Zimbabwean bears village's burden, hope

Aaron J. Latham / Staff
Iowa banker Steven Kruse peruses Washington Chakanyuka's wares. Chakanyuka's village needs a well.

Dealers rely on Tucson's Gem, Mineral and Fossil Showcase to provide a huge chunk of their annual income.

Which dealer has the most at stake? That's tough to call, but it's doubtful that any dealer has more riding on the show than Zimbabwean artist Washington Chakan-yuka.

Chakanyuka has the hopes of an entire village resting on his shoulders - he's hoping to raise enough money to build a well near his home, drought-ravaged Chitengu Village.

"Women in my country have to walk a long way to bring back water, and we share the water source with animals," said Chakanyuka, who hopes to raise $40,000 to $50,000 selling sculptures at the Tropicana Trade Show, a tent show north of West 22nd Street just west of Interstate 10.

"If we dig a well, we can be sure to have clean water."

Chitengu contains about 350 people, all of whom go without electricity and other niceties familiar to Americans. Villagers live in huts and use corn husks instead of toilet paper. And almost everyone goes without shoes.

Water sources near the village have dried up due to the recent drought, so the nearest water source is seven miles away.

"They live without utilities. They basically live off the land," said Martin Helgerson, the world- service committee chairman of the Ottumwa, Iowa, Rotary Club, which is aiding the village. Helgerson spoke to the Star from Iowa in a telephone interview.

The Ottumwa Rotary Club is helping Chakanyuka by paying the nearly $2,000 it cost to set up two booths in Tucson. The club raised the money by selling sculptures produced by village artists.

Chakanyuka got the $1,800 it took to fly to Tucson from Zimbabwe from a friend in Johannesburg, South Africa.

While in Tucson, Chakanyuka is staying with Christian Mutamba, whom he met last year at the gem show.

Mutamba can identify with Chakanyuka's plight. Muttamba was raised in Lubumbashi, Congo, and graduated from the University of Arizona in 1992. He returned to his homeland after graduation, hoping to help improve life in his war-ravaged home.

"But I never had the chance to do it," Mutamba said. "With the political climate and war going on. When I met Washington, it rebuilt that fire inside of me."

Mutamba sells eternity sculptures - sleek, smooth structures made of verdite and serpentine. The sculptures are meant to radiate energy, joy and love, Chakanyuka said. They range in price from $10 to several hundred dollars.

Helgerson said Rotary International and Rotary District 6,000 is preparing to help Chitengu set up the well and other infrastructure to aid the village's development.

"Washington is a real nice fella. It's all legitimate, what he's trying to do. It just takes a lot of money," Helgerson said.

"You can't understand Africa unless you go there. It's a corrupt type of place. It's run differently than the United States of America. All we can do is help him with what we can."

Chakanyuka is frustrated with Zimbabwe's government, which he says doesn't give enough support to artists. He thinks the sculptures could make for successful exports, and he's trying to prove it by selling them in the United States. The sculptures have been steady sellers in Iowa.

"I shouldn't be standing here in America talking about my country. I come from a beautiful country," Chakanyuka said.

"It's got good soil and good scenery. If there were peace in the land, then travelers would want to come."

Chakanyuka will stay in Tucson through February. He misses Chitengu, where his wife and three kids await his return.

"It's so tough. There's so much pressure. I miss my family. I miss everything from back home. But I'm doing this all for a purpose. Someone had to make a sacrifice."

* Contact Phil Villarreal at 573-4130 or prv@azstarnet.com

For visitors

Nearby caves, 1 dry, 1 wet, beckon curious

Kartchner Caverns State Park

Arizona 90 between Benson and Sierra Vista

Mineral lovers: There's a wet cave in Southern Arizona. But if you want to get a look inside, and you haven't booked a tour, you'll have to head southeast for an hour and then wait in line at sunrise for one of the 100 tickets sold daily.

There are cave rooms with 100-foot-high ceilings and dazzling crystalline columns of calcium carbonate formations. The guided cave tour will last about 60 minutes.

To reach Kartchner Caverns from Tucson, take I-10 east to Exit 302. The park is nine miles south of the Interstate on Arizona 90.

Hours: The park is open daily from 7:30 a.m. until 6 p.m. The cave is booked for tours through April, but the park sells 100 tickets each day, beginning at 7:30 a.m.

Fees: The park charges a $10 fee for cars with up to four people, with $1 for each additional person. Cave entry and a guided tour are free for children through age 6, $6 for those 7- to 13-years old and $14 for those 14 and older.

Telephone: 520-586-2283

Colossal Cave Mountain Park

16711 E. Colossal Cave Road in Vail

About 35 minutes from downtown, there's a dormant limestone cave on the site of a former ranch. The cave's history dates to 900 A. D.

Hours: Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Fees: The $3 entrance fee will gain you access to the old ranch, the nature trails, a museum and the research center. Horseback rides start at $20 per person for an hour.

The 45-minute guided cave tour costs $7.50 for adults, $4 for those 6 to 12 and is free for those 5 or younger. Telephone: 647-7275

Pinnacle Peak Steakhouse

6541 E. Tanque Verde Road

If you're looking for a faux Wild West experience, this is the place for dinner. The specialty: cowboy steaks that include T-bones up to 2 pounds. The menu includes leaner meats from filet mignon to grilled chicken breast.

Directions to Trail Dust Town: Take Speedway east to North Wilmot Road and turn left. Follow Wilmot Road to find the restaurant, just past East Pima Street on the left.

Attire: Casual. Anyone caught wearing a tie will be subject to clanging cowbells and having the unfashionable thing snipped off.

Hours: Daily from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Reservations are advised for weekends and daily for parties of 20 people or more.

* Contact reporter Jeannine Relly at 573-4213 or by e-mail at jrelly@azstarnet.com.

Gem show profile

Call the guy who knows every facet

Doctoral student at UA is expert mineral identifier

His University of Arizona geosciences professors consider him a whiz kid.

An international mineral collector's journal referred to his acumen as "encyclopedic."

Many, including those at the Tucson gem show, call on his expertise to identify specimens.

But mineral aficionado Marcus Origlieri, 24, considers his mineral "recognition" skills as only an offshoot of his hobby.

Nonetheless, mineral enthusiasts at the top of the "hobby" have taken note of his ability to identify, not only the specimen, but the country, state, county and mine where the mineral was extracted.

That hobby has fetched him nearly $100,000 in the last 10 years that he's been identifying minerals for private collectors.

The blue cubes of fluorite, for example, are from Rosiclare, Ill, he says. The orange-red wulfenite, of course, is from the Red Cloud Mine in Arizona's La Paz County. But the yellow wulfenite that looks like sulfur is from the Hilltop Mine, south of Tucson.

Origlieri attended his first Tucson gem and mineral show at age 7. And within a few years, collectors noted his mineral identification abilities and took him on continent-hopping acquisition trips and on tours of the world's great mineral museums.

The bimonthly collectors' journal, The Mineralogical Record, stated that Origlieri identified a giant chloritoid when several dealers were stumped at a Denver mineral and fossil show.

Tucson mineral collector Jim Bleess watched Origlieri sitting immersed in front of a drawer of specimens at a viewing last year of a local private collection. "You had to walk around him. He wasn't budging," recalls Bleess, who himself has forgotten to eat when he's looking at minerals.

Origlieri says his methodology for learning mineral species is simple: He studies their characteristics intently, checking the luster, color, cleavage and shapes.

And his doctoral studies in mineralogy? "I just wanted to learn the stuff since I was a kid," he says. "That's why I'm getting this Ph.D."

But Origlieri modestly insists that his skills for recollection don't cross over into other disciplines.

"It's just the minerals," he says. "I don't know anything else."

Little reason to hoof it

Gem show-hoppers can rely on the Tucson Inner City Express Transit to take them around downtown during weekdays, but a special shuttle service is available to take gemsters from hotels to gem shows.

Here's a breakdown of the shuttle routes. There is no fee to ride:

Red Route - Runs 10 a.m.-7 p.m. daily through next Saturday at 20-minute intervals.

The shuttle picks up at the following spots: Executive Inn, 333 W. Drachman St.; Ramada Inn University, 1601 N. Oracle Road; Mineral & Fossil Market Place, southwest side of Drachman traffic circle; Top Gem Minerals, 1201B N. Main Ave.; InnSuites, 475 N. Granada Ave.; Days Inn, 222 S. Freeway; Sheraton Four Points, 350 S. Freeway; Tucson Convention Center, 260 S. Church Ave.

Green Route - Runs 10 a.m.-7 p.m. daily through next Saturday at 12-minute intervals.

The shuttle picks up at the following spots: Rodeway Inn, 1635 W. Grant Road; Congress Street; Days Inn; Sheraton Four Points; Howard Johnson Inn, 1010 S. Freeway; Holiday Inn Express, 750 W. 22nd St.; Tucson Convention Center; Scottish Rite, 160 S. Scott Ave.; Flamingo Travelodge, 1300 N. Stone Ave.

Blue Route - Runs 10 a.m.-7 p.m. daily through next Saturday at 15-minute intervals.

The shuttle picks up at the following spots: Tucson Convention Center; Howard Johnson Inn; Holiday Inn Express; Kino Veterans Memorial Community Center, 2805 E. Ajo Way; Holiday Inn Palo Verde, 4550 S. Palo Verde Road.

Blue Express - Runs 10 a.m.-7 p.m. daily through Friday at 15-minute intervals.

The shuttle picks up at the Tucson Convention Center and the Holiday Inn Palo Verde.

Purple Route - Runs every hour 10 a.m.-6:30 p.m. daily through Monday.

The shuttle travels back and forth between these spots: Windmill Inn, 4250 N. Campbell Ave. and Rodeway Inn; Windmill Inn and Tucson Convention Center; Windmill Inn and Holiday Inn Palo Verde.

For more information, call 327-4674.

* Contact Phil Villarreal at 573-4130 or prv@azstarnet.com

Gem Show briefs

American Indian Exposition

The Flamingo Hotel, 1300 N. Stone Ave., offers gem lovers a chance to enjoy authentic Indian crafts from more than 200 tribes from across North America.

"Each tribe expresses its individuality and the uniqueness of its own particular cultural background," said Fred Synder, the event's coordinator.

"We really try to balance the show with 60 percent jewelry and 40 percent other crafts, such as dream catchers, crafts and beadwork."

The show, which begins at 10 a.m. each day through tomorrow, features 40 artists and tribal dancers on weekends.

"At this show, you will feel an energy you never felt at any of the other shows," Synder said.

- Phil Villarreal

Where to park

Here's a listing of the public shows, coupled with parking tips for each.

Congress Street Expo at
Tucson Electric Park

Tucson Electric Park,
2500 E. Ajo Way

Ample parking is available in the Tucson Electric Park parking lot.

Globe-X Gem, Mineral, Fossil & Jewelry show

Days Inn, 222 S. Freeway.

The best spots to park are the Days Inn parking lot or the Tucson Convention Center for $4.

International Gem & Jewelry Show/Intergem Tucson 2001

700 block of West Congress Street, west of freeway.

Parking along Congress Street in front of the tent is the best way to go.

Rapa River

292 S. Freeway.

Parking is available, but it costs $5 in the show lot.

Arizona Mineral & Fossil Show

Four sites:
* Ramada Inn University,
1601 N. Oracle Road
* Best Western Executive Inn, 333 W. Drachman St.
* InnSuites Hotel,
475 N. Granada Ave.
* Mineral & Fossil Marketplace, 1333 N. Oracle Road

Look for spots on the sides of streets if you can't find them in the hotel lots.

American Indian Exposition

Flamingo Travelodge,
1300 N. Stone Ave.

The Travelodge parking lot provides some parking. During the weekends, you can park at Pima Community College's Downtown Campus on Stone north of Speedway.

La Quinta Group

La Quinta Inn,
665 N. Freeway.

If the La Quinta parking lot is full, you'll have to scavenge.

Atrium Productions

Four Points Hotel by Sheraton, 350 S. Freeway.

Chances are the Sheraton lot will be full, so it's best to park at the TCC.

Trade Shows International Tucson Gem & Jewelry Show

Gem Pavillion,
450 S. Freeway.

Officials say there will be ample parking in the lot behind the show scene.

Dell Productions

Tucson Scottish Rite,
160 S. Scott Ave.

If you can't find a spot on the side of the street, there's a lot south of the building that charges $2.50.

Beaucoup Congé

335 E. Fort Lowell Road

There are a few spots in front of the store, but your best bet is to park along North Geronimo Ave.

Crystal Myths Inc.-Best Bead Show

Kino Veterans Memorial Community Center, 2805 E. Ajo Way.

Parking is ample at the site of the show.

The Whole Bead Show

The Windmill Inn of Tucson, 4250 N. Campbell Ave.

There is plenty of parking in St. Philip's Plaza.

Rio Grande Catalog in Motion Jewelry Equipment Showcase

Hilton Tucson East,
7600 E. Broadway

The hotel parking lot is the best place to park for this show.

47th Annual Tucson Gem & Mineral Show

Tucson Convention Center,
260 S. Church Ave., 322-5773.

Phil Villarreal