The people in central Tanzania

We came to a couple of villages ~70 kilometres west of the capital Dodoma in central Tanzania, together with our partner Tear Fund Tanzania, to look for a site where we may carry out a project in July 2020.  

Along the way, we encounter numerous acacias.  For many people, these are the iconic ‘African’ trees.  And cows crossing the road.  They show no respect for cars, taking their time to cross in front of you as they please.  

And then there are these immense baobabs. Most look dead and dry.  But a few have already sprouted small green shoots.  When the rain comes, they will certainly come back to life in a hurry.   

As soon as we got out of the small capital city of Dodoma, the low lying long huts appear.  They are shorter than the average person.  They all seem to be about 8 feet wide, and can be very long.  

When one enters one must lower ones head, and keep bending it down, unless if you are rather short.  There they put everything: bedding, clothings, cooking stoves, cats, goats, …  The walls and the roof appear to be separate structures.  

The walls are mostly mud bricks, very much like those in Rwanda.  The roof appeared to be thatched straw and mud, supported by a frame made of slender branches chopped off from small trees.  There is a gap between the top of the walls and the roof, to allow air to escape, making it cooler in the heat.  Thus they are less stuffy than the houses we encounter in Rwanda.  

Some cannot actually been described as houses.  One had only one side made of a mud wall. All 3 other sides are simply lattices of slender branches, offering little protection agains the wind and the rain.  A 10 person family cramps into a space of no more than 8 feet by 16 feet.  Imagine that.  

The cook with a ubiquitous 3-stone stove. 

These are the people that Tear Fund is trying to help.  They work with local churches to set up Self-Help Groups, offer than training and organization, helping them to save enough money to buy solar panel systems, …  We plan to bring a team of students here to install solar panels and indoor wiring for houses, similar to what we have been doing in Rwanda, Cambodia and Myanmar.  We will have to make some adaptations based on the local environment.  We are confident that we can do it, and are excited about the possibilities of working with Tear Fund.  We will be back.