The next morning when eating breakfast (not sure why it always happens at mealtimes) I saw on the TV a man being dowsed in petrol and burned to death, again a thief. When discussing the practice with some the family they said it’s very common and they fully support it. Then they told the story of when they used to run a small kiosk outside their house, the daughter of the family was running it one day when someone reached through the bars to steal some money – on shouting thief all the village men managed to catch the perpetrator… luckily a neighbour happened to have his axe with him so he stuck it in the thief’s head and killed him. Justice!

Needless to say, when I told them about Tony Martin, they thought we live in a very odd country indeed.

The staple is rice rice rice… and lots of it, but somehow a very nice type that is grown locally and subtly different to what we are used to at home.  To accompany we will have fish from lake Victoria cooked whole with loads of bones or some ‘meat’ which I think is goat in small but adequate quantities.  Together with this we have a soup (actually a sauce) to poor on the rice made of tomatoes or carrots and onions, and maybe an avocado, but probably a banana. 

My favourite meal is rice with some stewed beans in a sauce with a chopped sweet banana on the top.  A combination I can advise you to try at home.  Some other highlights are the chapattis made of wheat flour and the sugar cane you can buy from a cart at the side of the road.

The most difficult meal to stomach is the traditional Ugali - this is a maize flour paste which is very stiff and bland.  You make a small ball by rolling it with your right hand then press a small hole with your finger to let you scoop up a smattering of soup.  It takes me twice as long to finish than everyone else on Ugali night.  I then have to go straight to sleep – my body is so busy trying to digest the food, it closes for all other business.  

Breakfast is usually a couple of bits of dry white bread, although on Sunday, because all the women we out, I was treated to a fry-up.  7 deep fried potatoes – Good morning!

First thing this morning, while having a sneaky 75p [1.5 days average earnings] coffee at the best hotel in town, little did I know what was in store for the rest of the day.  Arriving at the office I was told we were going on a safari (this is the term for any trip, not just looking at animals).

The safari involved going about 1 hour by tarmac road outside Arusha, then 25km on a dirt track, then I think 10km on no road at all.  The only way of navigating was by heading in the direction of a specific hill.  There was much debate in Swahili as to which hill was the correct hill to follow.  Needless to say we took a 4×4.

I have never been in such a remote place in my life, in every direction there was literally nothing but space, and you could see for miles and miles and miles.  No buildings, no power lines, no agriculture.  No nothing.

The job in hand for today was to establish the exact coordinates of the area of land using a GPS reader.  In addition to being a micro-financier Mr Sauni is something of a consultant.  He has a background as an engineer and seemingly a specialist in geology.  He is also very good friends with a certain successful businessman in the constructions industry based in Arusha.  Sauni had somehow identified this area as having a large deposit of good quality limestone.  The plan is for the somehow rather loaded businessman, who will remain nameless, to establish a limestone quarry and cement works here – producing 150 tons of cement a day.  A bold enterprise indeed.

The trip home was eventful too, including a hardly surprising puncture, getting caught in a herd of cows and having to wait for a rather amateurish rescue operation.  By the way the road in the picture is an official public highway – and the way it is planed for 150 tons of cement to pass each day.  You can imagine the scale of this man’s ambitions.

The trip made me think a lot about the balance of economic growth and the damage it will cause to the environment.  But really, can we condemn a project which will employ 1000s of people, bring export and tax revenue to Tanzania and reduce the cost of cement, on the grounds of environmentalism??  I’m not sure.  What I do know is that the unspoiled beauty of this patch of Africa is squarely endangered.

The types of business that we lend to varies but could be street food vendors, small tailors, charcoal collectors really any small scale enterprise.

There are 4 permanent members of staff: in addition to Mr Sauni, there is Julius the accountant, Emmanuel who vets the clients and Lightness who assists him. The offices are in the centre of Arusha, this is where clients will come on a Monday and Wednesday to make repayments.

But the present giving does not end there, after the kanga comes the much more practical ritual of the ‘Mother’s bucket’, all the women will now present something useful for the home.  Maybe a bowl, spoons or roll-top bin, they deposit these in a large bucket which is presented first.

There were also the other usual wedding ingredients such as food, drinks and dancing and a very good acrobatics show at the end.