The enthusiasm our simple solar water bottle lights was incredible and at one point even rather alarming as the boma we picked for our pilot project were making holes in their houses faster than we could make the lights.  I had visions of us leaving everyone with holes in their roofs! 


The difference inside with a solar water bottle was like day and night!  The solar water bottles give off the same amount of light as a 60 Watt bulb.

We hope that, partnered with Raleigh Tanzania, we will be able to continue the project to bring light to as many households in the Piaya area as possible.

After making 6 litres of lights for a local boma (home stead) we went to install them.  LeKutiti Loshoro-the chairman of the local subvillage very kindly allowed us to use his homestead for our project.  If anyone has ever been into a Maasai manyatta-house-they will know just how dark they are inside.  It is absolutely pitch black!  We took Kapalu -our Nomad Trust representative from the community- with us to help with explaining the concept in the local dialect.


 A hole first had to be made in the top of the roof, and then the bottle carefully inserted with the iron resting as flat and low down in the roof as possible.

I have just received the latest school report for Zuberi, who was a pupil at Katumbi Primary School, Mahale.  He was picked for a scholarship to go to a private school in Kigoma and I was so thrilled to see his report.  Zuberi got seven A's, three B's and one C this past term.  He has worked so hard to catch up and do this well.   

Based on a project called a Litre of light-we decided to try it out in Piaya with the Maasai community that I work with there.  Making the "lights" looked easy from a video but it proved to be a bit tougher!  Using corrugated iron, which we cut into 10" by 10" squares we then had to make a circular hole in the middle to fit the bottles through.









  After a bit of trial and error, and  lots of leaking bottles we settled on using old rubber Tyre inners to wrap around the bottle before inserting it into the hole in the iron and sealing it with a roofing sealant.  We then filled the bottles with purified water and about 10ml of bleach, and used a silicon sealant around the bottle top.
These were then ready to be inserted into a roof of a local manyatta (maasai mud house).  

I love seeing the pictures teacher Gabriel frequently sends of the computer lab that was sponsored through the Nomad Trust.
Here are a few more photos that he has sent, it is incredible how this community have taken to using computers and the internet.  Long may it continue!

Check out this blog post from Raleigh International about our partnership on the rocket stove project in Katavi.

I got to go and see the site of the new teachers house whilst I was in Mahale, it is at the top of the hill above the school.  A beautiful site, I am willing to move there!  The village had collected all the bricks, as well as sand and taken it up to the site so that as soon as the other material arrive from Kigoma they can start building the house.  As a direct result of this generous donation from Nigel Palmer two more teachers have been allocated to the school.  They now have 6 teachers for 720 students!
Whilst Greystoke is closed for the rains, Hassani my Nomad Trust rep from Greystoke will be overseeing the building of the house.  Hassani is currently in Kigoma buying all the supplies, and fingers crossed the house will be ready by June.
Thank you Nigel!

I always love visiting Katumbi School and spending time with the kids there, it is truly a very special place.  To finish off here are some pictures of the kids from the school.

On my recent trip to Greystoke, Mahale, a group of Chimps came into camp so I got to spend some time watching them.  Mahale is my most favorite place on earth, I hope these will inspire those who have not yet visited to come and visit!

I recently went to visit Katumbi School to check on how the new teachers house is getting along-that is for another post-but I took along 700 Nomad re-usable water bottles for the kids.  It is part of an initiative to reduce the amount of disposable plastic water bottle waste that is accumulating in Tanzania.  The kids were thrilled to have them, and Hassani gave them a little chat about the importance of reducing waste.  It was a great day!