Red Green Orange

The first set of traffic lights in town takes some getting used to. What do the lights mean? How do they work? What are cars supposed to do? We take them for granted, or curse them when we get too many reds in the 22 sets in the journey to work.


Arusha, with a population of 400,000, got its first set of traffic lights just last month. The Arusha Times reports on the wonder and confusion they created.

Like a gospel convention, thousands of Arushans every evening since October 9 have been attending the Sanawari intersection to witness what they believe to be a marvel of technology and Tanzania Road Authority's (Tanroad) "criminal negligence."

It appears that lights were installed at only three of the four aspects of the intersection, leaving cars entering from the fourth side to do what they will. There’s a recipe for confusion! A taxi driver commented:

What they have done is unbelievable. The traffic jam now goes about a kilometre each direction. Pedestrians and drivers are scared of being knocked down. What kind of technology is this?

In addition, there have been some problems getting the sequence right. There are times when all lights go red and all movement stops. Suddenly, they all go green and the whole intersection becomes chaotic.

An irate bus driver commented:

They have eyes but they do not see. If there are any engineers in the Municipal Council or Tanroads, which school did they attend? They should be charged with criminal negligence.

They are playing with people's lives. Had it not been for Traffic policemen who have been intervening, all day long, this junction would have been a pool of human blood.

For others however, the biggest problem of the traffic control lights is that they have been placed too close to two bus stands, a taxi docking area and a push cart station on the Sanawari road.

As if to put Tanroads to shame, pedestrians and drivers have catalogued an array of errors and that have been the dominant topic in Arusha for the past one week.

Like officialdom around the world, Arusha officals are passing the buck. The Municipal Council says Tanroads is responsible, and Tanroads says the relevant person is out of town.

In the mean time, Arusha locals have flocked in their thousands to stand and wonder at the operation of the marvellous new traffic lights. Drivers, pedestrians and even some of the traffic police men saw the lights as a mesmerising puzzle. "It is now green, in a few seconds it will be yellowish and then red and cars will stop," an elated man was heard telling scores of people who were just about to cross the road.

There's lots of local colour in this account of the first set of traffic lights in Arusha. I bet it's been a hot topic at the School of St Jude, in the playground and in the staffroom. I wonder how many of the St Jude's buses use that intersection?


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Sponsor a bus

Hey, we have become the proud sponsors of two buses at the School of St Jude. Among the jellybean buses, there's a purple and a light pink. They're ours.


Currently the School has over 840 students coming to the school from a radius of over 40km. The Big Purple Bus helps to pick up a number of children who live in Sanawari, on the other side of town. Some of these children still walk a bit to get to the bus stop as a lot of roads are inaccessible for buses. But imagine they had to walk all the way to school! With the help of sponsorship the School is able to keep up with the bills for fuel, tyres and maintenance.

The light pink bus helps to pick up a number of children who live in Mburiet, Engosheraton and Unga Limited, one of the poorest areas in Arusha. In Mburiet there is an orphanage called Huruma. Eight of the children living there attend The School of St. Jude. Until last year, they had to catch a “dala-dala” (local minibus) first, up to an area called Engosheraton where they would catch the school bus.

This was not only a very long journey for them, but also getting complicated when for some reason the little ones had to go home by themselves (the older ones staying back for tuition etc.). But this year, the Light Pink Bus is going all the way up to Huruma (that is, whenever the weather situation allows, as with too much rain the road gets too muddy) to pick up these eight and two other children who live nearby. Then it picks up students from Engosheraton and Unga Limited. Unga means Flour in Kiswahili and there is a large flour factory as you enter the area.


Weekly diesel bills for the School's fleet of buses cost $2,000. Without the buses, the School would not be able to serve the large area that it does. As well as picking up children and teachers for the daily trip to school, the buses are used to transport all kinds of goods for the school, including bulk food supplies for the kitchens.


It's great to see so many happy faces. These kids are glad for the opportunities they receive when they are accepted into the School of St Jude. Like most kids, they like to learn, and this School is almost their only chance of getting a good education. Schools in Tanzania have very rough buildings, almost no resources and too-few teachers. Everyone who visits the School of St Jude remarks on the joyful spirits and appreciation of the children.


So, you know that your contribution is going where it is needed, and that it will be appreciated. Add your bit now. Use the ChipIn tool at the top of this page, or visit the School website to become a donor.

Famous for their jellybean buses

In Arusha most buses are banged up old rattle-traps. That makes the colourful buses of the School of St Jude really stand out – even though they are just old rattle-traps in disguise. Anthea, an Arusha local, notes –

The pupils of St Jude’s come from all over Arusha in buses. My children and I have counted 12 at a time, all marked with the school’s familiar logo, all a different colour – orange, red, green, pink – so that it looks as if somebody’s emptying a packet of jelly beans down the road.

In the February newsletter, the School announced that they have been able to buy two more buses thanks to a Rotary Matching Grant initiated in 2005 by 11 Rotary Clubs in Australia, Italy, Tanzania and USA. How is that for global action!

The grant was valued at $US25,000. This allowed the School to buy two second-hand buses, weld them back together, and fit them out with some new parts, brand new tyres and a lot of love.

Before the 'extreme make-over'

After welding them all back together, they needed a new paint job and so for an extra few hundred dollars they were painted purple and pink and had the Rotary symbol painted onto the driver’s door of both vehicles. The kids and staff LOVE them and already the buses are getting a good workout with each vehicle bringing over 60 students and staff to and from school each day.

Here are the drivers George and Henry - proudly standing near their new buses.


And here are the treasurer of the Rotary Club of Mt Meru, Bhavesh Gohil and immediate past president Ashik Nanabhai with the bus their club helped to fund.


These jelly bean buses provide more than reliable transport. They communicate the cheerful optimism of the School as it educates the future community leaders of Tanzania.

Make your contribution to the School through the ChipIn tool at the top of the page, or go to the School website to sponsor a bus and help cover ongoing maintenance and running costs.

As it is Easter, the School is on vacation. Well, except for the Standard 4 classes who will sit the national exam at the end of the year. They work through the holidays, studying hard so they can do well in the exams. In term time, these Standard 4 classes work six days a week, but during vacation time, they get Saturdays off!




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On the buses!

The School of St Jude is situated down a dirt road in the village of Moshono which is 5km along another dirt road from Arusha. Children come to school each day along the rough dirt roads from Arusha and the surrounding villages of this beautiful but very poor district. Most people are subsistence farmers who make barely enough to feed their families. Malaria, HIV/AIDS and other diseases take a heavy toll on these families and many children are orphaned.

A year or two after the School opened, it became evident that many children were walking for several hours to get to school. So, the School bought two battered old buses and rejuvenated them.


As the school has grown, the two buses have grown to a fleet of 18. Like everything else at the school, the funding for buses is provided by sponsors and donors. For $500 pa you can sponsor a bus and contribute to the costs of running them.

An important donation came from Rotary District 9640 (in Queensland) in April 2006. Using a multi-district Matching Grant, they were able to provide the School with two new buses, an assortment of spare springs and tyres, and a motor vehicle maintenance course to be run at the School.

Here is Gemma receiving the grant money - surprised but delighted.

Gemma Sisia, Heather + Ian Yarker, Ailsa Hay

The buses at the school provide vital transport that makes school attendance possible for many children. Even with the over-crowded buses, many children have a long walk home after the bus drops them. These buses don’t offer Western-standard transport, but they do give bright children from the poorest households an opportunity to get their foot on the first rung of the ladder of opportunity. Guaranteed!

A development project in an impoverished African country that is well-run, economical and successful in reaching the poor - something you will want to support!