January Update

January has proven to be some of the slowest time thus far as well as some of the busiest. We arrived back at camp after the Christmas break to find that there was very little work for us to do. The work on the water project was waiting on the arrival of the some people from Ontario who do a lot of the fundraising. Also one member of the group, Jim Doble, is a retiree and has basically been the project manager of the water projects for several years. Joe Medema is a civil engineer and has been in Uganda several times, so he has lots of experience. In this time the crew stayed somewhat busy preparing the camp for the arrival of these people. This involved building new tent platforms and building a new office building to replace the tent we had been using, along with several other small projects. Last weekend Tyler and I made a weekend trip to Kikigati, another ACTS project site, for a weekend which involved a visit to see the local hippos but primarily a for tour of the nearby UN Millennium village alongside Prof Jeffery Sachs, Director of the UN Millennium Project, and a British MP, George Osborne. It was a very interesting experience following the entourage around for the day. When we returned to camp the Ontario group had just arrived and this signalled the start of the real work on project. They were quick to decide one of the two spring sources was inadequate for development and that another source we had assumed to be too compromised to be used was a better option. This meant a lot of work modifying the plan and surveying the new line. This also meant one of the two sediment tanks we built was rendered unused and a new tank needs to be built. The end of the week was occupied tying few kilometres of the flagging which marks where the pipeline is to go. Saturday was the big party for the community to mobilize them to work. It is the community who digs the trench for the pipeline so a party is held as a motivator. Two cows we killed for the event and I think there were easily a thousand people present. Monday morning the communities start digging the 16km+ of trench and the timeline for all the trenching is 2 weeks, but I think this may be a bit optimistic. Regardless, the project is approaching the final two months of construction which are by far the most involved and most interesting.

Camp Life
We have been keeping busy in the slow periods by building small things such as tables and shelves, doing lots of reading, and taking on other small projects. I drew a large map of Africa and Uganda on the outside wall of our new office building. A typical day now involves waking around 7:30 and having breakfast which is generally cold leftovers from the night previous and occasionally some fruit. If we’re going with the crew, we usually leave around 8:30 and usually work until 12:30 and travel back to camp. Lunch at 1:00 and work resumes around 2:00. The day ends around 16:30 or 17:00. Tea is at 5:30 and dinner at 7:30. There is a lot of downtime during periods of the day which can be filled with either reading or a small project, or a choir. Washing clothes is time consuming as it has to be done manually in a basin. It’s a pretty routine life at our camp but it is easy to get used to.

A couple of the tents where the Canadians stay. There are now 6 tents set up






The main building of our camp. The Ugandan crew have rooms in here and the mess and office are attached






A sunset from the camp








I drew a map of Africa and Uganda on the back wall of our new office building so I would have something to look at when Im sitting idle outside my tent






Soccer
Last week there was a big soccer game near our camp. It was between a nearby team and a team from ‘just over the hills’. The Ugandans are amazing athletes and it was awesome to watch a real African soccer game. First of all, the field is anything but flat: there are small hills and depressions all over the place. The grass level is maintained by animals grazing so it is quite long to the point you can’t always see the ball when you’re watching. Most players don’t have cleats and probably half don’t even have shoes. They play very aggressively but also have a very high skill level. Overall it was very impressive and my new goal is to view a professional African soccer game if I can make it happen.

Local soccer game








Local soccer game







Local soccer game









Kikigati Trip
Kikigati is a border-town on the river that divides Uganda and Tanzania. There are some water and agriculture project there and the interns and employees there stay in a small house that is rented. It is a little over an hour from our camp and feels really different than where we stay. The house they are in is right in the middle of a trading center so they are not isolated at all. This means they get to see a better picture of real life in Uganda but they are also subject to constant pestering from the locals, especially the kids. We sit in the living room and kids just lurk outside the window staring in. They also get a lot of visits from uninvited people which can occur at awkward times. But it is a cool place and great to visit. We spent Saturday driving out to see the local pod of hippos that lives in the river nearby. It was cool to see hippos in real life outside a game park even though they were a long ways away. We also visited the site of a former hydroelectric power station that was destroyed in 1979 during the war Amin started with Tanzania that led to his downfall. It is such a waste in a country that has significant power shortages and is pumping all their money into their military.

The ACTS truck parked in front of the house. We borrowed the truck battery so we could watch a movie (the solar power ran out) and just bomb started the truck the next morning




John buying some goat meat for dinner. They made an amazing goat curry for dinner










The landlord's kids playing outside the house







What would a trip to see the hippos be without a cheesy machete photo?







Some of the local longhorn cattle









Part of the old hydroelectric station foundation on the Kagera River on the border of Uganda and Tanzania









UN Millennium Village Visit
The trip to Kikigati was made because we were invited to visit the UN Millennium Village on Sunday, Jan 14. It was a tour set up for Jeffery Sachs, the Director of the UN Millennium Project, and George Osborne, a British MP. They invited some local NGOs in the area to attend. UN Millennium Goal #8: Building Relationships. The day started with maybe 2 or 3 dozen people and by the end of the day there were more than a hundred people following the tour around. The UN Millennium Village is basically a typical Ugandan village that is being used a model of the effects of increasing foreign aid. They sink a tonne of money into the community and measure the effects. Sachs’ economic view is that foreign aid to Africa needs to increase more than 3-fold in order to solve Africa’s problems. It is a controversial view. So the UN pumps money into schools, health centers, farms, and people’s homes, and at the end of 5 years if all goes well it will be a model village for dumping money into Africa. The project is 6 months in so far. They have one piece of data that I’m sure can be proved: they gave everyone in the community mosquito nets and they have marked significant decreases in cases of malaria. The overall question of the project is of sustainability. If the money stops flowing than many of the projects will stop, specifically regarding agriculture (inorganic fertilizers and GE seeds that no local Ugandans can possibly afford), and other projects will deteriorate slowly. To me this means the aid has to continue until economic development occurs which has the potential to be a very long time. Regardless, the experience was unique and stimulated a lot of interesting discussion. Just to see the circus that follows important people around and the hectic life of a politician was cool.

Sachs was the center of attention of day long. It seems like a stressful position to me






Meeting Jeffery Sachs











George Osborne, the British MP, kept giving these strange interviews to his assistant with the camera. We were joking that he could easily be mistaken for a BBC correspondant in the field




Some smiling kids. This ones for my mom







This guy was cool. He was based in Nairobi and in charge of the Millenium Project for East Africa. I could tell he didnt like the polical side of things. He was joking that he has trees planted all across East Africa and that half of them are probably dead








The day ended at a big event where thousands of people were waiting for us. It was really unexpected but then evenything on this day was unexpected. There was a stage and sound system set up and a bunch of local politicians spoke as well as Sachs.


ACTS Pipeline Work Mobilization Party
Yesterday was the party to mobilize the community members in the area to start work tomorrow. There is around 16km of trench that has to be dug for the pipeline and it is Jim’s tactic to have a party to build enthusiasm. He invites people from previous water projects and local politicians to build excitement about the project. Also two cows were killed and cooked. Imagine the logistics of cooking two whole cows. And I mean whole, nothing is wasted. The party seemed successful and there were probably at least a thousand people in attendance. I guess tomorrow we will see how many people show up to work.

Cooking an absolutely huge pot of Matoke, steamed bananas which a staple part of the diet here.










An example of one of the six groups cooking the cow for the party










We had a good size crowd, I think at least a thousand






Jim Doble and Apollo, our crew foreman, speaking to the crowd

Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Mt. Kilimanjaro, the roof of Africa, stands at 5895m elevation. Myself and Joel Mathieu, the volunteer from Quebec, started the climb to the highest summit in Africa on Dec 23 and made the summit on Dec 28. Experiencing high altitude was incredible. The climb started in Moshi at 1100m where we spent the night before. We drove to the Machame gate at 1800m and the first day climbed to the Machame camp at 3000m. Day 1 was spent in rainforest. Day two we entered moorland and had a relatively short walk to Shira camp at 3850m. Day three (Christmas day) we ascended to 4600m and then back down to Barranco camp at 3950m. Day 4 we made the easy scramble up the 380m Barranco wall and then down to the Karangu camp which was also at 3950m. Day 5 we reached the Barafu camp at 4600m which is the highest camp and where we made our summit attempt from. Day 6 was the summit day and started around midnight. We climbed 1295m to the summit and then descended all the way down to Mweka camp at 3100m. It was hard on the knees making a 2800m descent. Day 7 we made the last descent to the Mweka gate at 1700m and headed back to the hotel for a well earned shower. Most of the climb was overcast or fog but we occasionally had some clear views of the main peak, at which time we were taking a tonne of photos. Our summit day there was a freak snow storm and we spent the entire time in medium snowfall and wind which killed any views but made the summit day very challenging and quite unique. It was the most snow fall since 1997 and caused the hike to take much longer than it normally would because walking takes more effort. It also caused a low success rate of only 53%. We were quite fast relatively speaking. We were the third group to summit out of many, many groups. Technically we were faster but we left later than the first two groups but they broke most of the trail so I give them full props for that. We had a couple turns at it and with the low energy levels resulting from altitude, it is incredibly draining. Above 5000m I noticed my heart rate was very high and if I went too fast, I would get nausea from the blood draining from my stomach. This forced me to keep a slow pace to keep the heart rate down. Above 5500m was worse because it becomes hard to breathe and I would make several steps and then have to take a short pause to catch my breath. The high elevation climbing is purely a battle between the mind and the body. The body is telling the mind that everything is wrong but the mind fights it in pursuit of the goal. At no point did stopping even cross my mind even though the pain of moving continually increased. We reached Stella point 5795m at 6:10 which is the point which the trail reaches the crater rim and the gradient becomes much less. From there it is a very slow walk along the crater rim to the highest point, Uhuru summit, which we reached at 8am. After some photos we headed back. What took 7:20 minutes to ascend took 2 hours to descend.

Day 1 in the rain forest. This was actually one of the worst days for walking because it was still very humid and hot. The colder climate of the rest of the days was far most pleasent








Day 2 in moorland. The porters carry everything on their heads up the mountains. It almost seems unfair but you see the incredible number of people at the gate trying to get work as porters you realize that it is a good job because it pays very well, relatively speaking




The view from Shira camp looking at the Shira peaks






The evening view of thew Kibo peak from Shira camp. Kibo peak is the highest peak on the volcano of which Uhuru summit is the highest point




Christmas day at 4600m at the Lava Tower. We got snow on Christmas day which made us happy.








The view from Barranco camp. At this point we are in alpine desert.










The porters on the Barranco wall, on of the only scrambles on the hike which was quite fun but pretty easy as scrambling goes.







Karangu camp early in the morning.







Our group minus one porter. We had a guide, assistant guide, cook, assistant cook, and 4 porters... And this is normal




We 'woke up' around midnight and started our summit bid at 12:40am. I was unable to sleep. I layed there listening to the rain/sleet hit the tent for a few hours until it stopped around maybe 9 or 10pm. I thought it had stopped because the sound stopped. I was completely wrong: so much snow accumulated that i couldnt hear it anymore. We were very excited about the surprise snow.

The famous summit photo at the Uhuru Peak sign. We made the summit at 8am





We returned to Barafu camp at 10am to find our tent completely buried and one side collapsed under the weight of the snow.

Ngorongoro Safari

After Lushoto we had two days before I had to meet Joel for climbing and before John and Tyler had to be in Kenya for Christmas, so we decided to go on safari. We chose the Ngorongoro Crater because it was closer than the Serengeti and has a much higher density of animals. Within the crater, which is about 20km across, we got the chance to see almost all the African safari animals, with the main exception being the giraffe. We ended up seeing 4 of the big 5 (and learned that they are named based on hunting; these are the five most dangerous animals if you only wound them) including elephants, rhinos, lions, and buffalo. We didnt see the leopard. Other animals included hippos, a lot of heriborves like waterbucks and zebras, and a lot of birds including ostriches and flamingos. Unfortunately we came across a stuck truck and fufilled our ethical duty to help. We spent about an hour and a half trying to pull this truck our with no avail. We gave the driver a ride when it was time to leave to get to the gate before it closed. We decided to splurge on the accommadation and stayed at a very nice lodge on the crater rim. John had been recently diagonosed with maleria so he left our 4 course dinner early and we ate his entree. Very good meal, some drinks in the very nice bar, and a good nights sleep in a huge room. In the morning we went to a Masai village which operated like a tourist attraction. The Masai people are a cattle herding people that live in the savanna. They are the ones who put the holes in their ears which you may have seen. It was kind of sad in reality, paying these people to dance and left us invade their community. I call it culture-whoring. We didnt spend to long there, as we felt akward and I think it was akward for them. We returned to Arusha and Tyler and John headed for Kenya. I spent the night in Arusha and headed to meet Joel in Moshi the next day. The safari was very interesting and we all enjoyed it, even John with his malaria symptoms. What made it better was that I never had any intention of going on safari so it was something extra.

There was a lot of baboons on the road leading to the park






Some grazing animal. I am terrible at identifying animals and just as bad as remembering their names




African Buffalo







Hippos. I would love to see them out of water, they look so large even with only a little bit visible from the water. They only come out to graze at night.



One of the two lion brothers we saw. They are very lazy during the day. We got lucky after about half an hour they rose and walked around a bit



The lions were definetely the highlight. They came right up to the truck, drank from a puddle, rubbed up against the truck, took a piss, and bit at the antenea a bit. They were more than close enough to pet if you were stupid enough

The black rhinos. Something like 25-30 left in existance and the all live in the crater. Smaller than the white rhino




Zebras, so many zebras

Elephants, these ones were outside the park. The ones in the crater were very far from the road. A pleasent surprise to see some close to the road after the game drive was technically over.


Our truck did most of the pulling. Lots of people hung around trying to help. It kind of sucks giving up precious time to help, but if the shoe is on the other foot, right?



The lodge. Unfortunately the potentially amazing view of the crater was never visable due to the fog




Some Masai women








Some Masai men

Lushoto, Tanzania

The Lushoto water project in Northern Tanzania is going to receive some CIDA funding through ACTS so we were tasked with making sure everything with the project was in good state before application for the funding was made. Myself, Tyler (the other engineer), and John (the water scientist) made our way to Tanzania for about 1 week prior to the x-mas break. This worked well because I had to travel to Tanzania for climbing anyway. The trip took 4 days total; one day to get to Kampala and a night in Kampala, an overnight bus to Nairobi, a day to Arusha in Tanzania, and a day to Mombo where we were picked up by the engineer, Micheal Herbert. Needless to say, a long trip. Normally it would be faster but all the good buses were booked for Christmas so we were stuck taking crappy transport. Lushoto has their own engineers, one through the Diosese of Development and one through the district water office, so our main tasks were to make sure everything was done relatively well with their planning, check the bill of materials, measure the flow rate of the new source, and test all the water sources. There is currently two sources supplying the community of Lushoto with water. A new source will replace one of the current sources, which is heavily polluted by agriculture, and will also increase the supply of water and allow for long term increases in the population. All the engineering plans were in good order but there was one small discrepency in the bill of materials which we asked them to remedy. The new water source and one of the current sources tested clean, the other was not clean. The flow rate of the new source far exceeded the required water requirement of the design so we were happy with that. Overall a successful trip which got us to Tanzania for the start of the Christmas break and allowed us a couple days to go on saferi before meeting Joel for climbing.




A hazy view of Kampala. We stayed for a night enroute to northern Tanzania via Kenya.




The new water source. It doesnt look ideal but tested clean. The water flows from a protected forest reserve so it is not comprimised by agricultural activites

One of the two current sources (actually the Break Pressure Tank; the source was too far) supplying Lushoto. This one also tested clean because it comes from a forest reserve.






The second of the two current sources. This one did not test clean. This one is heavily comprimised by agriculural activities upstream; there's even a garden on the side of the bank beside the reservior. This is the water that was supplying the guest house we were staying at, explaining why the tap water was flowing brown.

The northern Tanzanian town of Lushoto in the Usambara mountains

John K. Pattison, Adventure Scientist










Waiting in the bus park in Lushoto. The bus was supposed to leave at 7am so we showed up at 6:45. The bus arrived at 9:30 and we left around 10. The efficiency of travel in Africa is wonderful

Looking out over the town of Mombo, which sits at the edge of the savanna just below the Usambara mountains




A very common sight on the side of most African roads






The edge of the Usambara mountains looking from the savanna