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Tanzania 2013: Images and impressions [2013-10-03]

Neal and I were intensely focused on our work for those few short weeks in Tanzania, spending most of our time either confined in IT labs or seated in front of our computer screens at the home of our colleague where we have been staying.  However a couple of things intruded upon our consciousness that we’d like to share.

Buckets:

In the areas that we have visited, buckets of all colors, shapes, and sizes have been ubiquitous.  There is the gracious (and utilitarian) act of pouring water over another’s hands into a bucket before a meal. Where there is no running water, the centerpiece of a bath is a bucket of water.  People sit on buckets and keep them in the home as storage for water.  We used a bucket as a nightstand when we stayed at Mlangarini Secondary School.  Buckets are carried atop a woman’s head or by very small children or in a donkey cart for multiple kilometers to fetch water for a home, crops, and animals.  Even here in town where we have spent most of our time, water comes at unpredictable intervals so the bathroom is a maze of pipes and storage tanks and large containers of water to carry us from one interval to the next.  It’s not even a matter of the water being clean or not: the quest for any water is consuming for families living here.  It is the dry season, and there is just so little water to be had.  The bucket to me is a symbol of the challenge of life in this place.  I will return home less thoughtless about turning on the tap at any time and having the amazing (but often unappreciated) blessing of unlimited, clean water.  The fact that I can live my life in America with just a single bucket, almost always empty, is a testament to how blessed we are.

Children:

The nature of our work being computers, we spend most of our days “near the main road” where electricity is found.  Even so, we see very young children driving donkey carts, herding goats or cattle, or carrying loads as we travel from school to school.  I suspect that the further one goes from the main road, the more common this is.  For these kids, school is not an option.  Seeing the young-old faces caked with dust moving along behind the animals makes us even more committed to the mission of Reneal IEO, to provide educational opportunities (especially IT) to kids in developing countries.