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!

Now that all the Teams are here with us, Tommie, our Tanzania Country Manager thought he should give you an insight as to what’s going down with the Team Expeditions…

Camp Tanga:

Did I hear someone say, Diani Beach in Kenya? Nope…this is this is our new ocean location in Tanga. Pretty amazing hah?

Tanga is a small coastal town located 70 km south of the Kenyan border.  The camp is situated in Mwambani village, which is 6 km south of Tanga town.  Our core projects revolve around village life and learning how villagers sustain themselves with ocean related activities such as fishing, seaweed farming and boat building.  It is a special place because the village is situated in a coelocanth marine park.  Our projects  focus on finding a balance to protect and utilize the environment to improve life.  There are two primary schools within walking distance and a secondary school whose expansion where expansion is well underway with Goldaming and Francis Bacon being the first lot to get cracking on the walls (albeit with some teething problems – buy hey, who said building is a breeze?)

Whilst we all love that turquoise ocean, we would not be Camps International without finding ourselves a tall tree in the open savannah to place some tents under and be part and parcel of the wildlife splendors of East Africa…

So welcome to Camp Miti Mrefu – simply translated as “Tall trees.”

And as basic as it may seem, we still have plenty of ground rules (only because we know and respect that this bit of land really belongs to the wildlife)

Conservation and Protection of natural habitats and biodiversity is fundamental to Camps International. In our part of the world where the majority of the population live on less than a dollar a day, it is never as simple as simply saying, “Do Not Poach Wildlife” or “Do not cut indigenous trees” when you have children to feed, school fees to pay, and the drought has destroyed what little crops that have not been eaten by the elephants.

Ndarakwai Ranch where our camp is based has been hit by “poaching for meat” problem for quite some time now. Enforcement through ranger patrols is critical but but equally important is giving the surrounding communities access to basic resources. And that is why camps/ndarakwai are constructing a kitchen for the Ol molog vet School. We have also pledged to provide food rations for the school. This way, the school going kids are at least guaranteed a meal a day as opposed to going hungry and prompting them to hunt for game meat. We have also decided to improve on the infrastructure of the school by painting the classrooms in which the pupils would be learning about conservation amongst other subjects in.

We are not naive and we know that this will take time and resources but you have to start somewhere

“In a nutshell, this is what you’ve signed up for”. My words to Kingdown School.

Meanwhile, what better way to experience Africa than to live in a rural setting where the majority of the population lives especially when it is on the slopes of one of Africa’s highest mountains? This is what Camp Meru is all about. The camp is situated right in some mzee’s (Swhali for elderly man) backyard. The Teams live the African way and go about doing their daily chores the same way the locals go about their business. Tending to cattle, harvesting coffee and learning the whole “shebang” until coffee is put on the table. The students even get to do their washing down at the stream…

On top of it all, this is where the Mt. Meru trek either starts or finishes

And on the slopes of Africa’s highest mountain is our  “mother camp”. This is CT’s main operational point. We use this camp as a point of luxury (well, not quite jacuzzi and steam baths but you get the idea). After having it rough in the other camps situated in Kilimanjaro area, you come to Camp Mbokomu for a running shower but that does not mean there ‘s a whole lot of work going on!

And a whole lot of play too especially when Elphas, our resident drag queen is in da camp!

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…