Bright minds

During my time as NZAID Contract Manager in Wellington, students would often regale me with in-depth descriptions about their research topic or their jobs back home. I was always intrigued and eager to find out more, but it turns out there is no substitute for heading into the field and having a look for yourself. One of the highlights of our stay in Morogoro for me was a visit to Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), the institution where five of our Tanzanian NZAID scholars have studied and where Muganda, Alfan and Ummy now work as lecturers. Peter had generously taken the day off to give us a grand tour and suggested that we start the morning with a research project he worked for several years ago. When he mentioned the project involved rats, landmines and TB both Vaughan & I frowned at first, but in the end we were really glad that we took the opportunity to learn more.

The APOPO project was created by the Belgian academic Bart Weetjens, who initially devised it as a low-technology solution to the global land mine problem. The excellent sense of smell of African Giant Pouched Rats was used to detect the TNT element of explosives, which worked remarkably well. Once the effectiveness of the rats had been proven, Weetjens further realized that they are capable of detecting active tuberculosis in human saliva samples (see photo above). APOPO calls these rats HeroRats because this technology is cheaper and more efficient than most widely available mine clearance and TB detection techniques. We had the chance to meet Bart in person and I was inspired by his vision, which is partly funded by the Belgian government and employs over 150 Tanzanian researchers. At the moment APOPO is clearing mines in Mozambique but hopefully more countries will follow soon. If you'd like to help you can adopt a HeroRat here.

The rats get trained from an early age, just like the baby rat in this photo.

Straight after we witnessed another sample of the university's work, where bananas are grown from plantlets rather than seeds, which speeds up the process and leads to greater productivity. In the past the plantlets have been handed out to farmers, who reported an increase in profit and quality of life. V and I both agreed that it's fantastic to see university research having such an immediate and positive impact on development issues!

After a long lunch in the university's cafe we were accompanied by Muganda, who took us to the Department of Wildlife Management lab, several lecture theatres, the uni library and several other spots. My excitement levels peaked at this point as it was just amazing to finally see the places I'd heard so much about :-). SUA is obviously investing in its future with some fancy new buildings, although Muganda conceded that the library lacks the funds to buy new material and that Western luxuries such as a Rec Centre or shops are absent. These aren't necessary for a decent study experience though and from what I could tell, the university (only founded 20 years ago) is definitely on the right track.

Near the end of the week we managed to visit another project I was very enthusiastic about, but this one was located a four-hour drive away in the Udzungwa Mountains National Park. This area is registered as one of the world's "bio hot spots", which means it has a high density of endemic species. The one I wanted to see most was the Managabey monkey, the subject of Ummy's Master thesis and found only in this park. After a hot & humid trek up the mountains paths we managed to spend an hour with these cute creatures and I could glimpse why Ummy had spent six months in the forest researching their social system. Her thesis contributed greatly to the knowledge about the Mangabeys so another NZAID scholarship well spent :-).