Mikindani Gazette

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Mikindani Gazette
MAN FALLS FROM COCONUT TREE By Yohana M. Mbulu On
the 5th of January, at 5 pm, a man fell to his
death from a 40 ft coconut tree in Madimba,
Mikindani. Mr. Betwam Helman (55) died instantly
after falling onto his back from a tree that he
was collecting wine from. The death of Mr.
Helman, from Mitengo, comes as a shock to many,
because he was an experienced wine taper who had
been climbing coconut trees and tapping wine for
many years. The cause of his fall is unknown as
there were no eyewitnesses present. However, it
is well known that Mr. Helman was regularly drunk
and it is speculated alcohol consumption could
have been a factor in the accident. Mr. Helman
was also totally deaf, however his deafness is
not considered a likely cause, because, since
losing his hearing many years ago due to illness,
he has successfully climbed thousands of
trees.  Local coconut wine is know as Tembo and
is popular as it is a fraction of the cost of
lager beer. (A 750 ml wine bottle containing
Tembo can be bought for 200 Tsh compared to a 500
ml beer bottle for 1100 Tsh). The Tembo brewing
business usually starts with a farmer who owns
the trees and taper who collects the wine and a
buyer who buys the wine to sell at a local bar
known as a kilabuni. A wine taper such as Mr.
Helman is usually able to make up wards of 4500
Tsh per day however, this requires the climbing
of sometimes 20 trees twice a day (early in the
morning and again in the early evening).
According to reports the coconut wine business in
Mikindani was once big however now it is not so
thriving. The reason for this is that in the past
Mtwara did not have mature coconut trees from
which to tap wine but now the trees in Mtwara
have matured and the people of Mtwara are making
their own wine instead of buying it from
Mikindani.
 RURAL SCHOOLS GET BOOKS Edukaid (NGO) has
generously donated 5000 textbooks to six schools
in the Mikindani area. Mkangala, Naumbu, Mgao,
Mwenge, Imekuwa Msijute all received a wide
variety of new syllabus books. Edukaid also has
three new volunteers Ben Everald (UK), Geraldine
Mabbe (Belgium) and Kennet Christianson
(Denmark).  PAY BACK KILLING  A thief was burnt
to death in Mogomeni, Mtwara recently. On the
night of the 7th of January, Hamisi Dengi Hamisi
was caught by a group of residents and killed,
apparently because of a previous break in that
the deceased had committed in the area. According
to reports Mr Hamisi fled Mtwara but had recently
returned. When it was known that he had returned
a group organized the kill. Mr Hamisi was
originally from Jangwani, Mikindani and was well
known as a thief who used magic to help him avoid
detection. No one has been charged with his
murder. DRY NEW YEAR Mikindanis water supply
from the Mchuchu reservoir was cut off for 7 days
over the New Year period, causing massive
congestion around the villages several bore
water hand pumps. The problem was caused by a
tree root growing underneath a main pipe carrying
water to the village. The root of the tree had
grown so much that it snapped the pipe. Due to
the many public holidays over the New Year period
officers from Mtwara Water Authority were slow to
fix the problem so tradesmen from the Boma Hotel
were forced to fix the problem.
January 2008 - edition 15
(Right) The 40 ft tree that Mr Helman fell out
of. (Left) Sylavesta Namembe a wine tapper shows
the local brew known as Tembo.
BOMA PLANTS TREES FOR THE NATION January 1st is
Tanzanias National Tree Planting Day. This year
Trade Aid helped Mikindanis Boma ward celebrate
the occasion by donating over 50
trees.  
The guest of honour at the celebration was Mtwara
Municipals Community Development Officer Mwajuma
I. Nyowi. Mrs Nyowi arrived at the Mikindani
Dispensary, the center of activities, at 8.30 am.
She was welcomed by a group of residents and a
group of musicians. Mrs. Nyowi delivered an
important educational speech in which she
explained that trees are not only desirable but
they are essential. She explained that trees give
us the comfort of shade and fruit but more
importantly they create rain - which is the
ultimate source of life giving water. Mrs. Nyowi
finished her speech by encouraging the people of
Mikindani to start to use low energy saving
stoves known in Kiswahili as majiko sanif which
are available locally for about 5,000 TSH.
CONGRATULATIONS Yohana Mbulu on your story. It
was well researched. Please report to Trade Aids
office to pick up your payment.
Trees donated by Trade Aid