Kildonan-East Collegiate - Tanzania 2010

It's been a long time coming... but after four years of global education in the classroom and inspired fundraising for our school rainwater harvesting activities, 18 students, 4 teachers and 7 family members from Kildonan-East Collegiate in Winnipeg finally arrived in Karatu to meet the kids, teachers and parents of Qaru Lambo and Gilala primary schools, and experience some things that life here has to offer.

Our first stop was Qaru Lambo Primary School where the Kildonan and Qaru Lambo kids got to meet each other and hang out for a very full, wonderful day.

Everybody signed the school guestbook, visited all the classrooms, the students sang and the whole community got involved. They welcomed our guests with a sumptuous lunch and celebrated with drumming and dancing.

The Kildonan students reciprocated with a resounding rendition of the "Hokey Pokey". Hey, you can't go wrong with the "Hokey Pokey".

By the end of the day, the Qaru Lambo kids and the Kildonan kids were playing competitive games of soccer, volley-ball and netball.

And that was just the start of the adventure. Check out Kildonan's blog of their experiences at KEC Tanzania 2010

Micro Irrigation at Work!

Farmer Field School women's groups in Kambi ya Simba are in the process of establishing large vegetable gardens and fruit orchards with the help of micro-irrigation equipment. Treadle pumps like the MoneyMaker pump and simple drip irrigation schemes can revolutionize production in arid areas dependent on rainfall.

As the women tested the pump, pumping water from a nearby stream, they were amazed at the velocity and reach of the spray.



Operating the MoneyMaker pump is kind of like working out on a stairmaster, and the school boys love it... at least, they do now until the novelty wears off.

Drip irrigation is very simple. A large bucket is placed on a stand, and lines of plastic tubing are laid throughout the garden. Water is applied (or "dripped") on a slow, even basis at root level so very little is wasted through evaporation or run off.

Simple, but very effective considering the time-consuming, tedious alternative of fetching bucket after bucket of water from the nearest water source to water by hand.

Gilala Primary School

Work is almost complete at Gilala Primary School, the second school supported by the students of Kildonan-East Collegiate in Winnipeg. Rainwater harvesting tanks have been constructed and the VIP latrine is a work in progress. Our CPAR Tz colleague Japhet Emmanuel was in Winnipeg recently where he met with Kildonan students to discuss the impact all their efforts have had on school children's lives in Karatu and to further prepare them for their upcoming visit to Tanzania. Check it out at Japhet in Winnipeg