First Lectures - Community Involvement and Conservation

            The official first day of classes was today, and there is SO much to talk about. The day started out with a lecture given by the director of the school about Tanzania’s brief history of wildlife conservation and how over time, the community and government have fallen out of touch with one another – creating problems when it comes to protecting the environment and its wild species. Many of these problems can begin to be solved at a community based level, which is what we are now trying to do. Saving species and their habitats but also allowing for the human residents that live in proximity to those habitats to live their lives is the main issue. How can we get the community involved in wildlife conservation when the species they will be protecting are actually making their lives much harder?

            We talked about some of the solutions to these conservation issues and came to a few conclusions: First, it’s important to understand that some of the most diverse places in terms of species and habitats are also the poorest. Because of lack of money, it’s hard to implement solutions to conservation issues. With the help of international funding, it’s possible that these countries with rich biodiversity will be able to use that international aid towards national parks and protected areas. Secondly, education of the communities and youth is essential. With Tanzania being dominated by agriculture, educating farmers to cultivate their crops and manage their livestock in a sustainable way will have huge impacts across the country because it is so heavily reliant on agriculture. There are obvious downfalls and shortcomings to each of these ideas, but it’s a good place to start and see where we can go from there.

            Later in the day, we learned more about the species in these areas of Tanzania and how to identify them. From “The Big Five” (made up of the leopard, lion, buffalo, rhino, and elephant) to “The Small Five” (leopard tortoise, ant lion, buffalo weaver, rhino beetle, and elephant shrew as the mini-counterparts to the Big Five), we looked at pictures and got prepared for our field trip to Lake Manyara National Park – which is on Sunday!

            Finally, we headed out into the nearby communities to take a look at some of the sustainable ways they are protecting the environment. We drove down to the nearby primary school, where they are using tree planting initiatives and community members to encourage less tree cutting for fuel and more tree planting instead. The kitchen in the school had a new stove which uses 75% less firewood and is healthier for the chefs – emitting less smoke and creating less air pollution.

            Next, we went to a nearby house where a family was using a new bio-gas system, powered by their livestock manure and soil, to heat their house and cook meals. The manure is heated, releasing the gas that is trapped in a tank within the ground. The tank has a pipe underground which feeds into the house and lights the stove top that the mother uses to cook food. The gas is non-explosive and cannot harm those using it as also helps reduce tree cutting in local forests.

            Finally, we saw how burnt bricks, usually used for making homes and other buildings in the community, were made by a few of the workers. These bricks are made by equal parts sand and soil, and one bag of cement. Made in an interlocking shape, they allow people to cut down on spending because they do not need extra cement or plaster to connect them.

            Overall, the first academic day was tired, but great! Tomorrow we’ll be heading to a local market that they have in monthly, and then afterwards we’re heading to an orphanage to do our community service portion of the trip. Many more photos to come!

Ava - really liked holding my camera lens!

Visiting the school's tree nursery. Every student gets a tree to plant at home!

The school's garden - providing food for lunches.

Passing hellos!

The "hydro-form" brick making machine. With 10 liters of diesel, over 3,000 bricks can be made.