Dirt, Plastic Bags and Food Security

Our everyday view - the desert-like dry-season with its sands and perfectly blue sky.

April 4, 2008

Home gardening promotion is one of my village projects for food security. The top one complaint about why children are not getting enough food is that the villagers simply don’t have money to buy nutritious foods. Apart from the normal ugali (stiff maize porridge) and a bit of relish (usually some local vegetables) on the side, most villagers could not afford foods such as beans and peanuts that are rich in protein and iron to improve their diets. Meat is another luxury that people may possibly have only once a week or even once a month. Some families I know have not tasted meat for a year.

My own demonstration garden, my little piece of heaven where I have toiled and hoed for hours on end, and watered, pruned, and built shades for is one of my favorite projects. There are many challenges with my garden. The first is the weather. The extremely dry weather of Usolanga has made growing certain vegetables impossible. After experimenting, I have found peanuts and beans the most strong-surviving types. I was also told that sweet potato would do good in this weather. One of our staff has been growing sweet potato successfully in his own little garden. In order to conserve water, I use grey water which is water recycled from washing hands and dishes, from cooking and from washing clothes. I have fertilized the soil constantly with compost from food remains and manure from animals. This process also prevents grey water from corroding the soil on long-term usage. My garden have also been destroyed 3 times, twice by donkeys and once by cows (that’s a whole other story). Now, I have fenced the garden well, so there should be no more invasions.

Plastic bags is a major pollutant everywhere in Tanzania and even in the village. You could see plastic bags flying around, or stuck on trees, or on the ground as garbage. After some reasearch online, from a source called “Desertification” (www.desertification.wordpress.com), I have found that plastic bags are great containers to grow plants in. It is moveable and could protect water from evaporation. It is basically putting soil in plastic bags and poking holes on the bottom to let water pass. After trying this method in my house for two weeks, it has proven to work exceptionally well. I have grown chinese kale and beet so far. Even carrots have sprouted. I only needed to water every 2 days.

I have taught home garden methods in the primary school in the standard 5 and 6 classes. Everyday, I would mention to the teachers that we should set up a school garden to supplement the students’ diets. Right now, the students all get uji (a watery ugali porridge) in the morning. This program only goes on until there will be no money to buy maize flour. The teachers are keen and told me to come back one Friday afternoon to plant a garden with the students.

After an afternoon of home visits, I made my way to the school at the designated time with my seeds and plastic bags. By the time I got there, the 4 teachers have already assigned students to cut thorn bushes and fenced off an area for the garden. All the students were there and they were just waiting for instructions from me. I said we needed soil and within minutes, 50 students went to get soil from outside the area. Together, we mixed the soil with already fertilized soil (with manure). Then, we needed plastic bags to contain the soil. The day before, the teachers have already announced for students to bring plastic bags. Quickly, another 50 students ran to the office to get the bags. We filled up the bags with soil and started to seed. All the students were either working or looking. Then, I said we needed water, and instantly one teacher commanded for water to be brought. It was all ready, and then another 10 girls got 10 buckets of water. I advised that we label what we have planted. The headmaster was excited and got out bamboo sticks and name cards, writing down the date of planting and the vegetable name. All the teachers were very keen and involved. I was encouraged by their efforts. Then, another two teachers and a group of students dug up a mound so we can directly seed peanuts and a variety of beans.

That day, we planted almost all the seeds I had. The teachers wanted to try everything from tomato to Chinese kale to peanuts and broad beans. It was a bright sunny day, with all the students busying here and there, the teachers smiling and getting their hands dirty in the soil (they get to show off their farmer skills). It was a special day. For me, this means hope. Hope for the future and the food security problem in the village. The teachers and I even talked about growing maize in the rainy season that is coming up in December. We could make our own uji without asking for money to buy maize flour. When the peanuts and beans are mature, we will mill them and add them to the uji as a source of protein and energy.

My next project is to distribute seeds through the school as students can plant their own plastic bag gardens at home. The parents are now busy with their own farms and since every household is linked with at least a child at school, we thought it is best to distribute seeds through the school.

Atu

Our Sister

Atu has been working for the Anglican Church since her youth. She had gotten a scholarship from the church to study nursing and served in the church dispensaries (there are 3 right now in our Diocese of Ruaha) after graduation. She is the gentlest person I have ever met and when she showed us how to treat patients, she would always speak in a slow and soft voice, saying, “We have to be gentle and encouraging because the person is very important and special.” She is a wealth of knowledge and experience in nursing and in all aspects of life. I am honored to work with her and to know her. Atu raises a 4 year-old daughter, Bertha single-handedly while working full-time at the dispensary. As mentioned before, I have never once heard her complain about her life here. She says, “God gives me the strength I need.” Sacha and I have grown close to Atu and Bertha throughout our days here. We are always over for a tea, a chat, or a meal. We like to cook and share our meals together at each others’ houses.

We have always expressed concern about the understaffed situation in the dispensary, especially to the Anglican Church. However, it is hard to find nurses and doctors who want to stay in this village long-term and they are trying their best. Everyone wants to work for the government hospitals. We felt that it is unhealthy for Atu and Gwivaha to work as much as they do. Sooner or later, they will burn out.

For Atu, it seems that endurance has become her second nature. Since her days at the nursing school, she had small benign (non-cancerous) tumor growths on the right side of her face. Throughout the years, she had 8 operations to remove the tumors. Her largest operation was last summer. The tumor had grown to the size of a football on her right side that her lips drooped down and she could not turn her neck. We hoped that it would be her last surgery. Each surgery is another burden for her and her family. What remains now is a face with one side sunken and horribly scarred. Without knowing her history, some people may be horrified by seeing her face. As we get to know her, we barely notice the scars, but we see a gentle, loving Atu who has become our big sister. She has such a golden heart that she looks beautiful to us.

It was not until two days ago that I had heard the news that Atu has another tumor growing inside her mouth. She felt the tumor since the end of February and decided to observe. She did not tell anyone, not even her family about this. Just two days ago, she resolved to announce her condition to us and to the church staff, so they can arrange a replacement nurse to take her position while she goes for treatment in Dar Es Salaam. She asked us and Andrew and Miriam to help her. Andrew and Miriam had helped and supported her through her surgery last year. Days before her disclosure, Sacha and I both sensed that Atu was more easily frustrated and stressed than normal. In January, Atu had gone to Dar Es Salaam to test for new tumor growth and the results showed no sign of it. She was relieved but upon her return, told me that she was skeptical and was worried her tumor would come back. She was worried about Bertha. She was worried about her parents, about being a burden to them. Moreover, she was tired. She did not have the energy or even the emotional strength to face another potentially unsuccessful surgery.

I have noticed that people do not cry or shed tears in the village. Maybe it is true throughout Tanzania, but I have not seen one adult cry in all my days here. It was two nights ago, sitting in Atu’s living room after dinner. It was the day I found out about her condition and the next day Sacha and I were heading back to Iringa. When I heard the news from Sacha that afternoon, my heart just sunk and I remained quiet until we cooked and went over to Atu’s house. We talked about this, shared our concerns and Atu was as composed as usual, showing us her tumor (about the size of a small walnut). Then, after dinner, I told Atu that we’d like to pray for her. As Sacha and I prayed with Atu, we held Atu’s hands so tightly. We prayed that we did not understand all that has happened, but that Jesus went through all the pain she is going through. He understands. It was the first time I saw Atu cry. She put her hands on her face and just bawled. We held her close and she cried in our arms. Bertha woke up and started screaming when she saw her mother in tears. She was afraid and confused. Sacha quickly hugged her and she went back to sleep. I just cried with Atu. We sat there, not saying one word. There was nothing to say. She had such a heavy load on her heart. In the silence, we carried each others’ burdens.

There was peace, a strange peace in the time of quietness, God has heard us. And there we were, accepting this thing called life. Yes, we are accepting it because it has happened to us, not because we have given up hope. We have each other, we have Jesus who walks with us and loves us. We have strength to face what’s ahead.

Please pray for Atu and her family, for comfort throughout these days, and for healing.

Healthcare Workers in Usolanga

April 13, 2008

St. Luke’s Dispensary currently has one administrator, one nurse and one nursing officer (he acts as a nurse/doctor but only has qualifications for nursing) on staff. The dispensary is understaffed and has been lacking in healthcare workers since the departure of our clinical officer, then of Stella, our young nurse. Atu is now our only nurse and is also in charge of the RCH (Reproductive Child-Health Center). Our nursing officer, Gwivaha and Atu are always on call 24 hours a day and with all the responsibilities of the dispensary, has been working round the clock.

Since Tanzania, as most other African countries are in an immense lack for healthcare workers due to the Brain Drain (trained healthcare workers migrating to other richer countries) and just the inability to train workers at a rate fast enough to the increasing healthcare needs. The Tanzanian government is attracting healthcare workers with competitive pay and working hours. St. Luke’s Dispensary is a mission set up by the Anglican Church. Working for a mission dispensary, salary is always uncertain. Comparatively, the pay is lower and the working hours are longer. Living conditions in the village are tough and with the rush of malaria patients (it is high malaria season during from January to May), life is not easy for Atu and Gwivaha. There are many times when medicines are out of stock or, after trying all possible treatments, patients are sent to other clinics because we simply do not have the capacity to treat them.

Nevertheless, Atu and Gwivaha are exceptional people. From talking to them, I understood that they really are here just to serve the people of the village. I have never heard a single complaint coming from Atu or Gwivaha. Without this dispensary, villagers need to walk 3 hours to the nearest government dispensary for treatment. That is why Sacha and I are in the village doing the health promotion/prevention work. All the staffs are occupied by the work in the dispensary that there are no community outreach workers like us.

The above is a rough picture of life and work for our co-workers, our good friends here in Tanzania. We are a team and we are a family. Recently, I have become more concerned about our nurse, Atu.