This is
a letter from Mary Elaine Tynan in Tanzania
WATER - OR THE LACK
OF - A MAJOR PROBLEM
map drawn at a tourists blog of
adelphia.net
After many sheltered years in plentiful Ireland (well,
except for money until the Celtic Tiger roared), I was
shocked when I moved to Australia to realize how some
developing countries have real water shortages and that
no amount of money really can change a climate. The only
real option is to be careful with water and educate the
masses.
With that as a background, I probably should have been
prepared for the water shortages in Africa. After all,
Africa is renowned for disease, famine and drought. I was
well aware of the two former issues, in fact many of my
friends, family and colleague had given me the
AIDS talk, and Id have been dumb not to
expect the hunger issue. And yet, for some reason the
drought issue didnt really occur to me.
As I think I mentioned last week, Tanzania (and Kenya)
have been officially declared drought-zones. Its
hard to explain the enormity of the problem
Im here and I can barely take it in. For the last
week, as we heard that water was becoming a problem, I
didnt really understand how big the problem was.
But when it translated into a power problem, we all
became aware VERY quickly!
The issue is that we work off hydro-electric power which
is generated from Mount Meru, Tanzanias third
largest mountain which is just behind the school. Now
that we are in desperate times, we have to conserve power
in order to converse water. Last week, it was decided
Arusha would be without power for two days a week
(staggered across the city) for around eight hours. WE
all groaned a little but we have a couple of generators
here so we dealt with it. As the enormity of the problem
came to light this week, the government realized this
measure wasnt enough to make a difference. So now,
there is no power from 7am 7pm every day.
This leaves the school, and for that matter every
business in Arusha, somewhat in a quandary how to
get power. Our generators (largely diesel operated I
believe) just arent good enough to power the entire
school every single day. We need more! Fortunately we had
a little money to buy some but there arent
any available!!! So now we play the waiting game
were hoping to get another
one or two soon. Without them, it is very difficult to
run a school which is becoming pretty big no
water, no lights, no bells, no computers, no plugs
.
Cooking is difficult with the water situation but
fortunately we dont require power for it as
its done over fires (Ill have to get a photo
of that).
Gemma addressed all the staff today about how dire the
problem is in the country, warning that it would last up
to two years. She spoke about conserving water and
teaching students to do the same; while washing hands,
using drinking water, using the toilets etc. It brought
home the seriousness of the situation as the entire staff
came to terms with how we would cope with this situation
for possibly two years!
One of the girls in the office commented on how ironic it
seems that in other parts of the world there have been
hurricanes and such an overload of water, while people
are literally starving for it. And how true that is.
And of course, the water and power shortages affect us
before and after school; getting water for showers,
cooking food, everything really! But you deal with it
because you have to and well, its Africa, and
thats what happens here. Its a reality for
the locals and now its a reality for us Mzungu!!!
Most of us were after an authentic experience and
thats certainly what were getting. I hope it
always makes me appreciate just how fortunate we are in
the Western world but then I think that many, many times
a day now! It does make me wonder though how long the
developed world will enjoy such a privilege.
We now have to use generators 12 hours a day - our
fuel costs are going to be around ten times greater than
before!! So we need to get as many new donors as
possible. We are looking at a "fuel
sponsorship" scheme to support this - not as
interesting as sponsoring a student, but VERY important!
PLEASE LINK OUR SCHOOL FROM YOUR WEBSITE
Mary Tynan works at the School of St.Jude in Arusha,
Tanzania
http://www.schoolofstjude.co.tz
This is a very unique school because * It educates the
poorest of the poor African children who would never
otherwise get to go to school * Children attend for FREE
including their books, uniform, food and transport * All
students will have the opportunity to go to the end of
secondary school, ready for Uni * We have small classes
and one-on-one tuition for those with special needs
SEE THE *REAL* TANZANIA - STAY WITH LOCALS, SEE THE
SERENGETI, MT KILIMANARO... And if any of you want a
holiday in Tanzania, we are going to be organising tours
a a couple of times a year. I really recommend
this because you it allows you to see the REAL Tanzania.
You can stay here at the school rather than in a sterile
hotel, meet the children, interact with locals, go to
local markets, stay in a local family's home, go on a
safaris, climb Kilimanjaro if you're feeling energetic...
All for a very reasonable price and all profits goes to
the school. In my opinion, by far, the most mind-blowing
part of all of that is seeing the school and meeting the
children. I recommend it to tourists of any age.
Mount Meru image from NASA satelite.
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