Appropriate solutions to the challenge of Tanzania
Aid Projects — Tags: africa, aid, Tanzania — by Geoff Lawton
When we arrived in Tanzania, just as when we arrive in most third world countries to do this kind of work, the most serious issues to deal with initially are firstly sanitation, toilet systems, then drinking water, then fire wood systems or sustainable fuel systems, then diverse interactive food production designs.
Tanzania was the same. We stayed in the same town of Musoma where we taught the course regularly visiting the main proposed project site in a village called Kinesi which is 45 minutes by taxi boat across Lake Victoria. This is where the NGO Global Resource Alliance main work focus is situated.
The PDC course was conducted in Swahili which has a lot of Arabic in it and so I could understand some of the Arabic words that were spoken. 40% of the Tanzanian population is Muslim and having worked in a lot of Muslim countries, understanding the culture was therefore easy for me. This helped me relate to the students and the local people in the area.
Comments (1)Posted on: November 19, 2007
The challenge of Tanzania
Aid Projects — Tags: africa, aid, Tanzania — by Geoff Lawton
Westerners don’t realise how big the problems are in most third world countries. To a large extent they are created by the promise of modernism. Greatest of these problems however in third world countries include
- a need for good diversity of food production of an eco systemic style
- good waste system design for grey water
- appropriate toilets
- garbage disposal methods
- good drinking water systems
- a sustainable fuel system.
To first world countries these things are important not just because of the momentary guilt we feel when we see those pretty little starving children on tv commercials asking us for donations, but because the most important promises of “modernism” can provide solutions that will save millions of lives (mostly chilren) and millions of dollars in aid.
Third world people need to fully understand their own problems and the problems of their own lands, and then how they can deal with it themselves without any outside help.
It comes down to a few basic but important things and when these are understood, Third World Populations can actually design their own solutions to their own problems.
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