Talking with villagers

Sunday we visited Karatu market, a bustling, dusty, noisy place full of smoke from rice, sweet potatoes and meat roasting on open fires, hawkers with bullhorns and vendors shouting out their prices. Cows, goats and sheep are traded so there were many Maasai there. A special treat that day was honey being sold by a Maasai woman in robes and beads. To keep the bees away she had a small pile of cattle dung smoldering at her feet.

The major villages have this type of large market once a month. We went to another on Saturday which was smaller but just as noisy and boisterous. Of course, the young men want to sell us jewelry, carved Maasai figures, kangas (fabric), and follow us around hoping we will change our minds. You can also choose from an amazing variety of used clothes and shoes, electronics, kitchen needs, hardware including used bolts and hinges, and so much more all spread out on the ground on plastic tarps. We visited these markets to ask questions of the sellers and buyers in our continuing effort to gather information on how the economic life for villagers in this part of the country works.

Jolene, the country director, calls what we are doing an asset assessment. What do villagers have, how do the seasonal changes affect them, what would they like they don’t have now, what are the challenges, and what are the niches that the women’s groups we are working with can find to generate income?

And so, we created questionnaires to fit a variety of roles villagers perform, in an effort to get a better understanding of their lives. Jolene feels we are getting good and useful information about village life and the economics. But we find when we get back to the office to compile the information, we need to continue modifying our questionnaires. Sometimes it is difficult to convey the intent of the question to our interpreter (who is excellent) due to language or culture differences and sometimes the question apparently does not have much meaning to the village person. It has all been so very interesting.

This past week, we were back again in the villages. Many of these seemed wealthier; in one, most of the farmers had a plow! We visited on the day government food aid was being distributed, as a result of the lack of harvest in the drought last year. As we drove up to one, a meeting of the villagers was going on with many people, mostly men, sitting under the trees and listening to the leaders. It seemed to be a very spirited meeting about who would get the free or low-cost maize and beans.

This village had a spring and the water was piped to some of the fields for irrigation. The spring’s pressure was amazing and the water was carried quite a long distance; we hadn’t seen anything quite like it in Tanzania before. They had also created a lambo, which is a shallow pond. It is an important resource for cattle and goats, some herded long distances to drink since the surrounding areas where they aren’t able to irrigate are very dry. In village after village, water access is a critical issue. This village with its spring was unique in our experience here. Last year, in another area, we saw large irrigated fields, but it seemed only the large farmers had the irrigation.

We have discovered that a few of the villages have an agriculture expert who travels the village and advises farmers on issues of modern seeds, fertilizer, pesticide and herbicide use, and plant diseases. We have also seen field terracing that was taught by an NGO, and demonstration plots led by Farmer Field Schools (Makiko knows all about them) through another NGO here. It has been helpful that Sharon has a family background in farming and Makiko has tried to educate us about the work of FFS. The farmers reading this would be shocked to hear that some get only ½ liter of milk a day from their cows. This surprised us until we realized it is from meat cows, not the diary breed which can give up to 20 liters. The quantity varies dramatically depending on whether it is the dry or rainy season, and if they are grazed, which most of them are. Some of the dairy cows are in zero grazing programs at least some of the time which means they are contained and fed, and their output is higher.

Last week we had a meeting with some of the microfinance providers in the area to learn what has worked and what the challenges are. We are really most interested in finding a way for the women to save money so they can grow their enterprises and have funds for emergency needs once they get started. On Saturday we were out with the District Medical Officer and happened upon a community meeting of just such a group. Thirty people were meeting in the village office as they do once a week to make a contribution to a joint fund which is then used for emergencies or business loans. It looked to be a very cost effective approach and we are looking forward to learning more about how they work, and how the model might be applied to the groups we work with.

Last Saturday we took a long walk up the local hill that sprouts three cell phone towers. It was quite steep; we felt like goats. We generated quite a few stares because we don’t think many wazungu (foreigners) make this trek. It was fun to get out of the town a little and see what goes on in the local “suburbs”. It was a great view despite the haze and we could see Lake Manyara, the heart of a major wildlife park.

We are planning a camping safari to the Serengeti next week. It is migration and birthing season for the Wildebeest, when there are 8,000 births per day. We will probably revisit the Ngorongoro Crater, a wonderful wildlife area. Another volunteer went to the Serengeti a few weeks ago and found out in the morning there had been a pride of lions outside all night. Of course, being such a light sleeper, Sharon would have known about it.

As we mentioned in our last post, it had rained and was very green when we got here. However, it seems we have brought the sun. Although there have been a few night showers, the farmers are again badly in need of rain. The hot wind blows every day. It feels warmer to us this year than last. It has thundered and black clouds loomed, but it seems to have rained everywhere but in Karatu.