FARM Africa Projects - Dareda Kati Primary School

Our first project visit convened on Day 3 in Tanzania where we visited an environment and education project in Babati. The journey there was eventful to say the least.

An hour into the drive and we had to make an unscheduled stop when a very strange noise was heard from beneath the mini-bus - I thought this would signal an early end to our trip but that was ridiculed when the driver opened up a hatch from within the cabin and persisted in pulling out, what appeared to be, random wires and belts! Two wires lighter and we were on our way again. The locals have had to learn how to fix their own vehicles as a way of getting by. Garages are few and far between in this area and even if they weren’t, few people could afford to have their vehicles repaired.

It soon became apparent that we were not in a vehicle suitable for the road from Arusha to Babati. Every pothole and rock that littered the roads was felt most by the cool kidz at the back of the bus - that included James and myself. We didn’t feel so cool now! There wasn’t much to look at along the way but what was beautiful was the way the locals would turn around, smile and wave. This is a huge contrast to London where you would be lucky to receive any kind of glance whilst going about your day to day life. Even this small sign was an eye opener to the way people appear happy as they go about trying to survive on what little they have.

7 hours after we had began we finally reached our destination, the Dareda Kati Primary School where previous FARM Africa aid had been provided to help the teachers devise new lesson plans and funding had been used to set up demonstration plots to show how to space plants properly and how to use manure.

This was a fascinating insight into a Tanzanian school and also gave us the impetus to make it to the top of Kili and subsequently provide even further funds to enable this and other schools give the children the education and techniques they require to help feed their families and make their lives more substantial whilst at school and more importantly when they leave.

By teaching the kids at the school they are also teaching their parents. When the children go home they can then relay the information taught at school and slowly but surely the surrounding community would incorporate these new methods in there day to day lives.

Over 70% of children in the area will become farmers when they leave school and so to learn better methods of farming including planting crops and trees and rearing small livestock will surely help them and their families create a better standard of life.

It was unfortunate that after such a long journey to visit the project we were only able to stay for a short amount of time as we had been advised not to travel on the roads after dark.

Thankfully the journey home was not as long or as painful as the first leg. We were lucky to arrive back at the hotel in style with the use of 4X4 vehicles provided by the FARM Africa Office.