Ingenious Ingenuity

I am amazed by people's here ability to make the most of their situations...sometimes their solutions are a bit Pythonesque....but the ability to laugh at silly things is a gift I think :)

Here a a few examples of this ingenuity (shady and otherwise)...ask yourself if this would work in Canada.

1) Plastic bags - They are everywhere. Sometimes I think a nice environmentally related (we know how much CIDA-Canada's foreign aid granting agency loves proposals that have an environmental slant) micro finance project would be to start a tote bag making factory and distribution system. Plastic bags are evil...but even more so here, when they litter the postcard worthy landscape and seem to try to mask as leaves on trees. Children here gather the plastic bags, roll them around each other layer by layer, and secure them with plastic bags to make soccer balls.


2) Photo Ops- There is an extremely ugly monument in the centre of town. I tried to take a photo of it yesterday and ended up encountering another form of ingenuity. As I was about to press the shutter, a face appeared in my viewfinder. The person spoke..."Charge!". I said "What?" He said "Charge...1000 Schillings (that is about $1). He tried to convince me that there was a charge for taking a photo of the monument...I told him he shouldn't lie. I am not sure he understood me...but I left without taking the photo. We asked some locals later, apparently there is no charge for taking a photo, I had just encountered some more African ingenuity...a local who spotted a tourist and thought he'd make a quick schilling or two or a thousand :)

The monument:

It is a monument of an armed solider, dressed in camouflage, with a very menacing grimace on his face. Underneath the statue is written "Water for Life"....due to the scary solider...we've nicknamed it "Water or Life!". Apparently the monument is meant to commemorate African Soldiers who died in WWI and WWII....in reality...people in the area have told us that the monument is a local joke. As the surrounding fountain runs continuously and the surrounding landscape is watered heavily and daily. A little bit of an joke in an area with water shortages.


3) Enhanced Cement:

It seems there is a building boom in Moshi. Apparently with inflation, if you have some extra money the best thing to do is buy some land, and build a house...as a house will always appreciate in value...where as money you have socked away in the bank may not. Our project co-coordinator, Helen, is having a house built in a new sub-division on the outskirts of Moshi town and took us to visit the site (photos on Facebook). They are still working on the foundation, but the wall surrounding the property is built...well kind of. As we were inspecting the wall, she gave it a really good shake, it almost fell over. African ingenuity....seems the construction workers have been "supplementing" the cement with sand...and selling the "extra" cement to make a profit. Apparently sand and cement...like oil and water...do not mix very well :)


Ways to make a buck...ways to stretch a dollar ...and ways to make toys out of what you have...how ingenious :)