Sailing around the world on the traditional gaff rigged schooner Windjammer

Before we left the Seychelles our friends Yves and Barbara from "S/Y Medio Vas" had recommended we visit Koma Island and look up Mohammad. We had only intended to stay overnight and then sail on to Dar Es Salaam the next day after a quick look at the village. As we beached our dinghy we were approached by this tall, lean, smiling fellow. Oh hello!
My name is Mohammed, and so started our adventure on Koma.


The fishing village of Koma Island

He immediately offered to take us on a walk around the village. I commented as we meandered past the mud and coral houses on how clean and tidy the island was. He related the story of a Frenchman who came to the island a few years ago and convinced the villagers of the benefits of keeping the island clean. Removing the rubbish, looking after the mangroves and depositing their human waste not on the beach but in appropriate areas. They had taken this on board and adopted a set of rules.

Baobabs, the tree that symbolises Africa

At the end of our walk Mohammed offered to take us snorkelling the next day to see how he fishes for lobster and octopus with the possibility of seeing some seahorses. Everyone was keen, so next morning the Erias family who were "buddy sailing" with us, jumped on on Windjammer and we headed off to an island about 3 miles away. Unfortunately there were no seahorse to be seen and Mohammed lost his spear, which we spent ages searching for, eventually finding it. On the way back we stopped at a little cove on one of the small islets. A couple of fisherman were camped out on the beach and they pointed out some giant clams. They were at least 1 metre wide and fossilised into the coral rock face about 3 metres above the current high water level. Probably hundreds of years old. Quite an amazing site.

The Erias crew and Mohammed

During lunch we were talking about life on the island and the availability of good water. Mohammed mentioned that two years ago a desalinator had been gifted and installed by an NGO but that it had stopped working 6 months later. Ashley and Eric offered to take a look at it. Permission was sort and granted by the island chief. So the next day was spent cleaning up the genset and water maker and figuring out how it was all supposed to work. There were no operational manuals and the Island Chief only had a rudimentary idea how it operated. There is no electricity on the island, the Mosque and some houses have small solar panels on their roof, charging a battery which in turn provides lighting, runs the odd T.V. and more importantly, charges the smartphones!
The following morning, loaded with tools, multi metres, spare diesel and Windjammers radio battery we descended on the island. The boys headed off to the pump house whilst we played hopscotch and football with the local children.

Hooking up the water tanks

While visiting Mohammad's house we noticed a small chalk board in the corner and he explained that he was teaching English and arithmetic to a group of children between the ages of 5-7 in his house. He had no formal training but had a good grasp of English and the only one on the island that did.

Enjoying a meal of cassava, salad and ugali with ginger tea.

The island is home to approximately 800 people of which 20% appear to be children. During our conversations he explained that there was minimal education on the island, a government sponsored teacher from the mainland spends two days a week teaching the children from the ages of 8-15 years.

Getting introduced to the kids

So, a little bit about Mohammed, he has worked throughout East Africa as an explosives man for Chinese seismic companies. Then for a tourist operator in Mtwara. He was fortunate enough to have had some education which got him started. Recently returned to the island, he was keen to take on the role of teaching the younger children in a voluntary capacity. He asked if it was possible to give him some books and materials for his project.


Mohammed

Fortunately Nathalie is a teacher, so she jumped at the opportunity with unbridled enthusiasm. They have tons of learning tools on board as their three children are home schooled. With the help of her wonderful children Manon, Eva and Samuel, they spent most of the night collecting books, magazines and making all sorts of learning tools. Such a lovely and generous family.

Cutting out pictures for teaching aids.

Another subject raised by Mohammed was that of female genital mutalation that had until a few years ago been routinely practiced on young girls. The Island now actively discourages this practice. He is part of a group that door knocks to educate and discourage woman against this.


The next morning we were summoned to a meeting by the chief and his councillors (men and women). First a prayer by the Imam then a welcome to the Island. Mohammad explained that not only were we fixing the desalination plant but were also providing him with books and teaching aids for his school project. A good time for him to pitch for a proper classroom....

The Imams

After the meeting it was off to inspect the small hospital with its maternity ward that was under construction. The chief explained that they were trying to raise funds to finish the hospital and
adjoining doctors house. The main structure was complete but needed doors and windows as well as the interior fit out. They explained that the government would not provide a doctor for the island until the building was completed. They were now looking for contributions from an NGO to complete the project

Serious discussions about a school room

There is no running water on the island so during the wet season water is drawn from wells and rain water collected into concrete cisterns. During the dry season the water from these wells is too salty to drink. The desalination plant was installed to help them through the dry season.

Water drawn from a well.

Things in the pump house were starting to take shape, the genset fired up after a rats nest was located and cleaned out and the main circuit breaker replaced. The water maker was flushed out and filters cleaned. The two large polythene water tanks had been removed so had to be located and reinstalled................Tomorrow's job.

End of another day.

The following day, a celebratory gathering had been arranged to thank us for all the work we had done. It was quite an occasion with food being prepared for the entire island community and us as their special guests. Men and women were separated into two different groups. Nathalie, the two girls and myself were taken aside and dressed by the local women in traditional Muslim coverings. It was a quite a colourful affair. The women then proceeded to sing and say a prayer for us. The men were doing the same on the other side.

All dressed up for the occasion.


A spray of colour

Time for eating.

Men grouped separately from the women.

Ashley in discussion with the Island administrator

After the meal we were taken a short distance to the second village on the island. It was extremely organised, clean and well laid out. We were shown through the two Madrases where the children are taught the Quran each day. An adjacent small school has a government provided teacher that comes in twice a week to teach the children aged 8-15 years, and that's the extent of the education on the island.

Classroom session - subject English.

We set up a short classroom session to demonstrate the teaching aids and familiarise Mohammad with some teaching techniques - like keeping the class quiet! He is so keen and focused on having the children better educated and with our support was espousing the value to the Imam, Chief, councillors and parents. Ashley made a speech highlighting the importance of education next to that of the Quran and thanking and wishing them all well for the future - all very official.
After many speeches and translations, it was decided that Mohammed would be given one of the spare rooms in the school, which had a door, to use as a classroom. The room however does not have a concrete floor or blackboard so we donated the funds to have this done. Luckily we also had some blackboard paint on board to complete the job. Mohammad declared that the school was to be named the Windjammer/ Erias school in our honour.

Everyone wants to be in the picture

Just as we thought it was time to leave, the generator overheated!! Nice timing. So it was back to work the next day for the boys and Nathalie continued her instructions to Mohammed on teaching techniques. The equipment was finally running well, logbook and instructions written up and with the islands appointed "engineer" (when he is not out fishing) trained up, it was time to say goodbye and head north.


We left early the next morning, so much the richer for the experience.



We told Mohammed about our "Clean up Australia Day" and maybe it could be adopted to "Clean up Koma Day". Our friends Anne and Herve from S/Y Olicicante visited a couple of weeks after us and following is a video they made;
Link to video...