We met up with the family at their safari lodge and then drove the short distance to the school. Their safari guide’s daughter attended the school and he had told them that the school needed help to fund more computers. The family had donated 80 computers to the school so they now have 2 large computer labs for their 400 students. This donation must now make this one of the best equipped schools in Tanzania. They were a lovely family but one cannot help thinking that a donation of this size could have been used more effectively if split between several schools and therefore benefitted a lot more children. The reason Robert had asked us to come and meet the family was so that we could share our experiences of supporting government school in more rural areas. Whilst having some refreshments we did have some time to sit and talk with the family and I think they now appreciate that this school is not typical of those in Tanzania and that there are many many more schools who are desperately in need of support.
The sisters at the school gave the family some pictures as a thank you gift for the computers.
Once we had finished at the school Robert wanted to go to the bank In Arusha so I asked if he could drop us at Shanga Project workshop while he did some work. I have wanted to visit Shanga for a while but never had the time, so today was a good opportunity.
This is the description of Shanga from their website
“Shanga is a successful social enterprise which employs people with disabilities to create unique, high-quality, handmade jewelry, glassware and home wares incorporating recycled materials. These products are sold in Tanzania and all over the world, with profits being reinvested back into developing opportunities to employ more people with disabilities.”
We had a tour around the workshop with a personal guide called Paul who spoke very good English and had actually been at Shanga for almost 10 years. He was very good at explaining everything to us, and the people working there were also very engaging. It really is a great project. There is no charge for visiting or for a tour but obviously they would like you to buy some items from their gift shop. However there was no “hard sell” as we have experienced in other places and we were happy to purchase some gifts as all the profits go to supporting the project. Below are a few of the photos we took during the tour.
This spinning wheel is made from an old bicycle wheel
The guy working this loom was deaf but Paul our guide communicated with him using sign language.
This young girl had cerebral palsy and was learning to work the loom. She was also very happy to talk with us and have her picture taken.
This lady was the team leader for the sewing room.
This was our guide Paul, with the guys doing Tinga Tinga paintings
These guys were making jewellery and had an ingenious way of getting the very small beads threaded on to the wire. They taught me how to do it and then made me a gift of the bracelet.
They also made many glass items out of recycled glass.
Here is a mobile made out of recycled tins and bottle tops.
This guy has cerebral palsy and is flattening bottle tops.
And this guy is cutting leather to make key rings.
It was a lovely visit and a great way to spend an hour or so.
It was a lovely visit and a great way to spend an hour or so.
Robert had now arranged to meet up with Ken, a friend of his who we have met before and then we headed out to a new shopping Mall where Robert’s youngest brother Thomas, a director of Photons Energy, a solar power and pumping installation company, have a showroom.
However on arrival at the mall we found that the showroom was closed on Mondays and Thomas was actually at the company’s offices a few kilometres away. The whole Mall was actually very quiet and it did make me wonder who actually shops there.
So we drove out to the Photons office and met up with Thomas and another director Roman. They then spent about an hour chatting with us and explaining to us all about what they did, their personal backgrounds and how they met and set up the company. They were very friendly and a good example of how hard work can lead to success. Eventually they needed to do some work and so we went and got a late lunch at a very nice place called Orlandos. Peter was happy as we had some goat, chips and salad which made a change from vegetarian pasta.
We rather liked this statue in its Tanzanian colours outside the bar.
We should have brought our swimming costumes!!
After lunch we said goodbye to Ken and then went back to Photons where we spent a little time talking to their marketing guy while Robert tried to solve an IT issue they had. We then adjourned to a local bar where we met up with Robert’s friend Abdullah who we know well and then we were later joined by Thomas and Roman. We stayed there chatting for several drinks (but I forget to take any photos) before heading back to Moshi around 8pm.
The journey back wasn’t too bad and we got back to More Than A drop at about 9.45pm. The place was very quiet but Glory and some of the students were still around and asked if we wanted any food.......which I was most surprised at. When we asked if we could have some soup they quickly organised this, relaid a table on the terrace for us and chatted to us while we waited the few minutes for it to be prepared.
As always the soup was lovely and once we had finished eating we retired to bed after a really interesting day.
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