Education can change people’s lives. And for many, it has done just that. The trans-formative power of education especially for poor rural children is surreal. Numerous examples exists of people climbing the economic ladder due to education in a single generation. The examples are too many for the poor in rural areas not to notice.
But, is this still the reality of today’s education system in Tanzania?
Discussing education opportunities for their childrenIn Tanzania and much of the developing countries, children are looked at as investments. The more education one acquires, the better the chance to land a lucrative job afterwards. This in turn, guarantees a good living wage, retirement (plan) for themselves, and their parents.
Unfortunately in the past decade, this line of reasoning has turned into a trap for many families in Tanzania.
Many rural families spend a lot of capital to send their sons and daughters to schools following this fallacy. In other words many parents are hoping for a good return on their investments–that is not actually there. They hope to create a “safety net” for themselves because none exist through the government. This is especially true for peasant families that don’t receive any type of retirement income after many years of hard work.
walking to school
For most of the rural kids attending ward secondary schools, the prospect of ending up with a division zero and/or four “if they are luck” is hanging at 85% according to statistics from the Tanzanian Ministry of Education’s data on form IV pass rates for the past 3 years. All of these failing kids are a retirement investment plan that has gone sour for themselves and their parents. If this was a bank doing this kind of business(education utapeli)–many people will be heading to jail for selling a fake product. The parents are losing money twice in this scheme: (1) a shot at a decent life for their kids and (2) a retirement investment for themselves.
Pupils sweeping the ground in the morning
The pathetic state of the schools and the schooling conditions is killing the dream that many Tanzanian families have for their children. And the sad thing is–this was not the case from independence all the way to the nineties. Most of the people you see occupying the high-rise offices in Dar came up from poor families through education. Education then, was a much flatter playing field than it is today.
Chacha Mwizi na Wenziwe Wakijadiriana juu ya kubadirisha Mayai Mabovu Kilonzo na mkwewe walipitia sokoni kununua MAYAI. Walipofika sokoni wakakuta wachuuzi kadhaa wakiwa wamepanga mapakacha yao ya MAYAI. KILONZO akamwendea mchuuzi mmoja aitwae CHACHA MWIZI na kununua mayai kadhaa kwa ajili ya familia yake.
Walipofika nyumbani wakagundua kuwa mengi ya mayai yale yalikuwa yameharibika. Wakarudi mpaka sokoni na kumkuta CHACHA MWIZI akiendelea na uchuuzi wake.
Wakamlalamikia kuhusu bidhaa alizowauzia naye akakubali KUWABADILISHIA na kuwapa MENGINE. Cha kustaajabisha kufika tena nyumbani wakagundua kuwa hata yale waliyopewa yalikuwa yameharibika.
BABA MKWE kwa hekima kubwa akamshauri KILONZO kutonunua Mayai tena toka kwa CHACHA MWIZI kwani inaonekana hana bidhaa nzuri yamkini.
Kama ikibidi basi ajaribu kubadilisha mchuuzi na labda anunue toka kwa mzee CHAMWEMA au hata kwa NASSORO au ikibidi kwa CHAFU.
Hadithi hii inatufundisha mengi sana WATANZANIA, tumefikia wakati sasa WANASIASA wanatuona kama MAZUZU kwenye nchi yetu wenyewe. Ni wakati wa kuamka, kupigania chetu na kudai haki zetu. Bilioni 550 iliyopotea waeleze iko wapi na sio kutubadilishia Mayai kila siku.
Mayai haya yanatakiwa yapelekwe mahakamani na kama siyo yote, baadhi yafungwe na kurejesha mali ya wizi.
Tushajua pakacha zima limeoza.
Inasikitisha na inahudhunisha na ikumbukwe SIASA ni mchezo mchafu sana na hiki utakachopigania leo ni kwa ajili ya WATOTO au WAJUKUU zako. Ni wakati wa mabadiliko ama CHACHA MWIZI abadili mfumo mzima wa upatikanaji wa bidhaa zake au WATU hatununui bidhaa zake kabisaaaa!!!
The other day, a couple I had met at the DICOTA Convention in Washington, D.C. showed up in Atlanta all the way from the state of Virginia, and Chesapeake in particular. They just wanted a taste of Atlanta. Being a family, the night life was not in their agenda. Therefore we had to do the day stuffs around the city.
We left the house and drove into downtown Atlanta. In downtown, we decided to buy a city pass and just do the triangle (3) attractions surrounding Centennial Park (Georgia Aquarium, World of Coca Cola and the CNN headquarters) where the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games was held.
We started with the World of Coca Cola. Here is the story of Coca Cola in pictures. J.S.Pemberton is the Atlanta pharmacist who created and introduced Coca Cola in May 8th, 1886. The name Coca Cola was actually suggested to him by his secretary. J.S.Pemberton sold the formula and the whole company for $2300 The Secret Formula is Kept in this Vault A collection of Coca Cola advertisements from around the world
Here are my sponsors for this tour: Mr and Mrs Josephat Mboyi and their son, Jonathan. Mr and Mrs Josephat Mboyi and Jonathan Mr and Mrs Mboyi Mr and Mrs Mboyi Mrs Mboyi "up close and personal"
The East African Members of parliament selection process will be formalized in the next few hours in Dodoma, Tanzania. The 9 members will mostly come from the party that is undergoing a molting phase—according to party officials.
The process for selecting CCM representative to the EA has been secretive and majority of the selectees have been finger picked by the few top CCM cronies. No announcement or real criteria were given to the many Tanzanians who would have liked to participate in representing Tanzania to the East African community parliament.
This has lead many people to believe that the Urithishanaji process was on the offing. Who can blame them for reaching such conclusion?
To make this process fair and inclusive of all Tanzanian with aspiration for the EA bunge, three things need to happen:
1)Members of the East Africa parliament should not have any party affiliations. They represent Tanzania in EA and not a party.
2)Nine regions need to be created within Tanzania (mainland and Zanzibar) where everyone that likes to be an EA member of parliament can contest for the office.
3)Wananchi should vote for their EA representative. Period. The EA representatives will represent the interest of Tanzania as a country and not a party or a group of cronies or lobbyists.
I wish members of parliament from all political parties in Tanzania will see the obvious and walk out of this sham exercise of selecting hand-picked individuals to represent Tanzania in the East Africa Community. In a democratic society like Tanzania, lets not allow a few individuals to dictate the interest of the country. For democracy to prevail, people and only the people should choose their representative to the EA community.
What are you views on this issues………………………………………?????
Shaaban Fundi’s Critique of Mcdaniels, T.M. and Gregory, R. (2004) paper titled “Learning as an Objective Within a Structured Risk Management Decision Process” published in the journal of Environmental Science &Technology, 38(7): 1921-1926.
The authors introduce the complexity of issues associated with managing health, safety risks and the environment. They argue that social learning through adaptive management holds the promise of providing the basis for better risk management in the future.
To support their argument, they provided an outline for fostering improved risk management decisions. The outline includes the key concepts such as learning for current and future decisions as one of several explicit objectives for the decision at hand. They view risk management as a policy analytic decision process that is virtually enhanced by the breadth of and/or the value of the information that is available to the stakeholders.
Furthermore, they put forth the advantages of viewing learning as an objective including potential benefits from the view-point of the stakeholders, institutions involved, and for the decision process itself. The authors link learning through adaptive management to the concepts of structured decision aiding involving different stakeholders. One key aspect of decision aiding in this context involves treating learning as one of the several objectives for the policy decision that you are trying to make. They emphasized the role of learning as a means to foster good decision processes within stakeholder groups.
Strength of the paper:
The authors made an unprecedented effort to support their view point that learning be included explicitly as one of the objectives in a structured decision process involving a broader coalition of stakeholders. They used an example from Mcdaniels et al. in which learning is explicitly considered as an objective within a multiple objective decision analysis for a salmon fishery management decision. In this example three steps needed to treat learning as one of multiple objectives in an analytical term were put forward and they include an objective, a performance measure, and explicit tradeoff.
In addition, the authors argued that the use of a structured decision process helps the basis for a better decision. The steps taken in a structured decision process leads to more informed consideration of the tradeoffs arising in selecting among the alternatives. The approach helps frame individual and collective thinking and inform the limited rationality that influences all decision process. The utility value of the decision at hand is also important especially for a structured decision involving multi-stakeholders each expecting and/or visualizing a different set of values to be obtained from the decision process.
The author finally uses Kai Lee’s example to stress the point that learning is accomplished in the world of real politics through informed negotiation and planning in policy formulation processes. Kai lee places emphasis on creating and implementing alternatives to foster learning for managing environmental risks, particularly within the context of stakeholders advisory groups.
Overall the authors have made a very strong case in explaining the benefits of including learning as an explicit objective in a structured decision process involving multi-stakeholders.
Weakness of the paper:
The concept that value is the motivation of every decision regarding risk management processes is crucial and I feel that the authors have failed to link the association between a risk and the value it pertains in decision process. This is with regard to the idea that most stakeholders (laymen) are unaware of the intrinsic values (non utilitarian values) of the biological system at large and it is very difficult to put a monetary value to them. Because of the complexity of these systems, it is more likely for the decision to favor the more informed (industrial group) rather than the local stakeholders.
The other very important issue was that the structured decision process approach does not assume and/or require full knowledge and formal rationality on the part of the participants. It only assumes that participants are interested enough in the consequences of the decision to think through their objectives and the alternatives as well as they can. This to me is not good enough, I believe the value of focused thinking would be a better alternative as it includes the value of information in the decision making process and it does not rely too much on just the interest of stakeholders.
I attended the Africa E-learning Forum at Mlimani City last year in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Most of the participants I spoke with were abuzz with this issue. They explained to me— E- learning could be a game changer for Africans— not just for improving content attainment for our students but also as a resource and a tool that will foster a new brand of African renovation.
I looked at them and said sure!
There are some great examples for E-learning successes in African countries like Ghana, South Africa and Nigeria. All these examples point to the benefits that Africa can and will receive if it invests heavily in E-learning and IT education. Massive work and government commitment is needed for all these pipe dreams to become a reality.
E- Learning programming are very expensive. The infrastructure to support massive data bandwidth is not there yet in most African countries. This situation applies to both rural and urban areas. E-learning will not flourish in a wireless cell phone dependent kind of environment. The wireless environment is simply too expensive for data transfer and is really not reliable.
While I see the need to transfer learning platforms into the E-learning environment, I don’t think Africa should invest blindedly in self-directed E-Learning courses part as of yet. These courses are time-consuming and expensive to design and produce.
There is little to no expertise in this area in most african countries since educated Africans still look at educational expertise as worthless endeavor.
Africa and Tanzania in particular could benefit more if they use ICT’s usefulness as a resource library —to store many articles on a DVD, videos, and pre-saved computer simulated labs or as a practicing tool to help students to learn how to type, to conduct source research and other useful skills building activities using a computer.
In addition, the E learning center could be used by students as resource and skills building centers–where students and the local population could access pre-stored information from the computers’ hard drives or cds and dvds in a as needed basis.
I had written a year ago about land grabbing issues in Tanzania. I had described “the idle land” argument the government uses to push away poor peasants from their traditional land. Some of this land grabbing phenomenon is having a huge impact in perpetuating poverty for the rural residents in the country.
The new constitution needs to take land away from the governments and back to its rightful owners, the locals in their own villages, vitongojis and the likes.
Some education on land ownership need to be provided to the villagers so that they can make informed decision on what to do with their ancestral land. The crooks from the government should not be allowed to strike land deals with foreign or local investors in any shape or form.
Here is a very good article on this issue. Read it.
This debate come and go every year when the dismal pass rates of our secondary and primary school students are announced. This year, this same debate came with a twist. The guardian newspaper reported recently that the Deputy Minister for Education and Vocational Training Philipo Mulugo and the government of Tanzania are in the process of drafting a new policy to make Kiswahili the language of instruction in both primary and secondary schools in Tanzania.
It is indeed true that the current system is not working. Everyone agrees with this premise. To make this situation worse, there is no ideal solution to the problem. This problem is so complex and multi-faceted.
While I see the value of a Kiswahili only model in improving students’ scores and comprehension for all the subjects matter, I fear that this new system will only perpetuate the already existing stratified education system in Tanzania between the very few “ the haves” and the majority of the “have-nots”. The “haves” will continue to send their children to English Medium Schools while the poor will be stuck with the Swahili only schools, creating a country of masters and slaves in the not too far future. If we are not already there?
Is this what we really want?
the path to improving the system relies on a strengthened bilingual education system model. A strengthened bilingual education system model will put enough resources to colleges to be able to teach teachers the current research based teaching methods which will not only benefit educators but, students as well. To provide professional development opportunities for teachers by improving their working conditions, to pay them a livable wage, and to attract more people to become teachers. Furthermore, to encintivise the good teachers to stay in the profession for a long enough time for them to become competent and efficient educators. Without those kinds of incentives, the change of language of instruction alone will not yield anything worthwhile.
The argument that changing just the language of instruction will yield the desired results is flawed. Don’t we already have English teachers in these schools? Why then are the students not learning English proficiently?The problem impacting the education system in Tanzania is not largely due to the language of instruction. If that was the case, we would see a huge pass rate in primary schools where mostly everything is taught in Kiswahili. The TWAWEZA report on this matter last year point to the contrary. Kids are not learning anything worthwhile in primary school either.
Resources needs to be improved, from teacher quality, the teaching environment, and to teaching tools.
I realize that there is a huge difference between learning English and being taught in English. Switching just the language of instruction will not be the solution to the massive failure rates in both primary and secondary schools. The problem is deeper than that. Huge systematic and policy changes need to happen before we see a real and meaningful uptick in the pass rates. Maybe pairing our existing teachers with teachers from abroad over a long time “ten years” could be something to be explored. The East Asian countries used this model and they are doing very well. Maybe we can learn from them this time around.
Here is a an indepth look and analysis of the form IV results by Daudi Msseemmaa of one of the thousands of Ward Secondary Schools in Tanzania. The results are just too painful as he puts it. To read more about his analysis and graphs click here.
This is a waste of time and money for the students and the parents who sell all they have to put their children through Secondary Schools in the hope of a better future for them. For a lot of these parents, putting their children to school is something that will not only change the cause of the future of their children but also their own. This is their retirement plan going to waste.
Maybe Wananchi need to boycott these schools. It is just not right for the entire school to recieve division zeros and some division IVs, that will not help these children to do anything with, after thousands of hard earned money spent.
I am always fond of the secluded night life—a good meal, a quiet night walk and a place to watch some outstanding stand-up comedy— to have a laugh and drink a local beer—before calling it a day. And in the city of Chattanooga almost ALL of the above are—plenty.Everything is located on, near and/or around the Broad Street.
I left the hotel after a hot bath and drove to the nearest restaurant on Broad Street. I took the first open street parking I found close to the Sticky Fingers Restaurant. I checked the meter—it said—parking is free after 6:00pm. I walked in, looked at the menu. I was in heaven on earth.
Sticky Fingers Restaurant
This place does true justice to food especially the Southern Cooking—barbeques, cone on the cob, collard greens and green beans. What more can you ask for?
Broad Street
The food was simply delicious. The fact that the food is cooked for long hours before you even get to the restaurant makes it to be—an incredible time saver. You get in; you order; and the food is brought to your table within minutes. The time you spent at the restaurant is completely negligible for wherever you have planned for your night life.
Deep South Blues Street Performer
I left the restaurant “Sticky Fingers that is” for my nightly walk in a briskly winter night. The whole area around Broad Street, Market Street and Chestnut Street were parked with huge numbers of people enjoying the not-so-wintry cold winter night. Street musicians of all sorts were playing free music on the corners around the city center. The lights all over the place lighted the mood for a beautiful February night in Chattanooga.
Random
The not-so-cold night was finally getting to me. I therefore decided to go to the Hampton’s Vaudeville Cafe for a three hours stand-up comedy show and to also have a taste of some local Chattanooga beers. I had my “plenty of” laugh for the night there. All of the comedians were really funny. The time flew by so quickly, before I knew it, it was over. Back to my hotel for some sleep and another day, tomorrow.
After lunch, I continued driving down a clearly marked road to the Rock City Garden parking lot. I got to the entrance; exchange my online bar-coded ticket for a ticket with a map of the place. At first, I was not impressed.
I took a few steps down the path and then started to realize the magic of the Rock City Garden. You start the route from a flat surface and within a few steps you find yourself sinking—literary—sinking into the ground. The troughs and gaps between the over exposed rocks invites you down under. Within a few minutes I was wholly swallowed and found myself 15-20 feet underground. And; that was just the beginning.
Goin Down: Rock City Garden, Chattanooga, TN
The whole park was just magical. I will highlight a few spots that I found to be beyond amazing. First, was the FAT MAN SQUEEZE—this is really nature’s work of art. The huge rocks on both sides of the path are so close such that if your waist is more than 12 inches in diameter —you won’t be able to go on. You will be squeezed out of the journey—-hence the name fat man squeeze.
Vantage Point: Rock City Garden, Chattanooga, TNThe hanging bridge
After the fat man squeeze, you come across a hanging bridge about 0.5 miles dangling on the sky. It is beyond beautiful. You could see (without aided eyes) the whole city of Chattanooga down below, providing you with an incredible view beyond any imagination.
Flags of the Seven States
Second, was the top flat on the edge of the cliff, from here you could see where the 7 southern states meet. From this vantage point, you could see the states of: Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, South and North Carolina, Virginia and Kentucky. Just ridiculously amazing.
The Fat mans’ Squeeze
The waterfall was also spectacular. The water drops about 0.5 of mile down to a pond that is incredibly stunning. At this very point, the legend has it that “one American Indian young man was thrown to his death by members of a rival tribe just for the simple reason that he was in love with a girl of that tribe. The girl was overwhelmed with grief of losing her lover and decided to kill herself by jumping to her death at the same spot”.
Kid’s Wonderland Cavern
To top it all, you end up in an underground wonderland tunnel filled with all the fairies. Here is where human imagination—meets—nature’s work of art.
Ruby Falls, Chattanooga, TennesseeRuby Falls, Chattanooga, Tennessee
This morning I left Atlanta for Chattanooga, Tennessee. It only take about 2 hours to drive there. The drive from Atlanta to Chattanooga is somewhat interesting—the mountains and road bends welcomes you into the heart of the city of Chattanooga down below. After arriving in Chattanooga, we picked up our groupon tickets for the Ruby Falls and the Rock City Garden.
Ruby Falls, Chattanooga, Tennessee
We drove up the mountain to Ruby Fall and waited for our tour to start. Just around 10:15pm we got into the elevator and, started our decent 260 feet underground to start a geological magical journey to the falls. The half a mile walk (a one mile return journey) from the elevator station to the falls is filled will numerous geological formation including various shapes of stalactite and stalagmites.
Near the end of the underground journey, you will hear the thundering roar of the breathtaking Ruby Falls. It is an amazing journey and view and a must see if you find yourself in this part of the world.
Ruby Falls, Chattanooga, Tennessee
After visiting the beautiful Ruby Falls, we left to catch some lunch and continued on with our adventure to the Rocky city Garden. The details from the Rock City Garden adventure will be added tomorrow.
Mmmh what a day? I am kinda not ready for these things but what is a father to say when your daughter asks you to escort her for her first dance? I am sure a resounding yes would be the appropriate answer for all the loving fathers outhere.
Today was my daughter’s school DDD, which is a way to raise funds for extracurricula activities for the school. The place was parked with many fathers, some had one, some had two and a few had three daughters to dance with. It was really fun.
My First Dad Daughter Dance
OMG!! The prizes, the music, the glomour and everything was just beautiful. I had a lot of fun I had never had in a while. Watching those kids’ moves was so hillarious.
Once again, it is that time of the year when the Form IV results from the Tanzania National Examination Council comes out. To be specific, the 2011 Form Results were officially announced yesterday. This is the time when I post the snippets of what has happened with the numbers. My prediction looking to the future last year was that, the pass rates percentages will remain largely low in the foreseeable future.
The major factors contributing to the low performance are many. I will list just a few: 1) The Ward school’s lack of well qualified staffs and resources and 2) The social promotion of those who failed Form II Examination is catching up with the ill-advised policy, 3) Lack of English proficiency for the language of instruction for both students and teachers, 4) Lack of content knowledge and pedagogical skills for the teachers (quality instructional practices).
Here is the breakdown (Tanzania Form Four, Pass Rates 2011a) of the number for the 2011 just announced results. Out of 459,324 students who registered to take the examination, 426,314 students took the exams and 53.37% of them passed it. There was a 2.63% uptick in pass rates for this year comparing to last year’s results of 50.74%. The 2011 results are still approximately 20% drop from the 2009 pass rate of 72.51%.
Just looking at the numbers on the attached Excel graph, there is no significant performance improvement graphically speaking. Failure rate stabilization is the correct term to use in this year’s characterization of the Form IV results.
The results provided by NECTA did not provide a meaningful disaggregation of the 53.37 pass rate for this year. Meaningful numbers of the 53.37% who passed the exams; how many got division Ones, twos, threes and fours? Those numbers would offer a better picture than the pass rate comparison that is currently used. Here is graphical representation of the(Kwiro Center Form IV Results 2011 ) in Mahenge-Ulanga, Morogoro.
Maybe the failure rates have hit the bottom, but I would not say that there was a performance improvement in exams results this year. The numbers will largely stay at this level for years to come until the four factors I mentioned earlier have been addressed.
I will be teaching a 90 minutes Swahili lesson for beginners in Atlanta on July 11th, 2012 from 6:00 to 7:30 pm. Come join me and other international language LOVERS from across this lovely city of Atlanta. This lecture is part of the CASIE Atlanta Language Meet-Up. The Speakeasy is a monthly meeting showcasing a model language lesson taught entirely in the target language.
A Swahili Child Picking Up Crabs During a Low Tide, Zanzibar
It scares me a little to be speaking and teaching Swahili for 90 minutes to a group of 23 people who have never heard a word of Swahili before other than Simba, Pumba, Rafiki and/or Hakuna Matata while watching the Lion King.
I know it is going to be a challenge. Engaging a huge number of grown-ups for that length of time and building interest in them to learn Swahili beyond the basic greetings is going to be hard to say the least. I do love the challenge though and I will make sure that my first impression will last long enough to make them want to come back and learn Swahili to conversational level of proficiency and beyond.
This is a quote from the CASIE Atlanta website: “There are many organizations who promote languages, but no organizations who offer face to face instruction with a focus on communicative approaches for learning language”. For this and other reasons, I feel it is very important for me to get involved in Atlanta to put Kiswahili language on the map. I know there are many African and other world languages that are spoken in Atlanta, but Swahili is left behind due to lack of promotion on our part and the fact that there was no a real platform before for that to happen.
Sailing Party in Nungwi, Zanzibar
Therefore, the Speak-Easy Meet-Ups are a great opportunity for Swahili to get the attention it deserves. There are many people who would love to learn Swahili, but the lack of organized classes for them to take and practice with a native speaker sometimes is getting on the way. I believe with this opportunity; we can change all that.
I need help to do this correctly though. If you know anyone who teaches Swahili to beginners let me know. I will be happy to have a phone conversation with them so that I will be better prepared to deliver a good session. Let’s Put Swahili in the ranks with other major international languages here in Atlanta.
An Evening Full of Life in a Swahili Street, Dar Es Salaam
I have been having flashbacks lately regarding the DICOTA convention I attended in September, 2011. The fact that it was a missed opportunity for this organization to do a collective gesture to the common ills that we all know exists back home is still bothering me to date. The basic necessities like books for school children, desks, hospital beds and the like are lacking in all four corners of Tanzania. The conventions could even in a small scale be used to address these nuances.
DICOTA as an organization has several objectives and one of them is to promote the improvement of infrastructure in Tanzania. Thinking of just that, It would have been really nice to have at least a “Harambee” type of event during the allocated convention time where people (DICOTA Members) could be asked to donate money or goods that will be used to fill-those-gaps that we already know exists.
I am not putting any blame to the DICOTA leadership or anything like that, but when opportunities like 600 plus Tanzanian folks happening to be in one place for three or four days, it’s an opportunity that we need to harness. Let’s say all 600 delegates gave S50 each. What is 50 bucks? For most of the folks who attended the convention, it is just gas money these days. That alone would raise about $30,000. Imagine, how many mattresses Tshs 48,000,000 would buy for hospitals or maternity wards in Tanzania?
We could even go further and pay for our own lunches for the days we have the convention. The money allocated for lunches from the sponsors could be used to add value to our own harambee contibution. I’m not very sure how much those lunches cost at a Marriott hotel in Washington D.C.? I bet, its not less than 20-25 bucks each.
Therefore, for the sake of our image, if we have one and the fact that we care a lot about the lives of the people back in Tanzania—such kind of a gesture will help even our common goal for a Dual Citizenship. We may not be able to build roads and making uninterrupted supply of electricity possible to Tanzania, but we can do a better job that way than nothing at all.
These simple but helpful gestures to our fellow citizens—will go a long way in letting them know that we not just a bunch of people who are enjoying BATAS in the western world and at the same time we happen to want it GOOD in Tanzania as well.
According to credible reports, “MV Spice Islander” had a maximum human loading capacity of 600 passengers. However, at the time of its sinking, it was carrying 2470 passengers. That is four times the maximum allowed. Further reports says, 941 passengers survived, 203 passengers lost their lives and 1326 passengers are still missing. I’m saddened by the magnitude of human loss.
The report further states, the cause of the accident was “severe levels of negligence.” Nine (9) people have been arraigned in connection to the accident. The dead and survivors of this accident will be compensated at a rate of Tshs 125,000 for 80 months which is equivalent to Tshs 10,000,000 per person.
The suggested figure is what I have issues with. I feel like the figures are too low and will not work as a deterrent for future man-made accidents. My understanding is that human life is priceless. To save it, stiffer penalties must be imposed as a deterrent.
My questions are:
Why payments are based on the basic salary levels?
What made the commission to assume that all these people were going to die in the next 6 years and a half (80 months)?
Why not use established income earning potentials for each of the passengers and life expectancy figures to figure out the payment?
This was an opportunity to severely punish those involved so that it will be a lesson to them and for others currently benefiting from this kind of behavior. Don’t let this incident be another missed opportunity like MV Bukoba. This should be a wake up call to shipowners, bus owners, and everyone involved in the transportation business. They needs to understand that “if you cause an accident due to negligence” leading to a loss or loss of lives; severe consequences will follow. The “kazi ya mungu” excuse should not be be the norm.
Once a person purchase a ticket, it’s a contractual agreement between the two parties and that the latter will transport the former safely from point A to point B. These contracts need to be honored. Maybe in the future (“that means now”) the government could implement a system that forces bus, ship and any kind of transportation business owners to declare the insurance value of a passenger and luggage on the back of the ticket in case an accident happens.
My belief is that if the owners are subjected to stiff penalties whenever accidents happens and are starting to see that their profits are being eroded; they will make sure that accidents due to negligence will not be a daily occurrences in Tanzania. To make them change their minds and put safety measures before profit, you have to hit them where it matters most—profits.
In addition to a deterrence on the part of the ship, buses, and any-other type of transportation owners. Citizen awareness campaign regarding overcrowding in public transportation needs to be carried out. It seems people are not learning from these incidence. More campaigns on road safety and problems associated with overcrowding are severely needed.
I will end you with this, “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different outcome.”
How can a student cheat under these conditions?. Leaking exams–maybe the culprit.
There is a Swahili saying that goes like “when elephants fight, it’s the grass that suffers”. This saying came to my mind today as I was reading articles and comments related to the release of the 2011 Standard Seven Examination results in Tanzania. A total of 983,545 students sat for Standard Seven Examination in 2011. It is true that some gains have been made on the pass rate of standard seven graduates from 2010 to 2011. There has been a 4.76% jump over the one year period from 53.52% in 2010 to 58.28% in 2011. That in itself is commendable.
On the flip-side, cheating incidents have increased 78.5 times over the same period. From 124 cancelled student’s results in 2010 to 9,736 cancelled student’s results in 2011. Student cheating during examination in the Tanzanian education system is not a new phenomenon. Leaking of examination papers goes way back since the time I was in primary school.
The question is “who is leaking exams at the Ministry, the regional, and the school levels?.” There is no need to be complacent. Leaked examination papers always shows up each year close to the testing period. It is a huge business and almost everyone in the education field in Tanzania knows this. At times, three to five exam papers maybe circulating all over the country. Do we also blame the pupils for that? I also find the mass punishment of the pupils and parents caught up in this mess is excessive. Adults need to be held accountable here and not children. However, I do agree with the suggestions to establish a “Form One” entrance exam to all incoming Form One students to assess their abilities in reading, writing, and mathematics.
I am just taking this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to all those involved in the project to digitize radio Tanzania music archives. This is a great opportunity for all Tanzanians living or studying in the Diasporas and those back home to show support to this project by donating money so that the project will get the funding it needs to go into the next stage. Because of Kickstarter guidelines, if the organizers don’t raise the full $13,000 in the next TWENTY days, they don’t get a dime (about $7188 has been raised up to this moment; therefore only $7812 is needed for the project to be fully funded).
I am afraid that, the next stage will not be reached if $13,000 isn’t going to be raised in the next 20 days. That’s the reason I ask each and every-one of you to show a hand of support for the project. Wouldn’t it be nice to just go to a website and download those old school Tanzania songs into our I-pads, IPods and computers? Just think about that. That possibility is within reach with your support for this project.
I don’t know about you? I have fond memories of radio Tanzania Dar Es Salaam growing up. I remember those old days when I was in primary school, secondary school and even college. I could remember hearing those old songs blasted on the “277 or mkulima radios” as I left school for lunch breaks-Mchana Mwema. I could hear songs like “Ni Kinda langu ni Lenye Rangi ya Chungwa”, Kifo, Unapenda Dezo Dezo and Asha by Tabora Jazz and many beautiful songs from various Tanzanian bands. I even remember programs like MaMa na Mwana, Club Raha Leo Show, and many more.
We can’t let all that good music and programs disappear.
You can visit the organizers website here, their Facebook page here and Twitter page here. The organizers depend on people to spread the word and share this project with their networks! Even if you can’t donate now, telling a few friends would really help this cause and/or project.
Let’s join hands to preserve and protect our history together.
Have you ever heard music so beautiful and so alive that you just had to get up and dance? Two years ago, I was lucky enough to stumble upon the Radio Tanzania Dar-es-Salaam archives and found a priceless collection of East African music forgotten by the world for decades. More than 100,000 hours of unique music are sitting on reel-to-reel tapes in danger of being lost forever. For the past few months I’ve been fundraising on the crowd funding platform Kick starter. Now I have a month left, and still about $10,000 I need to raise to make the project a reality!
Here is a quick summary of what I want to do: I want to revive these archives by digitizing them, making them available for online downloads, producing a “Best of Radio Tanzania” CD, and tracking down the musicians whose music is stored in the archives to interview and record them performing. As you know, I’ve lived in Tanzania twice, for a summer in 2007, and for six months in 2009 – 2010, so I know some Kiswahili and I have lots of contacts in Tanzania. I’ve made arrangements with the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation to set up a workshop to train Tanzanians to help digitize the archives and permanently preserve them for posterity’s sake.
In order to accomplish this project, I am turning to friends, family, and music-lovers around the world. Like I said, I’ve created a Kick starter campaign. To support the Radio Tanzania project, all you have to do is make a secure donation via the Kick starter website. To sweeten the deal, I’m offering a bunch of awesome rewards for people who pitch in. For example, if you make a $25 pledge, you’ll get you a Radio Tanzania mix CD with 21 of the best songs from the archives! For $100, you can get a Radio Tanzania t-shirt, the mixed CD, digital downloads, and more. Here’s the link to the Kickstarter page!
We also have a website (www.tanzaniaheritageproject.org), a Facebook page (www.facebook.com/radiotanzania), and a Twitter feed (www.twitter.com/radiotanzania). Because of Kickstarter guidelines, if we don’t raise the full $13,000 in the next ONE month, we don’t get a dime. We’re depending on people to spread the word and share this project with their networks! Even if you can’t donate now, telling a few friends would really help our cause.
Thank you so much for your time in reading this letter. If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I hope you all are well and I wish you all good things for 2012! Also, I’ll be in Tanzania for six weeks getting this project off the ground starting on Monday. If you email me your mailing address, I’ll send you a postcard (writing real letters is my New Year’s resolution).
Asante sana (thank you very much),
Rebecca Radio Tanzania
– Rebecca Elizabeth Yeong Ae Corey Skype: rebecca.e.corey
This was an incredible year. I finally had the opportunity to visit Soweto. It was an incredible moment for me to see the houses of both my favorite South African leaders, Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela.
I also had the opportunity to work with my co-workers to organize an event to raise funds for the Mutombo Dikembe Foundation. I have always thought that I was of a decent height, until Dikembe Mutombo towered over me at the event. The whole experience resulted into a sore neck at the end. Is this how short people feel standing next to me?
I just had to take this photo. The girls were such a beauty along the side of the beach in Nungwi Village, Zanzibar. Aren’t they cute?
This is the view over a window at the Zanzibar Museum in Stone Town, Zanzibar. It was too beautiful. I had to grab my camera and shoot this amazing scenary.
I had an amazing walk in those sweaty and humid narrow streets in Mji Mkongwe (Stone Town), Zanzibar. The shops are everywhere and the shop keepers are eager for you to unzip your wallet.
I took the three shots below in the Rock City (Mwanza), Tanzania. I fell in love with Mwanza. The temperature was just right and the price was also right. The city was very gentle to my wallet. I will be here again in the near future.
I just could not resist remembering this small restaurant just on the outside of the main bus stop in Shinyanga. The menu tells it all. I had to test the “LOST KUKU” and amazingly it was really good for the price. I will indeed eat there next time. Hopefully, I will find myself in this party of the country soon.
These three shots were taken in Meatu, Shinyanga, Tanzania. This is the only superstore in Town. Despite the lack of necessities in Meatu, I met the friendliest people on earth.
Kibogoji, what else can I say about it. This is the village that I humbly borrowed the name for my blog. The village is located somewhere between madongo poromoka in Morogoro, Tanzania.
The three shots above shows some of the residents of Kibogoji. The next two pics below shows the mountains surrounding the village of Kibogoji.
Back in Dar Es Salaam. It was such a joy to meet and take photos of the people I love and remember as the year comes to an end. Merry Xmass, hear!!.
Enough with Tanzania and now back to reality-my reality that is.
This woman wanted to take a picture of me at the DICOTA convention in Washington D.C. and I was like ooh no babe! I have to take yours as well. I have no idea who she was, but her image is still fresh in my memory.
I am now starting to feel slightly disconnected from my own culture. Living in this country for some years and in isolation from the Tanzanian and other African communities make you unaware of a lot of the “things” African. Things like wedding contributions, death michangos, and many “things” of that nature.
The other day, I was invited to go to a msiba, if invited is the right word in this kind of a situation. I had a hard time figuring out what should I bring. The first thing that came to my mind was buying a card. But, being born and raised in Africa, I started to question myself maybe a card without money will not suffice. Then I started to think “Should I bring money? food? drinks? Or what?
If it is money, then how much is acceptable or expected? It’s kinda hard to translate shillings into dollars, especially the significantly depreciated shilling of today.
I was tempted to call a friend to ask. On the flipside, I was like what will he think of me? What have I become–a sell-out? How would I go about asking about this sensitive issue without him noticing my ignorance? Is there a blue book for how much to give? I mean, if I do not personally know the person (mfiwa and/or muoaji) for that matter.
It is really hard to figure these things out—arrgh!!!!
Living here, the only people you feel concern for are your immediate family members. Even to them, you are not expected to offer contribution neither for death nor for a wedding—insurance or planning ahead takes care of all that. I am a little apprehensive about this issue. I would love to be part of all that is going on in my community; honestly I just do not know what to do? What to do? What to do?
I know there is a heated debate on the dual citizenship topic both at home (Tanzania) and abroad. My thinking is, if Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya, and Uganda can have dual citizenship, (those are all african countries by the way and fellow east africans)–why not Tanzania?
What is so special about Tanzania? If you know what special mean.
Tanzania turned 50 years old yesterday. I should correctly say—Tanganyika as there was no Tanzania during the 1961 Independence Day. Tanzania is just a union between two independent states—Tanganyika and Zanzibar (Pemba and Unguja) in 1964.
Tanzania turns 50
Enough said. Progress is engulfing my mother land. If car ownership is an indication of how we’re progressing as the country’s president said a year ago, then there are no need for those grim statistics by the world-bank ranking Tanzania as one of the poorest nations in the world—just close to and/or next to Mozambique. The roads are filled with them. Puffing and smoking in their rears. At most times, in a city like Dar Es Salaam—the roads turn into parking lots.
The Tanzania @ 50 UHURU celebrations was nothing short of a short-lived distraction from REALITY. F**ckreality man—let show them how we party despite our poverty, lack of infrastructure, a deteriorating educational system, the lack of proper health care system and the list goes on and on.
Anyhow–who cares if our pregnant women give birth on filthy floors, no stationary at most police posts, operations are suspended in Muhimbili hospital due to lack of oxygen, kids are seating on the floor in roofless buildings in an attempt to learn something worthwhile in their tiny lives. Who the f**ck cares!!!
In addition, we continue to borrow without knowledge of when and how we are going to pay for the debt. The next generation is already in debt up to their eye brow. But, despite all this, let’s go on and spend billions we don’t have to throw a party of the “Kings and Queens” of Zwangendaba –just because we can.
Who cares—-next week we will send our leaders all over the world’s capitals to beg again from countries that are themselves struggling economically. Countries that are themselves cutting wasteful spending through various austerity measures. Any-who, let celebrate.
Who is stupid? It’s the wanainchi stupid!
How do you look to other world leaders in the face asking for money to implement your country’s developmental projects under these circumstances. These other countries collect taxes like you do. It’s the tax money from gays, lesbian, transgendered and straight people who support your budget. You also want to have big balls when you are asked to uphold the rights of gays, lesbians and transgendered people in your society? You can take the cash from gays, but, giving gays protections under your laws is against African culture? What hypocrite?
I would be very embarrassed to wear your shoes, however nice or Italian personally designed they may be.
Today, I am taking time to reflect on what is happening to the new order of leadership in Tanzania. I remember when I was little. I mean, when I was very little. Back in the day. The days in the early 1980s.
In those days. A young energetic prime minister tragically died on a terrible car accident close to Morogoro. He died on the-then-newly opened paved/tarmac road from Dar Es Salaam to Dodoma.
I was just a child, thus, my recollection of the events surrounding the accident may not be entirely correct.
However, I have a vivid memory of it all.
Picha kwa Hisani ya Bongo Pixs
Mr. Sokoine passed away from injury sustained after the car he was traveling-in collided with Dumisan Dube’s at Dumila, Morogoro. Dumisan was a young South African freedom fighter living in Tanzania at the time. In the 70s and the early 80s, many South African freedom fighters lived in camps in Tanzania where they learned general life and military skills aimed at equipping them with necessary life and military skills to fight apartheid once they returned back to their home country.
I have no idea what the court rulings for case were. I do not know whether Dube was found guilty or not.
I sometimes ask myself whom was at fault?
or whom was found guilty for causing the accident?
The accident that caused the eventual death of the Prime Minister.
I have no answers to my own questions.
The whole investigation and court ruling was kept secret.
What I know is this–there is still a huge cloud of suspicion onto the manner in which the accident happened.
The accident happened at the heat of the war against economic saboteurs.
Vita dhidi ya walanguzi.
Was the war against economic saboteur the reason for his death?
or was it just a coincident?
I don’t know.
The one thing I vividly remember to date is this:
When Sokoine died.
The whole country was in tears.
Real tears.
Not crocodile tears we often see now-days.
Everyone was mourning the death of a great promising young leader.
At the time.
It was information overload in a sense. Talking about information overload back then–it was kind of weird.
There was only one radio station on the dial.
Radio Tanzania Dar Es Salaam (RTD) and in some occasions the Kenyan Broadcasting Corporation (KBC).
You had no choice but listen to the never-ending four weeks of the Nation in Mourning.
I mean this in a good way.
I could still remember man’s burial ceremony on the radio.
It was like the biggest super-ball game.
The event is imprinted forever on my mind.
The song “kila mtu atauchukua mzigo wake mwenyewe” was in our 277 Panasonic radio (Radio Mkulima).
The only radio we had in the house.
The burial ceremony was broadcasted live on the radio.
It felt like I was in Monduli that day.
Watching his casket lowered to the ground.
It was surreal.
I was young.
A child.
Like many young minds. I was wondering what happened to dead people.
Do they go to hell (motoni)?
or do they go to heaven (peponi)?
The dichotomy that religion teaches us.
Are there no middle grounds for the dead?
Like.
Half hell.
Half heaven.
The gray area so to speak.
What is it with young people’s mind and death?
Death is sometimes scary to the young mind.
The thought of laying in the grave and being eaten by termites.
I had those thoughts.
The undeveloped thought.
Lack of maturity.
And death is sometimes fascinating to the young mind.
The “goods” of not knowing “too much” of and about what is happening around you.
Of not entirely comprehending the laws of nature.
The laws that suggests the natural cycling of matter in the universe.
That matter is neither created nor destroyed.
That matter has to return back to the ground.
To release the essential elements of life.
Through decomposition.
With maggots
Worms
Bacteria.
Fungi.
So now I wonder.
I wonder what would happen if a leader on the same stature as Edward Moringe Sokoine was ever died on an accident today.
Would the Tanzanians of today.
Full of udaku.
Would they cry?
Laugh?
Celebrate?
Or will they just be consumed with indifference?
I know the current leaders are smart people.
At least that is what they believe.
The Tanzania contemporary leaders.
They have great solutions for everything.
I wonder.
And ask myself.
Would those in power today parade people on the street to show emotion that isn’t there?
How would they do it?
Think of how they buy votes.
Perhaps, they could buy people to cry.
on the street.
For the dead.
Like they do in Ghana.
The crier for hire.
Or will they do what happened in Ethiopia a few years ago when the not so beloved Prime Minister passed away.
Shame.
I feel ashamed.
of myself.
of the people who are being corned.
With the crookedness of the human nature.
corruption.
All for me attitude.
The capitalists attitude.
Materialism.
Wanting more for self.
Nothing else matters.
What happened to human descence
Is it all gone?
I wonder.
And.
I feel like the connection between leaders and their subjects has disappeared.
That connection has completely evaporated.
Disappeared and never to be seen again.
Is it because most of the new leaders have lost touch?
Touch with the people they pretend to lead.
Leadership
In the old day.
In the Ntemi days.
Was being with the people.
Listening to the people.
Working on the people’s ideas.
Finding solutions.
Together.
Nowadays.
Leadership.
Is.
Imposition of external solution.
Solution with no real meaning to the intended communities.
Not organic solution.
Imposing.
Forcing.
Coercing.
And.
The contemporary leaders.
Chose to serve themselves.
Rather than the people who entrusted them with the office in the first place.
Again.
Just me wondering.
Of.
What.
Has.
Gone.
Wrong.
My mind sometimes goes in circles.
Thinking.
Analyzing.
Troubleshooting.
However.
I do not wish for any of you leaders in Tanzania to die.
Of course not.
I am just interested in seeing what will the reaction be?
I have been to several American Civil War Battlefields. I have no idea to why and where I acquired the interest to visit them. I have been to the one in Maryland named Gettysburg Civil War Battlefields, the one in Virgiani named Manassas National Battlefields, and just this early foggy morning I went to see the one in Georgia named Kennesaw Battlefields. These are some of the many interesting battle fields accross the United States depicting what happened during that nasty and bloody American Civil War.
It is amazing to go back to that time and see how those soldiers fought. Nasty and bloody combats. Sometimes losing 1000 and more soldiers in a few hours of a day. I just wonder what these soldiers would think of the Americans of today? Was the ultimate sacrifice they died for worth all that blood?
As we are waiting for thursday to come and give our thanks(with turkey ofcourse) for the brave people who fought for the freedom we are enjoy today, let not forget the injustices suffered by many americans in the past. Here is a crip from the documentary “trail of tears” depicting the forceful removal of the cherokee indian tribe from Georgia just because their land happened to have “gold” in it.
Here are some of the pictures from the Kennesaw Battlefield. Click on the picture to see an enlarged image. Should I say enjoy the pictures??
Garrison middle school is a title 1 school in the Baltimore city public school system. 99.3 % of the students were African American according to the school systems website. The rest (0.7 %) were Hispanic, Asian and Whites. 93 % of the students received free lunch and breakfast. The student enrollment for the 2004/2005, 2005/2006 school years were 808 and 876 respectively. The school had a total of 56 teachers.
Garrison middle school was performing poorly in reading and mathematics. The school had failed to meet the states’ Adequately Yearly Progress for three years (2004 to 2006). The data on the table shows the performance levels in reading for the six and seventh graders at Garrison middle school for two years (2004 and 2005).
I believe strongly that the performance levels at Garrison is Influenced largely by the lack of commitment by parents and teachers towards students success. Conducive learning environment where the learning process is uninterrupted by students misbehavior is an essential component for students to demonstrate the highest levels of understanding. When this is lucking, the result more often appear in the students’ mediocre performance in standardized tests at all levels.
The chaotic nature in the classroom is directly linked to how the parents value education. Whenever children are constantly told the strong value of education by the parents…..most often they come to school well prepared and hence allowing the process of learning to take its course. This has been lacking at Garrison Middle school for the past few years and is reflected of the students’ performance on the Maryland State Assessment report-card.
The other factor affecting reading performance at Garrison is student mobility. The Baltimore city school system students are highly mobile and that affects their learning process. They move from school to school with teachers of varying levels of teaching ability. This interferes with their progress in learning.
Furthermore, Garrison middle school is a revolving door for teachers. Most teachers spend one to two years and then move on to do other things or to teach at less stressful schools. This leaves Garrison with less qualified teachers and veteran teachers who are “burned out” and could careless with what is happening to their students in terms of learning.
Garrison had only 45 % of highly qualified teachers for the three years (2004 to 2006). Most classes were taught by unqualified teachers working on conditional certification. This had negative consequences in terms of student performance levels as reflected by the Maryland State report card.
Here are some great resources and opportunities for African-American individuals to go to undergraduate and graduate school for free to some of the top American Universities. Have fun with it!
1. Wake Forest University has an opportunity for minority students to attend its MBA program for FREE, and so far, the response has been very poor. Please pass along this opportunity to your friends, families. This is a great school and a tremendous opportunity to attend a top graduate school. See the details below, the contact person is: Derrick S. Boone, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Marketing, Rm. 3139 Worrell Professional Center, Babcock Graduate School of Management – Wake Forest University_ WINSTON_SALEM N.C 27109-8738 email:derrick.boone@mba.wfu.edu or visit http://www.wfu.edu phone# toll free (866) 925-3622
2. Black Male Teachers needed. Do you know any Black Males who are seniors in high school who want to go to college out of state for FREE? The CALL ME MISTER program offered by 4 historically black colleges in South Carolina, Benedict College, Chaflin University, Morris College, and South Carolina State University – visit the www.callmemister.clemson.edu/index.htl details online application or call 1.800.640.2657
3. Harvard University is offering free tuition to families of HONOR STUDENTS whose income is less than $125,000 per year. Visit www.fao.fas.harvard.edc or call 617.495.1581.
4. Syracuse University School of Architecture is desperately seeking young women and men of color interested in pursuing a 5 yr. professional degree in Architecture. Contact: Mark Robbins, Dean School of Architecture, 201 Slocum Hall, Syracuse , NY 13244-1250 (315) 443-256 www.soa.syr.edu/indes.php
5. A free pair of eyeglasses from Target for any child ages 12 and under brings a valid prescription for glasses from their doctor. You can find stores with optical departments at www.target.com
6. APPLY NOW – If you have/know young adults between the ages of 18-31 with a High School Diploma. Can earn up to $100,000 and earn benefits. The Federal Aviation Association is taking application for Air Traffic Controller School visit the website www.faa.gov/jobs_opportunities/airtrafficcontroller/
I have summarized the three most effective teaching ideals that I find useful in my daily duty as an educator.
1.People learn to do well only what they practice by doing.
With regard to the above mentioned effective teaching idea, I have always tried to incorporate some hands on activities in my lesson plans and delivery. For instance, last week when my students were learning about the menstrual cycle, I used data from the internet that shows how luteinizing hormone (LH) levels changes before and after ovulation.
This helped my students to not only learn how to draw line graphs but also to interpret what is represented by the data. It was not the perfect way of showing them the hormonal changes associated with the menstrual cycle, but it just help them to visually comprehend the abstract idea I was presenting to them.
2.Expectations affect performance.
I always expect high performance in whatever my students are engaged in. This is not only for my students, I strive to be a better educator for them and I will not accept less than what I am confidence they are capable of.
This should not be translated as lamping all students in the same category but to recognize their individual potentials as well. I do realize that students learn and perform differently, but they all have to conform to the same standards regardless of their individual capabilities in learning. Therefore, whenever opportunity arises I do try to help each and every student to realize their full potentials without demanding for something that they might not be able to achieve otherwise.
3. Use of team approach.
Regardless of my struggle with teaching and learning, I have always tried to involve my students in group work especially during interactive lessons. I believe that it is paramount for students to gain experience for sharing responsibility for learning with each other. I do use name cards for each students with their specialties for that particular lesson in order to reduce confusions and increase efficiency in the flow of the lesson or experiment.
I know the strategy does limit the students to a particular function each day and there is no room for them to explore other functions, but at least the classroom environment becomes less confusing. I will try to rotate the students’ functions as much as possible to be in line with the best learning environment I am developing for my students.
pharmaceuticals in drinking waterLast week I attended Advanced Placement Environmental Science Educators Training at Kennesaw State University. Kennesaw University is located in the north-western part of the massive metropolis called Atlanta. During the training I learned different inquiry (lab) based methods of teaching advanced placement environmental science to students. It was a great week filled with fun experiences.
As a part of the experiential learning for the training, the training participants visited the Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) sewage treatment plant. While there, we discussed the advantages of an MBR over traditional sewage treatment plants. In the middle of this discussion, a person asked a question about pharmaceuticals. I vividly remember the question: Do MBR sewage treatment process remove pharmaceuticals in the treated water?
That question actually made me think twice about where the medications (such as pills, injections, topical creams, etc) that millions and millions of people take everyday ends-up. In fact, it is a known fact that what goes in must come out. Which conforms with the law of conservation of mass. Only a small portion of the medication that we ingest is actually metabolized. The rest is released to the environment through our urine, fecal matters, through perspiration, and many other means. The questions I asked myself while reflecting on this issue was: where do the by-products go to after we flush the toilets and/or when dumped in landfills after they expire? Are there microbes or natural phenomenon that break these pharmaceuticals down?
Pharmaceuticals are the biggest incoming environmental and health challenge of our time. There are millions and millions of people taking a variety of medication each single day. All these pharmaceuticals finally end up in our waterways. In addition, most of the pharmaceuticals have long half-lives (Brausch et al.2012). Furthermore, there are few natural microbes capable of metabolizing these toxic chemicals. Thus, they stay in the environment longer increasing the likelihood that their concentrations in our waterways will continue to increase each passing year and possibly reaching toxic levels in a not so distant future.
The effect of pharmaceuticals to human and other animals is not very well documented as of yet. However, several studies done on fish have shown negative effect to fish population exposed to elevated levels of pharmaceuticals in rivers, streams, and lakes (Daughton & Temes, 1999; Boxall et al. 2003a; 2004a; Floate et al. 2005). Furthermore, some studies have confirmed that in some species male fish have actually turned into female when their habitats were exposed to high levels of pharmaceuticals for long durations(Brodin et al. 2014).
What the low concentrations of pharmaceuticals found currently in drinking water doing to the human body is currently a mystery.
Admittedly, the pharmaceuticals are in minute concentrations right now. However, since none of the water treatment plants can remove them off of our water supply–we are running the risk of their concentration increasing over the next few years to toxic levels and harming us if they are not doing so already.
No Government Plans to Eliminate Pharmaceutical in Our Drinking Water
Right now in America there are no legislation to deal with pharmaceuticals in drinking water or the water that goes into the streams, rivers, and lakes. At the same time, trace amount of pharmaceuticals have already been recorded in many urban and suburban water supply systems.
What is America going to do with this impending health and environmental problem?
I do not know about you, but I would rather not drink unprescribed pills in the water I drink. That’s just me.
With all the hormones, antidepressants, and other different types of medications in the drinking water supplies; no wonder–people can no-longer stand each- other.
And you are wrong even if you drink bottled water–you are still taking in pills!
I was reading a few peer reviewed articles in my educational research class and found some interesting information that I would like to share with you all. If you are interested in how students learn and the strategies that research has proven to help all students learn, you will more than likely be informed by reading through the annotated bibliography I painstakingly created below.
And, if you are not interested in the process of educating the minds, you will also learn something about yourself through reading these articles as well. All in all, happy reading and I hope you discover something new from the research.
Shaaban K. Fundi
Annotated Biblography
10/26/11
1.Young, Y.Y., Wright, J.V., and Laster, J. (2005). Instructing African American Students. Journal of Education and Urban Society 125(3): 516-524.
This peer reviewed paper identifies and examine research based findings on effective instructional practices in the context of their applicability for classroom teaching-learning situations. The research paper has identified two types of learners, the global learner and the analytical learner. A global learner (right brain) is visual, tactile and kinesthetic. She/He visualizes what has to be learned, touches what has to be learned and also moves a lot during the learning process.
Most, if not all African American students are global learners and tend to be uncomfortable in an academic setting because their learning styles are not met.
Analytical learners (left brain) recall facts and dates with relative easy as well as process information linearly. They can process information that is written or orally. Most analytical learners are American students with European descent. Based on the aforementioned information, this style of learner tends to be comfortable in an academic setting (Angro-American Centered Classroom) because their learning style is most often addressed.
In order to teach African American students successfully, instructional variability is a key. Instructional strategies need to incorporate movement, visual and touching to address the learning style needs of African American students.
2.Castle, S., Deniz, C.B., and Tortola, M. (2005). Flexible Grouping and Students Leanring in a High-Needs School. Journal of Education and Urban Society 37(2): 139-150.
This peer reviewed paper studied the impact of flexible grouping on students learning during a period of 5 years in a high-needs school. The researchers tracked non-transient, below goal elementary students on multiple literacy assessments using flexible grouping strategies. Results from the study showed that the percentage of students attaining mastery increased in 16 of 19 over-time comparisons.
Flexible grouping is a classroom organizational strategy that is designed to address a broad range of students needs within a single classroom. To meet the need of contemporary classrooms that are characterized by widely diverse student population with varying academic, language, social, and cultural needs, need based instruction strategies are paramount. Additionally, grouping students according to their needs is more effective instructional strategy than ability grouping.
3.Westhuizen, V.P., Mosoge, M.J., Swanepoel, L.H., and Coetsee, L.D. (2005). Organizational Culture and Academic Achievement in Secondary Schools. Journal of Education and Urban Society, 38(1): 89-109.
This peer reviewed paper looks at factors affecting performance negatively in lower achieving schools and positively in high achieving schools. The researchers have identified several factors that affect academic achievement of learners. These factors include organizational culture and school culture. Organizational culture seems to be a key factor for under-achievement in schools.
The findings in this research indicate that a healthy and positive organizational culture exists in high achieving schools whereas the same cannot be said for low achieving schools. A positive organizational culture seems to exercise an exceptionally positive influence on the members of a school and is instrumental in directing their behavior in achieving the stated goal of the school.
4.Shulman, V., and Armitage, D. (2005). Project Discovery: An Urban Middle School Reform Effort. Journal of Education and Urban Society, 37(4): 371-397.
This peer reviewed study reports on a 5- year project to improve urban, middle level student achievement through the implementation of two initiatives. (1) Teachers at participating New York middle school were engaged in weekly curriculum planning workshops to reformulate classroom curricula into interdisciplinary, discovery learning oriented activities. (2) Undergraduate college students from urban public colleges were recruited to work as teaching scholars in the middle school.
The results showed a gain in student achievement which was demonstrated by a significant increase in the number of students meeting state standards on standardized test score in mathematics and English.
5.Heystek, H., (2003). Parents as Governors and Partners in Schools. Journal of Education and Urban Society, 37(4): 371-397.
This peer reviewed study looks at parental involvement as a factor for academic achievement of students. Parents and schools are partners in the education of children because schools are a formalized extension of the family. Schools can not function properly void of parental involvement.
In spite of this demand on parental involvement in schools, this research in black schools indicates that parental involvement in school activities is limited. This in turn, leads to low achievement in most of these schools.
A Review of the Effectiveness of Lead Abatement Strategies in Reducing Lead Exposure Among Children.
By Shaaban Kitindi Fundi,
Executive Summary
Despite the growing recognition of lead abatement as an intervention for reducing the risk of lead exposure to children, very few scientists have attempted to review data on its effectiveness. This study reviews the current information on residential lead abatement procedures in order to determine whether these abatement strategies are an effective method to prevent lead exposure in children, as measured by blood lead levels.
A standardized protocol for searching, acquiring, and extracting study data and synthesizing results across studies was used. The criteria for studies to be included in the review were: (1) includes children under the age of 6 years, (2) conducted in the United States, (3) published between January 1990 and March 2004, and (4) have a pre/post or multi arm study design. Nineteen studies were found that met the inclusion criteria.
Three of the nineteen identified studies looked at soil abatement, four looked at paint abatement, ten looked at dust abatement, and two studies used a mixture of soil and dust abatement. No studies looking at the effect of monitoring tap water for lead on children’s lead exposure were identified in this review. The studies varied greatly in terms of their sample size, study design, and methods of data collection.
A review of studies looking at the effectiveness of residential lead abatement strategies at reducing blood lead levels in children found mixed results. Soil abatement strategies appear to be most effective when the soil concentration is quite high (>1000ppm) and when children’s exposure to lead is primarily through contaminated soil and not household dust.
The studies regarding lead paint abatement also show mixed results. Amitai, et al. found that doing abatement while children were living in the home actually caused a short term increase in mean blood lead levels. For this reason, it may be more effective to do primary prevention by abating homes before occupancy than to wait to do abatement after the children have already been exposed. There is also evidence that lead paint abatement may be most effective for children with very high lead blood levels (>25μg/dL) suggesting that this strategy may make more sense as a targeted intervention.
Finally, the data suggest that residential dust abatement strategies are most effective when done multiple times as household dust tends to re-accumulate after short periods of time. In addition, carpets and upholstery remain important reservoirs for lead exposure and new techniques need to be developed to better clean these potential sources of lead exposure.
Once again, fall is upon us-the temperature is dipping
by the day. I saw a weatherman today, predicting the temperature will continue to fall and by next week’s end we might be in the 20’s. It is amazing how temperature changes here, without notice we will be back in the 20F’s again and walking to our mail boxes in the after-work hours to pick up those astronomical winter gas (electricity) bills. It seems like there is no end.
The summers are extremely hot in the Hotlanta, and the winters are mildly colder. Hence, there is no break from Georgia Power. I was just thinking (wishful thinking here) maybe fall should stay for awhile. That will indeed give us a break from these back to back gas (electrical) bills.
On the other hand I feel like we put ourselves in this situation. What happened to just owning homes that are relative to our family sizes? Less space equals to lesser space to warm up during the winter and less space to cool down during the summer months. What I am trying to say is that, Atlanta has a median of 3 people per family. Surprisingly, the average house in Atlanta suburbs has a median of 4 rooms and 3.5 bathrooms. Why do we need all this space? OR Just filing-up our egos I presume.!!!
I guess it is a choice people have to make, but in this one I truly didn’t have a choice. I just had to swallow it, as there are no in betweens. I am one of those people who think dollars and cents before doing anything. I am among the people who would criticize people who drive huge SUVs (bad for the environmental, taking up two parking spaces and all the other tree huggers’ cries) but I have fallen with the masses in this one. Why? Even if I chose to buy a small house where would I find it? Everything is big here-cars, motorcycles, bicycles, human and even cats and dogs are all big.
Am I complaining? Not even close. I do really love my house except for them “summer and winter” electrical bills. Thinking of it, TANESCO would be a welcome break here. But, Georgia Power is always on and so are their bills, always on time.
I read with interest the article by Charles Krauthammer on the www.nydailynews.com today about the discovery of neutrino particles that travels faster than the speed of light.
If this experiment and the discovery happen to be correct, then most–if not all of the Einsteinian theories in physics will be absolute. It will set a precedence to the dawn of new physics laws and theories.
It is hard to imagine that what we have been made to believe for almost 100 years was (or might be) fundamentally incorect. What is next for physics? Are there other flaws to other sciences that we’re unaware of?
It is the waiting game now for more scientists to replicate the experiment and come up with same or different results.
At the end, we will always love you Einstein (in Whitney Houston’s Voice).
After the DICOTA convention on last sunday, myself and a Tanzanian couple with their 1 year old son, decided to take a tour of Washington D.C’s attractions.
This week has been such an interesting and uplifting week. The work in Boston went really well and the 50 years of Tanzania’s independence (DICOTA) convention was really informative and well planned. It really showed a detailed plan by all the committees involved despite the one hour fifty minutes we had to wait for the president to show up for his speech. Overall, it was a
great and informative convention.
Another maritime tragedy in TanzaniaIt is with sorrow I write this as my countrymen and women are grieving the loss of another too many lives wasted. My deepest condolence are to those who lost their loved ones.
A word of mouth from the survivors ……..” many of the people who died in the accident are children and women.” Thus, many of the died are going to an early grave.
I write with the realization that it is hard to supervise and monitor all marine and fresh water means of transportation in Tanzania. But, the facts still remain — we should at least have learned our lesson from the MV. Bukoba accident that killed over 1000 people in 1996.
While all this is happening, and after the fact–we hear that the Tanzania government is thinking about creating a “National Emergency Preparedness Task Force”. Don’t we have one already??? This should have been created and/done with — in 1997 after the MV. Bukoba catastrophic accident. Did we learn anything from accident?
In my views I do not see the need for another bureaucratic organ. It is indeed not needed considering the amount of resources available. We do have a traffic police force and road accidents are happening in a daily basis. The issue here is not lack of an organ to rescue people but lack of enforcement of the preventive steps to insure accidents do not happen in the first place. That is what is lacking!
What needs to be done is concentrate more on the prevention side of the preparedness and enforcement of the already established prevention measures such that accidents rarely happens. Having routine ship engine checks, ship body checks, life boat checks, making sure that ships owners adhere to loading capacities of their vessels etc, etc should be the first priority.
Always–prevention is better than a cure and it is cheaper at the same time. Most of the accidents that are happening in Tanzania are avoidable. It’s just common sense. Why do they allow un-maintained, over-loaded-ships to operate on our waterways?
How many accidents will it take for the “senses” to be “common” again?
Maybe ship-owners need to carry high premium insurance for the cargo and human life they waste every now and then. That would put them on notice and on the right path thinking-wise. They need to be taken to court and if found guilty–spend time in jail and pay both the dead and the injured handsomely.
I believe their bottom-line (profits) is merely affected when these types of accidents happens—because when people die due to negligence the people who profit from these types of negligence are not taken to account. This in turn creates no incentive to change what they are currently doing–that is killing indiscriminately in the name of accidents.
It is not Allah or Jesus that kills in most of these accidents, it is just negligence and negligence needs to be seriously confronted.
This accident has happened in the Zanzibar route which is a much safer route than the Mtwara –Dar Es Salaam route. It is quite common for ships in this route to stall (engine actually lose power in high seas) sometimes two times in a one way journey from either Mtwara –Dar or vice versa. Ill-maintained ships, over-loaded passengers and excess cargo are a norm in this route as well.
It is just a matter of time an accident like the one in Zanzibar will happen in this route as well if necessary preventive steps like the ones mentioned above are not going to be taken sooner.
In Pictures: The Zanzibar Ferry Disaster–Source BBC News.
Note: I use the word accident very lightly here as most of these so-called accidents are avoidable.
1.In an outrageous cable reported by Wikileaks, the former US Ambassador to Tanzania, Michael Retzer is reported to have said in his cable reports that President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete has accepted gifts from the owner of the Kempinski Hotel chain, who is a citizen of the United Emirates.
2.This is, according to Ambassador Retzer, from a conversation he had with the Manager and Publicity Director of the former Dar es Salaam-based Kilimanjaro-Kempinski Hotel, Miss Lisa Pile.
3.This cable is as untruthful as it is outrageous. It is full of lies and innuendoes seeking to tarnish the good image and name of the President. It is unfortunate and highly disappointing that an ambassador worth his name could engage in this kind of lazy gossip.
4.The Directorate of the Presidential Communications would like to deny these lies in the strongest terms possible as follows:
5.We would like to state categorically that there has never been a time when the President received gifts from Ali Albwardy. This is definitely an outrageous claim and if there is evidence to the contrary, we would like to challenge Mr. Ambassador Retzer to produce it for the public to satisfy itself that what he is claiming are mere lies.
6.That there has never been a time, ever, when His Excellency Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, during his time as Foreign Minister or currently as President of the United Republic of Tanzania, was flown by anybody to London on a subsidized shopping expedition to buy five suits. All his travels to London or any other places in the world have been duty assignments paid for by the Government of Tanzania. The matter of him being flown to London for subsidised shopping of five suites is outrageous.
7.That during his entire life, as Foreign Minister or as President, the President has never met in London nor travelled with Ali Albwardy to London on a shopping expedition. In any case as Foreign Minister he is given adequate clothing allowance. And, now as President his clothing is the responsibility of the state. He does not therefore need to be flown by anybody for subsidized shopping of suits.
8.That the President was not responsible for raising nor receiving campaign funds for CCM Party during the 2005 General Elections. He was simply the flag bearer of the Party. However, he is privy to information that Kempinski Kilimanjaro Hotel was never asked nor contributed a single cent towards CCM campaign. Therefore the allegations that Kempinski Kilimanjaro Hotel contributed one million (USD 1,000,000) toward CCM campaign are baseless and unfounded.
9.That the Government permission for possessing of the Kilimanjaro Hotel by Kempinski Hotels and the subsequent permission to Kempinski to build two new hotels – one on the edge of the Ngorongoro Crater and another on the Serengeti plains overlooking the main animal migration routes were issued by the Third Phase Tanzania Government and not by Mr. Kikwete’s Administration.
10.However, President Kikwete declined to grant permission to Kempinski Hotels permission to build on the right of the Ngorongoro Crater on the strength of environmental concerns. How come then that the President who had been offered so many favors such as suits and election money, took this principled position? This therefore testifies to the fact that, claims that the President has received favours are a concoction with malicious intentions from the authors.
11.That it is a lie that Mr Kikwete has frequented Kilimanjaro Kempinski Hotel in his personal capacity. The records are very clear; the President has never, ever on his own visited that Hotel except on official duties or when he has escorted official state guests or attended meetings.
12.It is unfortunate that the distinguished Ambassador would believe and transmit such baseless lies and hear-says from a single source. The Office of the President takes strong exception to such behaviour which seeks to tarnish the name and person of the President.
Going through the articles regarding creationism vs evolution has made me aware of the existence of the great debate that is boiling between the creationists and the evidence based supporters of the evolution process. I understand the fear that is held by the creationists about evolution and the significant challenge it possess to the creation only idea. As a science instructor representing the larger scientific community in a classroom, I feel that curriculum decisions based on the belief of creationism have no place in determining science standards.
To me, science is a particular way of knowing about the world. In science, explanations are limited to those based on observations and experiments that can be substantiated by other scientists. Explanations that cannot be based on empirical evidence are not a part of science. Thus, creationism, that provides explanations based on faith and not on empirical evidence has no part in science and no part in the science classroom.
Moreover, progress in science consists of the development of better explanations for the causes of natural phenomena. Scientists never can be sure that a given explanation is complete and final. Some of the hypotheses advanced by scientists turn out to be incorrect when tested by further observations or experiments. Yet many scientific explanations have been so thoroughly tested and confirmed that they are held with great confidence. The theory of evolution is one of these well-established explanations. An enormous amount of scientific investigation since the mid-19th century has converted early ideas about evolution proposed by Darwin and others into a strong and well-supported theory. Today the theory of evolution has become the bedrock of modern biology and is universally accepted by scientists as the engine for speciation.
However, creationists in their bid to get equal time in the science classroom, deliberately mislead the public by trying to present evolution as a controversial theory. I simply don’t understand why it is that today, more than 150 years after Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, we are still fighting over evolution. The Catholic Church has endorsed evolution; every competent biologist relies on its theoretical framework; and its mechanism and its consequences have been thoroughly documented. The theory of evolution has become the central unifying concept of biology and is a critical component of many related scientific disciplines. In contrast, the claims of creation science lack empirical support and cannot be meaningfully tested. These observations lead to two fundamental conclusions: the teaching of evolution should be an integral part of science instruction, and creation science is in fact not science and should not be presented as such in science classes.
The claim that equity demands balanced treatment of evolutionary theory and special creation in science classrooms reflects a misunderstanding of what science is and how it is conducted. Scientific investigators seek to understand natural phenomena by observation and experimentation. Scientific interpretations of facts and the explanations that account for them therefore must be testable by observation and experimentation.
Creationism, intelligent design, and other claims of supernatural intervention in the origin of life or of species are not science because they are not testable by the methods of science. These claims subordinate observed data to statements based on authority, revelation, or religious belief. Documentation offered in support of these claims is typically limited to the special publications of their advocates. These publications do not offer hypotheses subject to change in light of new data, new interpretations, or demonstration of error. This contrasts with science, where any hypothesis or theory always remains subject to the possibility of rejection or modification in the light of new knowledge.
No body of beliefs that has its origin in doctrinal material rather than scientific observation, interpretation, and experimentation should be admissible as science in any science course. Incorporating the teaching of such doctrines into a science curriculum compromises the objectives of public education. Science has been greatly successful at explaining natural processes, and this has led not only to an increased understanding of the universe but also to major improvements in technology and public health and welfare. The growing role that science plays in modern life requires that science, and not religion, be taught in science classes.
I am not advocating that students not have the right to believe in creationism. I am simply arguing that in the science classroom students be allowed to explore the truth about their own origin and the origin of their universe based on scientifically collected and proven evidence. In the science classroom, we teach students that all good science is based on the scientific method. Based on this method, we form hypothesis that we later test with experimentation. The evolutionary theory has undergone much experimentation over the past 150 years since Darwin first outlined his theory and for the most part this experimentation has upheld his ideas. Creationism, however, by its very nature, resists attempts to explore its validity using the scientific method. It is impossible to test this theory using experimentation. Thus, I believe that it has no place in the science classroom. I have no problems with it being taught as part of religious instruction or even in a philosophy class. However, I do not think it belongs in a science classroom simply because we cannot use scientific tools to understand and explore the idea.
I strongly reject the Creationists’ claim that if one believes that the theory of evolution is true then one necessarily must believe that there is no God, no meaning or purpose to life, and thus no moral accountability. This statement is completely wrong due to the fact that believing in evolution and believing in God are not mutually exclusive beliefs. The dilemma creationists have for themselves of being unable to reconcile science and religion should not be imposed upon the rest of world populous, and particularly not on educational systems. The courts have consistently ruled that “creation science” is actually a religious view. Because public education must be religiously neutral under the U.S. Constitution, the courts have held that it is unconstitutional to present creation science as legitimate scholarship. I believe that these court rulings should be upheld and creation science kept out of science instruction in the public education system.
Over the past 50 years, our world has become increasingly more technological and the need for students to understand scientific principles has become increasingly more important. If we want our public school students to compete on a global level it is essential that we teach them sound scientific principles and keep creationism out of the science classroom.
Last week I conducted several interviews with Swahili speaking students at a local community college in Atlanta. Amongst the interviewees: three were from the Democratic Republic of Congo, one from the United Republic of Tanzania and four were from the republic of Burundi. The eight students spoke Swahili with different dialects.
By definition, Swahili or Kiswahili is a “Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups inhabiting a large Indian Ocean Coastal stretch from Mozambique to Somalia”. The countries include: Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Comoro, Burundi, Malawi, Zambia, and Congo DRC.
I learned from the interviews that Standard Swahili has 5 vowels phonemes. The vowels are: a, e, I, o, u. And that the vowels are never reduced, regardless of stress. The vowels are pronounced as follows:
“a” is pronounced like the “a” in pasta
‘e’ is pronounced like the “e” in bed
‘i’ is pronounced like the “i” in ski
‘o’ is pronounced like the “o” in “or”
‘u’ is pronounced like the “oo” in “bassoon”.”
I also learned that like in numerous Bantu languages, Swahili arranges nouns into a number of classes. The ancestral system had 22 classes. Counting singular and plural as distinct according to the Meinhof System. Most Bantu languages share at least ten of these noun classes. Swahili employs sixteen nouns classes: six classes usually indicate singular nouns, five classes usually indicate plural nouns, one class for abstract nouns, one class for verbal infinitives used as nouns, and three classes to indicate location.
Some examples of the nouns classes are presented below:
“class semantics prefix singular translation plural translation
1, 2 persons m-/mu-, wa- mtu person watu persons
3, 4 trees, natural forces m-/mu-, mi- mti tree miti trees”
As seen above, Swahili is a very complex language and differs significantly from the English language. The vowels are pronounced the way they are written while in the English language the vowels carry different sounds from the written expression. This difference in particular causes a huge challenge to students who are learning English as a second language from the Swahili speaking cultures. Students from Swahili speaking countries struggle with intonation and word sound relationships in English because this is a very different system from that of Swahili or Kiswahili.
Implication in the classroom instruction
It is very important for educators to understand the linguistic similarities and differences between Swahili and English to have an opportunity to help students like the ones I interviewed. In addition, Swahili has a different system for singular and plural to that used in the English language. The addition of vowels to words does not exist in the Swahili language. Thus, making it harder for Swahili speakers to learn the English language.
Opportunity in classroom instruction:
It would be helpful to educators who teach content specific course to understand the linguistic similarities and differences between Swahili and English. This understanding will help them to anticipate when and where Swahili speaking students will have challenges learning the English language. This understanding will provides educators with an opportunity to help students for Swahili speaking nations to be engaged in their own learning and also in using the new language for other content specific courses.
Educators need to develop lessons that will focus more in helping students new to the English language understand the differences and similarities between the two languages and use the opportunity to highlight how to overcome those differences. For example, educators can start by teaching the students the English alphabet, vowels and word sounds. This will help the students to understand where the two languages are similar and where they differ.
After students have mastered word sounds, educators can go further into reading, writing and comprehension of the English language. The step by step instruction will help many ESOL students to become fluent English speakers and writers and in turn this will have a significant impact on how the ESOL students excel in the content classrooms.
References:
1.Prins, A.H.J. 1961. “The Swahili-Speaking Peoples of Zanzibar and the East African Coast (Arabs, Shirazi and Swahili)”. Ethnographic Survey of Africa, edited by Daryll Forde. London: International African Institute.
2.Prins, A.H.J. 1970. A Swahili Nautical Dictionary. Preliminary Studies in Swahili Lexicon – 1. Dar es Salaam.
3.Whiteley, Wilfred. 1969. Swahili: the rise of a national language. London: Methuen. Series: Studies in African History.
4.Brock-Utne, Birgit (2001). “Education for all — in whose language?” Oxford Review of Education 27 (1): 115–134.
I have heard of the DICOTA conferences in the past two years, but I was too occupied with other important things and never had the WILL to attend. This year-2011 is different though, I will definitely be in Washington D.C. to attend this important meeting for all Tanzanians living in the Americas.
The reasons for attending this year’s convention are simple: 1) to celebrate 50 years on Tanzania’s independence, 2) to just mingle with like-minded folks from that great east African country.
I believe that for Tanzania to achieve the type of development we all want to see, it is imperative for all to participate in the process. That means people in the diaspora need to have a role in what is happening in Tanzania. I am taking that necessary step– this time around.
As I seat here planning my trip to the U.S capital for this convention to be held on September 23th-25th, 2011, I am completely preparing myself for all-things positive that will happen during the entire length of this conference.
My decision to attend the convention was somewhat made easier this year after hearing our Ambassador to Washington Ms. Maajar speak eloquently the needs for Tanzanians and everyone with origin from Tanzania to support Tanzania’s development. To quote ambassador Maajar‘s words of wisdom “if not us Tanzanians, who else will push for the development of Tanzania?” I am with you on that Balozi Maajar.
It will definitely be really nice for me to be in the capital city again after 2 years away. I lived in Baltimore City, 25 miles outside of the Washington D.C. beltway for almost 8 years and spent so many beautiful moments in the capital during the week ends and attended many social events there. It will indeed be like a home coming event.
For all Tanzanians in America, please attend if you can. I know it is a recession time and there is little money to go around, but if you have the time and money, please show up to celebrate this important event for Tanzania.
Finally, If you want to cut expenses by sharing a room at the Dulles Marriott Hotel in Washington D.C. leave your name, phone number or e mail as a comment so that other people who would like to do the same can contact you privately through this blog. I would be happy to do the same especially if we book the two bedrooms offer that they have.
The first thing I heard from the Head Teacher when I went to register to start my primary school education was— “raise your right hand over your head and touch your ear on the other side.” It was a heart breaker for many children those days. If your right or left hand couldn’t touch the tips of your ear on the opposite side, it meant you was not old enough to start a primary education.
It actually happened to me twice before I was formally registered. Two years in a roll, going to that long line, with my peers and being rejected at the end of the line—just because my fingers could not touch the tips of my ear. I guess the first time I was a little younger, but the second time I was really 7 years old. It was humiliating in both cases.
My mother was and continues to be a law abiding citizen. Most parents whose kids were rejected due to the hand over head to ear rule, would go to the district office and just buy a birth certificate for their kids. My mother kept me home for two years so that I could start primary school at the right age.
I knew all my A, B, Cs for gods sake! I could count to a hundred in Ones and in tens in Swahili, but, that was not enough. I had to touch the ear, because that was the rule of the land. For most of us who did not have a birth certificate to prove that we were indeed 7 years old, we had to wait for the next round–which was next year. The lack of birth certificate was very rampant during those days. Even though I was delivered in a regional Hospital “Kitete Regional Hospital” I still lacked one.
It is still a mystery to me to why we had to do that? I have not been able to find any logical explanations to collaborate the relationship between age and hand over head touching your ear on the other side preposition. If you know anything as to the origin of this rule—please share!!
While holidaying in Tanzania I had to take the bus from Mwanza to Shinyanga. The bus was going all the way to Dar Es Salaam. We left Mwanza before sunrise and we had to travel for about an hour for the sun to start coming up. It was a beautiful morning, there were No clouds on the horizon. You could see the sun rising from the ground-up, first pinkish-yellow in color, then slowly turning into that warm red African hot sun. It was simply beautiful!
The bus was traveling at a very high speed. Everyone had a seat and some of the seats on the back of the bus remained empty. We continued to stop here and there picking up passengers going to Dodoma, or further ahead to Dar Es Salaam. I was in a bus, comfortably seated, the passengers spoke loudly and I could hardly understand the language. It was mostly Sukuma mixed with some Swahili words. I could see the pride in them, these people were very proud to be Sukumas.
Before we arrived at Old Shinyanga, we stopped for all the passengers to go out and relieve themselves. Everyone jumped out of the bus and off into the side of the road’s bushes. Some went further afield; I guess some were “taking a dump” and some were just going out to pee. I was just wondering what you would do if you really had to go poop in the bushes while you had forgotten to pack your toiletry?
I remember when I was a kid; we used to use tree leaves or corn cobs to wipe our asses with after we went pooping into the bush. I remember in those times, you would go into the bush and hold on a small bush trunk to let it out. Grab some tree leaves “soft ones off-course” and wipe your butt with. I am not exactly sure how clean you would get while doing this, but it was how things were done back then.
No digging holes to poop in, just on top of the dirt. The hole in the ground type was a way to advanced sanitation system. The hole on the ground toilets were 5-10KM away sometimes. I just had to do what I had to do! answering mother nature’s call.
This post is inspired by the little girl taking a dump at the side of the road on my way to Shinyanga from Mwanza. The father (seen on the picture) did exactly what I described above. He picked some young tree leaves and used them to wipe the kid’s bummy after she was done pooping. It was hilorious to see that done on the side of the road.
www.kibogoji.com 