Everyone Deserves Clean Water!

 Last week, Landon and I had the chance of traveling to Boro, an area near Lake Manyara. Leaving the jungle terrain of Arusha, we found Africa as we had expected it. Wide open plains of sand and trees, roaming Maasai tribes, and beating hot sun. We also stopped at a REAL african market. Tarps made of trash held up with sticks. Millions of vendors come once a week to sell crops and crafts. Our white skin was definitely foreign in this region.

Village scene in Boro, Tanzania

 Boro is a very small farming community. We went there to assist a man named Spear, who is the branch president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Arusha Branch. Spear works with the organization WHOlives, which is actually located in South Jordan, Utah. WHOlives is a worldwide water project bringing clean water to third world countries using a machine called the Village Drill. The drill is designed to be completely man powered, which really helps to reduce the cost of creating a well with clean drinking water. wholives.org

Spear and his workers drilling at the farm site in Boro

Spear showed us the well and hand pump which he had recently installed at the school. We stayed there at the teacher's hostel while we helped drill a new well at a nearby farm. The headmaster held a large bundle of keys as he showed us to our room and bathroom however, every room had its very own key and none of the keys were labeled. Twenty minutes later we opened the door to find bunkbeds! As we set down our backpacks, a bat fell to the floor and crawled under the bed. Spear reached under the bed, pinched the bat between his fingers, causing it to hiss and show its fangs, then dropped it out the window. Come to find out, there was a whole pack of bats living the small air vent above the window! The bathroom was just a pit (luckily we remembered TP) with about 5 large dead spiders in every corner.

Spear demonstrating the recently installed water well and pump at the school

One night as we sat outside with Spear making noodles for dinner on his one-burner camp stove, Landon said, "Ya know what? Living in Africa is seriously like camping all day, every day!" And he was right. We spent the week with no power and no water, just lots of dry oatmeal and some heavy duty bug repellant. Each night we sat to see the sun disappear over the horizon and watched as the stars and fireflies began to glow. Sometimes it is so weird to think we are actually here in Africa!

We have come to find that when you ask an African where some place is and they say "Oh, it's not far" they really mean 5 miles. They walk everywhere, so really nowhere is too far. Spear told us how he used to walk 4 hours each way to go to school as a kid. So, each morning we woke up and made the peacefully journey to the drill site, greeting locals as we went. We quickly realized that drilling is not an easy task. The days were long, hot, and full of hard work. The first day we spent getting drenched with muddy water as we inserted each section of pipe. At one point the sand in the well kept caving in and we just about lost hope, but we kept working and eventually reached a total of 61 feet, where we found the aquifer of clean water. What a relief that was.

Landon and I all dirty from a long day of drilling

While in the area we did take an evening to climb to a sweet waterfall that was near the village. It was beautiful! Although the water was quite brown from the rock, we turned around to see the exquisite sunset. The view was incredible!

We also got the chance to play with some tricky monkeys at the site. They would jump from tree to tree and sneak down to steal our bananas. Landon bet that I couldn't get one to come within 5 feet of me... and I did! :)

 As our short expedition to Boro ended, we were both quite excited to head back to our home in Arusha. We sat anxiously for the two-hour ride smashed in the back of a land cruiser stuffed two people per seat. What an adventure is was along the bumpy dirt road!

We hired a woman named Upendo to be our cook, and we were so excited to come back to her amazing food! Somehow the meals are so flavorful here! She always cooks lots of vegetables with a grain of some sort, whether it be rice, ugali, pasta, or our favorite chapati, which is like a sweet, thick tortilla served with beans and stewed spinach. Upendo comes around 1 or 2 in order to get enough dinner on the table for all of us by 6. She cooks Monday through Thursday, we find our own food Friday and Saturday, and cook our own team dinner on Sundays. This was our wonderful attempt at spaghetti! :)

Another of our favorite treats here is roasted corn on the cob! There are women sitting all along the streets with a pot of hot charcoal and a wire . They roast the corn until it is nice and brown and just starting to turn to kernels. One cob usually costs about 300 shillings which is very cheap. It is best to rub lime and chili powder on the corn two. The first bite tastes a little like chewing on the left over popcorn kernels, but by the time you finish you will want more even though your mouth is burning from the chili. We are definitely going to bring this recipe back to America with us!

With a house of 16 volunteers, there are plenty of chores to go around. Each week we rotate buying food and water, cleaning bathrooms, mopping floors and more. For the most part it works well to keep things in order. Landon has been designated the team handyman.... imagine that! :) We would have been in big trouble without him here.

Waiting at the gate outside our house with some bottled water and loaves of bread 

Sarah and I enjoying the light rain shower in the yard

Making the daily muddy walk back to our house :)

Another week has almost passed... Time is flying by! Africa has presented an entirely new culture and lifestyle. We are truly enjoying every passing minute, as we grow closer to the volunteers as well as each of the Tanzanian people surrounding us. 

Mount Kilimanjaro in the distance