On IPPmedia.com 26th november 2009, it was reported that a woman fainted after returning home to find her 4 months old female baby, has had her genitals cut off while she was doing groceries shopping for teh family.
Alas, this is just one out of a 1,000 cases that get's reported. In most rural villages genital mutilation for female children is still part of the culture. It is not something for the public or other tribes to know ... this is why in most African tribes like my own - Chagga- we are continuously warned NOT to have partners from another tribe because you never know what you might be getting yourself into.
African tribal cultures/traditions are well protected and only those who belong in a paticular tribe gets to learn the real truth.
This is not the story of one woman, it is the story of many women who have to stay silent. These women need the power to fight for their rights and the rights of their children. It is still our world ..............
Woman faints recounting how her baby-girl was `cut`
By Edwin Agola
26th November 2009
A Dar es Salaam-based woman, Rachel Kasute yesterday fainted when narrating how her husband and mother-in-law conspired to have her four-month old baby girl undergo female genital mutilation.
Narrating how she was forced to run away from her dear family, Rachel said that her mother in law travelled from upcountry to Dar es Salaam, purposely to circumcise her first-born baby girl.
She was narrating her inside story at the launch of worldwide 16 days of campaign against gender-based violence in Dar es Salaam.
“I wasn’t aware of the mission. One evening, my husband asked me to go to the market to buy some items. I went without my baby.”
“On my way back I found my baby was already circumcised, crying uncontrollably, with a lot of blood.”
“I couldn’t stand what had happened. I decided to run away with my wounded child,” she sadly said, before fainting.........................''
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Why Recycling is important for environmental sustainability
Everyday that goes by, our Ecological footprint increases in strides. We have put an amount of focus on the damage caused by shipping industries, chemical industries etc. But we haven’t put enough focus on damage caused by unregulated dumping especially in developing countries.
Unregulated dumping are natural breeding places for mosquitoes, rats, flies and other beasts that are a source of multiple diseases including malaria, cholera, typhoid.
Also, rotting garbage emits greenhouse gasses that cause damage to the stratosphere as well as to our health. Many diseases of the lungs can be caused by poisonous gas emissions. Damage on stratosphere causes skin cancer.
Individuals can not control unregulated dumping. They depend on municipality and the governments to do their work.
Most individuals don’t understand the bigger picture and the long term health effects. Is it right that we should just let things slide? Shouldn't the municipality be held responsible for all the damage they allow to happen?
Sometimes it is easier, because our hands are tied in so many ways.........
Reported by www.ippmedia.com Saturday 17th October 2009
A woman washes her kitchen utensils near garbage surrounding her house at a Kigogo dumpsite in Dar es Salaam yesterday. The dump was reportedly closed by the Ilala Municipal Council but Omar Musa, a resident of the area, says garbage collection trucks still unload waste at the site.
Unregulated dumping are natural breeding places for mosquitoes, rats, flies and other beasts that are a source of multiple diseases including malaria, cholera, typhoid.
Also, rotting garbage emits greenhouse gasses that cause damage to the stratosphere as well as to our health. Many diseases of the lungs can be caused by poisonous gas emissions. Damage on stratosphere causes skin cancer.
Individuals can not control unregulated dumping. They depend on municipality and the governments to do their work.
Most individuals don’t understand the bigger picture and the long term health effects. Is it right that we should just let things slide? Shouldn't the municipality be held responsible for all the damage they allow to happen?
Sometimes it is easier, because our hands are tied in so many ways.........
Reported by www.ippmedia.com Saturday 17th October 2009
A woman washes her kitchen utensils near garbage surrounding her house at a Kigogo dumpsite in Dar es Salaam yesterday. The dump was reportedly closed by the Ilala Municipal Council but Omar Musa, a resident of the area, says garbage collection trucks still unload waste at the site.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
`Leadership failing Nyerere`s legacy`
By The guardian team
14th October 2009
Many dissatisfied by level of public accountability
Founding Father, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere.
As the nation marks the tenth anniversary of the death of the Founding Father, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere today, Tanzanians have expressed mixed feelings about the level of accountability among public officials.
Both academicians and politicians described Nyerere as an exemplary leader with qualities that most leaders holding public offices lack.
Prof Issa Shivji, who lectured at the University of Dar es Salaam and is now heading the Mwalimu Nyerere Professorial Chair in Pan-African Studies, said Mwalimu was a strong personality who believed in leadership principles, a quality not found in most leaders of our time.
The don was speaking at a special forum organised at the Diamond Jubilee Hall in Dar es Salaam ahead of the Nyerere Day today, to revisit Mwalimu's legacy.
He said until his last days, Mwalimu was a great believer of socialist policies and openly opposed the capitalist mode as it did not provide for the poor, who constitute the majority in the country.
Shivji said one of the most pressing challenges that the present leaders are facing, especially in developing countries, is exercising leadership in systems which enrich a few at the expense of the majority poor.
According to him, the capitalist system has promoted corruption and brought problems to the ordinary people and no solutions to the poor majority, mostly residing in rural areas.
“Mwalimu Nyerere fought against the capitalist system, because he knew that it promotes classes of the haves and the have-nots; classes of those who are suffering and those who are enjoying the national cake,” said Shivji.
“People now have no humanity at all, they think of how to generate and accumulate wealth - a tendency that Mwalimu didn’t allow or entertain during his leadership,” he added.
He, however, said the world was now tired of capitalism, a system which he blamed for fuelling corruption all over the world, and that some big nations were now thinking of adopting some socialist values.
Speaking at the same occasion, State Minister in the President’s Office (Public Service Management) Hawa Ghasia said Mwalimu was an example of good leaders who adhered to leadership ethics.
She said all leaders were trying to compare themselves with Mwalimu, a clear sign that for many he was an exemplary leader.
NCCR-Mageuzi national chairman, James Mbatia, said in his open letter to the public yesterday that his party would remember Mwalimu for being a champion of educating the public practically on matters of human dignity.
“This is shown in his life. Mwalimu Nyerere as a father of a family; in his profession as a teacher, in his socialist politics and in his leadership as the chairman of a political party, and particularly in his position as the first President of Tanzania,” Mbatia said.
He added: “For him, human dignity was a fundamental right given by God; it was the responsibility of the government to protect this right and it was a must for the society to develop it.”
Mbatia said “Nyerere taught us that God is one; Tanzania is one, and Tanzanians are one. He also reminded us that our National Anthem starts with the word God.”
The NCCR-Magaeuzi chairman said Nyerere insisted on national unity particularly by using one language, Kiswahili and the word Brethren (Ndugu).
“He believed and showed practically that the presence of classes in the community was against humanity,” he said.
Nyerere Day is marked annually on October 14 – the day Mwalimu died at a London hospital. He was born on April 13, 1922 at Butiama village in Mara Region and served as the first President of Tanzania, previously Tanganyika, from the country's independence in 1961 until his retirement in 1985.
Nyerere, son to Zanaki chief Nyerere Burito (1860-1942), is known by the Swahili name Mwalimu or 'teacher', which was his profession prior to politics.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
REF: http://www.ippmedia.com/
14th October 2009
14th October 2009
Many dissatisfied by level of public accountability
Founding Father, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere.
As the nation marks the tenth anniversary of the death of the Founding Father, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere today, Tanzanians have expressed mixed feelings about the level of accountability among public officials.
Both academicians and politicians described Nyerere as an exemplary leader with qualities that most leaders holding public offices lack.
Prof Issa Shivji, who lectured at the University of Dar es Salaam and is now heading the Mwalimu Nyerere Professorial Chair in Pan-African Studies, said Mwalimu was a strong personality who believed in leadership principles, a quality not found in most leaders of our time.
The don was speaking at a special forum organised at the Diamond Jubilee Hall in Dar es Salaam ahead of the Nyerere Day today, to revisit Mwalimu's legacy.
He said until his last days, Mwalimu was a great believer of socialist policies and openly opposed the capitalist mode as it did not provide for the poor, who constitute the majority in the country.
Shivji said one of the most pressing challenges that the present leaders are facing, especially in developing countries, is exercising leadership in systems which enrich a few at the expense of the majority poor.
According to him, the capitalist system has promoted corruption and brought problems to the ordinary people and no solutions to the poor majority, mostly residing in rural areas.
“Mwalimu Nyerere fought against the capitalist system, because he knew that it promotes classes of the haves and the have-nots; classes of those who are suffering and those who are enjoying the national cake,” said Shivji.
“People now have no humanity at all, they think of how to generate and accumulate wealth - a tendency that Mwalimu didn’t allow or entertain during his leadership,” he added.
He, however, said the world was now tired of capitalism, a system which he blamed for fuelling corruption all over the world, and that some big nations were now thinking of adopting some socialist values.
Speaking at the same occasion, State Minister in the President’s Office (Public Service Management) Hawa Ghasia said Mwalimu was an example of good leaders who adhered to leadership ethics.
She said all leaders were trying to compare themselves with Mwalimu, a clear sign that for many he was an exemplary leader.
NCCR-Mageuzi national chairman, James Mbatia, said in his open letter to the public yesterday that his party would remember Mwalimu for being a champion of educating the public practically on matters of human dignity.
“This is shown in his life. Mwalimu Nyerere as a father of a family; in his profession as a teacher, in his socialist politics and in his leadership as the chairman of a political party, and particularly in his position as the first President of Tanzania,” Mbatia said.
He added: “For him, human dignity was a fundamental right given by God; it was the responsibility of the government to protect this right and it was a must for the society to develop it.”
Mbatia said “Nyerere taught us that God is one; Tanzania is one, and Tanzanians are one. He also reminded us that our National Anthem starts with the word God.”
The NCCR-Magaeuzi chairman said Nyerere insisted on national unity particularly by using one language, Kiswahili and the word Brethren (Ndugu).
“He believed and showed practically that the presence of classes in the community was against humanity,” he said.
Nyerere Day is marked annually on October 14 – the day Mwalimu died at a London hospital. He was born on April 13, 1922 at Butiama village in Mara Region and served as the first President of Tanzania, previously Tanganyika, from the country's independence in 1961 until his retirement in 1985.
Nyerere, son to Zanaki chief Nyerere Burito (1860-1942), is known by the Swahili name Mwalimu or 'teacher', which was his profession prior to politics.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
REF: http://www.ippmedia.com/
14th October 2009
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Customers unhappy with LUKU
By Gadiosa Lamtey
28th September 2009
Many incur `unrecoverable loss` as network collapses again
Pre-paid meters (Luku).
The Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) pre-paid meters (Luku) network collapsed over the weekend, the third time this year alone.
The failure partly frustrated business and domestic life, a survey by ‘The Guardian’ has established.
Most vending stations were down for the most hours of Saturday and yesterday. Tanesco authorities have blamed the failure to hitches on the Tanzania Telecommunications Company Ltd (TTCL)’s network.
According to Tanesco, the TTCL is responsible for managing operations of the systems of its Luku vending stations.
Interviewed, some customers who endured the brunt of living in darkness for about 24 hours talked of unrecoverable losses they incurred as a result of the Luku system failure.
A Luku customer from Mwananyamala, Nuru Mhina, said on Saturday she slept in darkness and was forced to throw away some foodstuffs which were stored in the fridge.
“The food rot in my fridge because Tanesco failed to supply us power through its vending stations,” she complained.
She said the problem of network failure was now becoming common with increased occurrence.
Nuru was also very much concerned over failure of the power utility company to notify the customers on the failure.
Complaining about delays, she said: “You may go to a vending centre at 10 am and get caught in a long queue until say 12. Sometimes, we are being forced to postpone other activities just to buy power,” she said.
Another customer at Oilcom Science area Hamisi Songoro who spoke to ‘The Guardian’ while standing in queue waiting for his turn to get the service proposed that it would be better for Tanesco to return to the previous system of post-paying because the Luku system was becoming ‘cumbersome.’
“It’s very bad that the system is becoming inefficient…Tanesco should tell us what all this means and for how long this problem will continue,” a frustrated Songoro said.
Songoro said while it was true that some customers purchased power through mobile phone special services, the system covered only those with digital meters.
“They should bear in mind that a large section of customers are living in houses installed with old Luku meters which operates by using punching cards,” he said.
Tanesco Public Relations Manager Badra Masoud admitted there was problem of network on Saturday which was caused by the TTCL communication network failure.
Badra said such failures were ‘normal’ and wherever they happen customers shouldn’t worry or panic.
She said Tanesco vending stations were open 24 hours to ensure people get the service without problems or delays.
‘The Guardian’ survey established that the system went off around 2pm on Saturday until at around noon yesterday whereby customers around the City were forced to return back home without power thus incurring losses in their business.
Among the Luku centres visited include Mwananyamala Kwa Manjunju, Oilcom at Science area, BP Kijiweni at Sinza, Mwanamboka at Sinza and Komakoma at Mwananyamala.
The system failed at least twice this year alone apart from the weekend’s incident. The previous failures were attributed to attack by an unknown virus and apparent failure of the computer system.
Last September, the Luku network collapsed abruptly due to a technical fault in its main computer system controlling the pre-paid services.
Luku vending machines first came into use in Tanzania in 1995, with most of them installed in Dar es Salaam. Besides Dar es Salaam, Luku metres are in use in Arusha, Dodoma, Mara, Mwanza and Shinyanga regions and several other major urban centres.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
28th September 2009
Many incur `unrecoverable loss` as network collapses again
Pre-paid meters (Luku).
The Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) pre-paid meters (Luku) network collapsed over the weekend, the third time this year alone.
The failure partly frustrated business and domestic life, a survey by ‘The Guardian’ has established.
Most vending stations were down for the most hours of Saturday and yesterday. Tanesco authorities have blamed the failure to hitches on the Tanzania Telecommunications Company Ltd (TTCL)’s network.
According to Tanesco, the TTCL is responsible for managing operations of the systems of its Luku vending stations.
Interviewed, some customers who endured the brunt of living in darkness for about 24 hours talked of unrecoverable losses they incurred as a result of the Luku system failure.
A Luku customer from Mwananyamala, Nuru Mhina, said on Saturday she slept in darkness and was forced to throw away some foodstuffs which were stored in the fridge.
“The food rot in my fridge because Tanesco failed to supply us power through its vending stations,” she complained.
She said the problem of network failure was now becoming common with increased occurrence.
Nuru was also very much concerned over failure of the power utility company to notify the customers on the failure.
Complaining about delays, she said: “You may go to a vending centre at 10 am and get caught in a long queue until say 12. Sometimes, we are being forced to postpone other activities just to buy power,” she said.
Another customer at Oilcom Science area Hamisi Songoro who spoke to ‘The Guardian’ while standing in queue waiting for his turn to get the service proposed that it would be better for Tanesco to return to the previous system of post-paying because the Luku system was becoming ‘cumbersome.’
“It’s very bad that the system is becoming inefficient…Tanesco should tell us what all this means and for how long this problem will continue,” a frustrated Songoro said.
Songoro said while it was true that some customers purchased power through mobile phone special services, the system covered only those with digital meters.
“They should bear in mind that a large section of customers are living in houses installed with old Luku meters which operates by using punching cards,” he said.
Tanesco Public Relations Manager Badra Masoud admitted there was problem of network on Saturday which was caused by the TTCL communication network failure.
Badra said such failures were ‘normal’ and wherever they happen customers shouldn’t worry or panic.
She said Tanesco vending stations were open 24 hours to ensure people get the service without problems or delays.
‘The Guardian’ survey established that the system went off around 2pm on Saturday until at around noon yesterday whereby customers around the City were forced to return back home without power thus incurring losses in their business.
Among the Luku centres visited include Mwananyamala Kwa Manjunju, Oilcom at Science area, BP Kijiweni at Sinza, Mwanamboka at Sinza and Komakoma at Mwananyamala.
The system failed at least twice this year alone apart from the weekend’s incident. The previous failures were attributed to attack by an unknown virus and apparent failure of the computer system.
Last September, the Luku network collapsed abruptly due to a technical fault in its main computer system controlling the pre-paid services.
Luku vending machines first came into use in Tanzania in 1995, with most of them installed in Dar es Salaam. Besides Dar es Salaam, Luku metres are in use in Arusha, Dodoma, Mara, Mwanza and Shinyanga regions and several other major urban centres.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Three albino killers to hang
By Correspondent
24th September 2009
Three albino killers, from left is Masumbuko Madata, Emmanuel Masangwa and Charles Masangwa escorted by police at Shinyanga Court.
The High Court, sitting in this Shinyanga Region town specifically to preside over cases involving albino killings, delivered its first judgement yesterday. It convicted and sentenced to death three accused persons.
Reading the ruling, which lasted about an hour, High Court Judge Gabriel Rwakibalila said the court was satisfied that the evidence presented by the prosecution side proved beyond reasonable doubt the involvement of the three convicts in the killings.
He said the trio conspired and killed schoolboy Matatizo Dunia (13), an albino, on December 1 last year at Bunyihuna village in Shinyanga Region’s Bukombe District.
Those found guilty and now on death row are Masumbuko Madata (32) of Itunga Village, Emmanuel Masangwa (28) of Bunyihuna Village and Charles Kalamuji alias Charles Masangwa (42) of Nanda Village, all in Bukombe District. The court ruled that they committed the crime as per Section 16 of Criminal Act No. 196, as amended in 2002.
“This court has found all of you, first accused Masumbuko Madata, second accused Emmanuel Masangwa and third accused Charles Kalamuji alias Charles Masangwa, guilty of killing Matatizo Dunia, and therefore you will be hanged to death. However, you can appeal the sentence if you so wish,” the judge pronounced.
The long-awaited judgment appeared to please most of the people who had turned up at the court premises in huge numbers for an eyewitness account of the climax of the historic proceedings.
Judge Rwakibalila said the defence furnished the court with evidence meant to present the accused as innocent, adding: “But later evidence from the same side proved that the three accused were in fact solidly behind the killings.”
He explained that despite an inconsequential mix-up of some facts in submissions by the prosecution side, “the truth remained intact and hence the fairness of the judgment delivered by this court against the accused”.
The judge said among the trivial “slip-ups” he was referring to was the number of vehicles used by an unspecified number of police officers during arrest of the suspects.
“It is impossible for human being to remember every detail. However, this cannot change the truth,” he noted.
Added the judge: “The evidence presented in court included statements by Madata’s wife and Masumbuko’s third wife Yunis Peter, who stood as the second prosecution witness. The two women narrated in court how they saw their husbands returning home accompanied by Rajab Luchoronga, who is still at large. They also witnessed Matatizo’s severed legs being recovered from a nearby bush which Masumbuko frequently visited for soothsaying.”
Judge Rwakibalila pointed out further that the evidence presented in court by a bother to Madata showed how the accused fled alongside Luchoronga as the police approached.
“Again, third accused Kalamuji’s wife identified as Sofia Andrew explained how her husband disappeared from the family home on November 30 last year before it was reported that he had been arrested in connection with the killing of an albino,” added the judge.
Commenting on the evidence presented by the Chief Government Chemist, the judge said the first and the third accused were directly implicated in Matatizo’s brutal killing “as DNA samples collected from the boy’s blood technically proved them to have hand a hand in the killing”.
Soon after Judge Rwakibalila was through, the defence side declared that they intended to appeal the ruling.
Defence counsel Kamaliza Kayaga said he was not satisfied with the ruling against his clients and contesting it was the only option they would pursue.
The court adjourned until September 28, which is set for the hearing of another murder case. This time the accused is Joseph Lugota of Kagongwa Village in Isagehe Ward, who stands charged with killing Ng’wana Gimbishi (75) of Kilimbi Village in Mwalugulu Ward in Kahama District.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
www.ippmedia.com
24th September 2009
Three albino killers, from left is Masumbuko Madata, Emmanuel Masangwa and Charles Masangwa escorted by police at Shinyanga Court.
The High Court, sitting in this Shinyanga Region town specifically to preside over cases involving albino killings, delivered its first judgement yesterday. It convicted and sentenced to death three accused persons.
Reading the ruling, which lasted about an hour, High Court Judge Gabriel Rwakibalila said the court was satisfied that the evidence presented by the prosecution side proved beyond reasonable doubt the involvement of the three convicts in the killings.
He said the trio conspired and killed schoolboy Matatizo Dunia (13), an albino, on December 1 last year at Bunyihuna village in Shinyanga Region’s Bukombe District.
Those found guilty and now on death row are Masumbuko Madata (32) of Itunga Village, Emmanuel Masangwa (28) of Bunyihuna Village and Charles Kalamuji alias Charles Masangwa (42) of Nanda Village, all in Bukombe District. The court ruled that they committed the crime as per Section 16 of Criminal Act No. 196, as amended in 2002.
“This court has found all of you, first accused Masumbuko Madata, second accused Emmanuel Masangwa and third accused Charles Kalamuji alias Charles Masangwa, guilty of killing Matatizo Dunia, and therefore you will be hanged to death. However, you can appeal the sentence if you so wish,” the judge pronounced.
The long-awaited judgment appeared to please most of the people who had turned up at the court premises in huge numbers for an eyewitness account of the climax of the historic proceedings.
Judge Rwakibalila said the defence furnished the court with evidence meant to present the accused as innocent, adding: “But later evidence from the same side proved that the three accused were in fact solidly behind the killings.”
He explained that despite an inconsequential mix-up of some facts in submissions by the prosecution side, “the truth remained intact and hence the fairness of the judgment delivered by this court against the accused”.
The judge said among the trivial “slip-ups” he was referring to was the number of vehicles used by an unspecified number of police officers during arrest of the suspects.
“It is impossible for human being to remember every detail. However, this cannot change the truth,” he noted.
Added the judge: “The evidence presented in court included statements by Madata’s wife and Masumbuko’s third wife Yunis Peter, who stood as the second prosecution witness. The two women narrated in court how they saw their husbands returning home accompanied by Rajab Luchoronga, who is still at large. They also witnessed Matatizo’s severed legs being recovered from a nearby bush which Masumbuko frequently visited for soothsaying.”
Judge Rwakibalila pointed out further that the evidence presented in court by a bother to Madata showed how the accused fled alongside Luchoronga as the police approached.
“Again, third accused Kalamuji’s wife identified as Sofia Andrew explained how her husband disappeared from the family home on November 30 last year before it was reported that he had been arrested in connection with the killing of an albino,” added the judge.
Commenting on the evidence presented by the Chief Government Chemist, the judge said the first and the third accused were directly implicated in Matatizo’s brutal killing “as DNA samples collected from the boy’s blood technically proved them to have hand a hand in the killing”.
Soon after Judge Rwakibalila was through, the defence side declared that they intended to appeal the ruling.
Defence counsel Kamaliza Kayaga said he was not satisfied with the ruling against his clients and contesting it was the only option they would pursue.
The court adjourned until September 28, which is set for the hearing of another murder case. This time the accused is Joseph Lugota of Kagongwa Village in Isagehe Ward, who stands charged with killing Ng’wana Gimbishi (75) of Kilimbi Village in Mwalugulu Ward in Kahama District.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
www.ippmedia.com
New threat to albinos at school in Mwanza
New threat to albinos at school in Mwanza
By Staff writer
27th September 2009
Children with albinism admitted to a boarding school at Mitindo in Mwanza Region in efforts to keep them safe away from albino killers, now face a health threat.
According to the head teacher Juma Abdallah the pupils travel up to three kilometers to fetch water from a well far from the school. The school has a total of 148 pupils, 45 of whom are blind while 103 are albinos. Albinos lack pigments in their eyes, skin or hair, making their life difficult in Africa, where there is plenty of sunshine. They are more susceptible to skin cancer and sunburn.
“As you have seen, the pupils are forced to wait under the sun in a queue for a long time, risking their tender skins and weak eyes by exposing them to the sun,” he said.
Other challenges they face are shortage of blankets, bed- sheets, toothbrushes and tooth paste. The school also needs a professional matron and patron as well as regular heath check-ups. Mitindo School in Misungwi District was initially meant for blind children. Now, owing to lack of dormitories, two pupils are now forced to share a bed. “Following the outbreak of albino killings, the government directed us to accommodate the children, but their number is overwhelming and we’ve no alternative as our request for additional budget is yet to materialize,” said the head teacher.
The albinos have been killed for their body parts to be used in witchcraft by persons who seek wealth or sexual potency. At least 53 albinos have been killed since March, 2007 in various parts of the country, mostly in Shinyanga and Mwanza regions.
The killers sell body parts such including arms, legs, hair, skin and genitals to those who practice witchcraft.
Meanwhile, Mwanza Regional Commissioner Abbas Kandoro is currently cautioning parents and guardians to refrain from sending albino children there any more.
He said: "Parents too are duty bound to protect their children," adding that this is not solely a government responsibility. Kandoro called on each district authority in the region to construct a primary school where children with albinism would be mix with other children.
Government and lobby groups say Tanzania has about 170,000 albinos out its population of 40 million people.
SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY
www.ippmedia.com
By Staff writer
27th September 2009
Children with albinism admitted to a boarding school at Mitindo in Mwanza Region in efforts to keep them safe away from albino killers, now face a health threat.
According to the head teacher Juma Abdallah the pupils travel up to three kilometers to fetch water from a well far from the school. The school has a total of 148 pupils, 45 of whom are blind while 103 are albinos. Albinos lack pigments in their eyes, skin or hair, making their life difficult in Africa, where there is plenty of sunshine. They are more susceptible to skin cancer and sunburn.
“As you have seen, the pupils are forced to wait under the sun in a queue for a long time, risking their tender skins and weak eyes by exposing them to the sun,” he said.
Other challenges they face are shortage of blankets, bed- sheets, toothbrushes and tooth paste. The school also needs a professional matron and patron as well as regular heath check-ups. Mitindo School in Misungwi District was initially meant for blind children. Now, owing to lack of dormitories, two pupils are now forced to share a bed. “Following the outbreak of albino killings, the government directed us to accommodate the children, but their number is overwhelming and we’ve no alternative as our request for additional budget is yet to materialize,” said the head teacher.
The albinos have been killed for their body parts to be used in witchcraft by persons who seek wealth or sexual potency. At least 53 albinos have been killed since March, 2007 in various parts of the country, mostly in Shinyanga and Mwanza regions.
The killers sell body parts such including arms, legs, hair, skin and genitals to those who practice witchcraft.
Meanwhile, Mwanza Regional Commissioner Abbas Kandoro is currently cautioning parents and guardians to refrain from sending albino children there any more.
He said: "Parents too are duty bound to protect their children," adding that this is not solely a government responsibility. Kandoro called on each district authority in the region to construct a primary school where children with albinism would be mix with other children.
Government and lobby groups say Tanzania has about 170,000 albinos out its population of 40 million people.
SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY
www.ippmedia.com
Thursday, September 17, 2009
TANZANIA: In Tanzania, a Maasai Girl Escapes to Education
By David Conrad
ARUSHA, Tanzania (Reuters) - At 12, brown-eyed Neema Laizer persuaded her elementary school teacher to accept one liter of milk each morning instead of money because her father refused to pay for a girl to be educated.
At 13, her father selected a 30-year-old stranger to be her husband. The next day, she was supposed to drop out of school and begin a new life as a housewife and a mother within a year, a common fate for young Maasai girls in Tanzania.
Laizer had a different plan.
While her father slept, she and her mother quietly packed a small backpack of clothes, then she slipped on a pair of black rubber sandals and escaped by moonlight through heavy tears and forest brush, running more than a mile to her uncle's home.
The next morning, the two of them drove for six hours to a refuge 200 miles away that he had whispered to her about.
Now 19, Laizer is preparing to start college in the autumn -- hoping to be the country's first Maasai woman doctor -- and speaking out against female genital mutilation, forced marriage, and violence against Maasai women in the East African country.
"In the village, we only exist to earn cows for our parents and to serve a man we normally do not love," said Laizer, referring to the dowry of cattle paid for brides.
The Pastoral Women's Council, a non-government organization, estimates at least three Maasai girls run away from home daily to escape arranged marriages.
Hundreds of thousands of others are enslaved by oppressive traditions handed down by their elders, while the laws to protect them are rarely enforced, even as unsuspecting tourists marvel at their beadwork.
The Maasai, easily recognized by their colorful dress and traditional jewellery, number about 1 million throughout the hills of northern Tanzania. Fewer than 10 percent of girls reach secondary or high school and fewer than 12 have received a college diploma, according to Maasai schools and support groups.
Most young women are denied education, forced to marry men decades older, and face a life of servitude, abuse and rape.
"These aren't traditions worth protecting ... because girls are being refused education, they just don't understand," Laizer told Reuters. "Some are starting to say it's wrong, but only in secret. I am ready to talk openly about it. The Maasai must change."
SCHOOL OF DISCOVERY
The refuge that freed Laizer from her tribal traditions lies in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro at the end of a ruddy dirt road lined with banana trees and footprints, behind 10-foot (three-meter) high bushes and white steel gates.
A remedial school for 13-to-18-year-old girls, the Emusoi Center was founded by Catholic missionaries with the help of one of Tanzania's few female Maasai college graduates, and is now home to 75 Maasai girls.
Since it opened in 1998 Emusoi, a Maasai word meaning "discovery," has placed more than 400 in 80 boarding schools across Tanzania after housing them for one year. Of the 240 or so Maasai girls who started secondary school in the country last year, 119 had been through Emusoi.
Tanzania's government has created programmes to encourage semi-nomadic peoples such as the Maasai to educate their children and not marry off under-age girls, but to little effect. Laizer cited many tactics used by Maasai men to preserve the status quo.
In her village, she said, girls as young as six are forced into wedlock. Those who manage to evade marriage after elementary school may be raped -- a pregnant girl is not allowed to attend school in Tanzania.
"It is a strategy," said Sister Mary Vertucci, who created the centre with the help of 29-year-old Maasai graduate Anna Shinini. Girls who make it to Emusoi risk being raped if they return home for a holiday: "The men of their village will plan to do it ahead of time so the girl can't leave again."
Such practices are illegal, but law enforcement in Tanzania is often a struggle. Laizer's mother was hospitalized after being nearly beaten to death for aiding her escape. Laizer herself did not return home for four years after running away.
So Emusoi never closes. Seventy girls spent Christmas there last year.
WHAT'S TANZANIA?
The girls' year at the school in the resort of Arusha is also an introduction to electricity, running water and meeting people from other tribes, said Vertucci in a cement-floored office of bare walls, filing cabinets, bulletin boards and an aged Dell computer.
Many new arrivals do not even know they live in a country called Tanzania.
"We ask them what their nationality is. But many of them will just say the name of their village -- they've never even heard the word Tanzania before," she said.
"They don't understand that they are part of a bigger country ... (never mind) the concept that there is a whole other world of opportunities and lifestyles out there for them."
"Normally, circumcision and marriage is the way, not school or work or planning a future like that," said Vertucci. "These girls are really becoming role models who never existed before."
Emusoi students are set to be the first Maasai women to take up several professional roles in the country: one of the school's earliest students, Teika Simango, 25, is due to complete her legal training later this year.
The Maasai's seclusion -- and resistance among the males -- remain major obstacles, said teacher Shinini.
"I will go to the door of many girls' homes in remote villages, and tell them 'just graduate from primary school and then I know where you can go,"' said Shinini. "It's dangerous, but I want to help my people. What else can I do?"
Laizer finally returned to her village after she had finished secondary school. She smiled as she re-lived the moment: "Now, everything is fine," she said. "Even with my father, he understands now."..............
Ref: http://www.fgmnetwork.org/gonews.php?subaction=showfull&id=1201898129&archive=
ARUSHA, Tanzania (Reuters) - At 12, brown-eyed Neema Laizer persuaded her elementary school teacher to accept one liter of milk each morning instead of money because her father refused to pay for a girl to be educated.
At 13, her father selected a 30-year-old stranger to be her husband. The next day, she was supposed to drop out of school and begin a new life as a housewife and a mother within a year, a common fate for young Maasai girls in Tanzania.
Laizer had a different plan.
While her father slept, she and her mother quietly packed a small backpack of clothes, then she slipped on a pair of black rubber sandals and escaped by moonlight through heavy tears and forest brush, running more than a mile to her uncle's home.
The next morning, the two of them drove for six hours to a refuge 200 miles away that he had whispered to her about.
Now 19, Laizer is preparing to start college in the autumn -- hoping to be the country's first Maasai woman doctor -- and speaking out against female genital mutilation, forced marriage, and violence against Maasai women in the East African country.
"In the village, we only exist to earn cows for our parents and to serve a man we normally do not love," said Laizer, referring to the dowry of cattle paid for brides.
The Pastoral Women's Council, a non-government organization, estimates at least three Maasai girls run away from home daily to escape arranged marriages.
Hundreds of thousands of others are enslaved by oppressive traditions handed down by their elders, while the laws to protect them are rarely enforced, even as unsuspecting tourists marvel at their beadwork.
The Maasai, easily recognized by their colorful dress and traditional jewellery, number about 1 million throughout the hills of northern Tanzania. Fewer than 10 percent of girls reach secondary or high school and fewer than 12 have received a college diploma, according to Maasai schools and support groups.
Most young women are denied education, forced to marry men decades older, and face a life of servitude, abuse and rape.
"These aren't traditions worth protecting ... because girls are being refused education, they just don't understand," Laizer told Reuters. "Some are starting to say it's wrong, but only in secret. I am ready to talk openly about it. The Maasai must change."
SCHOOL OF DISCOVERY
The refuge that freed Laizer from her tribal traditions lies in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro at the end of a ruddy dirt road lined with banana trees and footprints, behind 10-foot (three-meter) high bushes and white steel gates.
A remedial school for 13-to-18-year-old girls, the Emusoi Center was founded by Catholic missionaries with the help of one of Tanzania's few female Maasai college graduates, and is now home to 75 Maasai girls.
Since it opened in 1998 Emusoi, a Maasai word meaning "discovery," has placed more than 400 in 80 boarding schools across Tanzania after housing them for one year. Of the 240 or so Maasai girls who started secondary school in the country last year, 119 had been through Emusoi.
Tanzania's government has created programmes to encourage semi-nomadic peoples such as the Maasai to educate their children and not marry off under-age girls, but to little effect. Laizer cited many tactics used by Maasai men to preserve the status quo.
In her village, she said, girls as young as six are forced into wedlock. Those who manage to evade marriage after elementary school may be raped -- a pregnant girl is not allowed to attend school in Tanzania.
"It is a strategy," said Sister Mary Vertucci, who created the centre with the help of 29-year-old Maasai graduate Anna Shinini. Girls who make it to Emusoi risk being raped if they return home for a holiday: "The men of their village will plan to do it ahead of time so the girl can't leave again."
Such practices are illegal, but law enforcement in Tanzania is often a struggle. Laizer's mother was hospitalized after being nearly beaten to death for aiding her escape. Laizer herself did not return home for four years after running away.
So Emusoi never closes. Seventy girls spent Christmas there last year.
WHAT'S TANZANIA?
The girls' year at the school in the resort of Arusha is also an introduction to electricity, running water and meeting people from other tribes, said Vertucci in a cement-floored office of bare walls, filing cabinets, bulletin boards and an aged Dell computer.
Many new arrivals do not even know they live in a country called Tanzania.
"We ask them what their nationality is. But many of them will just say the name of their village -- they've never even heard the word Tanzania before," she said.
"They don't understand that they are part of a bigger country ... (never mind) the concept that there is a whole other world of opportunities and lifestyles out there for them."
"Normally, circumcision and marriage is the way, not school or work or planning a future like that," said Vertucci. "These girls are really becoming role models who never existed before."
Emusoi students are set to be the first Maasai women to take up several professional roles in the country: one of the school's earliest students, Teika Simango, 25, is due to complete her legal training later this year.
The Maasai's seclusion -- and resistance among the males -- remain major obstacles, said teacher Shinini.
"I will go to the door of many girls' homes in remote villages, and tell them 'just graduate from primary school and then I know where you can go,"' said Shinini. "It's dangerous, but I want to help my people. What else can I do?"
Laizer finally returned to her village after she had finished secondary school. She smiled as she re-lived the moment: "Now, everything is fine," she said. "Even with my father, he understands now."..............
Ref: http://www.fgmnetwork.org/gonews.php?subaction=showfull&id=1201898129&archive=
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