the local and well known Institute of Rural Development Planning (IRDP). They will work with STT for six weeks and will arrive to the office at the end of June to discuss their work programmes. This placement comes as another step towards collaborative working that we have tried to establish here in Dodoma building partnerships with organisations that are well rooted in the community and the field of environment and community and rural development. Looking forward to their arrival – but think I will need a holiday before they start work as things will be getting even busier here if you can believe that. Okay. Well see you all next time.

Field research and fuel consumption

2007-03-24T18:29:00.001Z

March has been another busy month of finishing off our field research, which we started in February, comparing the fuel consumption of our improved stoves to that of the traditional three stone (open) stove. As well as putting together a programme of training of schools about Mycorrhiza inoculation (a fungal technology STT implements as a means of raising draught resistant tree and crop species, which is vital for semi-arid and draught prone regions such as Dodoma). This knowledge is disseminated to project villages in rural areas and one method of doing this is through schools outreach to spread the knowledge through the next generation. The implementation of that programme will begin in late April. We were also very busy this month preparing for a visit by the Regional Administrative Secretary for the Dodoma region. This is a key visit to highlight to local government the use of energy efficient cooking technology and tree planting as a means to combat deforestation and in a broader sense climate change – a hot topic globally. That visit is scheduled to take in the coming months. March also saw the rains begin to subside with the slow creeping toward the dry season. This means the familiar dusty Dodoma atmosphere is set to return. Thankfully, Cat and I have managed to avoid contracting malaria, which is rampant during the rainy season. The STT team also held its second quarterly partner workshop which was lead by the STT team and involved both partner organisations (DODEA and MIGESADO). These workshops are a new feature of STT’s working style and practice and hugely embraced by our partners. This closer working relationship, knowledge and experience sharing is having a real affect on improving how the projects are implemented and building the capacity of all three organisations. The workshops focused on accomplishments and achievements of all the partners since our last workshop in November 2006, and various participatory activities were conducted. However, events were marred by the theft of the workshop budget at the event. This obviously heated up proceedings as the police were called, staff at the venue searched as well as workshop participants (and STT are grateful to them for their understanding and cooperation). Unfortunately, the money was not recovered. The workshop had to be suspended and statements made at the police station. Needless to say, STT have learnt its lesson and will be much careful with how it handles funds at such events. On a positive note, the management at the workshop venue accepted part responsibility for the theft as staff had not informed the STT team of the venues safety precautions. As such the cost of event was cancelled.

Victoria

Field studies and ugali

2007-03-20T08:23:00.001Z

The last few weeks were spent recovering from the stove efficiency field study, which meant picking up on many of the tasks that we had to put on hold, as well as catching up on some well-needed sleep! The upcoming Accomplishments and Challenges quarterly partners’ workshop is something we have been planning, and will happen next week. We intend to use participatory tools with diagrams to categorise our findings, a seasonal calendar to better understand the activities of the partners, and sufficient brainstorming and group-work to enhance discussion and reflection. The preparations have involved producing flip-charts to present our own accomplishments and challenges since the last workshop in November and creating our own seasonal calendar of activities. After being occupied by the field work over the last month it was a welcome change to be thinking of things other than stoves and fuelwood consumption! We really look forward to a productive and informative workshop next week with both the partners. This week we have been asked to do a follow-up field study, testing the efficiency of the ‘Lorena Rocket’ stove, which is a newer and potentially more efficient design. I will be writing up the methodology for this, which should involve households in three villages where these stoves were built last year during a visit by two STT trustees (Mike and Bridget Bridgwater). I think that by the end of this stove testing field study I should be a master in the preparation of ugali (maize meal stiff porridge) and sauce, after having watched it being made so many times! Both Victoria and I are also looking forward to the Easter break, during which I will be heading to Zanzibar with some friends. Being an Aussie, born and bred on the coast, I really do miss being by the sea, and what better place to rejuvenate than a tropical island in the Indian Ocean. That is all from me this fortnight, I hope to have many more pictures of the workshop, field work and maybe even some Zanzibar palm trees in the upcoming blogs. Best wishes, Cat

From Nairobi to Dodoma...

2007-02-20T18:20:00.002Z

Hello again, here’s the next instalment of my fortnightly blog. Well, much has happened since I last wrote. February has been a hectic month, but still enjoyable nevertheless. It started of with me going to Nairobi for a few days where I visited a Kenyan friend who is researching for his PhD and this afforded a good opportunity to see the metropolis that is Nairobi. This is a large, modern, efficient city and highly multi-cultural, but like most major cities in the world of complexities – a tale of two cities (the haves and have-nots). But if anyone out there gets the chance Nairobi is a must to visit as there is more to Kenya than just wildlife! I was also able to take advantage of this visit to collect some work materials for STT that my friend had transported from London. After my short and speedy time in Nairobi I returned to Dodoma with brand spanking new equipment for the office. Our team were then thrown into the thick of conducting major research for STT looking at the fuel efficiency (energy efficiency) of the stoves we implement in villages. Working together and with STT in the UK we put together a research methodology and set out to compare STT’s improved stoves with the traditional three stone (open) stove – referred to as the mafiga matatu in Kiswahili.

All three of us Cat, myself and Justin our agroforesty (technical) officer, went on a three week field research in a village called Kikombo. We conducted stove testing using scientific methods, interviews and workshops with local women, local government representatives and project related staff in the village. All was going well until I suffered heat stroke – not a pleasant experience! For me this meant painful headaches, fever and throwing up. For the team, this meant a mad dash back to Dodoma to make sure I was suffering heat stroke and not something more serious like malaria. Thankfully after a days rest, constant fluids and a change of scene from the rigorous routine in the field I perked up. For me this meant no headaches, no throwing up and no fever. For the team this meant another mad dash to return to the field to resume our work.

Victoria

Ibihwa and Mkatika - 2nd monitoring

2007-02-05T17:51:00.001Z

Recent activities in February have ranged from general running of the Dodoma office, to the beginnings of a sizeable field study. Justin and I went out to Ibihwa and Mkakatika for our second bout of the monitoring programme, which so far has proved enlightening. This trip, however, did show up some of the difficulties inherent in working in rural areas during the rainy season. In many of the houses we attempted to visit, the householders were out working on their shambas (small plantations of mainly maize) and were not able to talk to us or show us their stoves or planted tree seedlings. Due to the nature of monitoring, we are not able to warn the villages too early of our visits, so it is often a process of hit and miss, during which we make an effort to visit as many households as we can. Our search for available project ‘beneficiaries’ did, however, allow Justin and I to have a well-rounded tour of both villages and I feel that I was able to get to know the Village Project Coordinators more thoroughly. At one point we reached an impassable point in the road and I found myself walking barefoot across a warm and sandy stream, sandals in one hand and clip board in the other, and it certainly made us all laugh. The regular village visits, which can often be long, are one of my favourite aspects of my job. In late February we embarked on a 3 week field study, which meant spending a lot of time getting to know the village of Kikombo, its people and its local government, as well as sitting with local women as they cooked their two meals a day. I wanted to write about one particular woman named Neema, who I spent a day with as she used her ‘Lorena’ stove. Neema showed real entrepreneurial spirit when, after becoming the sole bread-winner for her and her 4 children, she began a successful business in breeding and selling pigs. She also has plans to start a business selling second hand clothes with the help of a local government loan, and all this to ensure that her children receive quality primary and secondary school education. Neema’s independence, initiative and drive were inspiring, and I look forward to meeting more women like her in the future. The field study also allowed us to familiarise ourselves with the various local government representatives in Kikombo, and find out their opinions on deforestation, cooking practices and fuelwood use in the village. This gave us a broader and deeper picture of the environmental changes over the last generation and their impacts on cooking practices and life in general, which was all extremely useful. The stove research continues and will be concluded with a final report in the coming months. Best wishes to all, Cat

Stoves, trees and floods....

2007-01-23T17:02:00.008Z

After the excitement of being in England over Christmas, Victoria and I have both well and truly settled back into the pace of life in Dodoma. The surroundings are still green and flourishing because of the heavy rains experienced since November, and the maize in the fields has grown to at least 6 feet tall. This fortnight we secured the use of a Landcruiser 4x4 vehicle, so STT is now mobile again. The vehicle belongs to the Regional Administrative Secretary (RAS), who has lent it to us for a whole year! This means we can make headway on our monitoring and evaluation programme, and Justin’s contact and mycorrhiza support with the villages can increase. We can now also have better communication with villages and DODEA are able to use the vehicle for their own monitoring and implementation needs. I have had to relearn the ins and outs of manual transmission and driving a pick-up, but it is all good experience! During talks with the RAS in November, we invited him to visit some of our project villages so that we could demonstrate our work. This week, Justin, Victoria, and I made two village visits to select the best quality DODEA villages for both elements of the intervention – stoves and trees. Two Project Officers from DODEA accompanied us on these visits: Mr Sudda (stoves element) and Mr Bendera (tree-planting element). The villages selected for the RAS visit were Nghome, Manhumbulu and Nghulabi.

During the visit to Manhumbulu, Victoria interviewed a project beneficiary family for the STT newsletter. The family uses the Lorena stove and has planted tree-seedlings around their plot of land. Mr Sudda helped with the translation into Kiswahili and Kigogo, and the interview proved very insightful. We look forward to its publication in the next edition of the STT newsletter, which Justin will translate into Swahili so that the family can receive their own copy.

Due to heavy rains, the roads on the way to Nghome were flooded in patches, leaving huge pools of water where the road once was. The learning curve was a steep one, especially when our vehicle became stuck in one of these pools for 2 hours! Thankfully, teachers from the school we had just visited came to help, by digging a channel which would drain the water away, while the students were busy trying to push us out.

Other news from the STT office is the recent establishment of the STT Monitoring and Evaluation programme, which is scheduled to begin in a week’s time. This will ensure that the targets of the STT intervention are being met on the ground and will also mean that STT has a stronger presence in the villages.

That is all for this fortnight’s blog, so until next time!

Catherine.

Victoria joins the team....

2007-01-09T12:00:00.005Z

Hello everyone, hope you had a lovely Christmas and New Year and are ready to start 2007 afresh. Last year you received our first fortnightly instalment from my colleague Catherine, this time it is my turn, and what a fun way to begin 2007 by updating you on events here in Dodoma since the last blog.

As Cat told you my name is Victoria and I started working with STT here in Dodoma last October. So all in all I suppose I have been here two months now. And I must say, it has been enjoyable working with another social development professional, our bottom up approach to working in Dodoma with the DEP and tree planting project is paying off dividends with our partners. They have really welcomed the new professional style STT is demonstrating. Concerning me, I am no stranger to being in Africa as I am from Sierra Leone myself and have worked in Ghana as a Development Planner. But, it was my first time to be here in the East coast and it has been quite interesting observing the similarities and vast differences between Tanzanian culture and that of my home country. Although I came without any Swahili, I have had intense Swahili lessons which are paying off handsomely. In only two months, I can communicate with people quite well, which is a necessity if one is going work effectively and build up the trust and confidence of local people, including our partner organisations. Our partner organisations DODEA and MIGESADO have often complimented me on my effort. Although not having Swahili is not really a barrier, it does serve as an added advantage and shows respect for a local culture if you are willing to learn the language, especially as one should never assume that people will speak English. I will continue learning and who knows maybe my next instalment will be in Swahili! Since Cat’s last instalment a lot has happened which I hope you will enjoy reading all about. Cat left Dodoma on the 8th December and it was quite a hectic event as Kenya Airways told her at the last minute that her flight had been cancelled. So Cat was in panic trying to sort out an earlier flight and when she eventually did she had to leave Dodoma in a whirlwind. One minute she was here, the next minute she had gone. It was sad to say good bye, but I knew she was heading for a good holiday in the UK, what with her graduation, UK Christmas experience and travel to Switzerland – phew! I thoroughly enjoyed my time here in Dodoma during Cat’s absence. It was an opportunity to see how I would cope having to manage the office, our local partner organisations and the house on my own and try to be understood in Swahili without Justin or Cat as a backup. On the whole I don’t think I did too badly. The partners’ funds were disbursed on time, MIGESADO’s outstanding reports were submitted to STT, I created with Justin new stove and tree posters to go up in villages and I attended a networking workshop which was conducted all in Swahili. The workshop was organised by an environmental networking organisation called DONET which STT regularly write articles for. It was a focused on their strategic plan and was a great opportunity to meet other organisations working in the environment sector in Dodoma. I was impressed by the gender equality and intergenerational make up of participants. Justin Chidawali, our tree and agriculture expert came along too and due to his long standing relationship with DONET he introduced to me to a number of DONET staff and member organisations. My time here also involved having to organise my permit papers at the last minute (which had to be done in quite a hurry before I left and was quite a hectic experience). I moved forward on the Urban Appraisal with a planning meeting held with the Chief Community Development and Social Welfare Officer of which I prepared a briefing paper for him and we agreed my work plan for his Extension officer who I will begin working with on the 10th January. So as you can see it was still a very busy time right up until I left. Oh, and not forgeting one of the main drama’s of my past two months in Dodoma. I also had an issue with a snake! What I thought was a Black Mamba had made its way into our house one morning and I noticed it just as I was getting ready for work. However, our cleaning lady Mama Elisa (who is like a mother to us really) tackled the fiendish creature and trampled upon it. The whole incident happened in a matter of seconds. Brave Mama Elisa came to my rescue. Despite its wriggling and writhing it could not withstand the might of Mama Elisa. Although the snake was no longer than and thinner than a pencil, it was still scary! Since then we have had three more snake incidents, so much so that our gardener Ima found a nest and has cleared it. Hurray! I eventually established that the original and subsequent snakes were not a Black Mambas has I had thought, but still one does not want get too friendly with the local snake varieties if you know what I mean. The day I left Dodoma on the 19th the weather had turned bad, it was raining all day. For local villages this is excellent news as it now means Dodoma has exited its 24 month debilitating drought and farmers are in hope of cultivating a harvest in 2007. The rains mean that Dodoma has transformed from a dry, dusty and windy town to a lush, green oasis. In many villages what had become an empty river bed has now changed into a surging river, full of nature’s goodies. One hopes and prays that the rains continue steadily until the end of the raining season which is in April. Although some places have been flooded, having the rains is overall very positive. However, what it meant for me was that I was leaving the rain behind in Dodoma to return to raining dark London. It’s amazing how people survive under such long periods of darkness! Anyway, Cat and I are back in Dodoma and it is great to be here. Work has started off at a pace with lots to do. And new and exciting work to begin, but we’ll let you know all about that in our next instalment. Bye for now folks.

KWA HERI!

The first ever blog from the field...

2006-12-28T10:00:00.002Z

This is the first of our series of fortnightly updates from the field in which we, the Project Development Officers, aim to provide light hearted but informative updates of our work and aspects of life in Dodoma. My name is Catherine Smith, and since my arrival in Dodoma, in June 2006, I have worked to maintain the STT Domestic Energy Project with the partners and our technical officer (Justin). Along with this, I researched and wrote my masters dissertation, survived an accident with the STT vehicle unscathed, and have brushed up on my Swahili. Victoria Forster-Jones, my colleague, arrived in late October and since then she and I have, among other things, worked hard on reorganising the office and introducing new systems of administration in the Dodoma office. We were also preparing for the quarterly partners workshop on ‘Sustainability’, which was held this month and was run by the chair of STT, Sheilah Meikle, and facilitated by the STT Dodoma team. Sheilah’s stay in Dodoma was brief, however this was made up for by the amount of work we squeezed in: a successful workshop, numerous meetings, and even a well deserved Indian meal at the Dodoma Hotel. Since the workshop we have been working closely with the partners, DODEA and MIGESADO, to gain a deeper understanding of the project components, with a plan to build on their existing skills in monitoring and evaluation and proposal writing.

The last two weeks have shown us a particularly changeable side of Dodoma’s weather – oppressive heat, the beginning of the rains and even a minor earthquake! The rain has left behind it a greener town and an expectant atmosphere in the community, while Justin mentioned that the people in his village have started planting for the season. A car crash in October, involving a lorry which hit us from behind, means that one of my main priorities is to find a replacement vehicle as soon as possible. Our work, and the work of DODEA, depends on reliable transport for village field visits, so hopefully by early in the New Year we will be mobile again. Since Victoria’s arrival, the team has been able to visit four villages in the Kongwa district (east of Dodoma town) with our partner organization MIGESADO, who implement the DEP in this area, among others. We met with the chairwomen of the stovebuilder groups in each village and discussed with them the status of the project and any problems they are experiencing. We observed stoves and ng’angas in each village, with the guidance of the chairwomen. Termites remain a problem in this region, which affect the ng’angas as the hay insulation makes them vulnerable. Stove building continues to provide an income for stove building groups, on top of the benefits felt by the users of the stoves.

We also visited tree nurseries in four primary schools to discuss with them their progress and identify any training gaps that Justin could fill. The nursery at Ihanda primary school was particularly impressive, as it was being conscientiously managed by a group of Standard 6 children when we arrived. In addition to the Kongwa visit, Justin and I held a school field trip to the village of Manhumbulu with thirteen Form Four students from the Canon Andreas Mwaka international school here in Dodoma, which unfortunately, Victoria wasn’t able to attend because of illness. The students interviewed stove users, stove builders and the Village Project Coordinator about the benefits of the improved stoves and the effects of traditional stoves on women’s lives. Justin gave a talk about the benefits of the tree planting project and explained the Mycorrhiza inoculation process. The students brought with them a gift of thanks in the form of sugar, tea and biscuits, and we enjoyed the tea (made using the improved stove) and biscuits together at the end of the visit.

The students were a pleasure to bring to the village, as they were respectful, sensitive and very engaged, and it made for a very positive start to a potential STT-led education programme. Be sure to check out our next installment of our update from Victoria Forster-Jones!