Making a difference in Tanzania

By DEBORAH A. MILES
Most people don’t plan their time off to travel to Nyamuswa, a friendly village of 6,000 in Tanzania, just west of the Serengeti National Park.

It’s not a luxury destination by any means.

It’s a place where dining out literally means sitting outside under open skies on a straw mat around an oil lamp, eating ugali with rice and beans.

But Mark Baetzhold, a citizen participation specialist with the state Department of Environmental Conservation and PEF Division 169 member, went to Africa twice to help improve the living conditions of those living in poverty.

The one-story house where Baetzhold stayed has no electricity, and one faucet connected to a water tank in the center of the village. The kitchen is about the size of a small closet, covered by a tin roof. There is no stove, just an open fire to heat food.
For most villagers, cleansing is done with water brought in by women balancing porcelain water jugs on their heads. Baetzhold was fortunate to have the one faucet where he stayed.

The first trip
His first visit to Nyamuswa was in 2007, after he learned about the Malaika Project — a program that brings in volunteers and funding to reduce mortality and help the local African economy to grow.

Baetzhold stayed for two months, and assisted farmers with a small-scale irrigation project that provided 12 foot-powered water pumps and tubing. It may not seem like much, but to the Nyamuswa people, it was a major step forward.

“Before the pumps, farmers watered their fields six hours a day using buckets and watering cans,” Baetzhold said.

Going back
Baetzhold returned at the end of June 2008 for three weeks to provide more resources to the farmers. Mostly, he wanted to see if the water pumps were working out.

“I did survey work on my last trip,” Baetzhold said. “I would get up, have chai (tea) and rice cakes, then go with a translator to the farmers to assess whether the pumps had been useful.

“It was hard to quantify the results, but each farmer who received a pump said it was an improvement. There was one dramatic success. A farmer, Ari, showed me a house he had started to build. Ari was able to do this because the water pump increased his crop output, and he could afford to build a house with the profits,” Baetzhold said.

Ari and other farmers make their profits at an open-air market, held once a week at the village square where locals sell and buy their staples — corn, spinach, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, watermelons and cassavas, a plant with edible and nutritional roots.

“It is an extremely rural setting,” Baetzhold said.

Message received
Baetzhold’s enthusiasm for the Malaika Project quickly spread among his co-workers when they learned he was going back.

Jim Kersten, a PEF Executive Board member from DEC, said co-workers and union members donated a total of $1,001 to help the Nyamuswa villagers. The money was used for more pumps and bed nets to protect children from malaria.

“To support Baetzhold in his effort, the employees circulated a flyer for an ice-cream fundraiser. PEF’s contribution was $300. This is one of the biggest donations to any one thing we have ever made as a small division,” Kersten said.

When Baetzhold returned, he gave the following note to his PEF colleagues.

“Thank you very much for the extremely generous gift from PEF to support the Malaika Project and the people of Tanzania. PEF’s view of its mission as extending beyond both its members and boundaries of New York state indicates a true spirit of service and concern for others. I’m honored to be a member of this organization and deeply grateful for its support.”

And yes, Baetzhold plans to go back to Tanzania again.