Tabora - Part 1

After breakfast we left Nzega and drove the 2 hours to Tabora where we met up with Frank, ACTT’s agent here. 

I should also mention that Robert now has a van for transporting his stock (and us) in, which means there is plenty of room for everything and makes for a comfortable drive.

We follow Frank on his motorbike the short distance to a primary school where Frank had done some ICT training with the teachers last year. Our intention was to loan this school 3 computers and a printer.

On arrival we were met by the Deputy Headteacher. It was unfortunate that the Head Teacher who I had been dealing with was called away on some sort of emergency. It also seemed that today a Headteacher from a nearby school was standing in for the Ward Education Officer. Anyway we were shown around the school while we waited for some representatives from the District Education Office to arrive as well as some community members

Around 11 o’clock everyone had arrived and so Robert explained about our project and then went through the Loan Contract with them. It was at this point things started to go wrong when the District Education Officers and the “visiting” Headteacher did not seem to be happy with the idea that the computers were being loaned. We spent a long time trying to explain why it was a loan and not a donation but that they wouldn’t need to pay any money and that if the school used the computers well in the end they would become the property of the school. Anyway after about 2 hours they were still arguing with us and had not signed the contract so we gave up and left taking the computers with us!!

This whole experience really took us by surprise as we have never had a problem before and we have been using this contract since 2017. We had also never been treated that way, it was all very odd.

After leaving the school we went to a local bar for some lunch to discuss the whole incident with Robert and Frank and where we go from here. In the end we decided that later today they would check with both schools that we will visit tomorrow to make sure they are ok with the contract. Frank also has another school where he has done computer training but who were too late to apply for support this year so now we could potentially help them instead….so its not all bad news…… some schools will still get some computers.

We checked into our hotel in Tabora which is fine (we stayed here last year). I then wrote my blog while Pete read.

It rained really heavily here tonight so Robert delayed picking us up for dinner until about 7.45pm. We went to a bar recommended by Frank but it turned out to be closed so we ended up in the bar next door. It had a very basic menu, played loud music and seemed to be showing some sort of marshal arts movie on the TV’s. We got some food and Robert introduced me to a rum flavoured spirit, which was actually ok. I did however break a filling on the “local” chicken which we always know will be tough….but that’s a risk you take 😀. All in all an interesting but enjoyable experience (apart from my tooth!!)

This morning we had arranged to visit Jamhuri Primary School. This school had previously received a donation of one computer from us but this year had applied to be part of our Loan Project. We intend to loan them 3 computers and a printer. Luckily our visit to this school went much better than the one yesterday.

We had arranged with Robert to pick us up at 8.30 but he rang to say his hotel had had a problem with no water which had now been fixed but he was running late. I wonder if the heavy rain last night had caused some issues as we also had had problems with the drains in our room but which now seems better this morning.

We arrive at the school at about 9.45am and are met by the Head Teacher, the deputy head and the ICT teacher. Firstly we are given a tour of the school. They have 1190 pupils and 15 teachers.

It is interesting to see how they use the plastic bottles and paper plates as learning aids.

The kindergarten class don’t have anything to sit on in their classroom other than a cloth on the floor. The children were obviously all told to take their shoes off.

After looking around the school we were led outside to a covered seating area that had been erected for us and the other invited guests.

From here we watched various groups of children sing, dance, play the drums and read a poem. The songs were about their school and the poem was about what a difference it would make having computers at their school. These had been written specifically for today’s event.The rest of the school sat around the edge watching the performance with us.

The little girl who can be seen in the photo below leading the choir in their dancing and singing was excellent. 

Finally a group of children did a computer demonstration for us, showing us how to set up a computer with all the various bits and explaining what each part was and what it did. 

The Head Teacher gave a speech.

After this we adjourned to the computer room where we were joined by the other guests including the chair of the School Committee and his deputy, a local councillor and 2 representatives from the Ward Education Office.

We then all signed the Loan Contract (no problems at this school) and Frank and Shabani then set up the 3 computers and the printer.

We then had the usual photo session where everyone wants to be included and then after that we are given lunch.

By the time we are ready to leave it is getting on for 2pm and we still have 2 more schools to visit today. This had been a lovely school to visit and I think they will make really good use of the computers.

I will continue the blog for this day in Tabora Part 2.

Travelling to Tanzania. Our First Days in Arusha and then Travelling to Tabora.

 Travelling to Tanzania

We left our home in Bristol at 2.30pm on Wednesday 21st February and caught the 5.15pm KLM flight to Amsterdam. 

On this trip we had decided to break the trip with an overnight stay in Amsterdam to make the journey more pleasant. Luckily we were able to book our luggage all the way through to Kilimanjaro so just had our hand luggage for our overnight stop.

We had booked to stay the night at the Corendon Amsterdam Schipol Airport Hotel. It is 3km from the airport and took about 10 minutes on the hotel shuttle bus. Check in was smooth and we were given a room on the 8th floor (the top floor). The room was very nice and comfortable with huge pillows 🤣.

It was now about 9pm local time so we headed down to the restaurant where they served an “All you can eat and drink buffet” for 34 Euros each which was pretty good.

After that it was time for bed.

The next morning we got up, showered and were on the shuttle bus back to the airport at 7.30am. We went through security and passport control before heading to the departure gate for our 9.30am flight to Kilimanjaro. Boarding and take off went smoothly and the flight was pretty uneventful apart from quite a bit of turbulence….I think the “ Fasten seatbelt sign” was on more than it was off.

We landed pretty much on time, at 8.15pm local time. We got our Visa on arrival which all went smoothly, you just have to follow through the process moving to each of 4 desks in turn before your Visa is finally approved, paid for and issued. By the time we had done this our bags were waiting for us in the arrivals hall, so we put them through the scanner and then headed out of the airport to meet Eddie who would drive us to Researchers Rest in Arusha, our home for the next 2 nights. By now it was about 9pm.

It took about 1.5 hours to reach the guest house, the last 20 minutes being on some pretty rough roads. Eddie showed us to our room which is great. We then had a quick drink in the lounge and went bed.

I should explain that we normally stay in Moshi on these trips but when we booked our flights I completely forgot that it was the Kilimanjaro Marathon this weekend which starts and ends in Moshi. This meant when we came to book accommodation in Moshi most of the reasonably priced hotels were already full, so we decided to stay in Arusha.

The next day was Friday and we had arranged this to be a rest day. Joseph served us a lovely breakfast of granola, yogurt, mango, eggs and bacon, toast and orange cake.

Researchers Rest is a small guesthouse with just 5 rooms and has a lovely homely feel. It is in Arusha town but has a surprisingly rural feel once you are inside the grounds. They even have a few tortoises wandering around.

Our morning was spent sorting out our luggage and chatting with a couple of other guests from Texas. It was lovely to exchange thoughts and experiences. By the time it got to lunchtime it felt like we had known Denise and Tom for more than just a few hours. We all had lunch together, a meal of lentil curry, rice, chapati, salad and bananas. The afternoon then continued in a similar vein and we felt we had made some real friends. 

This evening at dinner we were joined by a family with 2 boys who had just finished their safari. Again Joseph and Eddie had prepared a lovely meal. During the meal the boys wanted to hear about our project and the Tanzanian schools that we support. Don’t you find that kids ask the most interesting questions!! In the end Pete had to take over answering them so I could eat my dinner. I found it great that an 8 and 11 year old really “got” what we are trying to do when sometimes adults don’t 😀. 

Saturday morning we wake to sunshine. We have another good breakfast with the family and then spend the day repacking our bags ready for the next few days and then chilling in garden.

Joseph cooked us a lunch of beef pilau and salad which was very tasty.

Our original plan had been to meet up with Robert and Shabani from ACTT and drive to Singida today but Robert then had some work comments so changed things so it was decided that we would only do the shorter drive to Babati. However at 4pm Robert still hadn’t left Moshi which would have meant that by the time he had picked us up we wouldn’t have got to Babati until 11ish which I was not happy with.

So in the end we arranged with Eddie and Joseph to stay another night at Researchers Rest.

The following morning we have breakfast and meet Shabani at 8am. We pick up Robert at the bottom of the road and start our drive to Tabora.

Below are a few photos from the first part of the drive.

We get to Babati about 11 and stop to get take away coffees, mandazi (donuts) and samosas.

We carry on driving and I am surprised to see so many sunflowers I don't remember seeing these before, maybe its the time of year.

Around 12.30 we drive through the town of Katesh that was devastated by a mudslide in December 2023 causing 80 people to lose their lives. Torrential rain had caused a slice of Mount Harang to collapse leading to raging mud covering homes and anything else that stood in its way. 

The town is still trying to rebuild and recover.

We drive on to Singida where we stop for a quick lunch at a place Robert knows. Chicken, chips, ugali and bananas arrive promptly and we are soon on our way again.

We eventually arrive in the town of Nzega where we decide to stop for the night as it is now nearly 6pm and we have been on the road for 10 hours and covered 545Km.

We check out the Watermelon Hotel and it seems fine. We can have a double room with breakfast for TSh 50,000 (About £15.50) and Robert can a single room for half that.

Robert has some other business to attend to so we grab a drink in the bar and we then all meet up for dinner later.

Tomorrow we will drive the final couple of hours to Tabora before we then start visiting the schools.