Always the builders!

When a school is growing by 150 children a year, teaching is carried out against the constant background of building and renovation. This is the new classroom block at the School of St Jude in December 2006. By 12 January, it was open for business!



During the Christmas holidays, the builders can REALLY get to work unencumbered by the presence of children. One important renovation during the recent holidays was the office expansion. The admin area seems to double each year. Kim says

It’s hard to believe that we expanded last Christmas and already have outgrown the space. In a week or so I hope I won’t be shuffling sideways past desks to get to mine while apologising to Lulua for knocking her off her chair.

I laugh when people ask if I’m enjoying the holidays – HOLIDAYS!? Along with the builders, we in admin work harder when the school is ‘closed’! So much to do to prepare for the next term and normally I’d say at least it’s a bit quieter but at the moment we are coping with the demolition derby next door and all the dust and rubble that it brings. Still, it will be worth it in the end … Lulua will certainly think so.

Office renovations

African style building has some colourful results. Thnext photo shows the site behind the office which has been the dumping ground for broken branches, unearthed tree stumps and homeless logs from all around.

Not a chainsaw

The photo was taken four weeks after the work started so it doesn’t show the true size of the massive deadwood forest that was there originally. Although the cooks would come and grab armfuls of the smaller stuff for the kitchen, the pile just kept growing like the magic packet of TimTams.

During Operation Cleanup, Gemma found a wily old local bloke who offered to chop the lot and clearly it was going to take a chainsaw, so Gemma gave him money to hire the machine in town. Instead, he hired two of his mates for a lot less! Although they are less noisy, it has taken a lot longer. The beautiful smell of seasoned wood wafting through office window tells Kim and other office workers that it’s not a tennis court despite all the hacking and grunting!

Support it! Wear it!

Ooooh! Look what was waiting in our letterbox last night!

Hal in the St Jude t-shirt – it's organic cotton!

We’re in the process of setting up an online shop to sell items relating to the school and with all profits to benefit the school. This is a trial order to check out the process and the quality of the goods.

Imagine it! You can be a walking billboard for the school! Send greeting cards with cute kids smiling from them, drink coffee from St Jude mugs, etc, etc!

The online shop should be ready to launch in the next few weeks. You can be sure that you’ll hear about it here!

Gapminder

Do statistics make your eyes glaze over? You won’t think so after you have seen Hans Rosling’s remarkable presentation of 30-year trends on world health, education and wealth.

The animated graphics prepared by Gapminder provide a wonderfully clear explanation of the Human Development Trends, and transform development statistics into dynamic and mesmerising journeys. Well, they do for me!

Gapminder chart: GDP per capita and education levels

Using these tools Gapminder's founder, Hans Rosling, proves in a brilliant presentation that development statistics can be very entertaining. Check out the video presentation of his talk at the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) site.

Then you can cruise over to Gapminder and play with their animated charts and maps. Set your own questions, quiz yourself.

• Which one country is outstanding in going backwards on child (under 5 years) mortality in the past 10 years while all other countries have made significant advances? Iraq. Evidence of the superior foresight of the Bush Administration.

You’ll find lots of surprises and quirks in these gorgeous playthings.

It's fun to check out your favourite countries on these charts. Tanzania, Australia, India, Norway. It's hard not to barrack for your favourites when you press the 'play' button on one of the dynamic charts and watch the dots move onward and upward from 1970 to 2003. Very exciting stuff. Or am I just nerdy?

Letters to politicians

In Australia, it is easy to write to politicians. Their addresses are available in handy formats ready for printing on address labels from the Australian Parliament website.

I mentioned a couple of days ago that I am writing to all members of the House of Reps to ask them to support Australia’s commitments on foreign aid. Well, I am in the midst of sending my letters. I am up to ‘H’.

Letters, labels and envelopes. And coffee! Tanzanian of course.

Last night’s cricket was a bit too exciting for the process of sticking the label on the envelope, signing the letter, folding it and stuffing it in the envelope. Besides, I was feeling tired. So, as the weekend has slipped away from me, I decided to do a few before breakfast. And that’s what my photo shows.

Better get on with it!

P.S. A reminder: As part of the Millenium Development Goals, the Australian Government has committed to give 0.7% GDP as foreign aid. It currently gives 0.25% (rising to .35%). It is dragging its heels on its commitments. It needs to be nudged by voters otherwise this neglect will continue.

The $100 computer

Two IT industry heavyweights are vying for Third World computer markets. On the one hand there is Nicholas Negroponte, an IT guru whose nonprofit organization One Laptop Per Child is trying to develop a children’s computer – the XO is designed to sell for $100 by the end of 2008.

photoNegroponte shows a prototype of his $100 computer at Davos 2007

In the other corner there is Craig Barrett ex-chairman of Intel who is busily developing a similar low-cost computer. The two are trading in head-to-head competition. Negroponte positions himself as the good guy.

“Craig and I sometimes argue, and he called our thing a ‘gadget,’ ” Mr. Negroponte said, referring to the XO. “I’m glad to see he’s got his own gadget now. Craig has to look at this as a market, and I look at this as a mission.”

This combative stance is doing little to forge a common strategy that helps bring computer technology to advance economic and educational development. I suppose that it does give choice.

These high-level fancy technology projects always seem a bit pie in the sky to me. I’m inclined to leave them to someone else and to focus my own energy on what can be achieved here and now – like the School of St Jude which is one of the best schools in Northern Tanzania. It provides free education (no extra charges, the school even provides lunches, uniforms and bus transport) for bright children from the poorest families.

Computer lesson at School of St Jude

The Bill + Melinda Gates Foundation started out with a primary focus on the long term goal of finding a vaccine for malaria and funded several major medical research projects. However, in response to criticism that this long-term approach neglected the immediate problem, the Foundation has directed some funds to more immediate project. A $35 million grant to Zambia to fund nets, existing drugs, and insecticide is expected to reduce malaria mortality by 75% in the next five years.

Little people like us can work on the immediate needs – our small dollars can achieve thousands of small benefits to millions of individuals. The big guys like governments and billionaires can work on long-term projects as well as the immediate ones.

In the time it takes to develop a radically cheap computer, get it made, sell it to poor countries and get it into classrooms (many of which don’t have electricity) a whole generation of children will have passed through the computer rooms at the School of St Jude.

Coffee — Black Gold

Wheat, barley and rye orginated in the fertile crescent of Iraq and enabled humans to give up nomadic herding and establish agriculture-based villages – the basis of all civilised life. Tomatoes, corn, and potatoes are native to the Americas, and are now endemic to world cuisine – what would Italian cooking be without tomatoes?

But what has East Africa contributed to the world? Coffee, that ubiquitous drink that is now an $80billion global industry, originated here. A lot of people have become rich through coffee, Starbucks buys 11% of world production, but the small coffee producers of East Africa live in deep poverty.


Ninety-five percent of Tanzania’s coffee is grown by 400,000 small-scale farmers owning fewer than ten acres of land. Coffee is Tanzania’s largest export crop but small-scale farmers have not reaped the benefits because of policies that have restricted their direct access to the international coffee market. USAID supports programs that allow better trading conditions for small producers in Tanzania.

The School of St Jude is located at the foot of Mt Meru in the prime coffee growing area of Tanzania. The School gives many poor families who depend on coffee production the chance for their children to get a good education.

Private philanthropy, like your donations to the School of St Jude, can help fill the gaps left by unfair trading systems, but the system continues to be unfair. So, it is good to see organisations working to change the system. One initiative to look out for is a new documentary film, called Black Gold, that looks at coffee growing in Ethiopia. Made in 2006, it is doing the round of film festivals and should be released for general viewing later in 2007.



Black Gold is an activist film that aims to point at unfair practices and to change them. Their website has a forum that addresses issues of coffee production, Fair Trade, Starbucks and actions you can take.

If you live in the US, you can buy Peets ’Tanzania Kilimanjaro’ – the 840 growers that supply it get 50% above market rates for their quality beans.

In Australia, Oxfam sells a Fair Trade coffee that is sourced partly from Tanzania – my Christmas supply is nearly finished. Time for more!

On the basis that I need to help at two levels – filling gaps in the system (through support of St Judes) AND changing the system — I am on a letter writing campaign. I am writing to all 150 members of the House of Representatives to ask them to raise the level of Foreign Aid that Australia gives and to target it at extreme poverty. Currently, Australia gives only .26% of GDP as foreign aid, placing it fourth-last of OECD countries. It has committed to increasing this to 0.5% by 2010 and 0.7% by 2015 and these amounts will be needed if the Millenium Development Goals are to be met, because it looks like they won't be at this rate.

I have drafted the letter, printed copies and bought the envelopes and stamps. Folding and stuffing 20 envelopes a day is quite soothing! Especially when we lose the cricket, as we did last night — ending Australia’s perfect summer.

There is an interesting update about the film and related issues on the Poverty News blog. 15 Feb 2007.

UK continues budget support

The UK government has announced ongoing budgetary support for Tanzania.

Tanzania’s progress in tackling poverty provides an ‘excellent example’ for other African countries to follow, says Hilary Benn, the UK International Development Secretary.

Hilary Benn at the Chronic Poverty Research Centre

Speaking after a meeting with President Kikwete of Tanzania, Mr Benn pointed towards the development of democracy, economic growth and more effective government across Africa. He highlighted the progress in Tanzania, where:

• The number of children in primary school has doubled from 4 million in 2000 to 8 million today. Almost all children are now in primary education, with 96% enrolment,
• Infant mortality has fallen by a third (in the five years to 2004), and
• There has been strong economic growth, with annual GDP increases of between 5% and 7% since 2000.

Mr Benn announced that the UK will provide £105 million of direct budget support to Tanzania in 2007/8, up from £90 million this year. Budget support is money provided directly to the Government of Tanzania to support its poverty reduction plans.

He said:

Tanzania is an excellent example of the progress Africa is making, with a constitutional democracy, economic growth above five percent a year, and nearly all children in primary education.

This aid from the UK government is equivalent to AU$7 per person, or AU$16 per child in Tanzania. This does not seem a lot of money, but it is valuable for three reasons:

• It is a reliable amount that can be expected to continue annually and allow the Tanzanian government to do forward planning.
• It is not tied to goods/services provided by the UK and therefore can be used to maximum efficiency, e.g. buying local goods and services.
• It is given to budget support which allows the Tanzanian government to develop internal capacities and improved governance.

DFID is the UK Dept for International Development had lots of information about Ending Poverty.

Just as the reliable annual support from the British government will make a real difference as Tanzania climbs out of chronic poverty, so will your continuing support for the School of St Jude. By committing to give a regular amount, you will give the School income security that will allow it to provide excellent education to increasing numbers of bright children from poor families.