One Last Look

As soon as we returned from Safari four of the staff headed back to the Good Hope Orphanage to make sure that everything was working well and fix any problems if necessary. As the system hadn’t been properly tested when we left on Monday we walked in not knowing quite what to expect; would the float switch actually turn off the pump? Would any of the pipes leak? Would the tanks fill up completely on the overcast days we’d been having? In the end we need not have worried as the sight that greeted us was as good as anything we could have hoped for. The staff and children all came out to greet us and shake hands as usual, only on this occasion several of the children had clean, wet hands. As we walked through we could see the courtyard full of clean washing hanging out to dry and the floor of the kitchen had just been washed down. Out the back we found a group of men digging the drainage ditch deeper and deeper, ready for filling with hard core in a few days.

The best news though was that everything seemed to be working properly and the sound of the water pouring steadily into the tanks was very sweet indeed.

. The changes in the living conditions for the children and surrounding community would appear to have met all our expectations and we all left feeling very happy and pleased with a job well done.

Safari

Well the Safari lodge didn’t have an easy to use internet connection after all so by the time I upload this text we’ll probably be well on our way home. The journey from the Dik Dik hotel took considerably longer than we’d anticipated and in the end we only just reached the lodge in time for end of lunch. It didn’t help when one of our safari cars was caught in a speed trap about 2mph above the limit. Ten minutes later we were on our way again although we don’t quite know how the situation was resolved.

The food at the Dik Dik was excellent, but quite nouvelle cuisine in its style. After working hard at the orphanage the boys (and staff) really wanted hearty meals rather than 5 tiny courses. The food at the Tarangire lodge fitted the bill exactly, especially at lunch where the boys could fill up their plates from the buffet counter.

The view from the Tarangire lodge is outstanding and offers a 180 degree vista across the river for several miles. While waiting to go out in the cars we could sit and watch two lions lazing under a tree by the river. They were pretty far away and difficult to see, but as this could have been our only sighting we had to make to the most of it.

The early evening safari was very pleasant as the sun had been out all day so the colours were rich and the temperature warm. There was plenty to see from the off, zebra and buffalo in abundance, dik diks, ostriches and many more, including a wide variety of birds. Elephants were a highlight of this safari, where we encountered several groups. At one point in particular we were able to drive right up to a small family group, including a baby only a few weeks old. They were feeding quite happily and didn’t seem too bothered by the presence of the cars.

On our way back to the lodge we saw the highlight of this particular trip; a leopard. It was tricky to spot as it was up in a tree some distance away but soon every vehicle in the vicinity was heading that way for a glimpse. By all accounts we were very lucky to see a leopard; Mr Smith told us that this was his first sighting and this was his tenth time on safari.

The next morning we headed out at 6.30am and to our amazement every boy made it – it was optional! There wasn’t anywhere near as much going on as we had hoped and after 30 minutes or so the boys looked thoroughly bored and had retreated inside the safari vehicles. Some early highlights included some buffalo crossing the road and a large group of baboons collecting food and eating it. We had just given up and were heading back for breakfast when we saw a large group of cars (including 2 of our vehicles) clearly showing interest in something. As we approached we could see that the object of their interest was a male lion. At this point we were on one side of the river and the lion and other vehicles were on the other. However, our vehicle had timed things just right and the lion proceeded to walk towards us, pause at the river for a drink, and then cross the river and walk a few feet in front of our vehicle. Its actions suggested to us that it was on the hunt for something. As we followed this someone noticed that a female lion was also making its way across the river so we turned around and headed back for a look at that too. Once again it popped up right in front our vehicle but didn’t put on quite the show that the male did. Although we tried to track them for a while we soon lost them as we had to keep to the tracks and headed back for breakfast after all, feeling very pleased with ourselves. Meanwhile our other vehicles had raced around from the other side of the river to catch up with the lions on this side. Amazingly they didn’t immediately see the lions, but s pair of cheetahs instead; another extremely rare sighting. Their driver did venture slightly off road for a better look at the cheetahs and happened upon the male lion as well. This group then headed back to the lodge feeling even more pleased with themselves than the first car.

The second drive of the day saw us heading over to Sopa Lodge. One of the highlights on this journey included the baboons again, who were on the move and completely took over the road for a while. A further highlight was the sighting of several groups of giraffes, including a family with their young.

There was one interesting moment in the final drive of the day. There wasn’t much going on for the most part but then someone spotted a smudge that may have been a lion, or a warthog, or both. Eyes were strained for the next thirty minutes or so as every movement of the grass yielded yet more evidence for one theory or the other. In the end it was decided that it was a lion (or maybe two) stalking a warthog but by then they were so far off it wasn’t possible to see anything clearly, even with powerful binoculars; it certainly didn’t match the early morning lion. One of the cars stopped to help another vehicle change a tyre; not terribly exciting but it did give the boys to chat to the dozen or so girls from The Netherlands who were in the stranded vehicle.

The drive on the final morning was a bit of a disappointment in the end. We had all become rather blasé about seeing zebra, water buck, etc. and were really only looking out for lions and cheetahs. We did miss a couple of lions by a few minutes as we found fresh tracks in the road close to the previous day’s sighting, but that was all.

Day 11 - Fond Farewells

The list of things to do today was relatively short and we hoped to be back by 4pm – needless to say the plan didn’t exactly come to fruition!

The plumbing for the water tanks was quite complicated - there are three of them and they all need to fill together but then go in different directions – and it took nearly all day and couple of trips to the hardware stores to buy the right components. We got there in the end though. Unfortunately a lot of this plumbing couldn’t be done if there was too much water in the large tank so the solar pump wasn’t running for most of the day. The day was overcast so even when it was on it didn’t pump enough to properly test the system. Some of us will definitely be back on Thursday afternoon to make sure everything is working well.

The drainage system needed to be finished today too and a hard core of concreters could be found constructing the inspection area and manhole cover. Concreting is never very quick though and this job took just as long as everything else to complete.

The end of the work was slightly anti-climatic in the end. The ‘climax’ in some respects was when the water first came out of the hole earlier in the week and the finishing touches today completed the project in a rather low-key fashion.

There was a clear end to the project today in the form of a thank you ceremony conducted by the children and staff of the orphanage. The children had clearly spent quite a lot of time preparing their speeches and songs and even composed a song to say thank you to Harrow School (even the boys prepared a song). The ceremony ended with the boys and children making their fond farewells. There were lots of photos and tears were shed not only by those leaving, but also those staying behind – it took quite a while to get everyone back onto the bus!

As I write this the boys are all sharing their experiences with each other and discussing what they would like to do in the future. They have all got so much out of this experience and can see what an amazing thing they have achieved in the last 11 days. Not only have they provided the children with drinking water, but also their hygiene will be improved immensely now that they have running water, brighter corridors, proper drainage and a clean and safe courtyard.

The boys have worked hard and have thoroughly earned their upcoming two day safari; this blog will take on a slightly different slant over the next couple of days provided there is an internet connection at the safari lodge!

Day 10 - Finishing Touches

The day began with a trip to a market in Arusha as the boys were very keen to experience an African market. They arrived before the crowds built up and by all accounts the shopping trip was a success.

There was much excitement at lunch as a snake (possibly a Black Mamba although the jury is out) was spotted by some boys in grounds of the hotel. Boys being boys (of all ages!) everyone left the dinner table to see for themselves. The snake had made a strategic withdrawal and the only evidence were a few photos taken by those first witnesses.

This being the penultimate day, most of the jobs that had to be done were small but crucial. The solar panels that were now on the roof needed to be permanently connected to the control box. A job that had only taken a few minutes to do each day temporarily took a few hours to complete when all the wires had to be pushes through their final routes. The boys did this almost entirely on their own and with the light fading we were able to pump water for a few minutes before the power dropped off too much. There are still one or two minor things to finish this job off tomorrow but for the most part it is now completed. Unfortunately, although we were able to pump water into a temporary tank for the last few days the process of moving the solar panels and the water tanks to their final positions had meant that we couldn’t keep the tanks topped up over the last two days. (It’s also been a bit cloudy and even rained!) The tanks should be full again tomorrow.

The other significant job was to connect the inlet and outlet pipes to the tanks and connect them together. It’s crucial that we do this as soon as we can so that we can test the remainder of the plumbing system and fix any (probably numerous) leaks! This is quite a tricky task to undertake as all the tanks are now 2.5 in the air, and the larger one is 3m tall itself. Someone had to get inside the tank to secure the fittings and there was great amusement as Mr Griffiths volunteered for the task. There had been lots of discussion the night before as to how he might be able to get out again. In the end a bucket and brute force allowed him to pull himself out, although we all favoured filling the tank with water and floating him out! There are still a couple of valves that are needed to complete this task but it should all be done relatively soon tomorrow. As the solar pump is permanently connected now we hope that by the time we get there tomorrow morning it will already be pumping – fingers crossed.

Work continued on the drainage ditch at the back of the orphanage and this is now half full of the aggregate that will allow the water to dissipate effectively. A tap was also installed back here for the local community to use to fill their buckets. The site was chosen very carefully, in consultation with the director of the orphanage, so as to allow access whilst keeping them distant from the children.

As the jobs thinned out towards the end of the day the boys could all be found playing all manner of games with the children and a few even tried skipping!

Day 9 - Defying Gravity

There were quite a few very high profile tasks that were completed today that made a huge impact in terms of the overall progress of the project. The first of these was to lift the water tanks up onto the plinth that was cast a few days ago. Mr Smith approached this in the same manner as all these seemingly impossible task, employing techniques that would have been used in the construction of the pyramids. There were plenty of people looking on muttering ‘it’ll never work’, but of course it did. Someone else could be heard shouting ‘we’ve got to put this on YouTube’, but that’s tomorrow’s job!

Although everything stopped for this exciting moment, before and after many boys were involved in digging the drainage trench for the waste water. This involved a considerable amount of back-breaking work and kept a hard core of people occupied all day. Once dug, they then had to fill it in with rocks and hard core left over from the concrete.

With the water tanks moved into position it was possible to partially fill them and test the washing, showering and kitchen systems for leaks. Of course there were plenty of them, but it didn’t take long to find and sort most of them out. Although not caught on camera, Mr Griffiths reported that the cook could not believe it when the tap in her kitchen, benign for so many years, suddenly began to pour forth water; she danced, she screamed and she started hitting him!

The major job that needed to be completed today was to get the solar panels fitted permanently to the roof. The brief for this was quite tough; they needed to catch the sun, be sloped to allow rain and dust to run off and be completely hidden from outside parties for security purposes. We had discussed various options for several days but in the end adopted the design put forward by your narrator. For the mathematicians amongst you it was an inverted wing in the shape of a trapezium that would rest on the two inwardly sloping roofs. It had been our intention originally to weld this together but in the end the frame was made entirely from steel tubing bolted together. The construction took all day and in the end we wrestled it onto the roof (another feat of gravity defying proportions akin to the water tanks earlier in the day) in the semi-darkness of dusk (yet again!) We all stood back and admired our handiwork though as it did indeed fulfil the brief.

The boys worked very hard today so tomorrow we are having a morning off and taking them to Arusha market.

Day 8 - Frustration

Whilst the plinth for the water tanks continues to cure everyone continued to be engaged in smaller, but crucial tasks. Most of the activity was centred around plumbing in the external and kitchen sinks. All these tasks, although relatively simple in principle, presented problem after problem and everyone concerned got extremely frustrated. Pipes leaked, pipes were too long, pipes didn’t fit and crucial pieces were missing. There are no DIY stores in this part of Africa, but every other store is a plumbing store, or a car parts store, or a tool store. However only the last of the 15 or so that we tried this afternoon (with the help of our fantastic bus driver who wouldn’t give up) had any of the parts we needed and even then not all of them. Eventually 3 of the five sinks proved successful, but 2 of them remained stubborn to the last and will have to be dealt with tomorrow.

A couple of boys helped lay an armoured cable to supply electricity to the pump which then allowed us to bury most of the cable and supply pipe. We once again had to use a cable splicing kit to join the cable securely for placement underground and this proved remarkably simple, having learned valuable lessons when we used the same kit at the bottom of the borehole.

The painting team continued to paint any wall that they were directed to. Although we started off with cream earlier in the week we seem to be painting everything ‘Harrow Blue’ at the moment!

The final task of the day was to build the removable concrete slab that was to go on top of the bore hole box. This is essential to deter people from stealing the pump. A last minute decision was taken for everyone to leave their mark by plunging their hands into this newly laid slab along with the words ‘Harrow School 2010’ (Photo to follow tomorrow.)

Day 7 - The Calm after the Storm

Arriving on site this morning was very much akin to visiting a beach on a beautiful crisp morning following the deadliest of storms. People walked around in calm appreciation of what they had achieved in the darkness the night before. Tasks were slow to be allocated and began gently with everyone clearing up the debris that had accumulated in the courtyard over the previous few days and tidying up the mess that was necessarily created as tools and detritus were tidied the previous evening.

Progress soon picked up though and more preparations were made for the delivery of water to the various locations around the orphanage. Some boys continued to work on the external sinks that were begun the day before and a channel was dug through the concrete to allow a route for the water and drainage in the kitchen. The kitchen was a place we hadn’t really ventured before as it was not particularly hygienic and there was plenty of evidence in terms of looks and smells to reinforce this. The plan was originally to clean the units that were in there but boys could soon be seen carrying out the entire units to be ‘deep cleaned’. Soon there were no units left at all, save for the one in the corner that showed the greatest signs of rat activity. Upon removal about 6 rats ran in every direction. The scene that followed was reminiscent of a scene from a Tom and Jerry cartoon; some squealed, some ran, and some chased them with all sorts of implements intent on destruction. After a few chaotic minutes, with the children looking on and laughing out loud, the rats were no more. Although a little gruesome it was interesting to note that the matron didn’t believe that there was a problem until she saw the photographic evidence; evidence that convinced her that the kitchen units really did need cleaning. A charity called ‘The Foundation for Tomorrow’ have acted as a liaison for us in Tanzania and work closely with the orphanage throughout the year. They have told us that they will provide on-going education to improve the hygiene of the children once we return to England, leaving them with their improved water and sanitation system.

There’s not much to add following the rat incident although it is worth noting that some of the boys were willing to clean thoroughly one of the most disgusting environments they had ever encountered, and with very good grace.

The final act of the day was to lay the final slab of concrete to complete the courtyard. As the day wore on and the rest of the courtyard was being used properly for the first time we all began to appreciate just what a good job everyone had done.