There's so much which we can't get here, so over the years we've simply learnt to make our own ! The Tanzanian people are very talented & turn out the most amazing things with limited - and often quite old fashioned - equipment. Most people here build their own homes, perform their own repairs etc so everyone is quite hands-on (especially when there's no plumber/electrician/handyman at the end of the 'phone !)There are also some very talented carpenters who mostly run their little businesses on the roadside in the major towns and cities (usually next to the timber yards) - you can take them a photograph of almost any item of furniture you'd like made, and they will make an almost exact replica of it for you. Most of the furniture in our home has been made like this over the years, and we have some lovely pieces which are really unique, unlike anything you'd buy in a shop and will no doubt last a lifetime !
When I was in South Africa last year I was amazed at all the restaurants & coffee bars which had kiddies play areas & equipment - my daughter was in 7th heaven as we don't get anything like that here. So I decided that when I came back home, I would have a Jungle Gym made for her. It would have to be made of wood, and without a slide - it would have to be something which could be easily made here. We went for breakfast one day at a franchised restaurant called the 'Mugg & Bean' (you can read about that visit & the lovely breakfast we enjoyed over here) & I found the 'perfect' Jungle Gym ! I took lots of photo's of it, and when we got back home I set the gardeners to work !
This became my project, & I worked on it with two of our male gardeners - Hemmed & Nelson. Of course they had never seen or heard of a Jungle Gym before & thought that I was crazy to be 'wasting' wood in this way (when it could have been used to build a house or a store room or something !) Firstly, I printed out the photo's I'd taken. Then I got my husband to help me with measurements. Then I got Justin to help me peg out the measurements on the lawn with sisal twine (rope) and wooden pegs.Nelson then went with one of the farm tractor's to buy the wood from a timber yard in one of the nearby smaller village's, & we bought a diesel drum from a well known petrol station/franchise (green & yellow logo which I got them to scrape off as I don't know if you're allowed to use them for things like this !) to make a climb through 'tunnel' area.
The Jungle Gym took a lot of time (& patience !) to complete, and I was out there every day showing the guys what to do at each stage, as it was all new to them. I was originally going to paint it red, blue, yellow & green but I actually quite like the 'natural' look so decided to leave it that way. (Our daughter loves it, which is the main thing !) 'Father Christmas' brought her a tent this Christmas just past, which we erected on the one platform, and some of the cats love sleeping in there during the day (when it's not too hot !) Our daughter also loves having picnics on the open platform 'So that the dogs don't bother me & steal all my snacks, Mamma !' she tells me .....We also got one of my husband's welders in the farm workshop to make a swing (pictured above). The seat was a bit of trial and error and is actually made from an old (sanded down) wooden gate sign which says in Kiswahili 'Please close the gate behind you' !
The sandpit was one of the first things we made for our daughter - with sand collected on the farm. (My village dogs love sleeping in it whilst they wait for their supper each night, as you can see in the photo above !) I took this photo after it had been raining which is why the sand looks a bit hard and flat.So now our daughter has her own playground area which she simply loves -also it is all visible from the kitchen windows so I can keep an eye on her when I am cooking etc during the day.
Justin came to me after Christmas and said that the staff were asking him why we had a tent permanently outside on the Jungle Gym, and did anyone ever sleep in it ? I hesitated for a moment and then said to him that he must just tell them that that is where bwana (my husband) is made to sleep if ever I'm cross with him, or if he's had so much beer that he snores & keeps me awake all night ! Justin thought this was hilarious & now the gardeners think that I'm not only crazy, but mean, too ! Ha ha .....
