Yesterday was a full day of interaction with the community. I absolutely loved it. I really wish we could do things like that every day. We have spent the past few days taking about PRA (Participatory Rural Assessment) in Environmental Policy. The idea is to involve the community using interviewing techniques to evaluate problems being faced and attempt to find a solution. We were split into four groups, each responsible for different techniques of analysis such as Venn Diagrams, Pairwise ranking and transect walks. My group was in charge of the pairwise ranking. We got a local guide/translator from Rhotia (he was 22 and going to school in the area) and visited 5 farms in the area. We talked with the mamas of each farm and interviewed them about their successes and difficulties with farming in this area. The most common crops are maize, beans and millet. The most common problems are pests, disease and soil erosion/quality. We live on a hill and the cheapest plots of land are sloped, following the contours of the land. One family had tried to solve the problem by using terracing techniques and was actually seeing an improvement. Many said that the government would help pay for pesticides and fertilizer to promote agriculture but there was very little available and many couldn’t cover the rest of the cost. One woman has been living in this area for over 50 years and had a flourishing 5-acre farm with cattle and crops. I loved talking to her because we got an opportunity to compare the issues of 50 years ago with now. Rhotia is within 2-3 kilometers of Ngorongoro National Park’s borders. Before all of the land up to the current border was cleared for cultivation, many farmers had to deal with wildlife such as elephants, hyenas and antelope. Those animals still come around and pose a threat but it is fairly rare and most farmers are concerned about bigger things such as drought and disease.

We walked and interviewed for over 3 hours before heading back to camp. We continued our interactions with the community after lunch by helping the primary school down the road build a new kitchen. This is SFS’s long term program here in Rhotia. The school currently cooks meals in a semienclosed area on a couple hot stones. They use this to feed 400 kids everyday and use up a lot of firewood in the process. Last semester’s class built a brick structure and finished the cement floor. Our job is to work on finishing the job and creating the stove and serving area. We spent yesterday afternoon mixing cement and laying it as a stove. Before we started, there was a brick rectangle build up along one wall. We filled the whole thing with sand, laid some metal rods for support and poured cement on top with metal rings holding the open space for the pots. Once the cement dries, we will dig out the sand to leave an open space for fires to heat the food.

            We mixed the cement on the floor of the building by digging a crater in the middle of our pile of sand, cement, rocks, and some other materials and mixing with shovels. It was hard work! But it looked so good when we were finished. The kids helped and encouraged us the whole way. Once we were done, we spent a little time hanging out with the kids, teaching them new songs (“We will rock you”) and some American slang (Erica was teaching them how to talk like a “valley girl”). They thought it was hysterical. There was also this very young child there (maybe 1 year old) who belonged to one of the teachers. She was brought over to see us but as soon as one of us came with in 6 feet of her, she broke out in hysterical tears and cries. She had never seen a mzungu (white person) before! We kept trying to make her realize that we were just like her but she would have nothing of it. The kids and her mother thought it was quite entertaining. We finally headed back to camp and needless to say, we were exhausted. After dinner was spent studying for the Swahili quiz that we had earlier today and wasn’t too bad! We sat around the fire, studied and ate the second goat that we’ve had roasted so far! It was a lot better this second time around. I could actually chew the meat and swallow it within 5 minutes. Moses Okello (SFS Program Director) bought it for us! Even though we were studing, it was a great night.

Tomorrow we are spending the day with our homestay families! They are all families of the Iraqw tribe and we are spending the whole day learning and interacting with them, in pairs. It should be fun but challenging because very few speak any English. I hope we get to help make lunch or some of their traditional snacks. I’ll be sure to write all about it tomorrow and take lots of pictures J

Kwa heri

Location: Rhotia, Tanzania