Max Griffiths

Got to love it when technology works and something you’ve worked very hard for is actually a spectacular success.

One of my aims of the year is to develop our schools linking programme with the intention that in future years a large percentage of our fundraising will come from schools. Bolton School, where both the LivLife co-founder Sam and I went to school, are the first school that we’re linking with and they’re being absolutely tremendous, trialling out various different ideas, raising money, and planning trips out to Tanzania.

Tuesday saw one of the most exciting aspects of our schools linking programme come to the fore – a Skype video and voice link between a UK geography class and a traditional Maasai home on the Maasai Steppe, a World first we think.

As part of the Year 9 geography curriculum, there is a section on the impact of tourism in the Developing World, particularly using the Maasai as an example. Bolton School Girls’ Division were keen to bring a bit of reality to an otherwise remote subject so with the help of a Vodafone internet dongle, the Tanzanian mobile phone networks and my trusty laptop rested on a bucket of water, we had Bolton girls asking Maasai Warriors and mothers how tourism had impacted their lives. It was tremendous fun and very moving in England and Tanzania with both the Maasai and the schoolgirls learning a lot about the different lifestyles, challenges, and the odd moment of hilarity – namely when they discovered a shared love of Coca-Cola.

Now that’s geography.

Sat down round the back of the Centre (see photo) typing my blog. I’ve got the sounds of the literacy class behind me, the computer teacher instructing on the use of Excel to my left, the chattering of the kids as they draw each other (although hopefully not on each other) to my right, the discussions of the English improvers class ahead of me and the rumbling of thunder in the distance. As they say over here, everything is continuing well.

It’s been a week of getting things moving. I’ve had my parents here volunteering for 5 days. Their vast business and trustee experience has been vital as they have sat down with the Centre manager, Nai, to deliver management training, and the board of trustees to help improve their local control and governance of the Centre. Both are absolutely crucial in establishing the roots of sustainability at a local level. My Dad has also been beavering away on a new business course which we hope to run in conjunction with the vocational courses we are introducing later in the year.

All I’ve done this week has been captured by Matt on camera. I started training up our outreach worker, Alex, which involves early mornings and a lot of walking before the day gets too hot. Alex has taken to the idea of research and teaching like a fish to water and we’ve had some very positive responses from the Maasai we have already talked to. This programme will help us reach the poorest and neediest.

……Whilst I write this a chorus of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” has just begun to my right… I think the kids have finished drawing…… In fact, on the kids, check out the characters in this photo taken by Matt Oldfield…

My Advanced Computer Class is continuing well and it’s becoming one of the most enjoyable aspects of my work here. The class are picking things up well and building in confidence and, having started the course later than the others, the class size is growing lesson by lesson. In addition we’ve identified an area for the sports pitch and hope to start work on that in a couple of weeks. Going not quite so well is the SMS trials as, for a reason known only to the gremlins inside my computer, the texts have stopped delivering to phones.

Five days half-holiday for me next week as I head to the Serengeti to take in the migration. Should give me time to catch up on all my reports in the evenings too!

It’s been a busy busy week… In fact Monday seems so long ago it feels like I’ve been back in Tanzania a month rather than a week.

We’ve made some good progress this week. I’ve talked through our ideas with the local manager of the Centre and got the unwavering go ahead (which was no surprise as many of the ideas had come from the community before Christmas) and have today just finished the first version of our project plan for 2010, which has an excitingly large number of stages.

I’ve found the technology to do our bulk SMS service in the form of a wireless Vodafone internet dongle. Trials are going to start in earnest in the next couple of weeks, but initial tests of the technology have been very promising. We hope that within three months we will be able to conduct all our course advertising through SMS which will cost us just 30p a month – 1% of what it costs us at the moment. Importantly we hope to use this system to then get important health information out to the community. I’ve been in discussions this week with the local clinic and Proctor and Gamble to plan the distribution of free water purification sachets to the community as part of our new health education programme. The access that this bulk SMS service will give us will save many lives.

I have started teaching the Advanced Computer class, an almost incidental part of my role here owing to people wanting it, there not being a local teacher able to teach it, and me having the knowledge to teach it. I’ve got a keen bunch of students who are beginning to learn about the power of the internet. Technology willing, we’re going to get a Skype webcam link going between UK classrooms and the Maasai – perfect for Year 9 geography about tourism!

Amidst all this I’ve had the pleasure of welcoming Matt, a freelance photographer working for Vodafone, to Meserani and showing him around the work LivLife does there. Matt has been very popular with the students and he’s already taken a few thousand superb shots which will no doubt be available online before too long.

We’re getting moving on the outreach project this week as well as looking into the management processes and business side of things (thanks to help from my parents who are coming to lend their extensive expertise to LivLife for 5 days). We’re also going to make a start on constructing a sports area – a hugely important part of any life.

The sad news this week was that the baby elephant passed away on Tuesday morning. He was just too weak after so many days on his own in the bush and the wound created by the snare had gone down to the bone. A real tragedy to lose such a marvellous creature in such a pointless way.

Arrived back in Tanzania on Friday morning and it’s been a busy first couple of days…

Got my tent up without too much trouble, although it’s failure to stand up to the afternoon thunderstorm left me with a soggy sleeping bag and the item “find new tent” added to my to-do-list.

It was good to see the Centre’s computer room full with practicing students when I arrived and the news that, because of the level of take-up of the classes, we need more chairs.

I’ve got the weekend to settle in and prepare now (have just moved into our new office – a circular hut with a reed roof!) before getting down to the work in earnest on Monday, starting with the obligatory first week of meetings with staff, students and the community.

One of the great things about Africa is that you never know what’s going to happen. Whilst I’m working out here, I’m camping at Meserani Snake Park, which runs the local clinic. The owners, Ma, BJ and Deon are renowned for doing a lot for the community. As we were sat at the bar on Friday evening, BJ had a phone call from the Wildlife Service saying a baby elephant had been caught in a snare and could we help. An hour later BJ and a team of American volunteer medics were operating on the elephant whilst Deon and I frantically Googled to try and find out whether we had any drugs that would tranquillise a baby elephant! BJ and the medics did an excellent job and little junior was bandaged up and has been eating happily since.

As I write this the rain is starting to come down again, so better go and check my tent!

Back to Tanzania on Thursday after 6 weeks in the UK. Can’t wait.

Managed to make some excellent progress in the past month and a half – have written our strategy and had it approved by the trustees, worked with a couple of volunteers to raise a grand at a racenight, inducted our new trustees, established an exciting school link that will hopefully fund the construction of another LivLife Centre and various bits and bobs essential for setting up a charity (we’ve only been registered since September so there’s things like insurance and gift aid to sort out). Also managed to fit in getting two bouts of flu… Obviously my ability to deal with the English weather has dimmed!

The next three months is where it gets exciting and we start seeing results on the ground. After the usual first week of meetings and greetings in Tanzania, we’re kicking off with improvements and developments. Our aim over the next few months is to firm up the LivLife Centre Model and then by the end of the year, establish another Centre.

Watch this space for news, videos and photos over the coming weeks…

Having spent my first 10 days in England building links with schools, doing a touch of fundraising, and wading through all the paperwork associated with being the first and only employee of a charity, I swapped the London Underground for the Tanzanian commute – a short walk past the cattle market, a few camels and a chorus of “hellos” from friendly children.

The focal point of our work is Meserani Education Centre, which I founded in September 2005. Our work has a huge emphasis on sustainability. In fact, if it’s not sustainable it’s not worth doing, and so we had designated this trip purely as a planning and fact-finding one.

I’d never talked to so many people in such a short space of time. Everyone had suggestions, everyone wanted to tell me of the progress they’d made, everyone wanted to tell me of the dreams they have. You can see some of this here.

I always enjoy news of how our work is helping. We have former students working in hotels, as teachers, in government offices, in factories making mosquito nets. More and more children are making it to secondary school and the kindergarten has become such a success we could fill a whole other class from the waiting list.

Perhaps most pleasing of all is the progress of Babu and Alex, two Maasai Warriors who couldn’t read and write when they started coming to the centre in 2005 and have been gaining work experience as Assistant English Teachers over the past 3 months.

Thanks to the World of Difference International programme we can now look at a significant increase in this benefit. It costs us £5 a month to give one person the education they need. Since becoming the first full-time employee of LivLife we’ve raised over £2,000.

Albeit just the start, this funding will be able to finance our new programmes in tailoring and carpentry, as well as double the capacity of the kindergarten. I’ve also re-jigged the budget to bring in a full-time literacy teacher, and I’ve got a list of project ideas from students of the Centre stretching over two sides of A4 to cost up.

It’s going to be a very busy 12 months, but one in which we will change lives.