Mountain biking in Tengeru with Peace Matunda

Today we went on a bike ride. The first stop on the ride was the local banana wine brewery. There were a bunch of old men sitting around drinking the wine and we tasted it and it was foul. 


Then we went on to the Nkoaranga orphanage, for young children. The children were very happy to see us. They ran up to us and wanted us to hold them, and we did, and when we did they didnt want us to put them down. They seemed to suffer a large affection deficit. Brother sang his favourite Syd
Barrett tune, and after the third time he was fed up with it and wouldnt do it again despite popular requests. 


Then we continued on our bike ride to a pottery making place. They made very nice pots but we were too hungry to appreciate the demonstrations and could only think
of lunch.

Next stop was the Tengeru market where we had chips, not the famous chips mayai (chips in an omelette), due to our veganism.

Then we went to see the market, there were lots of people selling fruit and we bought bananas. Then we headed back, the road back was probably the highlight of the day, leading through narrow shortcuts in the village. It was hot and quite a workout. 


We decided to spend the night at the Peace Matunda orphanage again, and have arranged for transport to the airport from here tomorrow morning at 7.30. Its not cheap but it saves us the hassle of going back to Arusha to spend the night and we can see that the money is doing good things here. Plus the atmosphere is nice with lots of kids and cool volunteers.

Getting to Tengeru in a dala dala

1. The first stage of coffee roasting

2. After the first stage.

3. After the second stage of roasting

4. After having ground the coffee beans to coffee powder in a mortar.

5. Coffees ready to drink.

Biking

A fork in the road.

Brother at Tengeru market

Our guide helping us pick out Ndizi and Chungwa without getting ripped off.

Woman selling stuff at Tengeru market.

A private math tuition hut 1.

A private math tuition hut 2.

A private math tuition hut 3.

Women selling stuff at Tengeru market.

Sister at Tengeru market.

Making pots.

Sister making ugali.

Tengeru market.

Brother and Loveness at Nkoarangoa orphanage.

Sister and Ester.

Peace Matunda orphanage and primary school in Tengeru

We checked out from the complacent and slow and expensive l'Oasis Lodge we were staying at this morning. What felt so peaceful and nice there when we arrived last week now just felt frustratingly slow. 


We walked with our bags to the main road, past Sanawari, the AICC and into the tourist board on Boma Road. There we booked another cultural tourism program, this time to the orphanage/school "Peace Matunda" near Tengeru. 


To get to the orphanage we walked to the local bus station in Arusha, squeezed into a local bus (dala dala) and got off at Tengeru (ok so we missed the stop the first time and had to get off and go back!). At Tengeru we got a taxi to the orphanage for 7000 shillings. We were well-recieved and shown around the grounds. It is lovely to see a project that seems to be properly functioning. The school has small classes with max 35 children in each, some only 14. All classes are taught in English. The classrooms are colourful, there are books for everyone and theres a library. The children get snack
and lunch (in government schools they go hungry!).

There are volunteers, between 10 and 14 of them, who stay on the grounds for 3-6 months. 


In the orphanage the children each have a bed and a cupboard for personal things. They have access to computers. Everything seems very well organised. Compared to our experience at Sekei, it seems as
if the volunteers here could actually make long-lasting contributions to the childrens opportunies and futures. 


After a lunch of mashed potatoes, we were given a demonstration of coffee-making from bush to cup by three very humble young men from the local village. We then embarked on yet another village walk with one of the young men, stopping to look at various plants and being introduced to various cultural customs. Already possesing most of this information, it was a little wearisome for us to not be able to go beyond the guide's basic protocol, this was due to the language barrier. However, it was a pleasant walk. 


Now were in the garden listening to the voluntees play with the children from the orphange, hoping to get some dinner, and looking forward to some cycling (!) tomorrow.