Category Archives: KINDERDORF

Clear Drinking Water

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The Grafschafter Lions Club Moers (GLMC), which already took over an object sponsorship in favor of the children’s village project “Angaza Children’s Village” in 2017, donated a PAUL system (Portable Aqua Unit for Lifesaving) to the ZAC eV.

Roland Schaffer, ex-president of the Grafschafter Lions Club Moers, handed over the PAUL system coming from the own stock of the GLCM on May 28th 2019 to the ZAC e.V., which was sent to Lutindi in July.

Katja Zühlsdorf thanked on behalf of the entire board for this great donation in kind and was instructed (see picture) in place of Roland Schaffer in the functioning of the device. With the PAUL system, now healthy drinking water is available to the children of elementary school in Lutindi and all other villagers.

PAUL does not require an external energy source, is very easy to handle and is also extremely robust. A patented nano-membrane system safely filters bacteria, viruses and dirt out of the water.

So far, the drinking water for all residents of the village was taken from a stream, but is germ-laden, which was the cause of frequent diarrheal diseases and severe health problems. That now is a thing of the past after PAUL’s installation in Lutindi.

A short video about the PAUL-System, developed by Prof. Dr. med. Frechen from the University of Kassel

Immediately after the safe arrival of the system in Lutindi, a water house was built in the immediate vicinity of the Lutindi Primary School. At the top of the newly constructed water house is a 500-liter large domestic water filling tank, which feeds the still contaminated water into the underlying PAUL system. Here it will be filtered. The now clean drinking water then passes into a 500-liter drinking water discharge tank arranged under the PAUL, from which cooled drinking water can be withdrawn thanks the type of construction.

Slideshow construction of “Clean water House”:

Please click to enlarge

Bee Project

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Those who say “A” like apple trees should also, like logic, say “B” like bees. Therefore, we decided to start an independent bee project in Lutindi in addition to the planting of 100 apple trees.

Because of this knowledge is necessary, we will determine a “bee responsible” from Lutindi, who is dedicated to the project content. In nearby Lushoto apprentice beekeepers are offered every year. At the earliest possible date, we send our “bee responsible person”, who can be certified as a beekeeper there on the occasion of such training.
The costs are borne by the ZAC. As well as for the acquisition of the necessary beekeeping equipment and for the first bee colony, which we can get from a nearby village near Lutindi.

The beehives will later be on our property and looked after by the locals. The harvested honey should be distributed to one third of the children in the local kindergarten as a dietary supplement, one third serve as a source of income for the / the beekeepers and one third make a more idealistic financial contribution to our children’s village project.
In addition to honey production, we also make the pollination of apple trees a little safer with this side project and create jobs.

It was also interesting to learn that there are mostly stingless bee colonies in Tanzania (so-called Melipolini). In contrast to our native honey collectors, the “female soldiers” of this genus defend their nests with an acid substance.

Apple Tree Project

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In April 2019 we started the apple tree project for Lutindi. Apples are a very expensive foodstuff in Tanzania and therefore we decided to start this project on our own.
For the Primary School we ordered 24 apple trees (in three different varieties), which were planted on the school grounds at the beginning of August 2019. In addition, another 6 trees were planted on the premises of the Lutindi Mental Hospital, one of our most important local cooperation partners. Not only the whole village was on its feet on the planting day. Regional politicians from Korogwe and important public figures came to attend the planting campaign.

After the first planting had started well and all trees had survived the storm at the end of 2019, we ordered 60 more trees, almost all of which found a tree sponsor from the MSV Duisburg fans. In total, 50 more trees of different species could be planted on the grounds of the primary school and 10 trees on the grounds of the Lutindi Mental Hospital. The later harvest is intended to serve as an important food supplement for the pupils and patients of the hospital.
In addition, this project also has an educational aspect, as the children will take over the personal tree sponsorships (care, irrigation, harvesting) in agreement between us and the local school management. Keyword responsibility! Lutindi is therefore one of the very few locations in Tanzania where apple trees have been planted. In a few years a stately grove will be standing here.

The pictures of both planting campaigns speak for themselves.

To enlarge please click

 

But it was not as easy as the project sounds. First, varieties had to be found that do not require a frost period for annual flowering and thus fruit formation. But frost and snow in the Tanzanian Usambara mountains are not what one finds climatically there.

In Europe, we did not find any in the search for such varieties. In California, however, there is a nursery that specializes in breeding suitable and sufficiently resistant trees for the tropics and subtropics.

With Kevin, owner of the California nursery “Kuffel Creek”, we made contact with our current Tanzanian supplier “Tamu Tamu Apple”. “Tamu Tamu Apple” clarified the ideal blend of climates in the Usambara Mountains. Our ZAC founding member Martin Osing, himself a horticulturist, helped us ask the right questions at “Tamu Tamu Apple”.

Our colleague, Ombeni, attended a two-day training course at the Tanzanian tree nursery shortly before delivery to teach him the basics of planting and cultivating apple trees.
The ZAC e.V. was able to find a tree sponsor for each apple tree to refinance this special project, to whom we are very attached for their donation.

 

Single Mother Cooperation Lutindi

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At the beginning of 2019, in consultation with the municipality of Lutindi, we founded a community agricultural cooperative for the benefit of single mothers, to whom we provided land parcels on our 90,000 m² property for their own cultivation.

For this purpose, ZAC provided the women with seeds and the necessary equipment as well as rubber boots for field work. The preliminary planned costs were around 3,000 euros. As of May 2019, around 2,100 euros had already been collected via MSV Duisburg fans on the MSV Portal and commercial donors from food retailers. The difference was provided from own funds.

The aim was to enable the single mothers, who otherwise could not provide for the family’s livelihood due to their personal situation, to grow food for themselves and sell harvest surpluses on the market. The harvest surpluses sold are intended to help the women lead a more self-determined life and enable their children to attend school. Again, “helping people to help themselves” is the guiding principle.

We were supported by our founding member Martin Osing and his network with regard to sensible seeds, cultivation methods, crop rotations and soil optimization. And all this within the framework of ecologically sensible, purely organic cultivation for healthy nutrition and with educational added value for the region.

After joining the project, the women immediately began clearing and reclamation of the land provided, as well as the first sowing.  However, the fall of 2019 undid all the work, as severe storms destroyed all the sowing. Here, too, climate change is clearly noticeable.

But the women were not discouraged at all and cultivated the fields anew. With great success. The harvest was very abundant and rewarded the persistence and efforts of the single mothers. Moreover, the success is an incentive to continue the work. Thus, a sustainable project could be completed.

In February 2021, this initiative was officially recognized by the district government and officially registered under the number HWK/2021/KIKUNDI/KE/0672 as “C.B.R.O.  Single Mother Cooperation Lutindi”. This means that the women’s work is officially recognized and they have the opportunity to open their own account and thus also gain access to small loans.

Registration letter registration certificate single mothers group 

(Slideshow will follow)

 

 

 

 

Vorläufiger Kostenvoranschlag

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C o n s t r u c t i o n p h a s e 1

Soil expertise, land registry, survey/mapping costs, clearing
approx. 3,500 €
Reimbursement by Katja and Jens Zühlsdorf, Dinslaken

Construction of a cistern (usable water) and a deep well (drinking water) [18] cistern
approx. 6,000 €
donated by Krohne Messtechnik GmbH, Duisburg

Example picture cistern

Waste water pool
donated by Perfacts GmbH, Dorsten
together with
b-light Reflective Ware, Dorsten
approx. 1,500 €

Pump station with water reservoir (example picture) and pipework, donated by Hargreaves raw material services GmbH and Eller family, Duisburg, Germany
approx. 15,500 €

Example picture water tank

 

Energy house for solar and photovoltaic technic (example picture) 
approx. 10,000 €
donated by
FIEGE Logistik Stiftung & Co.KG, Greven

Solar modules and storage batteries
approx. 35.000 €

Example picture power supply using solar panels

 

Children’s house 1 for 12 children “Ineke´s Huis”,
donated by
Hargreaves raw material services GmbH and Eller family, Duisburg, Germany
approx. 20,000 €

Children’s house 2 for 12 children “House Margret”,
donated by
families Schulte/Fisser, Duisburg, Essen, Bottrop, Olpe, Germany
approx. 20,000 €

Children´s house 3 for 12 children “Kapellmann-House” 
donated by
Kapellmann und Partner Rechtsanwälte mbB, Mönchengladbach
approx. 20,000 €

Assembly hall with dining hall and sanitary facilities [3]
approx. 27,500 €

Village kitchen in the assembly hall
approx. 10,000 €

Storage room donated by Krohne Messtechnik GmbH, Duisburg, Germany
approx. 5,000 €

Site grading
approx. 30,000 €

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C o n s t r u c t i o n p h a s e 2

Home of the village’s head with reception and administration [6]
approx. 15,000 €

2 children’s homes (12 m x 8,5 m)
approx. 40,000 €

Farm shop
approx. 10,000 €

Farm animal stables
approx. 5,000 €

Pens for small animals
approx. 3,500 €

Sheltered playground 
approx. 3,000 €
donated by Michael Plängsken, Wesel

Gatehouse / entry property protection
approx. 2,500 €
donated by MSV Duisburg e.V.

 

Cultivation areas with tools
approx. 8,000 €

Pavement works (ways) in the village area
approx. 10,000 €

Furniture for all houses
approx. 22,000 €

Garage and tool shed
approx. 5,000 €
Share donation in the amount of 2,500 € by Rainer Pastoor, Duisburg

Used off-road vehicle (example picture) as supply vehicle
approx. 10,000 €

Example picture light truck

 

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C o n s t r u c t i o n p h a s e 3

2 lodges for tourists and volunteers (6 m x 7 m)
approx. 20,000 €

Sheltered village assembly point
approx. 5,000 €
donated by the coppercoin collecting circle (Fans MSV Duisburg)

Training locksmith’s shop and sewing room
approx. 20,000 €

Greening/planting trees in the village area donated by the Grafschafter Lions Club (GLCM), Moers
approx. 2,000 €

Footballfield (for the two schools and the C.B.R.O. Lutindi FFC)
approx. 1.500 €
donated by Fans of MSV Duisburg

Preliminary total planned costs*
approx. 387,500 €

*
These total plan costs do not provide for costs incurred for personnel expenses or operating expenses, for example, but only covers the costs incurred for building the village and other costs related to the building activities.

The Usambara zebras as regional ambassadors

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In April 2018, together with our friends from our Tanzanian non-governmental organization C.B.R.O. ( Children Base Reinforcement Organization) in Lutindi we decided to found their own football team, which was registered after a certain player selection process as a regional sports ambassador of our project.

C.B.R.O. LUTINDI FC was founded.

The equipment of the team with two complete jersey sets took over the jersey supplier of MSV Duisburg, the US-American supplier “Capelli”. Fans of the MSV Duisburg donated money for the purchase of 25 pairs of football boots. The enthusiasm of the new team was great. There was a spontaneous dance of joy when the jerseys and shoes arrived.

But playing football also requires a decent football field. The existing field was almost unplayable, so we decided to finance and build a proper sports field for the community Lutindi.

This should also be used by the two schools of the place for school sports. In October 2018, the first work began on the new sports field. A stream had to be redirected by hand. The whole village has volunteered and implemented this project.

November 2018 – Diverting of the creek

Dezember 2018 – Field leveling starts


Continued construction of sports field Sept. 2020 after destruction by severe storms in fall 2019.

Cooperation with the Hans-Sachs-Berufskolleg

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Since 2017, the Hans-Sachs-Berufskolleg (HSBK), Oberhausen has been an important cooperation partner for the ZAC e.V. in the context of the technical planning for the construction and infrastructure of the later children’s village “Angaza Children’s Village in Lutindi / Tanzania.” Headmaster OStD Marc Bücker and ZAC Board of Directors agreed on a sustainable cooperation in 2017. The services of HSBK are carried out pro bono for ZAC e.V..
In July 2017, HSBK’s first working group traveled as part of a project week headed by Dr. Ing. Sascha Geifes (formerly HSBK) to Tanzania, to get an idea of ​​the local conditions and made initial plans.

At the beginning of 2019 Georg F. Terbeck (teacher at HSBK and Dipl. Bau-Ing.) visited the project in replacemet for the former employee Dr. Ing. Geifes with two technician students Lutindi, to the building plot to accurately measure and map. In the ensuing project week of the HSBK, the collected knowledge and a jointly compiled catalog of requirements led to concrete plans for the arrangement of the children’s village and for the on-site explanations, which are to be implemented later in the construction phase.

For the spring of 2020, a new travel delegation of the HSBK to Lutindi is planned to prepare the first construction measures, which should begin in the year with the construction of the first children’s home.

One of several outer views from drafts made by HSBK for a children’s home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of several proposed drafts – layout of the children’s home

Layout of the future, two-section assembly hall, designed by engineers of HSBK Oberhausen, finalised in cooperation with our Tanzanian employees on site.

 

 

A village for the future

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The village will be called ‘Angaza Children’s Village’. ‘Angaza’ is Kiswahili and means ‘Lighten up’. It will be a friendly home for up to 60 children that we want to gradually build. This is what ZAC wants to provide for its fosterlings.We build on a 90.000 m² large property, which is provided to us by the MeTL-Goup contractor free of charge.

On the site, we gradually want to erect a total of 5 family homes, in each of which 12 children can live and are looked after. Each of the houses will have a massive construction, a gabled roof made of roof tiles and each house has three spacious bedrooms for up to 12 children. Each house will have its own guardian (so called house mothers) who will get a separate room for her own.

The heart of the village will be a spacious assembly hall, where all villagers can meet in the friendly dining hall to have their meals. The assembly hall will also have a kitchen and storage locations that will get enlarged when necessary to meet the requirements of the villagers. The sanitary facilities such as showers, washbasins and toilets will also be located in the direct vicinity of the assembly hall.

Outer view of the two-section assembly hall.

 

It is planned that the main buildings in the children’s village are group around central roofed terrace area. Here, a roofed playground will be located. A small football field is only some steps away. Trees will be planted across the complete area to provide sufficient numbers of shaded areas.

Besides the family homes and the central buildings, ZAC plans additional buildings: a spacious training workshop (locksmith’s shop and sewing room), a house with bedroom and office for the village head, a small reception building; a village garage with tool shed and its own farm shop in the reception area of the property. The farm shop is to sell possible production excess from the village’s farm animals and cultivation of fruit and vegetables to people in the vicinity of the village.

There will be areas for small fields and patches, stables for farm animals such as chicken and goats. Initially, those are intended to supply the village with food. Any excess from farming and products manufactured in the carpentry and sewing room will be sold in the farm shop.

It goes without saying that the children’s village requires its own infrastructure. An energy house with high-tech solar technology will supply the village with electricity. Energy generated by solar energy cannot only be used by the village itself. It can also be used as a means for buying or selling. The energy can be sold by the village for charging mobile phones, for example or to buy food from the surrounding villages.

A water reservoir will be erected to save water, it will also contain the pumps and filter technology (PAUL system) to supply the village with fresh water. The water is collected using a fresh water basin, which is supplied by a crystal-clear mountain stream that runs through the site. Non-potable water for the sanitary facilities will be collected using rainwater. A cistern will be in place for this. This water is also to be used during dry periods to water the agricultural area.

For the future, and to guarantee sustainable financing of the children’s village, two additional buildings (lodges) will be erected at a later stage. They will be rented to tourists who want to pay a visit to the beauty of the Tanzanian nature and wildlife and will also serve as a means of funding the village. The lodges can also be used to house volunteers of the project.

Why Tanzania?

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In 2020, more than 63 million people live in the Federal Republic of Tanzania. For the year 2025, the total population of Tanzania is predicted to be around 72.6 million. Therefore, the East African country is demographically an especially young country, in which more than 40 percent of all Tanzanians are less than 15 years old.

Tanzania is almost thrice as large as Germany. Tanzania is well known for its natural beauty, it is rich in species, the Kibo is the highest summit of the Kilimanjaro, the Serengeti national park and three of Africa’s Great Lakes are partly within Tanzania. Dodoma is Tanzania’s capital, Dar es Salaam is both the largest city in Tanzania and seat of the government. Swahili and English are the official languages of Tanzania. However, 125 languages are spoken in Tanzania. Islam and Christianity are the two main religious groups in Tanzania with around 40 percent of the population being Muslims and around 40 percent being Christians. Traditional African religion supplements the religious diversity of Tanzania.

Masai indigenous people

 

Tanzania’s history is comparatively young and has been significantly influenced by previous colonial powers. In 1885, the German East Africa Company made claims of the territorial area of Tanzania as being part of the German empire and tried to establish a German colony. In 1888, a mutiny brought an end to this claim and endeavour and was responded by the German Empire with military force. As a result, the ‘German East African’ colony was established.

Mount Kilimanjaro – Tanzania

 

 

During the First World War, both Belgian and British troops conquered the area which is today known as Tanzania (minus Zanzibar). This way, Tanzania as Tanganyika Territory became part of the League of Nations under British government.

British rule came to an end in 1961 and Tanganyika became independent. In 1964, the archipelago Zanzibar merged with mainland Tanganyika and the country was renamed the United Republic of Tanzania.  There are 31 districts in total, 5 of which are in Zanzibar (see map below).

Tanzania is one of the world’s most poorest countries. Almost half of the Tanzanian population has to live with less than 2 US dollars per day. Malaria and HIV are the two main burdens of the country. Each year, approximately 60,000 people die of Malaria and around 6 percent of the population between 15 and 49 years of age are HIV positive. Other illnesses such as cholera and typical tropical diseases such as dengue fever, bilharzias and African sleeping sickness are also common. The medical health care of the population is still insufficient even if some progress has been achieved. This is especially the case in rural parts of the country.

Evening mood in Serengeti national park.

Therefore, thousands of Tanzanian children have to grow up as orphans. Life expectancy of a person being born in Tanzania in 2017 is approximately 60 years and thus more than two decades less than that of new-borns in Germany.

Characteristic Tanzanian school uniforms – pupils in typical school uniform.

As in all parts of the world, education is the key to development. The Tanzanian educational system is subject to the Tanzanian government. Since 2002, officially school fees are no longer charged. However, in most cases parents have to pay for the education of their children mostly as fees for school meals, books, school inventory, exercise books and school uniforms. Especially in poor, rural areas this leads to unfair educational opportunities.

Looking away was never an option