November 1, Saturday
Still no internet. We woke to our wakeup call which was a
knock on our door with fresh coffee, cream and sugar. I could get used to this.
We had a great breakfast at the villa before heading out for our first adventure.
We started the day with an incredible breakfast and saying goodbye to one of our new favorite friends, Moses. He was our server the night before and made a huge impact on us. He taught us the Swahili words that we would be using for the rest of our trip.
-
Asante Sana – Thank You
-
Karibu Sana – You're Welcome
-
Poli Poli – slow, slow
Roane Travel had arranged for the five of us to get a tour of Wine to Water East Africa – a nonprofit 501c that they support. Before I get into the details of our visit. I wanted to give you some background on WWEA.
It is a small “factory” business in Arusha, about 45 minutes from our villa. In 1997 Mr. Kim and his wife Mama Stella were making and selling beautiful handmade pottery. During that time they were visited by an American woman and she appreciated their pottery. In 2007, she returned and shared with Mr. Kim and Mama Stella a way they could use their pottery skills to provide clean drinking water to the neighboring villages using their pottery skills.
She sent Mr. Kim to the Dominican Republic for three months
to learn how to make clay water filters with the organization, Wine to Water. He returned and in 2010 they opened
Wine to Water East Africa, a nonprofit that provides clay filters to villages
that don’t have clean water for free.
Ok, back to our adventure. We left the villa and headed out, it was daylight and we were able to see what was around us after arriving after dark last night. It is beautiful and about 10 minutes down a windy dirt street we turned onto the main road.
Francis, our driver, reminded us about the unrest in the area due to the presidential election and we might see some things on our drive. We did.
 |
| A school in the distance. |
 |
| Beautiful building, not far from our villa. |
 |
| The presence of the Tanzanian military was very visible. It was very peaceful; they were just hanging out. |
 |
| More military. These pictures were taken very carefully. Francis reminded us to not take any obvious pictures because things were still a little tense. |
 |
| All of the "Petrol" stations were completely closed throughout the big cities in Tanzania. The presidet wanted to limit the ability of the citizens to get gas for their motorcycles or vehicles. No gas, no communication systems, 6 pm curfew...it was still a very precarious day for us. We never felt unsafe, just very cautious. |
He explained how the locals that were upset with the way the
election was handled and protested by burning tires in the roads to block cars from
going through. The fires were out and the roads were open and there was lots of
evidence on the road from where the burning took place. Francis also shared that the Tanzania
Military was brought in to keep the villages and towns safe. We saw them also.
Military men in full camouflage uniforms were walking the streets, fully armed.
There was no unrest and some of the military were just hanging out and talking
with each other. We felt safe and it was a very interesting ride. Some of the
villages/towns that we passed through had more military presence than others,
and Francis explained that those towns had business owners who didn’t support
the president. We did have to go through a military checkpoint, a little
nerve-wracking, and really nothing.
The soldiers signaled to Francis to pull over and drive
slowly past them on the side of the road. As he did, the soldiers looked in our
jeep on both sides. We never had to stop and they signaled him to keep driving,
He explained that they wanted to make sure that our safari company jeep really
did have tourists in it and he wasn’t trying to do something else.
About another 10 minutes and we arrived at WWEA. I don’t
know what I was expecting, and it was magical…a very small run down building
with all of the operations happening outside in an enclosed area next to the
building.
We had an orientation to what they do by an employee who
spoke perfect English. I found out later that he had been working with WWEA for
8 years and as a kid, he lived nearby and would always show up to learn and
volunteer with Mama Stella.
Below are some images with explanations in the captions of
our adventure.
 |
| This is the "factory" in the East Tanzania branch of wine to water where they make the clay water filters. |
 |
| They get a big ball of clay - composed of clay, some charcoal and some silver (to aid in the filtration process) |
 |
| the mound is then compressed by hand to begin shaping it. |
 |
| They cover it with plastic so it doesn't attach to the equipment and make it easier to remove. |
 |
| After lowering the machine, they then use hydraulics to make it really tight and to perfect the formation. |
 |
| Lift it up and the filter is formed. |
 |
| hand trim the edges to collect the leftovers and use them again for the next filter. |
 |
| All done. |
 |
| the first step of the finished filter, ready to be "cooked." |
 |
| After the filter is shaped, it is put in this "oven" to be hardened into a solid clay filter. |
 |
| He gave us a demonstration of how when you put the dirty water in the filter, it comes through the porous sides and is filtered by the makeup of the clay filter. |
 |
| He demonstrated how the "cooked" filter is ready to be put into the container that is given to the residents of the villages that they support. |
 |
| He poured dirty water into the top of the container, and then got the clean water out. |
 |
| Dirty water in, clean water out! |
About halfway through we met Mama Stella. She runs the place now and is a beautiful woman. She is a business woman in Tanzania and was so proud to share with us that she won an award for the Water Catergory in the Energy Globe Gold Award in 2015. She had to travel to Iran to receive and be recognized for this global award.
 |
| Mama Stella demonstrated her pottery skills for us. This WWEA factory also makes beautiful pottery to sell at markets and to the community to raise money for their water filter distributions. |
 |
| within about 5 minutes, Mama Stella had created this right in front of our eyes. |
Mama Stella is the heart and soul of WWEA and I was so
impressed with the dedication that these people have to providing opportunities
for clean drinking water for those villages that don’t have access to
filtration systems or water purification systems. She spoke beautiful English
and was so passionate about what she does with her 8 employees (that’s all they
can afford to hire and pay) and the many volunteers that show up regularly to
help. I left with a full heart and of course we donated to WWEA on our way out.
Hugs were shared and we even exchanged email addresses with Mama Stella, so I
could send her the pictures that I took and she could share with me the
pictures that she took also.
We boarded back up with Francis and made our way back to the villa without any issues. The rest of the day was at our leisure until about 5:30 when we would have a cooking class with the chef at the villa.
We had a wonderful lunch back at the villa with our server Abu. After lunch, Don mentioned that we had seen some monkeys in the trees. He shared that he knew where to see the monkeys up close on the property...so of course we followed. Wow!!
 |
| Don was great at helping the "Golden Girls" across the uneven rocks around the property. 💙 |
|
| Abu with us, and Don right in the middle, hoping one might come right up to him. |
After our vervet monkey adventure, we explored the property. We swam in the pool. We relaxed and visited and some of us even took naps.
5:30 came, we were met by our butler and taken to the kitchen. The kitchen was in a totally separate building from the eating area and the accommodations. It was also very small.
We spent two hours with Chef Frederic and Chef Mary. We
learned how they make their butternut soup, cinnamon ice cream and spicy
calamari starter dish.
Don and Aunt Rose participated and the rest of us sat and listened/watched. It was so impressive. Every fruit and vegetable that they use is grown in their garden on site. We were able to walk through the garden and witness first hand how incredible it is and were also able to meet the gardener.
So after the cooking lesson we went back to the dining area
and had dinner. We ate our butternut
soup and had our ice cream for dessert. We also had other choices for the
starter and main course that the chef was creating.
After our 3 course meal we went back to our rooms to pack. Tomorrow we would say goodbye to Siringit Villa and our new friends and head on the way to our next stop with a visit to Tarangire National Park – known for the amount of elephants that free roam – for our first “game drive.”
Good Night!!
No comments:
Post a Comment