Chameleons, cars and chickens

We have had a good week or so with many typical African experiences.  The weather has finally turned sunny and we spent a whole day in our compound garden on Sunday enjoying the sun, birds and a chameleon.  It is still relatively cold in the evenings however.

Mount Kilimanjaro Two-horned Chameleon

On Friday I went with ECHO colleagues to the Arusha Technical College to see some student projects to assist smallholder farmers.  It was a step back in time when we walked into the foundry section where it looked like the foundry my Dad spent much of his career in and where I spent many school holidays working.  It turns out most of the equipment was a gift of second-hand equipment by the German government in the 1970s so would be very similar to the stuff Dad (and I) worked with.  He reckons he could start work there quite comfortably today.  Maybe he should apply for an Australian Volunteer Program position!

I'm still without a work permit but we had a meeting with our in-country managers on Saturday who assured us that our permits would be sorted and we wouldn't have to leave soon when our tourist visas expired - so that was reassuring...

Jenny had a bad day with the car last week when she had to take a student to a hospital in Arusha and the radiator began to boil.  Turned out there was a blockage so the reservoir was full but the radiator was running dry.  She caught it in time and with our friend Stanley Mbogo's help was rescued but it involved several hours of roadside assist, mobile phone torchlight and a night drive home - something we try to avoid at all costs.

Stanley wiping his brow!

On Monday Jenny's and my jobs combined when a group of over 40 of her students came to ECHO for a few hours to learn how to grow healthy, nutritious food in small container gardens (car tires, grain sacks etc.) when they go home to their villages.  Jenny and I were very impressed with the quality of the information provided by the ECHO staff and the students had fun tasting new foods and potting up plants.

Spot the odd ones out?

Jenny headed off today for a couple of days to villages near Lake Natron where some of the past students live to see how they were going.  So I'm batching for a night!  A rare eventuality for us to be apart in East Africa.

We have noticed a rattle in the car on the bumpy roads around our house lately so today I took the car to a mechanic for a look-see.  Again, our great friend Stanley organised this and spent the whole day with me.  From 9 am until 4:30 pm I stood around while the car front steering assembly was stripped and replaced (with new parts), the radiator was drained and refilled with coolant and then we had the wheels balanced and aligned.  I could still hear a rattle along the rough road up to our compound but it was certainly much better.  The mechanic was highly complimentary about the car engine and hopped into the pit during the wheel alignment and declared 'hamna shida' (= no issues) under the car.  The rough roads between us and the highway are certainly not good for cars - the footrest fell off the other day) but the benefit in taking those roads is that there is less stress on the driver from traffic police and other drivers.

My day today. Suggest your car mechanics diversify into chickens.  They certainly distracted me over many hours.

I took the opportunity with Stanley today to start planning our major safari to Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti NP in December-January.  Our friends Rob and Lou Drummond are coming then and we want to maximise the experience. The main issue is where the large migrating herds will be at that time - which depends on the rain and responding grass.  The best option seems to be to go with a safari company that has movable tented camps so we can follow the migration.  I've explained to Stanley what we want and I'm confident he will come up with a great plan for us.

Every week has positives and negatives - we just have to weight our experiences accordingly and make sure we have made a positive contribution...