This has been an incredible week. Without any real planning, this trip has turned out to be just what I hoped it would be. An initiation into Africa for Cherry and a homecoming for me.

One thing most people do not realize is how much time and effort goes into daily living. When you wake up, you think …hmm do I get out from under the mosquito net? Will I get eaten by the mosquitoes? Oops, I DID forget to take my malaria pill.. better do THAT now!… Okay do we have electricity? Mostly out for almost two days and of course that means no internet cafes open either. The first day we thought we just didn’t have any money left on the meter, we pay in advance here! Now how can we get things done today?

I have been cooking my African fall back: French toast, you can always get eggs and UHT milk, and bread. I carry vanilla and cinnamon and hope for butter. French toast does hit the spot when you are not sure what to eat.

Dale is off for a break in South Africa. He was going so gung ho he was burning out. He is getting drained by the logistics as I am sure you can understand. Of course, the intentional blockages by people who just want their share of the pie doesn’t help either. We have talked quite a bit about the politics and logistics and it seems we all are tending to agree on the major points. An NGO called CONNECT seems to be ready to help out for next year. Engineers Without Borders in UK have also showed interest. So it looks likely the Msabi project will continue. As I said as soon as I arrived, money is not actually the main issue, it is about good qualified Tanzanians you can trust, and someone with management ability will be even more important. The one man he has found has experience on a very similar project, but that project will not allow him to come for a month to transition the staff, we both think he just wants bribes. It is evident it is not about the greater good!!

I am so impressed. Dale is capable of putting in a water well for under $500(US). Most of the other projects charge as much as 15 times that! So, I am also sponsoring two of them, one he is doing soon is for a school with 200 students and one teacher, but no water! Another for a clinic.

Okay enough selling his project, but it is great to see projects where 100% goes to really helping, he does it as a volunteer. Anyone interested? You can have your name on a pump. When you see how far women have to walk to carry water back and realize how much of it is contaminated, this is a wonderful project. I’d love to see it spread to other areas, we will work on collaboration with the Agricultural University in Morogoro when we return from Zanzibar!

No question people here need water first and filters second. So lets see what is possible.

In Zanzibar I have made contact with a woman with several projects. She is powerful on the Island, I am interested where it will lead us!

I do think Dale’s technique of making the filters to fit in the buckets they already use is a good idea. Also the addition of silver nitrate. Although, it does require the construction of a kiln. His problem has been to make it cost effective since the woman doing it does not want anyone else to help or share. Not always easy! Getting the right temp for the kiln has been a process as well. In the beginning it was too hot and the pots were too brittle. Also just finding the right quality of clay can be difficult in some areas.

Thats all for me today

By Vicki Sherwood.