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| Charlie 2 Before a Hike |
After three weeks at home I’ve finally started to get
used to the reality of life away from Africa. I have found it quite difficult
to adjust back to life in the UK, from attitudes to surroundings to our own issues.
The bizarre lifestyle we had living in Tanzania became normal after ten weeks
and it was difficult at first to see it from an outsider’s point of view. I
learnt a lot from my time away with Raleigh ICS about the reality of life in
rural villages such as Mgongo, how international development can benefit such
communities but also challenging myself to live in basic conditions in the
middle of Africa with a team of thirteen diverse people.
So to explain a little better here’s a day in the life of
Team Majanga…
After a luxurious night on a thin roll matt under a
suffocating mosquito net in a tent full of eight people with walls constantly
flapping violently in the wind, it was time to wake up feeling fresh for the busy
day ahead. Breakfast calls varied between 5am and 8am, depending on the plans
for the day. This would be served by the pair on camp duty – one British and
one Tanzanian. This was one of four daily duties, which involved cooking each
meal and staying guard at the camp all day.
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| Our Home for Ten Weeks |
The daily food at the camp was carbs, carbs, and some
more carbs. For breakfast we had porridge every single morning, which I thought
was really nice to start with. But after weeks and weeks of the stuff and when
the sugar, chocolate and milk powder rations ran out, it wasn’t quite so
appetising. But still, eating out of a mess-tin watching the sun rise over the
mountains is something quite amazing!
Depending on our schedule, the team would have to be
promptly ready after breakfast to begin surveys, hold meetings all morning,
head to the schools or practice their campaign role. We tried to throw in some
Raleigh energisers to liven us all up a bit too! One of my favourites was Last
Man Standing… everyone had to fill their mouths up with as much water as
possible, with the aim to make everyone else laugh. The trick was to avoid them
spitting it out over you!
Those on camp duty would then have the opportunity to use
their ration of water to wash their clothes for the week in a bucket, which
would usually be taken over by the Tanzanians tutting at our inability to clean
them by hand! I took full advantage of my camp duties to be my ‘pamper day’ of fresh
laundry, clean hair and scrubbed feet! All with less than just one bucket of
water.
It’s shocking to think how much water we use a day back
in the UK. Old style toilets use around 15 litres just for one flush, but newer
ones still use 4-6 litres. A washing machine uses up approximately 50 litres for
one spin and a dishwasher can use 20 litres of water. Obviously this is better
than a few decades ago due to advanced technology and design, yet I find it
shocking to realise how much we water we waste and completely take it for granted.
In the UK we use 150 litres of water on average per day. For one person. In the
scorching heat of Mgongo where we were constantly sweating and drinking a great
deal more than at home we used 200 litres per day. For thirteen people. That’s only
15 litres each per day for cooking, cleaning, drinking, washing clothes hands
and showering. It has made me think a lot about the water usage in my household
and I would definitely encourage others to consider their own habits to try and
save water.
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| The Village Water Source |
The people of Mgongo begged us for a water tap in their
village. A tap would mean they have many more hours spare each day to focus on the
important things – farming their crops, looking after their livestock and
educating their children. Every morning the students would have to leave school
for a couple of hours to fill their jerry cans up from the bore holes in the
dry river bed to have some more unclean water to drink. For them, it affects so
much more than just their water though. It’s their education, livelihood and
health. Unfortunately we did not have the time or resources to begin
construction of a pump for them, but we informed our project partner SEMA and
hopefully the next Raleigh ICS group will be able to build one for the village,
which is great news!
So back to life at camp… After a busy morning the heat
tends to exceed 40 degrees to make the rest of the day even more tiring! We
attempted to get a decent tan for ten weeks in Africa, but simply gave up due
to the unbearable heat. “Sunbathing? Too busy saving the world!”
The afternoon would be a continuation of one of our many
projects, with the fantastic translations from our Swahili speaking volunteers.
We would not have been able to achieve half of what we did without a mixed team
of British and Tanzanians, which is such a great and unique aspect of Raleigh. The
Tanzanians helped us to integrate into our new community but also learn how
much they were connected to the Western World. For instance we were quite
surprised in our minibus journeys to Kizonzo School to have the delights of Westlife
and Celine Dion tracks repeated each time! Our Tanzanian Frank was also very
upset to hear that Westlife had split up and would no longer be releasing new
songs… It’s odd what parts of British life they have taken on board!
For camp duty most of the day would consist of sitting on
the floor chopping, peeling and cooking in true African style. Our gas stove decided
to break one week too so we got used to tackling the wind and balancing the pan
on rocks for hours on a camp fire! Lunch and dinners would revolve around even
more carbs (rice, potatoes or spaghetti) with a sauce based on just onions and
tomatoes. Now I honestly never want to see another potato in my life!
The basic food provoked the whole camp to crave certain luxuries,
with a good old McDonald’s being the British favourite! The prospect of
chocolate always excited the British girls too, so when our Deputy Project
Leader visited on ‘the loop’ it was all we could think about for days! We also
looked forward to the rare treat of fried chicken and chips, although the
preparation time of slaughtering the chicken and peeling 10kg of potatoes
deterred us from doing it often!
Another thing that was a million miles away from us in
camp life was communication. It was slightly odd but very refreshing not to
think about checking your phone or Facebook constantly and be brainwashed by
all the mass crap that many people revolve their lives around. I lived without any
phone or internet completely for ten weeks, until my last day when I called my
mum to let her know I was still alive and checking for a lift home from the
airport! Our only form of communication therefore was letters. This was really
cool to start with, but after finding time to write what felt like a million
letters it became a bit of a chore to repeat everything over and over! I would
have very much appreciated a desk instead of the floor too! Living in camp made
me miss having clean feet and a carpet too, especially when you’re showering
standing in mud and can only expect your wet feet to collect the sand in the
tent! As for wildlife, apart from hyenas and a few baboons we didn’t get to see
much unfortunately. Well unless you count cows, goats, chickens, ants, flies,
beetles, mosquitoes…
So after finishing our project work for the day it would
be time to visit the local market, play with the children hanging around camp
or join the queue for a showering with a bucket and jug. Despite the barren
landscape and sand, the village was certainly full of colour. From the bright bold
kitenges worn by the local women to the rows of fresh fruits and vegetables, it
was what I’d always pictured African life to be like! Around our camp there
were endless fields of dried sunflowers and maize, waiting for the first drop
of rain from the wet season in November. At first we found it really odd to see
a bunch of young children attending the fields or herding the cows and goats to
graze. They couldn’t have been older than eight years old, yet they were left
alone to help the family to maintain their land. This is Africa.
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| Raheli in the middle with her sisters and I |
For me a really great thing about living in Mgongo for so
long was hearing a little voice shouting ‘Emma!’ when walking around even the
remotest part of the village! The children were always so inquisitive and
excited to see people from outside their area, let alone country! Whether we
were at the school, market or just walking we would hear our names being
called, so we also got them shouting “Chapattis!” and “Sausages!” Another thing
they absolutely loved was photographs. Normally they wouldn’t be able to
recognise themselves but would always point out their friends and giggle a lot!
One little girl in particular stole my heart, her name was Raheli. She was only
in Standard 4 at school, but was really eager to learn. Raheli taught me
Swahili with my phrase book by correcting my pronunciation and wanted to be
able to read in English so borrowed my book to practice. It is really sad to
know that opportunities in rural communities like Mgongo are limited, with so
few children making it to secondary school. However with organisations like
Raleigh and ICS it is possible to change that and I have been inspired to carry
on helping children like Raheli to have more opportunities in life.
So at the end of a busy day when the sun had gone down
and the stars were filling the sky, it was time for bed again. It did take a
while to get used to sleeping on the hard floor, especially with someone else's
feet kicking your head, the tent going mental in the wind and still around 28
degree heat! One night we even got the treat of a surprise visit from some
hyenas. Their distinctive call was suddenly heard around our campsite, alarming
quite a few of our team members! It was also a bit unnerving that our tent door
was ripped down the seam and none of the zips worked so it was just a gaping
hole… But in true Majanga fashion we worked as a team to make the most noise
possible at 3am to scare the hyenas away from the camp, with cow bells, clanging
mess tins and peculiar vocals – it appeared to work! Another eventful day at
Camp Majanga done, the next exciting one about to begin J
