Legal Village

SSQ in Tanzania: hope springs in Mwandege

Posted 3/06/2008 by Shilton Sharpe Quarry

Shilton Sharpe Quarry (SSQ) this year is supporting Streetkids, a children’s charity based in Frankfurt, which seeks to improve the living conditions of disadvantaged children in Tanzania and currently cares for 17 children in two orphanages in Dar es Salaam.

The following report was written by Till Schöppe and Diana Luczak from SSQ’s German office and Nicola Morris from the UK branch. For part one of their report, click here.

SKI currently occupies two buildings in different parts of Dar es Salaam. Both are rented and this is part of the motivation for Daniel to build his own orphanages on one site. It is expensive renting the housing and the landlords have the ability to end the tenancy at short notice. The accommodation is much better than we had imagined. The buildings are clean and surrounded by high walls. The floors are concrete and the children share bunk beds. The 'bathroom' has a sunken toilet and shower head. It is extremely basic. There is a 'house mama' (and in one of the houses, her husband) that cooks and provides pastoral care and a western volunteer that acts as Daniel’s 'eyes' for him when he is not there.

Daniel has many contacts/networks in Tanzania and he has quite strict criteria for selecting children. The children do not have any immediate living family and do not have HIV. When they arrive they go through an intensive process of de-worming, antibiotic/yellow fever treatment to ensure they have no bugs.

Great importance is placed on education. They know that their only way out in life is through education and the children are all extremely well behaved. Daniel explained to us that in many ways they are privileged as they have three meals per day, have a bed to sleep in and clean water. They attend normal schools but apparently do get teased about being orphans. The children are also disciplined. The children’s days are long and very structured. They all speak English competently. They understand what Daniel does for them and call him “papa” despite the fact he is not there a lot. They are very religious and attend church every week. They all partake in house chores.

SKI’s work is impressive because it is a relatively small organization. It is focused on a small number of children, which means that the orphanages seem more like houses than a big, faceless hospital building. Daniel is an IT consultant, which means that the SKI project has developed out of a desire to help these children, not to make himself wealthy. All money is given back to the children and Daniel spends a lot of his own savings on the children.

The other positive of this is that he has flexibility in terms of how the money is spent. For example, in one of the houses there is no older male presence so Daniel has entrusted 'man of the house' responsibilities to a boy named Joshua. He recently gave Joshua his old mobile phone and provides pocket money as a sign of responsibility.

This is really stage one for Daniel and he is relaxed about what will happen as the children grow up and the first ones attend university. It is thought of much more as a family than an orphanage and Daniel wants them to feel that they can always come “home”.

The new compound
SKI has been saving money for a long time to buy its own piece of property near Mwandege, south of Dar es Salaam. The new plot is not far from good schools and the Multipurpose Education Center (MEC) that SKI has built with its local co-operation partner, Youth With A Mission, the owner of a more than 5 km² large development area on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam. The MEC is a training and production centre with capacity for training approximately 130 orphans in Tanzania until 2010.

Why own land? Well, for a start there is the question of security. Not only for the children (they are well protected now as well) but with regard to being dependent on the goodwill of the landlord (contracts may not always be easily enforced in Africa). Furthermore, it seems a waste of money and time to keep developing houses that do not belong to the organisation.

What has been done with the new property so far? Almost 80% of the new property has been cleared of bush grass, weeds and other non-required vegetation. One could now ask why only 80% and how long can it possibly take to clear the land? This is the red line that goes through this report. Lack of money and machinery is one thing. The work is being carried out by one person who is not only the 'gardener' but also the guard of the property. He gets paid and earns €30 (£24) a month. That equals 59,537.9 Tanzanian Shillings. A decent wage. (In comparison, the ferry crossing from Dar es Salaam across the bay to avoid a painful hour-and-a-half car ride, or an even longer ride on the Dala Dala's, costs 0.100 Tanzannia Schillings).

The first house is almost completed as you can see on the pictures. Work goes slowly in Africa and can only go forward when there is enough money.

The SSQ contribution
With SSQ’s contribution and a little top-up from other donations (83% SSQ and 17% others), the water supply and septic system for the new property and the neighbours has been secured for years. Most of the work can’t be seen from the outside but is in hole 76m deep. This is how far you have to go down to get drinking water.

On top of that well is an electrical pump that, when running, fills up a 5,000-litre water tank that rests on a solid-steel construction 5 metres off the ground. It sits up high so the velocity of the fall forces the water through pipes that are buried in the ground to the various spots on the property.

Next to the tank, a little house made out of stone and concrete has been built to host and guard the generator, which is needed to get power to the pump sitting on top of the well. This house is used as a storage hut and the sleeping place for the property’s guard.

Finally, next to the generator house a trickle pool or 'soakaway' has been built. For those who are not aware of the importance of this, a little explanation: some method of washwater and excrement disposal is important wherever water is used inside or near a dwelling for bathing, washing, going to the toilet or cooking. Simple disposal methods confine washwater to a sump, pit or trench and allow it to soak safely into the ground. This reduces the chance of contaminating water supplies and prevents mosquitoes from breeding by eliminating surface pools.

All of these methods are inexpensive, easy to build and can be made from locally available materials. The pit-type is a hole 5m deep dug in permeable soil, lined with concrete blocks and covered with a concrete and wood lid to keep out flies and mosquitoes and to prevent children from falling in.

All this will secure a complete water supply and takes care of human waste for years. Once the wall has been built around the property, a little water tap will be placed on the outside for neighbours to get fresh water. SKI has always believed that a friendly relationship with neighbours is the best protection for the children.