So the summer teams and gappers have left and we take a step back and look at everything around us that was achieved. Tommie, our Tanzania Country Manager needed a couple of days sleep to recuperate, reflect and revamp for what’s next. A big thanks to all that contributed to our projects in Tanzania and as you can read from below, a lot of great work done…thanks for pulling this together Tommie…

Gap on TULEENI ORPHANS HOME

Taking a break from our daily project work, we had the opportunity to visit a local orphanage in Moshi. With all the stereotypes and media coverage of orphans we see back home, particularly orphans within Africa, we weren’t sure what to expect. However, when we arrived (after a very bumpy and cosy trip in a Daladala), we were overwhelmed by the friendly welcome we received from the children.

After meeting the children, we took part in a number of games and were shown the cramped living conditions.  This involved seeing rooms with up to 10 bunk beds and on average 3 children per bed, which was an eye opening experience. Despite the language barrier, the children were all eager to interact with us and very enthusiastic.  While the younger children were keen for more active games, the older girls were happy to chat and get to know us a bit more – even practice some English or teach us some Swahili!

After the initial introduction to the children, the administrator of the orphanage, Mama Faraji, was kind enough to talk to us about the orphanage and its history. This particular Children’s Home was started in 2006 with 18 children, which has increased to around 50 children being under her care with many children having to be turned away everyday. We learned that she started the orphanage because she was an orphan as a child herself (although was fortunate enough to live with her grandparents).  This made her want to help children who are not as lucky as she was, even though she must fund this herself while also relying on donations.

Some of the kids at Camp before going to Moshi FM for the program

Before we left, we were invited to join hands in a circle, sing songs and dance with the children followed by a variety of ball games. On our journey home we reflected on our experience and agreed that what the lady was doing was inspirational and admirable as well as finding the whole experience affecting and enjoyable. It made us want to support the orphanage during our stay here. This was made possible by an idea put forward by camps staff with whom they suggested to purchase food stuff among other bits and bobs. There is so much more that these poor souls need apart from just food. These kids need medication, School uniforms and other basic needs. Having said that it does not necessarily have to always be monetary. Showing them love and affection, helping them live just like any other child means a lot than a million Dollar donation. Hence we arranged for them to come out of the orphanage and participate in a weekend Live radio show at Moshi FM.  We wanted the kids to live just like any other kid around even if it was for a few hours. We each made a donation which enabled this idea to become reality.

Listening to the kids singing and answering riddles and story telling live on Radio was awesome. The kids were also happy to hear themselves over the Radio and narrating how life was before finding a home at the orphanage and how they aspire to be Teachers and Doctors of this country. It was an emotional afternoon and made a few of us shed a few tears. Seeing the children have the opportunity to become more involved in the local community and enjoy a new experience was rewarding for all volunteers involved…

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This summer Camp Tanzania also hosted 160 students from various schools in the UK. They came out with one objective and one aim only: to make a difference. It is going to be an understatement if we said they met their targets. They surpassed them to be honest…

In Moshi: Mbokomu School – the pupils and the institution are in dire need of a sports/playing field. Currently, they are using a plot full of ridges and holes caused by erosion. This prompted us to “kill two birds with one stone”. Deal with the erosion problem by sorting out landscaping and create a playing field for the students.

Kingdown Team was busy plastering one of the class rooms at Msaranga School and teaching English. The target of this particular project was met 100%

At Mnazi School there were a number of projects: plastering Teachers quarters, constructing a water tank and cementing both a floor and veranda of one of the classes. Rydens College and Kings Langley were involved with these projects.

Ndarakwai Wildlife Sanctuary: The Teams were involved in wildlife conservation related projects including conducting a wildlife census, nature walks and wildlife identification, habitat restoration and ranch maintenance. The students expanded an already existing watering hole for the wildlife to drink water from. They also dug furrows that feed the watering hole from the thawed glacier of Mt. Kilimanjaro. And of course, a Camps wildlife expedition would not be complete without making paper from Elephant pooh!

Nothing satisfying and worth the students time than seeing a herd of Zebras quenching their thirst just after project!

The teams also had an opportunity to work at a local School called Ol molog Vet. Most of the pupils here are from the Masai tribe. Here the teams were involved in Painting the inside of 4 class rooms and their window frames and doors. They also painted 2 staff quarters. They started on a trench/foundation of the Schools’ kitchen and made 360 Bricks which will later be used for the kitchen construction.

The headteacher on Ground breaking day!

In Meru: All mountain expedition Teams go through this location. The projects here ranged from establishing a vegetable garden for the school, constructing a kitchen to learning the whole process of coffee making, helping the mamas with their daily chores of tending to their cattle and preparing their little shambas for planting maize and beans.

Based right in the village, it gave our teams the first hand experience of living life the African way. The camp setup is right on a farmer’s plot of land where they camped amongst the goats, chickens and cows. And if you need to wash your clothes follow the singing mamas down to the local stream. It was lovely to see our clients interacting so well with the community going to church service with them, playing ball games with the local teams…

Students helping mamas with daily chores..

Camp Tanga: Our latest treasure…Many had thought that it was more of rest and recreation spot than a working camp but that would not be very Camps… Projects as usual and goals to achieve. There was a Boat to be built, Seaweed mama’s to be helped and a classroom to be constructed.

A great summer all around. Kwaheri na karibu tena!

Tommie, our Tanzania Operations Manager has just sent in a great post on the opening of a new kitchen built by our gappers in Tanzania. Congrats to all!

There is nothing more satisfying than seeing the fruits of your labor come to pass. It has always been our ethos to make sure that any project we start we see it off to its completion.

The Fumvuhu School Kitchen construction started from scratch. Making of bricks was the first job the volunteers had to do before embarking on digging the foundation and the construction of the main kitchen block.

The beauty of this project and its progress is that the Kidia community worked hand in hand with our volunteers. The locals got their hands dirty just as much as the ever working hard gap students. It is always pleasing to see parents, local pupils, teachers and local authority joining in helping a common goal.

Last week saw the volunteers rushing against time and putting on final touches on the Kitchen.

Why the rush?

The plan was to finish all pending work and hand over the Kitchen to Fumvuhu School. The targets were realized and we were not going to just hand over the keys and say “Here is your Kitchen, we’ve done our bit”. A proper handing over party was on the cards with the area local authority (Councilor), parents/Teachers board and the Camp Tanzania project coordinator and staff were present to grace the occasion.

You should have been there to see how appreciative the School and the community at large were. The group of volunteers, who were involved in seeing the construction come to its completion, was received with songs and dance.

Speeches, vote of thanks from the local authority, parents, Teachers, pupils and volunteers and the actual handing over of the Kitchen marked the end of the party.

Jackson (our Projects main man and area councilor-doing us the honors of cutting the tape to symbolize the official opening of the Kitchen).

From the camps Team and on behalf of Kidia community we would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to all the gapers who were involved in this project.

Wanna be part of camps next Kidia project?….coming up, Furniture for Fumvuhu!

I just got back from a road trip across our Camps in Kenya and Tanzania with Nick North, one of our Camps International Trustee’s and his wife Ginny. It was there first time out here with us although both of them spent many years all over Africa in their youth. Needless to say that its been a real pleasure to show them all the various projects that we have been engaged with over the last few years if not longer. It never ceases to amaze me just how much our gappers, Lifers and School teams have contributed through dedicated hard work and I know our Trustees share my sentiments.

One comment that Nick and Ginny kept making is how shocked they were to see the kind of distances and the amount of projects that are so spread out. I never really thought about it in that way but they did make think about it and hold my breath in awe of our field staff who handle the projects on the ground. Putting up an entire classroom block that is 50kms away from the closest hardware is one thing: putting up an entire classroom block when there is no water available to drink let alone use for construction is another. Then the rains come along and the roads become impassable but somehow, we still manage to carry on.

The results from last year have been truly uplifting and we have left a lot of smiles across Kenya and Tanzania. The new kitchen at Sasenyi Primary is complete and in operation (the containers next to their feet are for carrying water for the school feeding programme – some kids walk up to 10kms carrying water!)

It’s currently very very smoky inside but not for long as our energy efficient partners at CO2balance have confirmed that they will support the construction of an institutional stove and we should get that in place very soon. Our Camp Kenya gappers were on site that day busy sanding down and varnishing that last of 50 new school desks that were partially sponsored by Southfield School, Camps and an amazing group of people that visited last year and have set up a dedicated fundraising campaign for all the much needed infrastructure at Sasenyi. Little Ben tells the story first hand below:

Yes, Camps International does financially and physically support all its projects through your participation in our various programs but No: we can’t do it all alone. And for this purpose, the Camps International Trust has come into operation and been an amazing supporting hand for lots of different independent projects or for so many people like the Crossley’s or the Cummins group who have come out here and been a part of the process themselves and want to keep being a part of it.

And that’s just one location in one country! We have 18 active projects in Kenya alone, 5 in Tanzania and several more in Borneo.

2 days and 6 punctures later, we made our south from Camp Tsavo across the border to Tanzania. The road is miserable on the Kenyan side and I could see a cheeky smile forming across the face of Tommie, our Tanzania Country Manager as we crossed over to the far too smooth surface…(yeah, yeah, Tommie, I got the message!). And the view…aah the view from Camp Mbokumu…

So irrespective of the lousy view out of their windows and the fact that there are a handful of real coffee shops down the road, our Camp Tanzania work their butts off in all sorts of obscure locations around Mount Kilimanjaro. We have been very ambitious with some of our projects but we have never failed even when the school dining hall is big enough to park a couple of planes in!

The Mbokumu Dining Hall is just up the road from the Camp but much much further up the road (further enough for our 4wd pickup to wheeze and cough with altitude sickness) is another amazing little project that has just been completed and a big hat tip to all of you who were apart of this little kitchen on the banana infested hills of Kidia.

Perhaps you are beginning to notice a pattern here. We appear to have an obsession with a handful of things and food is definitely one of them (click HERE to remind yourself of the other). Yes, in areas where the basic needs like food security and hygiene and water are simply not available, we have a duty to focus and help establish basic fundamental necessities.  And we like to stay positive and realistic about what we do.

Yes, we are indeed proud of all that has been accomplished and yes, we also know that we have miles to go before we sleep…