Monday, March 13, 2006
Survey Weekend
Saturday’s survey at Alasai, the Maasai village, went just about as planned. Our driver showed up an hour late (which, in African time, is pretty much on time), we went over to meet the surveyors at their office, and all got on the road. When we stopped in Arusha for a few minutes we told the surveyors to go ahead without us, so of course by the time we got to the village they were nowhere to be found. My mom and I stayed behind with Mama Paolo and the babies while the guys and Neema, who came along for the day, went driving around to find our surveyors. About an hour later everyone came back, and the survey got started.
Now I don’t know much about engineering, but I bet that most engineers back home would be impressed by how these guys work with relatively low-tech gear. They had wires rolled up into baskets and a machine that looked like it came out of an old space exploration movie.
Once they got their equipment out they walked across the center of the crater around which the village is located, with a device that measures magnetic force, and found four spots which had very low magnetism, which they marked using a handheld GPS. Low magnetism usually points to water, so out of four spots they were confident they could find a couple of potential well locations.
They went back to those spots with more gadgets to measure soil humidity and write down countless figures, which they’ll use back at the office to figure out how deep the water is and how much of it we’ll be able to tap into.
It was fun to watch a group of children and young men follow their every step with tremendous curiosity!
The chief surveyor Mr. Mtoi, a kind and patient man who seemed to enjoy his work very much, did his best to explain what they were doing and how everything worked. I couldn’t begin to explain it all myself, and I didn’t want to pester him too much with my questions, but I’m quite confident that they’re good at what they do and that by the time we get their written report back we’ll be looking at some good news. So for now, please excuse my brief (and probably confused) attempts at explaining the techinical aspects! It's the best I can do.
Naishiye, Mama Paolo’s daughter, who gave me earrings last time, made me a bracelet like my mother’s with my name on it. I gave them an English dictionary of mine last time we visited the village and Paolo (Naishiye's brother) found my name in it, which I had written inside the cover back in the fifth grade. She spelled it “Oliva” instead of “Olivia” anyway, but I couldn’t care less. It’s beautiful, and fits like a charm.
A while back I posted in my blog about my first visit to the Maasai village, and I spoke of how thrilled I was with being given earrings. I received a few comments, via the blog or personal e-mails, from people telling me how great it was that I could be made happy with such simple things. I’ve been thinking about that ever since, and while I understand the spirit of those comments, I do have one little thing to rectify. It’s not just simple things that make me happy, it’s the fact that I’ve been given such precious gifts by people who have so very little to give – people I’ve always admired from a distance, and admire even more now that I’ve been welcomed into their homes. It swells the heart.
On the way home from the village we stopped at a really nice café called Via Via in Arusha. We had some coffee, talked, laughed and relaxed. Now that the survey is done it feels like the wheels of progress are turning on this project, which now has the name of “Alasai Water Project”. We can move on to funding, educating the village about well management, maintenance and hygiene, and once the rain season is over we can start digging right away.
While we were having coffee with Anthony at Via Via, Neema and Solomon went for a walk with our driver. Neema is now traveling to Arusha a few times a week to pick up some street kids and bring them to Amani Children’s home. It’s rough work. While they were walking she spotted two boys, one 11 and one 13 or 14, who had run away from Amani late last summer. Neema told us that a lot of the kids who leave the home can’t find a ride to Arusha so they walk the 70 km, a dangerous two day journey, to get there. Life at Amani can be challenging, but I’m sure it beats life on the streets of Arusha.
She and Solomon went over to talk to them and see how they were doing. They were sniffing glue, which most street kids do because it numbs their appetite (and glue is cheaper than food), and the older boy had developed a lung infection. They asked Neema if they could come back to Moshi with her, they said they were tired of the street and wanted to return to Amani. Solomon and Neema made them throw out their glue and they walked them back to Via Via, just as we were on our way back to the car.
We took them with us in the Land Cruiser. Yusef, the 11 year old, and Luke, the 13 year old, were exhausted. My mom had a few peanut butter cookies (which she’d bought for the Maasai kids to eat) left in her purse, and they wolfed them down with a couple of cans of soda we had left in the car.
On the ride back to Moshi we played music and danced in our seats. We acted like clowns and the boys laughed and laughed, like children should. I slept better that night than I have since we got here.
One more week and then we're gone. I miss my husband, I miss home, but I'm going to miss this place too. ¶ 3/13/2006 03:21:00 AM
Now I don’t know much about engineering, but I bet that most engineers back home would be impressed by how these guys work with relatively low-tech gear. They had wires rolled up into baskets and a machine that looked like it came out of an old space exploration movie.Once they got their equipment out they walked across the center of the crater around which the village is located, with a device that measures magnetic force, and found four spots which had very low magnetism, which they marked using a handheld GPS. Low magnetism usually points to water, so out of four spots they were confident they could find a couple of potential well locations.
They went back to those spots with more gadgets to measure soil humidity and write down countless figures, which they’ll use back at the office to figure out how deep the water is and how much of it we’ll be able to tap into.
It was fun to watch a group of children and young men follow their every step with tremendous curiosity!The chief surveyor Mr. Mtoi, a kind and patient man who seemed to enjoy his work very much, did his best to explain what they were doing and how everything worked. I couldn’t begin to explain it all myself, and I didn’t want to pester him too much with my questions, but I’m quite confident that they’re good at what they do and that by the time we get their written report back we’ll be looking at some good news. So for now, please excuse my brief (and probably confused) attempts at explaining the techinical aspects! It's the best I can do.
Naishiye, Mama Paolo’s daughter, who gave me earrings last time, made me a bracelet like my mother’s with my name on it. I gave them an English dictionary of mine last time we visited the village and Paolo (Naishiye's brother) found my name in it, which I had written inside the cover back in the fifth grade. She spelled it “Oliva” instead of “Olivia” anyway, but I couldn’t care less. It’s beautiful, and fits like a charm.
A while back I posted in my blog about my first visit to the Maasai village, and I spoke of how thrilled I was with being given earrings. I received a few comments, via the blog or personal e-mails, from people telling me how great it was that I could be made happy with such simple things. I’ve been thinking about that ever since, and while I understand the spirit of those comments, I do have one little thing to rectify. It’s not just simple things that make me happy, it’s the fact that I’ve been given such precious gifts by people who have so very little to give – people I’ve always admired from a distance, and admire even more now that I’ve been welcomed into their homes. It swells the heart.
On the way home from the village we stopped at a really nice café called Via Via in Arusha. We had some coffee, talked, laughed and relaxed. Now that the survey is done it feels like the wheels of progress are turning on this project, which now has the name of “Alasai Water Project”. We can move on to funding, educating the village about well management, maintenance and hygiene, and once the rain season is over we can start digging right away.
While we were having coffee with Anthony at Via Via, Neema and Solomon went for a walk with our driver. Neema is now traveling to Arusha a few times a week to pick up some street kids and bring them to Amani Children’s home. It’s rough work. While they were walking she spotted two boys, one 11 and one 13 or 14, who had run away from Amani late last summer. Neema told us that a lot of the kids who leave the home can’t find a ride to Arusha so they walk the 70 km, a dangerous two day journey, to get there. Life at Amani can be challenging, but I’m sure it beats life on the streets of Arusha.
She and Solomon went over to talk to them and see how they were doing. They were sniffing glue, which most street kids do because it numbs their appetite (and glue is cheaper than food), and the older boy had developed a lung infection. They asked Neema if they could come back to Moshi with her, they said they were tired of the street and wanted to return to Amani. Solomon and Neema made them throw out their glue and they walked them back to Via Via, just as we were on our way back to the car.
We took them with us in the Land Cruiser. Yusef, the 11 year old, and Luke, the 13 year old, were exhausted. My mom had a few peanut butter cookies (which she’d bought for the Maasai kids to eat) left in her purse, and they wolfed them down with a couple of cans of soda we had left in the car.
On the ride back to Moshi we played music and danced in our seats. We acted like clowns and the boys laughed and laughed, like children should. I slept better that night than I have since we got here.
One more week and then we're gone. I miss my husband, I miss home, but I'm going to miss this place too. ¶ 3/13/2006 03:21:00 AM
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