This is what life is for most of the Dar Es Salaam residents. Lack of water, electricity, healthcare, educational opportunities and jobs are a reality. Watch the video to see the real life of the majority of Dar Es Salaam residents.
Month: July 2011
Nairobi Westgate Mall Bombing, Kenya
This is what I wrote two years ago about Somalia. Is it still relevant?? Is this a continuation of the indecisive political capitals in East Africa? Is Dar Es Salaam prepared for the incoming terrorist act?
By Shaaban Fundi,
I deeply regret the loss of lives and the senseless injuries caused by the bombings in Kampala. I wish the injured a speedy recovery and the dead mercy from the creator. And to the relatives of the victims, time will heal the wounds and sorrows. The killing of innocent people should be forcefully condemned.
What should Uganda do now? The issue of dealing with al Shabaab should not be left to Uganda alone. If they can bomb Kampala, then they are indeed capable of bombing Nairobi, Dar es Salaam or Kigali at any time in the future. It should be a collective gesture by the East African Community to show al Shabaab that East Africa is fed up with this barbaric and nonsense killings of innocents.
Somalis terrorists have now become a regional nuisance that needs to be dealt with decisively. Forces should be combined (Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda etc) to uproot them from their bases in Mogadishu and wherever they might be hiding in the countryside. Their acts and existence are destabilising the region and hindering further investment in East Africa from outside investors.
As East Africans are trying to build an integrated East Africa, we can’t lose sight of the problem of piracy, terrorism and refugees streaming from Somaliland. It is in the interest of East African nations to deal with this problem now, once and for all. These resolutions after resolutions by the AU of sending peacekeepers to keep nonexistent peace in Somalia should end.
We East Africans actually need to go into Somali, create peace by disarming all the fighting factions and then keep the peace until Somalis are ready to lead their own county.
We have been watching Somalis kill each other for far too long, over 20 years in fact. The fact of the matter is they seem incapable of figuring out solutions to their problems. It is now time for neighbours to intervene. We are not going to intervene just because it is morally right, but because we will also be preventing future attacks.
If Tanzania, with the support of Ugandans, was able to uprooted the ruthless regime of Idi Amin Dada, three countries or more in the East African bloc should be able to do the same in Somalia with the help of moderate Somalis.
This is our problem and we need to deal with it as East Africans. America and the West will not be fully engaged in this as their interventions around the world usually involve the presence of oil or minerals resource in the country in question, and Somalia has neither.
As the AU head of states gather in Kampala from July 25, this issue needs to be at the top of the summit’s agenda. The Somalia problem cannot be left to take its own cause any longer and needs to be dealt with forcefully and conclusively.
Atlanta Public Schools Cheating Scandal
By Shaaban Fundi
It has been all over the news channels for the most part of last and this week. It is a huge scandal involving 178 teachers and administrators in 44 different schools. Some of the accused have already confessed to changing student’s test answers and doing special arrangements to raise students’ achievement in their schools.
In following this issue, I came across an article on the internationalguy’s blog that talks in detail about what happened (an inconvenience truth in his views). I do not agree entirely with the author but there is some truth on what he is saying (despite some racist vernom in his writings). Read the article here and arrive at your own conclusion.
A story about appreciation
Unknown Author,
One young academically excellent person went to apply for a managerial position in a big company. He passed the first interview; the director did the last interview, made the last decision.
The director discovered from the CV that the young man’s academic achievements were excellent all the way, from the secondary school until the postgraduate research, never had a year when he did not have high scores.
The director asked, “Did you obtain any scholarships in school?” the youth answered “none”.
The director asked, “Was it your father who paid for your school fees?” The youth answered, “My father passed away when I was one year old, it was my mother who paid for my school fees.
The director asked, “Where did your mother work?” The young man answered, “My mother worked as clothes cleaner.
The director requested the youth to show his hands. The young man showed a pair of hands that were smooth and perfect.
The director asked, “Have you ever helped your mother wash the clothes before?” The youth answered, “Never, my mother always wanted me to study and read more books. Furthermore, my mother can wash clothes faster than me.
The director said, “I have a request. When you go back today, go and clean your mother’s hands, and then see me tomorrow morning.”
The youth felt that his chance of landing the job was high. When he went back, he happily requested his mother to let him clean her hands. His mother felt strange, happy but with mixed feelings, she showed her hands to the kid.
The young man cleaned his mother’s hands slowly. His tear fell as he did that. It was the first time he noticed that his mother’s hands were so wrinkled, and there were so many bruises in her hands. Some bruises were so painful that his mother shivered when they were cleaned with water. This was the first time the youth realized that it was this pair of hands that washed the clothes everyday to enable him to pay the school fee. The bruises in the mother’s hands were the price that the mother had to pay for his graduation, academic excellence and his future.
After finishing the cleaning of his mother hands, the youth quietly washed all the remaining clothes for his mother.
That night, mother and son talked for a very long time. Next morning, the young man went to the director’s office.
The Director noticed the tears in the youth’s eyes, asked: “Can you tell me what have you done and learned yesterday in your house?”
The youngman answered, “I cleaned my mother’s hand, and also finished cleaning all the remaining clothes’
The Director asked, “Please tell me your feelings.”
The young man said, Number 1, I know now what Appreciation is. Without my mother, there would not the successful me today. Number 2, by working together and helping my mother, only I now realize how difficult and tough it is to get something done. Number 3, I have come to appreciate the importance and value of family relationship.
The director said, “This is what I am looking for to be my manager. I want to recruit a person who can appreciate the help of others, a person who knows the sufferings of others to get things done, and a person who would not put money as his only goal in life. You are hired.
Later on, this young person worked very hard, and received the respect of his subordinates. Every employee worked diligently and as a team. The company’s performance improved tremendously.
A child, who has been protected and habitually given whatever he wanted, would develop “entitlement mentality” and would always put himself first. He would be ignorant of his parent’s efforts. When he starts work, he assumes that every person must listen to him, and when he becomes a manager, he would never know the sufferings of his employees and would always blame others.
For this kind of people, who may be good academically, may be successful for a while, but eventually would not feel sense of achievement. He will grumble and be full of hatred and fight for more. If we are this kind of protective parents, are we really showing love or are we destroying the kid instead?
You can let your kid live in a big house, eat a good meal, learn piano, watch a big screen TV. But when you are cutting grass, please let them experience it. After a meal, let them wash their plates and bowls together with their brothers and sisters. It is not because you do not have money to hire a maid, but it is because you want to love them in a right way. You want them to understand, no matter how rich their parents are, one day their hair will grow gray, same as the mother of that young person.
Student Wasting Valuable Time in Tanzanian Schools.
By Shaaban Fundi
If education and how we educate our children is paramount to you, you may find Mr. Daudi Msseemmaa’s (of lenana blog) excellent analysis of Twaweza recent report to be very insightful. Kudos to lenana blog for sharing this very interesting report and story.
Global Cycle Solutions
By Shaaban Fundi
The title says it all. This is a company based in Arusha, Tanzania. They build bicycles universally adaptable cellphone chargers, maize sheller kits and beyond to help people in the remote areas of Tanzania make their work and lives much easier. check them out by clicking here.
Uranium Mining in the Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania
By Shaaban Fundi
Once again the government of Tanzania is embarking into Uranium mining without a sound environmental impact assessment. While environmental impacts associated with the construction of a highway through the Serengeti National Park have not been completely and dully resolved, the same government is now proposing the mining of Uranium in the Selous Game Reserve which is one of the very few world heritage sites in Tanzania.
Just to recap the facts. When mining uranium, even the utmost grade deposits have less than 1% . Therefore, to obtain enough and useful amount of uranium, a vast amounts of ore have to be processed. In addition, the leftover (waste) rocks also known as tailings are nearly as radioactive as uranium itself. These tailings need to be secluded from the environment to avoid a cancer epidemic for 25,000 years or more.
I guess the minister in charge is not aware or chose to forget the facts.
Moreover, one of the elements along the uranium radiation chain is radon, a radioactive gas which can travel for hundreds of kilometers prior to decaying. Radon gas contamination issue actually happens at the mining site and its surrounding environment and not when uranium is enriched. Mine workers, villagers and animals near the mining site who breathe in this gas risk developing lung cancer and other kinds of lung diseases. Some vivid examples of health issues associated with uranium mining “tailings” are still evident in the Grand Canyon Region of the United States today.
In addition to polluting the air, water and earth with radioactive chemicals and heavy metals which can never be completely cleaned up, Uranium mining is also related with poisonous process chemicals, heavy metals and the use of vast quantities of water (read my previous article entitled “Uranium Mining Resource or Curse for Tanzania” to understand more about the water issue).
In the short-term, uranium mining sites ruin the ecology of the local region; in the long-term they pose a risk to a much wider area for thousands of years to come.
The health risks of uranium mining are by now fairly well-known, although still highly disputed by governments and the mining industry itself. It is a known fact that, uranium miners, the locals and the animals near the site suffer the maximum radiation doses of all in the nuclear fuel chain.
The major problems are inhalation of dust and radon gas, which leave alpha radiation emitters lodged in the body where they can do serious harm. As the pollution from the mines spread away from the mine site, local people and animals are also exposed to contamination. While uranium mining is highly related to cancer, low-level radiation is also associated with birth defects, high infant mortality rates and chronic lung, eyes, skin and reproductive illnesses.
What plans does Tanzania have in place to make sure that all these dangers are addressed, avoided or minimized before mining commences? What are the short and the long-term plans to mitigate or reduce the impact to human health, the environment and the beauty of the Selous Game Reserve?
Again…..just me thinking!!!!! What are your thoughts?
http://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/xgsedy
Gabon:The impact of Areva’s uranium mining by france24english
What’s what?
By Shaaban Fundi
I know. A whole week has gone bye bye and I have not had the audacity to write anything. Speaking of audacity, since when have I had the audacity to write anything worth reading anyways.
Yes, sometimes it is hard to write. I have had my ears on the ground all these days but nothing seems to be worth my comments. I usually watch, listen and view things to get my inspiration to write. Nothing appears to inspire me this week!!! What’s the hell is going on?
To the tree huggers like myself and all those who have abstained from this habit. I would like to pass on a thought provoking interview from author of The Failure of Environmental Education (And How We Can Fix It), Charles Saylan. Take a look and tell me what you think? Click here for the interview.
Just think!!! You might learn something new today. Hahahahah!! I seriously dought it.
www.kibogoji.com 