INFORMATION BOOKLET

TANZANIA EXPEDITION - JULY 2015

Trade Training Centre proudly supported by

THE MATIPWILI PROJECT

Preamble

The Matipwili Project 2015 follows multiple visits to Tanzania by students and staff of Scotch

College and Presbyterian Ladies’ College, located in Perth Western Australia. During the past

two years, a support partnership has developed with members of the Council of Educational

Facility Planners International (CEFPI) that has culminated in the production of plans for a

Trade Training Centre in the village of Matipwili, the site of previous work trips.

Matipwili Village

Matipwili is a focal point for some 9000 people who live in the village and surrounding area.

It is a sprawling collection of houses, on the eastern side of the Dar es Salaam – Tanga

Railway line. There are a number of large disused warehouses on the trackside – once used

to store salt prior to transport to Dar es Salaam. The main street is little more than a track

with a few ‘Dukas’ or small general stores and a small central market place. The village has

neither electricity nor piped water. Generators are used for lighting and refrigeration.

Water is obtained from the nearby Wami River and not purified.

Most villagers live a subsistence existence; farming and fishing. There is limited employment

in the area. In recent years there has been some prosperity generated by the creation of the

adjacent Saadani National Park and the development of the privately owned ‘Sanctuary

Tanzania’, a conservation and community development company operating a tourist camp

Kisampa near by.

The schools

Matipwili has both primary and secondary schools. The secondary school was built during

2007 largely from funds donated by Perth doctors. This facility, located some 2 km outside

the village continues to be expanded, with most recent work focused on adding additional

accommodation for boarding students.

The primary school; the site of the 2008 and 2010 service projects, comprises three

classroom blocks arranged in a ‘U’ shape around a central courtyard. Two blocks have four

classrooms each, the third three classrooms and two offices, the staffroom and Head

Teachers office. Each classroom has rudimentary furniture – wooden desks, benches and a

blackboard.

Lighting is natural, through the windows on each side of the classrooms. The overall

impression is one of gloomy, dull rooms, lacking in stimulus and subject to the vagrancies of

the weather. Many of the classrooms have holes in their roofs making them virtually

unserviceable during the wet seasons.

Projects in 2008 and 2010

The aim of each of the 2008 and 2010 service projects was to renovate one classroom block.

Prior to the group’s arrival in Matipwili, the corrugated iron roof sheets were removed and

holes in the cement floor repaired. This enabled the work of repainting the interior to

commence immediately. During the four days of the projects, students and staff worked in

small groups on tasks allocated each morning. Each work party had both adults and

students, including students from the Matipwili Secondary School.

Most of the tools used for each of the tasks are purchased for the projects in Tanzania,

although some paintbrushes and specialised items were brought from Perth. Each work

group laboured for approximately six hours each day and care was taken to ensure that

there was mixing of the group and changes to the work tasks allocated.

During 2010 visit, the roof of a classroom block was raised and the tin sheeting replaced

with a heaver grade. The window security grills were replaced and the interiors of four

classrooms and an office were cleaned and repainted. Over 40 laminated educational

posters brought from Perth were topped and tailed with wood and fixed to the walls with

plugs and screws.

Four days was sufficient to complete the work to a high standard and as following the 2008

and 2010 trips the village was left with blocks of bright and weatherproof classrooms, ready

for the new school term.

Project 2012

In July 2012 a combined Scotch College/Presbyterian Ladies College group returned to

complete another project selected by the village committee. This time, they assisted to fund

and build a Resource Centre to house 30 XO – OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) computers. The

Australian students once more worked alongside village tradesmen and local students,

cementing floors, rendering walls and painting. Concurrently, the Perth students worked

with a team for Kenya, led by a Canadian IT teacher, to introduce the computers to the

village children and adults.

The village is always extremely grateful and the Australian visitors are warmly thanked by

the Village Committee at an official reception attended on occasion by government

dignitaries at the conclusion of the work.

HOPE Project 2013

In July 2013, a group of Teachers from three West Australian schools and architects from

two states travelled to Matipwili as an outcome of the Mayfield Project, a young

professional’s initiative of the Australasian Region of CEFPI. The aim of the trip was to build

on the work already completed in the village by designing the next community educational

facility. Through a process of intense consultation with village leaders and investigations of

daily life and building techniques, the visiting group was able to gain an insight into what

was needed and what might be possible to construct.

It was clear from the first public meeting that the community felt strongly that the greatest

need was skills training for the young people who do not make entry into secondary school.

In addition, the women in the community expressed a desire to have purpose-built laundry

facilities as an alternative to using the crocodile-infested Wami River. As the Primary School

does not have a kitchen for preparing the lunch meal for students, the women also

suggested building a facility to allow this to be done more easily.

The product of the collaboration between architects, teachers and the Matipwili community

is a modest structure designed to be built in stages as funds become available and

circumstances allow. The build uses local materials and techniques appropriate to local

trades. The design was influenced by the study of exsisting practices within the village and

aims to incorporate sustainability initiatives, such as water harvesting. All materials would

be sourced locally and construction managed through the charity ‘Twende Pamoja’ and the

staff associated with ‘Sanctuary Tanzania’ and Kisampa.

Tanzania Expedition 2014

For the fifth time in ten years, Scotch and PLC combined to embark on an epic journey to

Africa. Each adventure in Tanzania has been unique, yet each endorses the journeys of the

past and each serves to strengthen the now long-established partnerships with communities

across the country. The 2014 expedition, like its predecessors, combined service, a physical

challenge and high adventure in a stunning landscape.

Travelling in a convoy of Toyotas, the group of 38 participants headed bush from Dar es

Salaam to Matipwili – the remote village where students from both schools in previous trips

have gradually improved teaching and learning facilities – renovating classrooms, building a

Library and Resource Centre and installing computers. The work this year focused on

starting to build a Trade Training Centre designed by architects and teachers from Perth and

Adelaide following collaboration with the village in 2013.

Visiting Perth students and adults laboured alongside village workers to make cement blocks

in molds, build trusses and level the site. Groups also worked in rotations painting rooms in

the existing primary school and spending time in the Resource Centre with the village

‘watoto’ (children) using the donated computers and working on various craft projects. As

work progressed, the visitors became comfortable with village life and the village in turn

welcomed the group with the ease of returning friends. The week culminated with a formal

ceremony to underscore the partnership and celebrate the achievements of the past and

the shared vision for the future.

EXPEDITION 2015 OBJECTIVES

o Review progress on the Trade Training Centre building site and undertake physical

work to advance the project

o Investigate additional ways to enhance teaching and learning in the village – including curriculum support, teacher training and the application of computer-based technology.

o Visit Gongo village and other villages in the area to expand the reach of the aid from

our communities.

o Assess the potential for the expansion of the aid network to include more Australian Schools and schools that are part of the Round Square global group of schools.

o Assess the potential for student involvement in conservation work within the

Kisampa Wildlife Sanctuary.

POSSIBLE ITINERARY PACKAGES

Base Camp Package: AUS $4300

Return airfare Perth - Dar es Salaam with South African Airways. Travel by Toyota 4 X 4 vehicles with driver from the Protea Court Hotel in Dar es Salaam to Kisampa bush camp. Full board for 7 days at Kisampa. Daily commute to Matipwili and travel elsewhere in the area.

Option 1 Package: + AUS $2000 Drive to Arusha from kisampa. One night at Outpost Lodge. Morning shopping in Arusha then drive to Tarangire National Park. Two nights at Tarangire National Park (in Safari Lodge). Fly back to Dar es Salaam. One night in Dar es Salaam. Option 2 Package: + AUS $1300

Drive to Dar es Salaam from Kisampa. Return flight to Zanzibar. Three nights in Stonetown at Kisiwa House Hotel. One night in Dar es Salaam.

Option 3 Package + AUS $3000 Combination Option Package 1 and Option Package 2. Drive from Kisampa to Arusha. One night in Outpost Lodge and two night in Tarangire Safari lodge. Fly from Arusha to Zanzibar. Two nights on Zanzibar.

TOUR AND ACCOMMODATION CONTACT DETAILS

THE INFINITE HORIZON – LAND BASED AGENT

Teena Payne / Steve Chumbley Phone 0011 255 (0) 713 505 985 Email: safari@theinfinitehorizon.net Web Site: http://www.theinfinitehorizon.net/ DAR ES SALAAM – PROTEA COURTYARD HOTEL

Seaview Ocean Road, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Phone: 0011 255 (0) 22 213 0130 Web Site: http://www.proteahotels.com/hotels/Pages/protea-hotel-courtyard-dar-es-

salaam.aspx

MATIPWILI – KISAMPA CONSERVATION CAMP

Matipwili Village, Bagamoyo District Email: info@afrikaafrikasafaris.com Web Site: http://www.afrikaafrikasafaris.com/kisampa-overview/ ARUSHA – OUTPOST HOTEL

7A Serengeti Road, P. O. Box 11520, Arusha, Tanzania Phone: 0011 255 027 2548405 / 0754 318523 Email: outposttanzania@gmail.com Email Administration: admin@outpost-lodge.com Web Site: http://www.outpost-lodge.com/

TARANGIRE SAFARI LODGE

Tarangire National Park Web Site: http://www.tarangiresafarilodge.com/

ZANZIBAR – KISIWA HOUSE HOTEL

Stonetown, Zanzibar Web Site: http://www.kisiwahouse.com/