La Chica was very touched when three small Masai children walked to the termite mound and the tube outlet with empty water containers. The children aged between 4 and 7 had somehow found out on the bush telegraph that there was running water. Unfortunately the water was very dirty with sediment from the bottom of the borehole, so the children found themselves playing in the water instead of bringing clean water back home to their boma.

Maji Tech doing the pump test

The long day ended just as the sun was setting, with the Maji Tech team reversing the process, extracting the tube from the borehole and re-soldering the metal cap back on the borehole casing. La Chica is hopeful that the borehole can be utilised, and that the people of Altapesi village will be able to access potable water shortly.

However some good news greeted La Chica – in her absence the World Bank had financed the drilling of boreholes in Longido district.  Of 13 holes drilled, six had hit water; one of these was a borehole in Altapesi, the sub-village that La Chica had promised to help.  The World Bank funding had only provided for the holes to be drilled, not to pump the water, so funding was still required to actually access the water for the drought affected population.  La Chica met with the Longido water department, the Longido district council, the chairmen of Longido village and its five subvillages including Altapesi, trying to get information about the borehole.  Many frustrating meetings later, she called in the troops!  She engaged the help of her Masai friends Daniel and Emanuel – Masai from different regions of Tanzania who not only spoke Masai and Swahili but also spoke excellent English – a huge asset in trying to move ahead.  The water department continued to promise copies of the World Bank completion reports and pump tests for the Longido boreholes, but never delivered, despite many requests and many more face-to-face meetings.

Fast forwarding through some very frustrating weeks – La Chica was told that the Longido water department was currently closed!  Fast forwarding further – La Chica has secured the services of Maji Tech, an American owned and managed drilling company that has previously installed an Aussie style windmill in Longido village.  Maji Tech are going to carry out pump tests for the Altapesi borehole, as it seems the World Bank contractor didn’t undertake the tests and seems to have left the hole partially done and run off with the money.  Headlines in the newspapers in Tanzania often cover corruption issues – espousing that corruption is crippling the country and giving examples of the extent of corruption (there is even a government department charged with dealing with corruption) – it seems La Chica has now witnessed it firsthand, but thankfully she held off with any financial dealings.  The poor victims are of course the Altapesi and Longido residents – particularly the women and children who are in a daily struggle to survive, and the Masai men and boys trying to keep their remaining livestock alive through the worst droughts in Tanzania’s history.  La Chica is now confident that through Maji Tech the water project will be completed, and is excited that their work with Testigo Africa has commenced.   Here is a photo of La Chica standing on the capped borehole in Altapesi – running water here we come!

Altapesi Borehole!

The moral of the story – don’t get a dalla dalla when you can ride in a posh 4WD, you never know what will eventuate!  Thanks Graeme!

However Rwanda isn’t just about gorillas. La Chica visited the Genocide Memorial in Kigali – a very sobering and sad reminder not just of the Rwandan genocide but the other atrocities worldwide. La Chica is currently sitting on the shores of Lake Kivu, reminding her of the Italian Lakes. Yesterday she ventured onto the lake by boat visiting a small island full of fruit bats (managing to avoid being targetted by their green poo), The volcanic lake is over 500 metres deep and releases deadly gases – swimmers beware!

La Chica is leaving Rwanda today, bringing her travelling companions to Tanzania to visit her Masai family and friends – she can’t wait!

La Chica brought along her tech-savvy brother Peter and his friend Federico to witness the ceremony.  Freddy filmed the game, and Peter later sat in La Chica’s mud hut where he downloaded Freddy’s footage to his iPad 2.  Sokoine, a Masai friend of La Chica, was shown how to view films on the iPad 2, and he watched the footage of La Chica getting whacked and Namnyak winning the game.  Imagine his surprise when he spotted Namnyak’s mobile phone falling out of the folds of her Masai outfit onto the ground, and a non-participating Masai man running to pick up the phone and pocket it!  More astounding is that the thief was a Masai man known to Namnyak!  Knowing that her phone was stolen and not merely lost, Namnyak plucked up the courage to tell her husband Olengunin about the theft and who was responsible.  Many viewings later (thank goodness for decent battery life for the iPad 2 given that La Chica’s boma is without electricity) Olengunin was also convinced of the thief’s identity – but what to do next?  Olengunin rang a neighbour of the thief, and said to tell the thief that he had Namnyak’s phone and he needed to return it.  The thief’s initial response was ‘how on earth did you know it was me?’ (or something to the equivalent in Masai….).  He then demanded payment for the inconvenience of returning the phone. Days later the exchange took place – 10,000 Tanzanian shillings in exchange for Namnyak’s mobile phone – thanks to some fortuitous filming and the magic of Apple technology!

In Arusha La Chica met up with her Masai warrior friend Zac, having last seen him in Melbourne when he came to visit La Chica and her family.  Zac invited her back to Manyara for two different coming of age ceremonies taking place that day and the following day.  Throwing caution and jetlag to the wind (La Chica had been back in Tanzania for less than 24 hours!), they hitched a lift with Graeme, a Scottish hot air balloon operator(unfortunately for La Chica, the lift was in his 4WD and not the hot air balloon), and then paid $7 to rent a motorbike to take them to the boma where the first celebration was already underway.  La Chica was in heaven when the Masai men and women surrounded her, singing and jumping up and down.  Hours later, they rode to another boma where five boys were preparing to be circumcised.  La Chica witnessed the ceremony, the drinking of cows blood, slaughtering of a bull, and many goats, and hung around drinking chai and chatting to the warriors.  La Chica received a marriage proposal from a gentle one-eyed Masai man, but after finding out he only had 9 cows and already had 8 wives she gratiously declined.  La Chica and Zac returned to Arusha the following day and then they went to Longido to visit Namnyak, Olengunin and their family, and to stay in La Chica’s mud huts.  La Chica’s boyfriend (four year old Sakio) was very excited to see her, giving her a cheeky smile and shaking her hand like a true gentleman.  Within the hour La Chica was dressed in her Masai clothes and jewellery and accompanied her Masai friends to a neighbouring sub-village for an elder ceremony.  Along the way they saw deer, two giraffes, two dik diks and many birds.  At the boma the boys went off to eat meat and jump up and down, and La Chica and her friends went to get sodas and eat lunch under the trees.  As part of the ceremony the Masai men and women arm themselves with tree branches and have to run and hit each other with them.  La Chica chased a poor Masai man kilometres until she realised that the game was already over.  La Chica’s brother is arriving in Tanzania in a week’s time, and La Chica is so excited she’ll be able to show off her mud huts and two goats Nadune Engiok and Alakara.  Bon voyage Peter!

The stage show began at 7.30pm, with Simon Rogers, MC for the night, engaging the punters.  Andrew Goodone amused everyone with a stand up routine, and Marilla Homes proved to everyone that she’s got talent when she harmonised to everyone’s humming and got the room buzzing.  Mzuri Dance brought a burst of energy to the evening with their drumming and dance routine, and their successful audience participation approach.  Tracey Roberts sang Magic Wand with a gorgeous slide show of Masai portraits playing in the background, and Riley Jordan strummed her guitar to some great songs.  A highlight of the night was Mbapani Ngitoria – a Masai warrior from Tanzania.  He stood on stage and from his heart shared his story of death and survival with everyone.   An auction led by Tony Pride closed the night, with the event raising $8,200 towards Longido’s water project.  On behalf of her Masai mates, La Chica wants to thank everyone who helped with the event, and those that came along to support Testigo Africa.

St Kilda Memo event - La Chica with Mbapani and Judith

Water is Life promo in Port Phillip Leader