Keanes in Tanzania

When the Marian Stove was designed not all of the local cooking needs were understood.  As we traveled around the number one complaint about the Marian Stove was the inabality to hold the pot tightly while cooking Ugali.  Ugali is a porridge type food made from flour, usually Maize.  It is the staple food for all people in this area.  On the smaller Marian Stoves, used in the villages for families this is less of a problem; the women there have fashioned simple pot holders that they can use to hold the pot firmly while they stir the Ugali.  However, on the large institutional stoves, where Ugali is routinely prepared for hundreds of people at each meal ( for example Kaengasa Seminary, Katumba Secondary, the School for the Blind, etc..) things are a bit different.  At these locations the Ugali is so thick, and the pots so deep, the women actually use a large oar to stir it.  It takes considerable effort to keep the Ugali moving and you need high heat to get the consistency right.  In th

Without getting too technical, one of the big missions of this trip was to find a way to reduce the cost of the Marian Stove (see  Dad's website  for background on this) .  Long story short, it looks like Gabriel and his team may have found it.  The most expensive item in the stove is a material called "Tuff-Floor" which the team is importing from South Africa in large quantities.  It works well as the main ingredient for the combustion chamber, as it does not break down in high heat, but the shipping costs and import fees make it expensive.  Gabriel reached out to a local professor from the University of Tanzania who turned him on to a material mined from the mounds of expired ant-hills.  This "ant-hill sand" was used in ancient times by local residents of the Rukwa region to make high temperature blast furnaces.  Gabriel and his team decided if it was good for a blast furnace it should work in the Marian Stove as a combustion chamber.  He found a local ant-hil

On one of our last days Father took us to three different "Outstations".  Outstations are small christian outreach centers in the smaller villages.  Becasue there are so few priests and such large territory to cover, each parish establishes outstations, basically small churches with catechists to man them as opposed to full priests.  The villagers build the walls of their church and Father Chomba, with help from STM, provides the roof.  The same with the catechists house, he must build his own house and set up his family, once he has done that Father provides a roof. Outstation built and roofed in 2003 with funds from St Thomas Moore Parish Outstation built and roofed in 2007 with funds from St Thomas Moore Parish Interior of outstation church being treated with used oil on the rafters to discourage  termites Dad with catechists for this outstation and some local villagers helping with the roof truss work Dad with catechist in his home.  He had recentl