TOURISTS DONATE 1,000 BIKE TO PUPILS FROM REMOTE AREAS IN NORTHERN TANZANIA

Pupils with smile ,each with a bike

sponsors Naomi and Mark 

OVER 1,000 pupils from remote areas in various primary schools of Arusha region now have a reason to smile, thanks to American tourist for providing bikes as a means of transport to help them to attend school.

According to Grand circle Foundation Project Manager; Ms Sandra Vaughan the tourist Naomi Hughes has donated a total of 1077 bicycles worth $100,000 (Tsh 164 million) to several primary schools in northern Tanzania.

The Hughes are founders of Pets Providing Pedals program, where dog groomer Naomi grooms dogs in the USA, and raises funds all year round to supply bikes to children in Tanzania.

Tarangire, Ayatale, Rhotia and Bashay primary schools are the key beneficiaries of Naomi’s donations.   Other institutions benefited include Plaster house and Rift Valley Children centres.

Mark and Naomi Hughes are traveling through Tanzania on their 10th Overseas Adventure Trip facilitating their bike program.

The tourist is also built a primary school, provided textbooks, school desks, water tanks, solar lights, trees, and stationary supplies worth Tsh 1.3 billion.

Speaking at the official ceremony to thank Naomi, Mayor of Arusha City His lordship Gaudence Lyimo hailed efforts done by the Hughes family to save children from walking 10km a day to schools.

“Pets Providing Pedals reached an amazing milestone this year. Remember it is one person grooming dogs and fund raising, Naomi” Ms Sandra says.

In 2011, Naomi distributed 201 bikes, while in 2012 she provided another 250.   Way back in 2013, she donated 300 bikes and this year another great donations of 280 bikes. 

On Monday, Naomi together with his husband, Mark Hughes was in Tloma primary school in Karatu to offer yet another 280 bicycles, culminating a grand total of 1,077 cycles.

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UNIVERSITY ENROLLMENT IN EAST AFRICAN COUNTRIE TOO LOW

University enrollment in East African countries is considered too low despite their joint population of over 130 million residents.

A study conducted by the Inter-University Council of East the   East African revealed that member states have only managed to place 1.7 million students to higher institutions of learning.

 “So far we have 173 universities in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania, but according to our recent research on tertiary education in the region, results indicate that it is only about 6.4 percent of the East African population access highest levels of education,” explained Prof Mayunga Nkunya the Executive Secretary for the Inter-University Council of East Africa.

Prof Nkunya was speaking during the  4th East African Higher Education Quality Assurance Network Forum, organized by the IUCEA with support from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), under the theme of ‘Creating a quality assurance culture in the East African Higher Education Area,’ focusing on practices, challenges and prospects.

The IUCEA executive pointed out that the five East African Member states are yet to reach the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Education (UNESCO)’s higher education enrolment standard of 10 percent of a
specific population.

It has also been discovered that although Tanzania with 50 universities, has the biggest number of higher learning institutions in East Africa, the country fell behind Kenya (with only 37%) and which tops the bill in the region, as far as the students’ penetration into tertiary education level is concerned.

While Kenya leads with 7 percent enrollment, it has been observed that many students (accounting to around 25 percent) later drop from universities in the country due to the institutions’ skyrocketing fees, the highest in the
region.

Uganda which also has higher University enrollment, was described to be the regional education mecca, because many students from other countries in the region go to study there; “And while the number in Ugandan institutions may seem high, the majority of scholars are actually foreign students,” explained Dr Warda Rajab the Director of Research at the Islamic University of Uganda.

As far as Rwanda is concerned however the 1994 genocide in which about a Million people  were killed, negatively also affected the education system in the country but rising from the ashes, Kigali has managed to jump from the
formerly single ‘National University of Rwanda’ with just 2500 students to the current 22 universities boasting over 85,000 student.

“And at the moment we are rapidly adopting to English as the main medium of instruction having moved from the past when we used to apply two languages; French and English. We find the later to be best being an international means of communication, but are keeping the former simply as independent subject,” explained Dr Baguma Abdallah the Director of Academic Quality at the Higher Education Council of Rwanda.

Ends..

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TANZANIAN PRESIDENT JAKAYA KIKWETE DIRECTS THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND TZ MEDICAL STORES TO SUPPLY DIAGNOSTIC GEARS TO CURB DENGUE FEVER

President Jakaya Kikwete have appealed  to the ministry of health and Tanzania Medical stores  board (MSD)to supply diagnostic equipments  to all health centers in the country to curb the spread of  the mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus.

President Kikwete made the call in Arusha when he was officially addressing nurses and heath practioners gathered here to mark the worlds nursing day.

Kikwete also told the public to report to hospitals any time they feel any sense of malaria fever so that they can be properly diagnosed and well treated if found infected by the deadly virus.

He said the disease is now  pose a big threat to the country’s population  health since its outbreak in the year 2010 to date where two people are reported dead and 369 infected.

"There is a tendency of people to go to pharmacies and buy ant malaria need to visit the hospital for check up and proper medication “He said.  

He said  dengue fever symptoms  includes sudden high fever, severe headaches pain behind the eyes severe joint and muscle pain  Nausea Vomiting  Skin rash, which appears three to four days after the onset of fever Mild bleeding (such a nose and  bleeding gums  

“Sometimes symptoms are mild and can be mistaken for those of the flu or another viral.

Younger children and people who have never had the infection before tend to have milder cases than older children and adults”Kikwete said

He noted that  Kinondoni District in Dare salaam is leading in terms of infected figures where 322 people are reported to have infected by the  killer virus, followed by Ilala District with 61 victims and Temeke with  16.

  
He said there is fewer equipment to diagnose the virus therefore they should be supplied immediately to fight the plague.

In regards to the call from heath works who asked the government to provide housing and better working environment, the president assured them that it will take their demands into high consideration.

 He argued them to equip themselves academically to get more knowledge in their noble profession to save lives and fight diseases

In his part the deputy minister  for health and social welfare Dr, Stephen Kebwe, said the ministry has made remarkable progress in maternal heath and reproductive health education.

“Statistcs   from  the year  2010 to 2013   show that ninety six percent of women  and ninety seven  percent of men are aware  of  the subject “He said

 
He pointed out other success  are  the reduction of mortality rate for children under five years which had decreased from 165 deaths from 1990 to 54 death in the year  2013.

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EU AND EAC JOIN FORCE TO IMPROVE MARITME SECURITY

The  European Union delegation and the east African community has signed a cooperation programme totaling 2.3milion EURO to improve maritime security aimed at contributing to global security and creating a favorable environment for the economic development in the Region.

Speaking during the signing ceremony at the East African headquarters in Arusha on Wednesday   ambassador of the European Union and the East African Community Ambassador Filbert Sebregondi said the programme will provide support to fight maritime crime in the Indian Ocean.

He said the programme will facilitate serious threats that can undermine peace and stability, cases of piracy, drugs, arms smuggling, human trafficking and illegal fishing.

“This  programme is part of a 37 .5 Million EURO package to four regional organization of east and southern Africa (EAC,COMESA,IGAD and IOC) and is aiming to strength the capacities of the four regional organizations to implement regional strategy and action plan against piracy and for maritime security they adopted 2010”He said.

He noted that the programme will also ensure coordination with another EU continental programme called “Critical Maritime Routes “and with further activities related to maritime information sharing system and networking. 

“It will also look at activities related to financial flows  and have to be coordinated with   law  enforcement in East Africa  project which focuses on effective investigation on piracy organizers and financers.

Speaking on behalf of the Secretary General of the East African Community, Deputy Secretary General in charge of finance and administration Jean Jean Claude Nsengiyumva applauded the engagement with the European Union in mobilizing resources geared towards uplifting the standard of living of the citizens in the region. 

He reiterated that EAC greatly values the strategic cooperation with the EU and regards it as one of its key strategic partners. He assured the European Union of its highest consideration.

In his presentation, InfoTech Investment Group Ltd Chief Executive Officer, Alli Mfuruki commended European Union for its commitment to work with other organizations to achieve a common goal.

 “Sometimes we seem to forget why we have united our countries, we need to remember the objectives of our union”    He said.

He said East African countries should not compete among themselves but rather they should unite and compete with the rest of the World’s economic powers “He said.

Earlier at the EAC headquarters, representatives from the civil society organizations and the private sector joined EU and EAC staff in a round table discussion on the Business Environment in East Africa as part of the EU-EAC week.

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DR. MENGI WARN OF RAMPANT CORRUPTION HAMPERING PRIVATE SECTOR

Dr Reginald Mengi, Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) Chairman

Rampant corruption across East Africa is hampering development of the private sector limiting its effective contribution to the region’s socio-economic growth.

Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) Chairman, Dr Reginald Mengi made the remark yesterday at the East African Community Headquarters where the European Union Week 2014 is being observed.

He said corruption must be combated at the international level through imposition of sanctions on all international companies found guilty of the practice and manipulation of African leaders in their companies’ interests.

“We hear Africans are corrupt but the question remains, what about international companies which give bribes so as to be favoured in investment projects on the continent? They too should be punished,” he said.

“Double standards mustn’t be allowed to dominate this matter," he emphasized, noting that if the matter is not dealt with seriously, the gap between the poor and the rich will inevitably grow wider.

Dr Mengi also warned that without peace and stability, local and foreign investment will be gravely affected and therefore all governments in the region must take concrete steps to ensure peace and stability are maintained, he urged.

“You can have all it takes to run any business, but I assure you that if there is no peace and stability you cannot invest your money when there is no security,” said the renowned philanthropist.

Dr. Mengi went on to bid for private sector involvement in the gas and oil sector and the alternative energy industry in general saying with private sector involvement the citizens will directly benefit from the resources.
He said if East African states are to escape the ‘oil and gas curse’ the bloc must put in place a citizen-friendly policy framework.

“Much as we encourage foreign investment, there still is very high demand for private sector participation,” noted Dr. Mengi.

The Chairman of the East African Business Council (EABC), Felix Mosha, said despite challenges in the regional trade bloc, business growth has shot up from 14 percent to 23 percent which he attributed to the one stop border posts scheme and business infrastructure improvement. 

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POOR SANITATION CLAIMS 30.000 LIVES IN TANZANIA YEARLY

Participants of the crucial workshop to scale hygiene and sanitation  

Tanzania has embarked on a national sanitation campaign to grapple with diarrheal and other waterborne diseases compounded by a poor hygiene.

About 30,000 Tanzanians die of diarrheal and other diseases attributed to unsafe water supply and poor sanitation and hygiene practices.

Barely 20 per cent of households have access to improved sanitation and 12 per cent are known to practice open defecation countrywide, according to the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Mr Charles Pallangyo.

Mr Pallangyo was officiating at an International Workshop on Scaling up Rural Sanitation and Hygiene jointly organized by SNV Netherlands Development Organisation and the ministry.

He said the campaign, which was launched last year, primarily focused on rural and peri-urban areas where coverage was extremely low.

The permanent secretary said statistics indicated that 42 per cent of children in the country, equivalent to four Million of them, were stunted.

“These figures are not only intimidating, but also call for concerted efforts to reverse them. I am confident enough that once improved, sanitation and hygiene will significantly reduce the rate of children suffering from stunted growth,” he said.

Studies, he said, show that improved sanitation could reduce diarrheal cases by up to 32 per cent and that a mere hand washing using soap can cut down those cases by 42 per cent.

“The country, for instance, has just in 12 months of the campaign witnessed a promising change of behavior and a tremendous increase of 280,000 improved toilets and 190,000 functional hand washing points at households level,” he observed.

Twenty five per cent of the newly improved water points are already operational -- barely two years after they were constructed.

The achievement notwithstanding, over half of the rural population still lacked access to clean water, said Mr Pallangyo, stressing that he believed the trend could be reversed if the construction of water supply infrastructure is given due priority.

Lack of clean and safe water as well as poor hygiene significantly hampers the performance in the educational sector, according to the SNV online report.

In 2011, only 9 per cent of schools countrywide were furnished with clean toilets and only 11 of schools had latrines sufficient enough to serve all pupils.

Forty five per cent of schools compounds were not supplied with clean water and only 14 per cent of them had hand-washing facilities, putting girls, in particular, in a precarious situation.

SNV’s support mainly focuses water supply and sanitation facilities in rural communities and in schools. “We work with local government and communities to jointly improve rural and school water points, sanitation and hygiene facilities,” Mr. Martijn Veen, Acting Director SNV Tanzania said.

Mr. Martijn Veen said SNV also supported ministries of respective nations in formulating and harmonizing effective approaches for interacting with local authorities.

“We also support communities and local governments to establish mutual accountability relations for quality and reliable service delivery,” Mr. Martijn Veen said.

The workshop attracted 45 participants, all working on rural sanitation and hygiene in Nepal, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique and the host, Tanzania.

In attendance also were professionals from other development organisations and government, collaboration with SNV in the above countries.

The four-day workshop is part of the learning activities of SNV’s Sustainable Sanitation and Hygiene for All Programme. The learning activities are not limited to the programme, but intended to promote discussion among partners about best practices and up scaling strategies in rural sanitation and hygiene.

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