21-23.01.2007 - Safari to Newala

Safari to Newala and Tandanhimba 21^st - 23^rd

Because ari arrived lately than scheduled from Singida due to road problems it meant that we couldn't visit all the friends in sports schools in the Mtwara region. It was decided that we would travel to Newala and Tandahimba and visit the 16 schools there who are sponsored by associations in Finland.

We set out one hour later than scheduled on the Sunday and hoped to arrive in Newala before the Arsenal game started. However, due to road works and diversions and an untimely flat tire we made it there for the start of the second half and seen all the goals. A good crowd of locals had come to watch the match and a lot of shouting between one set of supporters to the others.

The drive to Newala was bumpy and rough with Ari doing record speeds along the road. After the football in Newala we grabbed a bit to eat in a local restaurant. We talked about the coming days and what role each one of us would be filling. We left for bed early as we had an early start the next day and after some complications with the mosquito net which was only half the size for the actual bed we eventually fell asleep.

After a quick breakfast it was off to visit the schools. Annukka was the still photo lady for the day, Ari the presenter, Kanda would talk to the principals giving information about the association school, Chigo would be pumping the balls in which every school got 2 balls – one for football and the other for netball, and I was operating the video camera.

We visited 12 schools on the first day and most of us where very tired at the end of the day. All the children where very happy to see and so excited to receive balls for sports. Their enthusiasm was amazing and something that would never been seen in European children. At each school we recorded the school grounds, classrooms and especially the football and netball grounds. Some schools hadn't received the goals yet while others hadn't put the in place yet for one reason or another. In general most of the schools had the posts in place and the playing grounds where by and large in ok condition.

We managed to do most of the schools on the way to Tandahimba which meant that little back tracking would be done the following day. In one of the schools Michael (A.K.A Gervas) reversed into a tree and shattered the back window on the Land rover. After some cleaning we reached Tandahimba at around 5 that evening and after checking into our lodge we went for a small bit to eat. After having my first chips omelette the night before I had another one here which, was much better. While waiting for the food myself and Kanda played some pool on the local table in the bar.

After the meal a brief talk about the next day and starting time and everyone went to sleep. Unfortunately because the batteries for the camcorder was empty we had to hope that electricity would come back which would allow us to record the remaining schools the next day. We relaxed outside the lodge watching the stars and looking for shooting stars. Despite only been a quarter full moon it was still very bright outside. It was nice to relax outside with little mosquitoes around watching the stars. The temperature was noticeably warmer than in Newala but still not as hot as Mtwara. Fortunately the electricity came on later and enabled us to recharge everything.

The following day we visited the remaining four schools which the children where just so hysteric to see us. At one school we had to walk about 500m to start filming at the school sign post we walked from the school to the sign post and around 100 children followed us all the way there and back, signing, running and dancing. No wonder they where hysteric, three Mzungus which cameras and camcorder ; )

The same procedure for these schools was the same as the previous day and the children again where so happy just to receive the balls. After visiting all the schools we made our way back to Mtwara stopping to visit the Tandahimba lake on the way. We reached Mtwara around lunch time for the remainder of the day we had a small meeting in the office, few games of table tennis, a swim in the ocean and finished the day off with a meal at our host parents house eating Pilau.