Final presentations in Tanzania

Yesterday we had the final presentations at the Ardhi University. Unfortunately no professors were able to come follow the project presentations but we did have some other guests from Tanzanian and Finnish NGOs such as Art in Tanzania joining us.

Hearing other groups’ final ideas was very interesting as well as having many community members with us enjoying a Tanzanian tea after the official agenda.

Photos by Amanda from Affordable Housing in Chamazi

Building the pilot

The challenge for today was to bring different stakeholders together, make sure everyone is aware of  the plan and committed to it.

PHAST team

Today we had a final meeting with the PHAST team and discussed about the pilot compost at the primary school. They agreed that starting composting at the school can spread both knowledge about recycling kitchen waste and behavior of composting it in the community of Keko Mwanga B. We also showed the poster drafts that we had prepared yesterday. After looking into them they found that for them manually drawn pictures were more understandable than computer made drawings.

We explained that the main product of our project is to a) design and produce education material (posters) for the school and for the community represented by PHAST team and b) provide the school and the PHAST team with a simplified composting handbook to encourage continuing and expanding the pilot project started at the school. PHAST team seemed to appreciate this solution and hoped to receive the materials.

“Thank you for sharing your knowledge.”

The primary school

After the meeting we headed to the school with the PHAST team to have a workshop of composting with students and teachers. We were glad to see all of them present since the success of the project highly depends on these three parties. First we gave a brief lecture based on the waste posters and then started to build a compost with the help of one PHAST team member and two students. We had asked the teachers to bring some wet and dry waste items and a plastic bucket for us to show how composting is done. They had brought leaves, wood chips, pea peels and ugali. Below you can see a few photos of the process. Teachers and students seemed very excited with the composting pilot and promised to organize themselves in order to decide who is in charge of its  maintenance.

“The next time you come to Keko Mwanga, we will have the compost in action!”

 

“I learnt what composting is”

Agenda of the second workshop day in Keko Mwanga B

             Primary school visit: Breakthrough with composting

• We met the head teacher and two PHAST team members in the school and presented our idea of creating a pilot project in composting involving teachers, students and the PHAST team.
• We had a tour in the school premises and saw the waste corner behind one of the school buildings where all the waste is brought, piled up and tried to burn. This spot could be a potential spot for the compost, since it is already in use and there is space for it.
• We visited three different classes, introduced ourselves and told the children that we need their help in the project.
• We gave a lecture about waste treatment and composting to the hygiene and sanitation group (about 25 nine-year-old students from different classes) and four teachers.
• We agreed to meet again on Wednesday afternoon to explain our project to all of the teachers and to show the waste corner to the rest of the PHAST team.  
  The teacher asked the children what they learnt:“I learnt how to reduce, recycle and separate waste.” “I learnt how to make energy out of waste.”
  “I learnt the life of waste.”
  “I learnt how to compost food waste.”
  “I learnt how to take care of the environment.”
  “I learnt that the environment should be clean.”

  Quick walking tour in Keko Mwanga B area: Effects of rain and ignorance

• We saw one big Temeke truck cleaning up waste from the streets after residents had dumped it there the previous day.
• When walking down to the valley, we saw how rain water had gathered between the houses.
• We also saw one house which had collapsed because of rain and flooding of the river.
• We saw a river which flows between the neighbourhoods of ”Keko valley”. The river banks were covered with waste and the water was grey and not see-through.

Karibuni Tanzania – first days in Dar

Monday 23

First meeting with Centre for Community Initiatives (CCI) and the communities

We met Tim and Theresia from CCI and community members from Keko Mwanga, Chamazi and Tandale. Alpha and Mariam represented Keko Mwanga and the PHAST team. After introductions we had time to discuss and ask questions from Alpha and Mariam with the help of our translator Fredrik. They see the transportation of waste in Keko Mwanga B as the biggest problem. After the first day, we were a bit confused of all the contradictionary answers we have received from different stakeholders. Information about the costs and profitability of the waste collection is unclear to us. In addition, we have understood that the community members of Keko Mwanga B have not seen the report from last year’s project.

Today we noticed that there might be great challenges in getting the key message through the translation. One could even say that it is frustrating not to able to understand the locals directly.

Tuesday 24

Visiting both communities, first Keko Mwanga B and then Chamazi

In Keko, we visited the PHAST team office and met some of the team members, saw settlements and the river beyond the area which seems to be very dirty – both the water and the river banks. PHAST team has tried to clean the river several times but the situation seems hopeless.

In the evening, we had the Finnish Ambassador’s reception. There we talked with Tim about education and he told us about health education program in schools.

 

Wednesday 25

Workshop plans

In the morning, we planned tomorrow’s workshop which will take place in Keko Mwanga B. We thought about waste education in the local school and also talked about finding more income for the PHAST team. Collection of the fee could be integrated in other fees, like electricity, rent, water, etc.

We also thought if there is something we could do with the transportation problem. It is physically challenging for residents to bring their waste bags to collection points and for the PHAST team to transport them from there to the container. However, we can’t do anything with the infrastructure of the area and should focus on more tangible solutions.

In the afternoon, we met Mwilu, a Tanzanian woman who studied environmental engineering in Finland for four years. She is now back in Tanzania and working with waste issues as a freelancer. She gave us important information about practical things related to waste behaviour in Tanzania. Plastic bags do not cost anything and are therefore over-used. They are non-reusable because of their poor quality. She encouraged us to look into combining waste education and composting in the local school, which would also link our work with the last year’s project. Mwilu said that adults are very unlikely to contribute to recycling without personal benefit, whereas for children, composting could be fun.

Tomorrow we are possibly able to meet the teacher of the local school and also Mwilu. We feel optimistic about the project and are excited about new information we have gained during these first days here in Dar es Salaam.