UJAMBAZI ULIOKITHIRI DAR ES SALAAM

From  Sara  Mrema (machomrema@yahoo.com)
Tarehe:  Februari 20, 2009, 7.30am.saa za Afrika Mashariki. 

Kwa  kweli  Bwana  Afande AGP Saidi  Mwema ana kazi nzito.  

Napenda kuwataatharisha kuwa muwe makini zaidi mkiwa barabarani hasa

 kwenye  foleni.Kuna kundi la vijana zaidi ya 30 wanavamia magari

 wakiwa na mapanga,nondo na visu kwa lengo la kupora chochote

ulichonacho na halikadhalika wanauwa ama kujeruhi.

 Maeneo hatari ni maeneo ya Jangwani- Morogoro Road ,Ocean

 Road, Seaview, Salender Bridge , Bonde la Kigogo ukitokea
Ilala kuja Magomeni, Daraja la Ubungo karibu na njia panda ya kwenda UDSM na

barabara ya Mandela Road ukitokea Tazara kuja Ubungo (NDIPO ALIPOVAMIWA

RAFIKI YANGU)

 His Case. Akiwa kwenye folen majira ya saa mbili
usiku, ghafla lilitokea  kundi la vijana kama kumi na mapanga na kuanza kupiga vioo vya gari wakitaka kuvunja, aidha waliongezeka ghafla na wakafunga

 barabara kama kwa dakika  7 hivi wakiendelea kumshambulia (kwenye gari

 walikuwa watatu), kumbuka kwenye foleni huwezi kukimbia popote, Mungu

 aliwasaidia sana kwani milango ya gari ilikuwa imefungwa/locked, na vioo

 vilikuwa vimefungwa kasoro kimoja kilikuwa wazi nusu. Baada ya

 mapambano na  kelele za kuomba msaada,ndipo msamalia mwema aliyekuwa na

 silaha aliingilia kati na ndipo alipowatawanya. Kwa mujibu wa Taarifa mbalimbali, haya matukio yamekuwa

 yakiongezeka sana katika siku za usoni, kwa hilo nawatahadharisha

 msinunue vitu ovyo kwenye traffic light, vioo msishushe ovyo na lock za

 milango ya magari mfunge, muwe makini.Ujambazi huu unafanyika kila siku

 sehemu tofauti kuanzia saa 12 jioni kuendelea.

 Namshukuru Mungu hakuna aliyeumizwa sana , japo walifanikiwa kupata

 baadhi ya vitu ikiwemo simu ya mwenye gari.

 Natambua unaweza kuona kama sinema,ila haya ndio yanayotokea katika

jiji la Dar kwenye foleni za magari.

Mwatawala, Zainab M.

P O Box 453

Morogoro, Tanzania

East Africa

Tel. 255 023 260 3583

Cell: 202 427 4413

5167 Fulton Str. NW

Washington, DC., 20016

USA

MAKALA YA AFYA BORA NA. 7

Kutoka kwa Dr. Wilbert Bunini Manyilizu wa Chuo Kikuu Mzumbe, Tanzania.

Article 7

UHARIBIFU WA AFYA KWA UCHAFUZI WA MAZINGIRA KWA KUCHOMA PLASTIKI

Watanzania wengi ni maskini. Hawawezi kuepuka matumizi ya plastiki. Plastiki huwasaidia katika kurahisisha shughuli zao. Lakini sayansi inaonesha kuwa plastiki yaweza kuleta athari kubwa katika jamii inayotumia ama kwa mtu mmoja mmoja au kwa jamii nzima iliyo karibu. Watu wakieleweshwa wanaweza kuepuka madhara makubwa kiafya yanayoweza kuletwa na matumizi mabaya au uharibuji wa plastiki hizi. Habari juu ya madhara yanayotokana na plastiki zinataka ushirikiano mkubwa kati ya wanasayansi, wanajamii, na wanasiasa. Jukumu la awali linabaki kwa msomaji kulifanyia kazi kwa nia ya kujisalimisha na kusalimisha afya za binadamu wenzie. Kuna sampuli nyingi za plastiki. Makundi makubwa mawili yanayojulikana ni yale ya plastiki ngumu na plastiki laini. Plastiki ngumu ni zile zilizotumika kama ndoo, sahani, beseni, kandambili, viatu, chupa za maji nakadhalika. Plastiki laini ni kama zile za mifuko ya rambo, ya maji yenye nembo ya uhai na mifuko laini inayofanana na hiyo. Msomaji anaweza kuhakikisha wingi wa plastiki hizi katika mazingira ya nyumbani, hata nje ya ofisi, na mabarabarani. Plastiki hizi zote zimezagaa mahali pengi hasa majalalani. Zinatumika sana kwa sababu ya bei zake nafuu, wakati mwingine hutolewa bila malipo kwa ajili ya kubebea mizigo midogo midogo dukani, sokoni, kando ya basi barabarani. Mabaki yake huja nyumbani, hubaki barabarani, na maporini. Mwisho wake ni kuchomwa kwa namna mbalimbali, wengine huwashia mkaa wanapotaka kupika, wengine huchoma pamoja na taka zingine jalalani na kubugia sumu yake bila kujua. Sumu hii nitaielezea kwa undani katika aya na makala zifuatazo.

Katika plastiki kuna sumu kali ambayo haitoki kama plastiki hii ikibaki bila kuchomwa. Sumu hii huitwa dayoksini. Jina la kisayansi kamili huitwa 2,3,7,8 tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin. Hii sumu iko katika kundi la sumu kali duniani ziitwazo (Super toxin) hutokea tu kama zalio lisilotarajiwa (byproduct). Maana yake ni kwamba plastiki haikutengenezwa ili itoe sumu hii, bali sumu hii hujitokeza tu pale plastiki inapochomwa. Hakuna mtu anayeruhusiwa kuchoma moto katika nchi zilizoendelea, bali plastiki zote huchambuliwa na kuwekwa kwenye mapipa maalumu na kurudishwa kiwandani kuzungushwa tena au kuharibiwa katika mazingira salama.

Sumu hii inaaminiwa kisayansi kuwa ni mbaya sana, tena ni ya pili kwa ukali kati ya kemikali zinazotokana na kazi ya binadamu (man made organic chemicals), zenye madhara kwa afya na maisha ya binadamu. Sumu hii, kwa ubaya, inafuatia ile inayotokana na taka za aina ya radioaktivu (radioactive waste).

Tabia na madhara ya sumu (dayoksini) ya plastiki inayochomwa

· Sumu hii hujikusanya kwenye mwili.

· Sumu hii huenda kukaa kwenye chembe chembe za mwilini zenye mafuta, sumu hii hupenda mafuta.

· Sumu hii huenda kukaa kwenye kiini (nucleus) cha chembe chembe na kujichanganya na kuwa kama sehemu ya asili ya chembe chembe. Kumbuka kiini cha chembe ndicho kinachoongoza aina ya mtu aweje. Yaani ama awe mzungu, awe mhindi, afanane na baba au mama, chotara, mbilikimo, mwenye magonjwa na kadhalika

· Sumu hii hubadili tabia ya chembe ya mwili na kuifanya iwe na tabia inazotaka yenyewe zenye madhara kwa afya.

· Kwa sababu hubadili mchanganyiko wa asili wa kiini cha chembe chembe, sumu hii inaweza kuleta magonjwa ya kurithi katika familia

· Hupunguza kinga ya mwili dhidi ya magonjwa mbalimbali.

· Husababisha mimba kuharibika kabla ya muda wa kukomaa.

· Huleta magonjwa ya mfumo wa neva za fahamu.

· Husababisha ulemavu wa kuzaliwa nao, huleta madhara kwa mtoto anapokuwa angali tumboni, ikishindwa kumtoa kama njiti basi kiumbe hubaki na ulemavu mpaka anapozaliwa. Mfano, spina bifida ambapo mtoto huzaliwa bila mifupa kadhaa ya uti wa mgongo.

· Husababisha ugonjwa wa mfuko wa uzazi (endometriosis)

· Husababisha kujisikia mchovu tu siku zote bila sababu ya kueleweka (chronic fatique syndrome).

· Huleta magonjwa mbalimbali ya damu

· Husababisha kansa za aina mbalimbali.

· Huharibu homoni za mwili (Homoni ni kemikali nzuri za mwili ambazo hutengenezwa sehemu moja ya mwili na kusambazwa kwenye damu ili kurekebisha kazi za mwili ziende vizuri), mfano ili mwanamke awe na sauti ya kike, ngozi laini ya kike, sura ya kike na kadhalika lazima awe na homoni hizi za kike.

· Hali kadhalika ili mwanaume awe na ndevu, sauti ya kiume, misuli ya kiume na vinginevyo vya kiume lazima homoni ziwepo kwa ajili hiyo. Zikiharibiwa basi mume aweza kuwa na tabia ya kike, na mke aweza kuwa na tabia za kiume. Sumu hii yaweza kusababisha mambo haya.

· Huleta madhara kwa afya hata inapokuwa imeingia kiasi kidogo kwenye mwili.

· Hakuna kiasi maalumu ambacho mtu lazima akifikie ndipo aweze kupata madhara kiafya, kiwango kidogo tu chaweza kuleta shida kubwa.

· Mwili wa binadamu hauna kinga dhidi ya sumu hii.

· Kibaya kingine mwili hauwezi kuiharibu sumu hii kama unavyoweza kuharibu sumu zingine kupitia ini, tena inapoingia haitoki kwa haraka kupitia njia za kawaida za kuondoa sumu mwilini, kama figo.

· Husababisha ugonjwa wa ini lenyewe. Inaeleweka kuwa mtu hawezi kuishi bila ini, tena magonjwa ya ini mengi ni vigumu kuyatibu.

· Huharibu insinireta (incinerator), yaani nyumba maalumu inayotumika kuchomea taka.

· Inatishia afya na maisha ya binadamu lakini haijapewa kipau mbele.

FIGHTING HIV/AIDS IN TANZANIA

YUMIMI PANG, 19th February 2009 @ 10:46

http://www.dailynews.co.tz

Mention the Swahili word “Fataki” and good-natured giggles will fill the room. Just one year ago in Tanzania, “Fataki” meant no more than a surname and explosives or fireworks. Now thanks to a creative radio campaign, Fataki is a catchword used to ridicule older men who seek sex with younger girls.

By ridiculing cross-generational sex, the campaign uses a fresh approach to HIV/AIDS prevention.
In one memorable radio spot, Fataki takes a girl to a restaurant for chicken and chips. The waitress sees the pair and calls the girl aside, gives her a bag of chicken and chips and tells her to leave through a back door. Fataki still has to pay for the meal, but he does not get the girl.The Fataki campaign has a scope beyond schoolgirls, and the fact is that school dropout rates due to pregnancy are rising at an alarming rate.

According to statistics released by the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training in 2007, 4,362 primary school students dropped out due to pregnancy, compared to 2,550 in 2003.In secondary schools, the increase was even more dramatic with 3,965 pregnancy dropouts in 2007 compared to 668 in 2003.In Tanzania pregnant schoolgirls are expelled from school. “Girls are impregnated by people of not their age group – not only school girls, also young girls out of school. We wanted to pursue that angle.

The prevalence of HIV is high, so the possibility of transmission of HIV is also high to young girls if this continues,” said Ng’wanansabi, Deputy Chief of Strategic Radio Communication for Development (STRADCOM), a USAID initiative headed by Johns Hopkins University – Centre for Communications Programmes.The national prevalence of HIV/AIDS in adults is 6.5 per cent, a figure that makes Tanzania one of the most affected countries in the world. The aggressive radio campaign was piloted for three months in the Morogoro region with eight radio spots a day on three stations.

It was imperative to stigmatize Fataki behaviour, which in Tanzania, had been somewhat tolerated.
“The first step was to find a common word to describe a man who preyed on younger girls,” Stradcom’s researcher revealed. When asked what a 50-year-old man who always tries to seduce younger women is called, responses varied including rapist, murderer, and sly person. Fataki, as yet, had not been introduced into the lexicon.

“We decided on Fataki, meaning explosion; you are playing with dynamite,” said Ng’wanansabi.
Next the Fataki character was created, and banners were made to put a cartoonlike ace to Fataki to supplement the radio spots. With technical support from Media for Development International – Tanzania (MFDI-TZ), Fataki was created. At first, he was a rich guy with jewellery and a fancy car.

“It seems there were some comments that we don’t have to make him look like a villain. He has to look normal, he doesn’t have to be a rich guy, just any Tanzanian guy who has some money to buy love,” said Paulo Ndunguru, who helped create Fataki’s image for the banners. The Fataki project was unique because STRADCOM researched details about the campaign’s impact. After four weeks of the campaign, 44 per cent of people polled knew what a Fataki was.

While between 79 per cent and 94 per cent of respondents said that sex between a young woman and much older man who is not her husband is wrong throughout the campaign, Stradcom research revealed that their campaign empowered more people to act against transgenerational sex. “There are social and economic consequences of cross-generational sex,” says Ng’wanansabi.In November 2008, the Fataki campaign was launched nationwide. The radio spots, which use humour and clever storytelling to ridicule Fataki behaviour, have been well received across Tanzania.

The HIV/AIDS message is mentioned in a subtle way. STRADCOM project leaders realized that after years of almost daily talkabout HIV/AIDS, explicit messages often fell on deaf ears.The campaign is making headway in opening discourse about sex and HIV/AIDS in an African culture that typically shies away from such topics. “It’s now in the vocabulary,” said Abubakar Msemo, Communications Manager with STRADCOM. “It’s becoming part and parcel of today’s modern speech, discussion. It seems people are taking people who are Fatakis as not positive and they do not want to associate with them.”

The ads have proven so popular that Stradcom began fielding calls from radio stations asking to play the Fataki ads moreoften since listeners were calling in to request ads, much like they would request their favourite song. “That was interesting. They said, ‘Play chicken and chips.’ Of course we let them play,” said Msemo.

A VISION HAS TO START WITH PLANNING AND GOING FOR IT!

MY NOTES contributed by LARRY IBRAHIM SULEIMAN RUBAMA [larubama@yahoo.com]

Wednesday, February 18, 2009 12:50 PM

1. Ask yourself “WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?”

2. WE RECENTLY CELEBRATED PRESIDENT’S DAY ON MONDAY AND IT WAS AN HISTORIC EVENT BECAUSE IT WAS THE FIRST TIME THAT WE CELEBRATED THIS DAY WITH AN AFRICAN AMERICAN AS OUR PRESIDENT.

· BUT DID YOU KNOW THAT PRESIDENT OBAMA HAD A DREAM TO BE A PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYER. FORTUNATELY FOR US HE CHANGED HIS MIND. WE ALREADY HAVE MANY AFRICAN-AMERICAN NBA PLAYERS BUT WE’VE NEVER HAD AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN PRESIDENT.

3. BUT WANTING TO BECOME PRESIDENT DIDN’T JUST HAPPEN. HE HAD TO HAVE A PLAN.

· DO YOU REMEMBER PRESIDENT OBAMA’S FAMOUS WORDS DURING THE CAMPAIGN.....YES WE CAN....

· YES WE CAN BUT YOU HAVE TO HAVE A PLAN TO MAKE IT HAPPEN.

4. THAT’S WHAT I WANT TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT TODAY

· HAVE A PLAN

· OVERCOMING OBSTACLES

· CHOOSING POSITIVE PEOPLE TO BE AROUND

· MAKING IT HAPPEN

5. MY STORY

· I WANTED TO BE A PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL PLAYER

· DREAM OF BEING A WRITER

· EDUCATION

· COLLEGE. RESEARCH WHICH SCHOOLS ARE GOOD IN YOUR FIELD OF CHOICE

· SACRIFICES WILL HAVE TO BE MADE. ALSO REALIZE THOSE WHO CAME BEFORE YOU. THOSE WHO FOUGHT AND IN SOME CASES DIED FOR YOU.

EXAMPLE OF NBA BASKETBALL PLAYERS WHO DIDN’T GET THE SAME PAY, WERE CONSTANTLY SPIT UPON, CALLED ALL KINDS OF NAMES, HAD TO SLEEP IN DIFFERENT HOTELS THAN TEAMMATES AND ALSO EAT IN DIFFERENT RESTAURANTS

· STARTING SMALL. BUT DREAMING BIG

· REALIZE MY DREAM BUT IT TOOK NEARLY 18 YEARS LATER BUT I REACHED IT.

· THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER IS SOMETHING MY GRANDFATHER USED TO TELL ME. “YOU CAN DO ANYTHING THAT YOU WANT IF YOU PUT YOUR MIND TO IT.” BUT YOU ALSO HAVE TO BE TWICE AS GOOD AS THE NEXT MAN.

6. OBSTACLES.

· HAVING AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN PRESIDENT MEANS THERE ARE NO EXCUSES ANYMORE. PRESIDENT OBAMA HAD THREE STRIKES AGAINST HIM: HE WAS BLACK, HE WAS A MALE AND HE WAS RAISED BY A WOMAN.

· HOW MANY OF YOU FALL IN THAT SAME CATEGORY? I FALL IN THAT CATEGORY. I REMEMBER BEING SENT TO A SMALL READING CLASS BECAUSE THEY FELT I NEEDED HELP. LOOK AT ME NOW. I AM A WRITER. I DIDN'T GIVE UP THANKS TO MY MOTHER PUSHING ME. NO IT’S NOT FAIR THAT WE ARE STEREOTYPED BUT YOU HAVE TO BE STRONG ENOUGH TO RISE ABOVE THAT.

7. CHOOSE YOUR COMPANY WISELY

· DON’T HANG AROUND PEOPLE WHO PUT YOU DOWN FOR BEING SMART AND FOR GETTING GOOD GRADES

· DON’T HANG AROUND PEOPLE WHO DON’T HAVE THE SAME VALUES AS YOU.

· DON’T HANG AROUND PEOPLE WHO ARE ALWAYS HATING ON YOU OR CRITICIZE YOU ALL THE TIME

· DON’T LET THEM GET IN THE WAY OF YOU REACHING YOUR DREAM.

8. OBAMA HAD A PLAN

· AFTER REALIZING THE NBA WASN’T FOR HIM

· HE Graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review.

· He worked as a community organizer in Chicago prior to earning his law degree, and practiced as a civil rights attorney in Chicago before serving three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004.

· He taught Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004.

· Following an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, Obama was elected to the Senate in November 2004. THIS WAS ONE OF HIS MAIN OBSTACLES -

· He delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004.

· He talked about running for president but many tried to talk him out. They said he wasn’t ready and that he needed to wait. They also didn’t want him to mess it up for Hilary Clinton. Had he listened to those naysayers, he would not be president. But he chose to dream and have a plan and is now our 44^th president.

9. CLOSING.

· Rosa Parks sat against inequality so Martin Luther King Jr. could march against it. Martin Luther King Jr. marched for equal rights for so Obama could run for president. And Obama ran for president so that we can fly.

· Yes we have an African American President but it doesn’t mean that everything is going to be easy.

· The work is only beginning. Having an African American president only means you have a better chance. It’s still going to take a lot of work to achieve your dream, so don’t give up.

· And remember, Yes You Can …….BUT YOU HAVE TO HAVE A PLAN AND IMPLEMENT IT TO THE FULL OF YOUR ABILITY !

2009 NJAA IMESHATUFIKIA !

2009-02-17 13:46:14 Na Mwandishi Wetu wa NIPASHE
Mkoa wa Kilimanjaro unahitaji tani za chakula 27,159 ili kukabiliana na uhaba wa chakula uliozikumba wilaya tatu za Mwanga, Rombo na Same. Hayo yalisemwa na Mkuu wa Mkoa wa Kilimanjaro, Mohammed Babu wakati akitoa taarifa fupi ya mkoa huo kwa Waziri Mkuu Mizengo Pinda ambaye amewasili mkoani hapa jana mchana kwa ziara ya kikazi ya siku ya tatu. Pinda anamalizia maeneo ambayo hakufika baada ya kukatisha ziara yake ya Oktoba mwaka jana. Babu alisema kiasi hicho kitahitajika hadi ifikapo Mei, mwaka huu kwa ajili ya kaya 42,000 ambazo zimekumbwa na upungufu wa chakula. Hata hivyo, alisema tayari jumla ya tani 1,021 zimekwishapelekwa kwa walengwa. ``Serikali imeupatia mkoa chakula cha msaada tani 1,021 zikiwepo tani 970 za bei nafuu, yaani sh. 50 kwa kilo na tani 51 za bure kwa wasio na uwezo… Pia zimetolewa sh. milioni 61.5 kusafirisha chakula hicho kutoka SGR Arusha hadi wilayani,`` alisema. Akijibu maswali ya Waziri Mkuu kuhusu ujenzi wa barabara ya Rombo hadi Tarakea na hali ya kilimo katika kijiji cha Kirya ambacho yeye (Waziri Mkuu) alijitolea kuwa mlezi wake, Mkuu huyo wa Mkoa alisema kwamba ujenzi wa barabara hiyo unaendelea vizuri na sasa umefikia kiwango cha changarawe. Kwa upande wake, Waziri Mku alimweleza Mkuu huyo wa Mkoa kwamba, ameridhishwa na taarifa hiyo ambayo inaonyesha jinsi walivyo na msukumo mkubwa wa kilimo. Alimtaka Mkuu huyo aendelee na mipango waliyojiwekea kulingana na jinsi bajeti itakavyoruhusu. Kuhusu mpango wa Serikali kununua matrekta, Waziri Mkuu alisema inabidi wapange utaratibu wa kuyapata na kuyagawa kwani hayatakuwa ya bure. Leo, Waziri Mkuu anatarajiwa kwenda kukagua Skimu ya Umwagiliaji ya Lower Moshi, kutembelea Chuo cha Mafunzo ya Kilimo cha Kilimanjaro (KATC) na kuhutubia wananchi katika mkutano wa hadhara.

Thursday, February 19, 2009 3:16:46 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: Re: [tanzanet] HIZI NDIO ELIMU ZA VIONGOZI WAKO - Imechangiwa na Mwalimu Joseph Mbele (mbele@stolaf.edu)

Ndugu

Jakaya Kikwete tulisoma wote Chuo Kikuu cha Dar es Salaam (UDSM). Alikuwa mwaka moja mbele yangu. Tulimchangua kuwa rais wa jumuia yetu ya wanafunzi, Dar es Salaam University Students' Organization (DUSO). Alipata shahada yake pale, mwaka 1975.

Nilikuwepo siku alipotunukiwa shahada ya heshima ya udaktari na chuo kikuu cha St. Thomas, hapa Minnesota. Hiki ni chuo maarufu. It is not a joke kama joke zingine tunazozisikiaga. Na citation ambayo uongozi wa chuo ulitoa kama msingi wa kumtunuku Jakaya Kikwete shahada hiyo ilikuwa nzito. Sio jokes kama hizi za wabunge.

Na baada ya kutunikiwa hii shahada, Rais Jakaya Kikwete alitoa hotuba nzito, iliyoacha gumzo. He really and effectively spelled out the condition of Tanzania and Africa, challenges and opportunities. Having outlined our potential, he argued, very effectively, that what we need is partnerships, sio handouts.

Sijawahi kusikia mtu huku Marekani akihoji uhalali wa JK kutunukiwa hili digirii. Sana sana watakaokuwa wanahoji ni wateja wa vijiwe vya Bongo :-)

FATHER SUSPECTED OF KILLING ALBINO DAUGHTER

camwasam@blueyonder.co.uk
Thu, 19 February, 2009 18:25:59 +0000

DAILY NEWS TANZANIA Reporter in Mwanza, 19th February 2009 @ 09:31

Police here have arrested two people in connection with the killing of an albino girl, Yunis Bahati (14), on Wednesday night at Butonga village, Sima ward in Sengerema district. Sengerema District Commissioner Alinasi Pallangyo, mentioned the suspects as the deceased’s father, Bahati Lugwisha (53) and Emmanuel Shiligongo.

The DC said efforts were going on to arrest other suspects who escaped immediately after committing the offence. “We have launched a manhunt and we will not rest until we arrest all those involved in murdering the innocent girl,” he said.

Five people stormed into Bahati’s room on Wednesday night, killing her after chopping her two legs. The grisly murder took a new twist today when the deceased’s younger sister, Leticia Bahati (8), mentioned their father as one of the people involved in the murder. According to Leticia, on the fateful night, their father arrived home with the other suspects from a local brew club.

FEAR OF SOCIAL UNREST IS REAL !

This came from the Daily Nation of Kenya dated February 19, 2009.


Africa
Rich nations' quest for land in Africa to grow food could fuel social unrest
The fertile Tana River Delta in Kenya where the Government plans to lease land to Qatar for farming. Middle Eastern countries flush with oil cash and Asian nations worried about their food security have begun buying large swathes of farmland in Africa after a supply scare last year drove prices of most food items to record highs. Photo/FILE
Posted Thursday, February 19 2009
Middle Eastern countries flush with oil cash and Asian nations worried about their food security have begun buying large swathes of farmland in Africa after a supply scare last year drove prices of most food items to record highs
ROME, Thursday
Big purchases of African land by richer countries in a drive for food security could fuel unrest if the rights of local farmers are not taken into consideration, a land rights campaigner warned on Wednesday.
Madiodio Niasse, director of the International Land Coalition -- which brings together intergovernmental organisations and civil society groups to promote land rights in poor nations -- said there was a general lack of transparency in international land transactions that needed to be addressed.
Middle Eastern countries flush with oil cash but also Asian nations worried about their food security have begun buying large swathes of farmland abroad after a supply scare last year drove prices of most food items to record highs.
"Since the middle of 2008, there has been this huge international trend of purchasing land abroad. Our fear is that if it's not organised and regulated, it will have counterproductive effects and could lead to social unrest," Niasse told Reuters in an interview.
Saudi Arabia's Hail Agricultural Development Co this week announced it had acquired farming land in Sudan to plant wheat, corn, soy and livestock feed in a project that could be worth $45 million.
South Korea's Daewoo Logistics is pursuing a massive corn plantation project in Madagascar, although it said last week that may have to be delayed due to the country's political instability and weak commodity prices.
Without referring to any particular deal, Niasse said the terms of many such land transactions, and who would benefit from them, were not clear and information about them was "not available".
"Is the land in question empty or do people live on it? Where is the irrigation water coming from, how is the plantation going to be developed, who will work on it, where will the money go? There is no transparency at all," he said on the sidelines of a meeting of the UN farm agency IFAD in Rome.
While the inflow of foreign money and technology know-how could help increase the low productivity of African farmlands, Niasse said a code of conduct was needed to make sure local farmers were involved in any development project.
"It has to be a guided process, the local people affected have to be consulted and considered. We want a win-win situation where these projects can generate employment and give African farmers access to modern seeds, technological support and credit," he said. (Reuters)

UNITED STATES COWARDLY ON RACE MATTERS

Kinachozungumzwa hapa ni ukweli na ukweli mtupu. Binafsi nimeshuhudia jambo hili la ubaguzi wa rangi nchini Marekani. Kwa mara ya kwanza kulishuhudia nilikuwa nasubiri Metro train Tenleytown-AU kwenda mahala. Nilipofika sehemu ya kusubiria, nilikuta familia ya baba, mama na mtoto wanasubiri pia. Nilipoketi kusubiri treni, mama aliinuka na kwenda kukaa upande wa pili karibu na mumewe. Nilijiuliza sekunde ileile, ni kwa nini nisirudi kwetu Tanzania kama hali ndio hii? Pia baadaye, niligundua kuwa Wamarekani weupe WANAWACHUKIA, WANAWAOGOPA, WANAWAHOFIA, WANAWANYANYAPAA NA WANA HISIA POTOFU juu ya ndugu zao Wamarekani Weusi.

Yaani, niliumia sana kuona nabaguliwa mchana kweupe na Mmarekani. Jambo hili lilinisumbua sana akili kwa sababu kama kuna kitu ambacho nchi ya Tanzania imefanikiwa katika uhai wake, tangu tumepata uhuru Disemba 9, 1961, basi ni kutobaguana sisi kwa sisi wananchi na hata binadamu mwingine yoyote yule atokaye kokote kule kwa sababu yoyote ile. Hivyo nikakumbuka kuwa niko Marekani kwenye taifa kubwa lenye urithi uliojichimbia wa ubaguzi wa rangi. Nikajifariji na kuendelea kuishi Marekani kwa kipindi nilichopangiwa na Wafadhili wangu (Serikali ya USA).

HABARI HII nimeinukuu kutoka Gazeti la "Examiner", la Washington DC, U.S.A. iliyotoka ukurasa wa 20 wa gazeti la Februari 19, 2009.

The new and the first African-American Attorney General in the Obama Administration Eric Holder described the United States Wednesday (February 18, 2009) as a nation of cowards on matters of race, saying most Americans avoid discussing awkward racial issues.

IN a speech to Justice Department employees marking Black History Month, Holder said the workplace is largely integrated but Americans still self-segregate on the weekends and in their private lives.

"Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an athnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and I believe continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards," said Holder, nation's first black Attorney General

Race issues continue to be a topic of political discussion, Holder said, but "we, as average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race."

Race "is an issue we have never been at ease with and, given our nation's history, this is in some ways understandable," Holder said. "If we are to make progress in this area, we must feel comfortable enough with one another and tolerant enough of each other to have frank conversations about the racial matters that continue to divide us."

He told hundreds of Justice Department employees gathered for the event that they have a special responsibility to advance racial understanding.

Even when people mix at the workplace or after-work, social events, Holder argued, many Americans in their free time are still segregated inside what he called "race-protected cocoons."

"Saturdays and Sundays, America in the year 2009 does not in some ways differ significantly from the country that existed almost 50 years ago. This is truly sad," said Holder.

HIZI NDIZO ELIMU ZA VIONGOZI WETU TANZANIA!

WANDUGU, nyuso zetu tutaziweka wapi mbele ya Waafrika wenzetu (achilia mbali duniani) kama hali ndio hii?

Fwd: [UDASA] Re: HIZI NDIO ELIMU ZA VIONGOZI WAKO] Imechangiwa na Geoffrey Gitagia.
HIZI NDIO ELIMU ZA VIONGOZI WAKO Naomba ieleweke kuwa kuna makundi mawili hapa tunayoyaongelea: La kwanzani kundi la akina Chrisant Majiyatanga Mzindakaya, Jakaya Kikwete , Amani Abeid Karume, Rwakatare n.k. Hawa wana shahada za heshima tu (honoris causa) siyo za kusomea! Chuo chochote kinaweza mtunukia mtu shahada hiyo ya heshima kwa kutambua mchango wake katika jambo fulani. Siku za nyuma hata baba wa Taifa Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere, Spika Adam Sapi Mkwawa, Salim Ahmed Salim, Kenneth Kaunda na Milton Obote walipewa heshima hiyo na vyuo mbalimbali duniani.

Kundi lenye matatizo ni lile lenye shahada feki na linadai kuzisomea shahada hizo! Kundi hili ni hatari sana maana linaharibu kabisa heshima, sifa na viwango vya elimu nchini. Wafuatao wana vyeti feki vinavyoitia aibu Serikali na nchi ya Tanzania kwa ujumla:

(1) Salmin Amour - Ph.D yake ni feki, ya kisiasa. Aliipata UjerumaniMashariki enzi hizo kwa miezi mitatu tu huku akiwa na cheti cha form fourtu!

(2) Pius Ng'wandu - Ph.D yake ni feki. Chuo anachodai kusoma cha Stanford,Marekani hakina kumbukumbu zake. Aliosoma nao huko Marekani, akina Prof.Baregu, wanajua kuwa ana Masters tu!

(3) Mary Nagu - Ph.D yaje ni ya kununua kwenye mtandao.

(4) Emmanuel Nchimbi - Ph.D yake ya uchumi ni ya kununua. Hana uelewa wowote wa economics kichwani mwake.

(5) Makongoro Mahanga - Ph..D yake ya ugavi ni ya kununua kama Nchimbi.

(6) Didas Masaburi - Ph.D yake ilinunuliwa pamoja na ya kaka yake Makongoro.

(7) Norman Sigallah - Ph.D yake ni ya kununua kwenye mtandao.

(8) Mafwenga - Ph.D yake sawa na ya Sigallah

(9) Nangale - Ph.D yake ni kutoka chuo kimoja bomu cha chini ya viwango,London .

(10) Mathayo David - Ph.D ya kujipachika.

(11) Mutamwega - Ph.D yake ni feki, ya kununua. Mhusika hawezi kuandikahata sentensi moja sahihi ya Kiingereza.

(12) William Lukuvi - Masters yake ni feki. Kaipata akiwa na sifa za elimu yadarasa la saba na cheti cha ualimu, class C.

(13) Samuel Chitalilo - Vyeti vyake vya elimu ya juu toka Uganda vyote nifeki. Ana kesi ya kujibu mahakamani!

Nimepata taarifa mbalimbali kuhusu vyeti vyaWabunge wafuatao:
(1) Sigonda. Namfahamu sana Mbunge Sigonda. Ni mtu wa Usalama wa Taifa aliyeishia darasa la nane. Leo naambiwa ni Dk.!
(2) Kapteni John Komba,
(3) Omari Mzeru na
(4) Savelina Mwijage.Nazifanyia kazi. Nitazianika hapa muda muafaka!Ijabu Ijabu kanipa hamasa sana juu ya suala hili. Wote aliowaeleza kweliwana vyeti feki na hata ukiongea nao, ni vihiyo vihiyo wa kutupwa!

Naomba niongeze majina mengine kwenye listi la
(5) Mhe. Diodorus Buberwa Kamala,Mbunge wa Mkenge na Waziri wa A. Mashariki. Huyu bwana kasoma Mzumbe kama Nchimbi ambako mtandao wa vyeti feki ulianzia na
(6) Mkuu wa Chuo hicho Bw.Moses Daudi Mhonwa Warioba. Ph.D yake ni feki, ni ya kununua kama hizo za wenzake aliowataja Ijabu. Hata kwenye Bunge la A. Mashariki tunaambiwa anapwaya ile mbaya.
(7) Naibu wake, Mohamed Aboud, yeye ndo balaa maana ni form four failure na CVyake inasema uongo kuwa ana diploma ya Uingereza! Wote ni Ze Komedi mbele ya Wakenya, Waganda, Warwanda na Warundi!
(8) Yupo huyu mama wa Kibaha, Zainab Gama. Anajiita Dk. wakati ana diploma ya Radiology tu!
(9) Kuhusu Mbunge Savelina Mwijage (Viti Maalum, Kagera), huyu ana matatizomakubwa maana anatumia jina la marehemu. Taarifa zote zilitoka gazetini,lakini analindwa. Hawezi hata kuandika jina lake, lakini ni Mbunge.Anayebisha aje na ushahidi maana huyu mama namfahamu miaka mingi akiwamfanyakazi wa ndani wa Mhindi Bukoba. Hebu tupe dataz Ijabu na wana JFwengine.

Capt. Komba yeye ni msanii na mwizi asiyestahili kujadiliwa hapa maana anawaibia hata wasanii wenzake dani ya Tanzania One Theatre (TOT). Mzeru wa Morogoro yeye ni mafix moja kwa moja. Hana udaktari wowote! Alijipachika udaktari kuombea ubunge na unaibu waziri kwa Jakaya Kikwete!

(10) Agustino Lyatonga Mrema - Pacific Western University , a diploma mill. Yeye alipoenda kuchukua hiyo "degree" alikwenda na matarumbeta kibao, vifijo nanderemo.

(11) Mustafa Mkullo - Almeda University , a diploma mill. Kule youngafrican.comnakumbuka ilisema eti chuo chake kiliwahi kutoa associate degree kwa mbwa anayeitwa "Wally" mali ya mwandishi mmoja wa habari huko Marekani (In 2004 the CBS affiliate in Albany , New York , ran a report on Almeda that featured Peter Brancato, who had filled out an application for an associate degree on behalf of his dog, Wally. Part of the "life experience" listed on the application was "Plays with the kids every day... teaches them to interact better with each other ... Teaches themresponsibilities like feeding the dog." Almeda granted Wally anassociate's degree in childhood development with a course list including European culture, college algebra, American history, and public speaking.In reply, Almeda claims Brancato perjured himself by creating a false identity using a fabricated name and date of birth. They write, "He completed an application that included a background of the following: Eight-years tutoring pre-K children,curriculum design and development, teaching coping skills, and volunteer coaching."" Almeda University - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

(12) Kama sijakosea waheshimiwa wengi sana wana degrees kutoka chuo cha Washington International -I think even Sofia Simba anayo ya huko.

Yona Fares Maro Master of Science in Computer Science and Information Systems (MS) University of Michigan-FlintThank You

Regards Geoffrey Gitagia: Tel-0721419305

WHAT IS THE GOVERNMENT ACTION ON FAKE DEGREES?

PIUS RUGONZIBWA, 11th February 2009 @ 11:16

Eight senior lecturers with the Mzumbe University have doctorate degrees that are either fake or acquired from institutions that lack internationally accepted accreditation, the Tanzania Commission of Universities (TCU) said today.

TCU Executive Secretary, Prof Mayunga Nkunya, said in an interview that it was recently established that some dons at the Morogoro-based varsity held questionable degrees. He said verification of the degrees was carried out after widespread public complaints on the authenticity of the degrees.

The matter was also repeatedly raised in the National Assembly. Prof Nkunya said TCU has already communicated its findings to the government for further action. He cautioned the public to be careful with some foreign institutions and individuals who were of late increasingly peddling undergraduate and graduate around the world.

The TCU chief said he was aware that some degrees were selling at around 2,000 US dollars (about 2.7m/-) and above. He said such offers were often being made online. "It is ridiculous that these people are even sending a lot of e-mails to me, asking me to take part in the deals.

I have received many such offers," he said. He, however, declined to name the universities, local agents and individuals involved in the academic scam. "We need to gather all the facts on the transactions, otherwise they may sue us," he cautioned further. Prof Nkunya warned members of the academic staff in institutions of higher learning against pursuing online courses, including degrees from unknown universities.

He also doubted the competency of online graduates in the world of research and academia, where they would need skills of impacting knowledge to their students. "Such lecturers cannot do research professionally. They cannot teach well their students and help them become good researchers," he pointed out. Prof Nkunya said further that apart from the higher learning institutions, the problem of fake degrees was rampant in other organisations, saying TCU recently discovered five other fake doctorate degrees. He said there were proposals to amend the Universities Act, to give more teeth to TCU deal with proven culprits including prosecution.

WHAT IS THE GOVERNMENT ACTION ON FAKE DEGREES?

PIUS RUGONZIBWA, 11th February 2009 @ 11:16

Eight senior lecturers with the Mzumbe University have doctorate degrees that are either fake or acquired from institutions that lack internationally accepted accreditation, the Tanzania Commission of Universities (TCU) said today.

TCU Executive Secretary, Prof Mayunga Nkunya, said in an interview that it was recently established that some dons at the Morogoro-based varsity held questionable degrees. He said verification of the degrees was carried out after widespread public complaints on the authenticity of the degrees.

The matter was also repeatedly raised in the National Assembly. Prof Nkunya said TCU has already communicated its findings to the government for further action. He cautioned the public to be careful with some foreign institutions and individuals who were of late increasingly peddling undergraduate and graduate around the world.

The TCU chief said he was aware that some degrees were selling at around 2,000 US dollars (about 2.7m/-) and above. He said such offers were often being made online. "It is ridiculous that these people are even sending a lot of e-mails to me, asking me to take part in the deals.

I have received many such offers," he said. He, however, declined to name the universities, local agents and individuals involved in the academic scam. "We need to gather all the facts on the transactions, otherwise they may sue us," he cautioned further. Prof Nkunya warned members of the academic staff in institutions of higher learning against pursuing online courses, including degrees from unknown universities.

He also doubted the competency of online graduates in the world of research and academia, where they would need skills of impacting knowledge to their students. "Such lecturers cannot do research professionally. They cannot teach well their students and help them become good researchers," he pointed out. Prof Nkunya said further that apart from the higher learning institutions, the problem of fake degrees was rampant in other organisations, saying TCU recently discovered five other fake doctorate degrees. He said there were proposals to amend the Universities Act, to give more teeth to TCU deal with proven culprits including prosecution.

MWALIMU MBUYA K A C H A N G A N Y I K I W A !

By Mwalimu Mbuya, Mtanzania.

Mimi nimechanganyikiwa:

1. Huko California mama aliyekuwa na watoto sita (wawili au watatu kati yao wana ulemavu/upungufu wa aina moja au ingine), ati kaamua kuongeza wengine nane.

Huyu mama hana kazi anaishi kwa food stamps (welfare) ........yaani wafanyakazi ndiyo wanalipia gharama zake za kuishi.

2. Huko Uingereza "watoto" wa miaka 13 na 15 "wameamua" kuzaa (sawa na kuendesha gari bila leseni).

3. Kuhusu dondoo #1 hapo juu, je huyu mama au daktari wake (fertility doctor) wana akili timamu kweli?

4. Kuhusu dondoo #2, "madereva" wanaoendesha "magari" bila leseni tuwafanyeje? (haya ni matatizo makubwa ya maadili).

5. Jamii (wewe, mimi, vyombo vya habari, viongozi, wazazi) "inachangiaje" katika hivi "vituko"?

VIBOKO is not a far fetch short term solution. For sure.

SUCH POLICIES SPELL DOOM TO INDIGENOUS POPULATIONS

un, Feb 15, 2009 at 3:04 AM, Kamala Kajungu <eyakamala@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

Biofuels cause land scramble in TZ

Wandugu, sera kama hizi ndizo zinazogeuza wenye nchi kuwa watumwa katika nchi zao. Hazina maendeleo ila kuturudisha nyuma na hatima yake sio njema kwa sababu kuna siku aliyechukuliwa ardhi yake atasimama kidete kuidai kwa chochote alichonacho. Hasa pale atakapofikia hatu ya kusema SINA CHA KUPOTEZA (asina mali kwa Madiba); I have nothing to lose! Written by EABW CORRESPONDENT

Saturday, 07 February 2009

DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA - A new scramble for arable land in Tanzania has started - the coastline and the fertile land in Northern and Southern Tanzania being the prime targets. This scramble which has seen thousands of acres of fertile arable land falling into the hands of foreign companies has been engineered by the quest for bio fuels. At least for now five regions have been at the centre of this scramble. Dar es Salaam, Coast, Tanga, Mbeya and Arusha regions have been cited as the first victims of land grabbing engineered by foreign companies in Tanzania. Already the coastline of more than 1,000 kilometres stretching from Tanga to Mtwara has been taken either directly by foreign companies or by local well-to-do Tanzanians who pose and act on behalf of multinational corporations. Most of these companies pose as strategic investors. The EABW has discovered that in Bagamoyo district, Coast region the situation is alarming. The district, which is about 40 kilometres from Dar es salaam city centre has been the focus of these land grabbers. Recently, thousands of acres of land were given to an 'investor' for sugar cane farming. The land was given to the investor despite technical advice by agricultural experts from the ministry of agriculture and food security who had turned down the proposal. Like many other places, the land is needed for cultivation of sugar cane to produce bio fuels. In the same region in Mkuranga district, a Swedish company, Sekab is seeking to be given two million acres of land for the cultivation of bio fuel plants. EABW was told by the locals and the district authorities that the company is expected to invest over US$400 million for the project. Another company, British Sun Biofuels is also scrambling to acquire at least 8,000 acres of land in Mkuranga for a bio fuel project. In Kisarawe district in Coast region the story is the same. One company has been given about 8,000 acres of land to plant jathropa. Kisarawe district authorities have already sanctioned the deal. In Arusha, thousands of acres of land have been given to 'investors' in flower farming, coffee and aloe vera, leaving the locals without land. The locals are now forced to be labourers on their own land. In Rufiji district, also in Coast region the story is the same. Thousands of acres have been given to foreign companies who have promised the Tanzanian government to cultivate food crops. What the approval of these projects means is that thousands of villagers if not millions will have to be removed from their land. Some of the land was taken during the privatization of public corporations through the Parastatal Sector Reform Commission (PSRC). A case in point is in Mbeya region where one Asian business tycoon is controlling more than 7,500 hectares of fertile paddy fields in the Kapunga area where he cultivates rice. He purchased the once government owned paddy fields from the PSRC in 2006 promising the authorities that he would engage in large scale farming. What the government expected from the 'investor' was creation of jobs and an increase in food production for both local market and export. This has never happened. Instead what the investor is doing is to lease the land for a fee under conditions similar to feudalism.. Before the land was privatized, it was a source of livelihood for more than 30,000 villagers in the area.

MAYAI YA KUKU WA KUCHAKUA (FREE RANGE CHICKEN)

Wandugu,
Hapa Washington DC kuna Gulio kila siku ya Jumapili (wenyewe wanaita Sunday Market) mahala paitwapo Dupont Circle (Circle huku ni Round-about ya kwetu). Hivyo mahala hapo pana barabara kama nane hivi zinakutana na pia ni kituo maarufu cha Treni (za rangi nyekundu).

Lo, inabidi niwafahamishe hata hizi rangi za treni. Jiji hili lina ruti nne za treni cha chini kwa chini (metro). Kuna treni za hiyo Red Line kutoka Shady Grove hadi Glenmont. Blue Line inatoka Franconia-Springfield hadi Largo Town Center, Orange Line inatoka Vienna Firfax-GMU hadi New Carrolton na Green Line itokayo Branch Avenue hadi Greenbelt. Hizo ni njia za metro. Mabasi yapitayo juu ya barabara nayo yako mengi na ruti zake ziko nyingi tu.

Sasa leo nilipojitupa hapo Gulioni, nikaenda kwa muuza Mayai ya kuku wa kuchakua. Nikashangaa kukuta watu wamesimama mstari wakisubiri zamu yao wanunue mayai hayo. Nimeshangaa kwa sababu nimeona ni ustaarabu wa hali ya juu kutomzunguka/kutomzonga muuzaji ila kila ajaye awe anahudumiwa pekee na mwenye bidhaa. Hili ni jambo jema sana la kuigwa.

Ilipofika zamu yangu nikanunua mayai dazeni moja ya saizi ya kati (medium) kwa $3.50. Saizi kubwa ya mayai hayo anayauza kwa $4.50 na madogo zaidi anauza kwa $2.70. Muuzaji huyu kwa kumuangalia usoni tu ni mtu mzima anayeweza kuwa na wajukuu wengi tu. Kwa haraka haraka naweza kumkisia kama ana miaka inayoelekea au imeshavuka 70.

Muuzaji huyu alikuwa na Business Card zake hapo nami nikaomba na kuruhusiwa kuchukua moja. Mshangao wa pili. Mfugaji wa kuku wa mayai anazo business card za kuwagawia wateja ili wamsaidie kumtangaza! Bwana huyu anakaribisha wateja wake kwa bashasha ya hali ya juu na anatumia lugha ya kuvutia mteja hadi unajisikia uko nyumbani. Mimi nilipofika kwake sikujuwa pesa nilizoshika mkononi kama zingetosha hivyo nikamnyooshea mkono na sarafu nyingi tu za Marekani. Yeye akachagua hiyo $0.50 pamoja na noti tatu za dola mojamoja. Nikamwambia mimi sifahamu thamani ya sarafu zao na kwamba mayai yake ya kuku wa kuchakua yanafanana sana na mayai ya kwetu ya kuku hao hao wa kuchakua. Akaniuliza natoka nchi gani na kunikaribisha tena wiki ijayo. Nikamwambia natoka Tanzania, East Africa, akafurahi na kunikaribisha Marekani.

Mfanyabiashara huyu anaitwa Tom "Cranky" Hubric na biashara yake inaitwa "Waterview Foods". Simu yake kwenye kadi yake imeandikwa kuwa ni 410 873-3346. Ofisi yake ipo 9942 Kentucky Springs Rd., Suite 35, Meneral, Virginia 23117. Kwa kweli kwa jinsi alivyoisuuza nafsi yangu katika kunihudumia, nikaona na wenzangu mumkaribie kufanya naye biashara. Email yake ni tom@waterviewfoods.com na website yake ni www.waterviewfoods.com.

Baada ya kumalizana mfanyabiashara huyu nikaenda kwenye meza nyingine. Nikakuta kuna keki za maboga. Nikashangaa pia kwamba kumbe wenzetu wanaweza kutumia unga wa maboga kutengeneza keki. Nikanunua moja na hivi niandikavyo nimetoka kuila na nawahakikishia wasomaji kuwa ni nzuri sana, haina sukari nyingi, na katikati ya keki imewekwa krimu. Nilitamani kumuomba recipe aliyeniuzia keki hii lakini alikuwa amezungukwa na wanunuzi. Ila nina hakika keki hii itakuwa na lishe tele kwa sababu maboga ni katika mboga za majani zenye faida kubwa sana mwilini.

DIFFERENCES IN MUCH CONFUSED WORDS

Tafsiri zote zinatoka kwa Bi Saada Al-Ghafry, Mtanzania.

Hizi generalization zina matatizo. You give such a negative generalization of the citizens of a country when you don't even know the make-up of that country or the terminologies defining them? Kwa mara nyingine, fundi wa kuagiza wengine kuelekea google, mwenyewe anataka wengine wamfundishe atakacho?

Israelis are citizens of a country called Israel, equivalent of Tanzanians (national character).

Jews are religious followers of Moses, equivalent to Christians (religious character).

Zionists are followers of a movement called Zionism, born in the nineteenth century Europe to establish a homeland for all diaspora Jews. It is secular, values of which clash with the values and practices of the Jewish religion and the Jews they prophess to stand for. It used and continues to use financial, military, educational, intelligence and media muscle to formulate and implement its agenda, most times openly ruthless and sometimes subterfugely and yet others by deception and trickery.

Anti-semitism is one of the deceptive strategies of Zionists to label gentiles who criticized Jews in Europe and, now, Israel's policies and actions. It is deceptive because Semites are a group of Middle Eastern people who speak semitic languages including Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, Assyrian. Zionists have hijacked the terminology and now Anti-semitism is forcefully meant criticizing Israeli policies/actions and Jews even though they may not be speakers of any Semitic language.

EXPRESSING THIS OPINION COST HER JOB!

ICN
Independent Catholic News

LONDON - January - 1150 words
Jewish editor sacked for publishing article
This article was sent to Debbie Ducro, a Jewish-American journalist with the Kansas City Jewish Chronicle. She published it, and was fired the next day.

Quest for justice
By Judith Stone
I am a Jew. I was a participant in the Rally for the Right of Return to Palestine. It was the right thing to do.
I've heard about the European holocaust against the Jews since I was a small child. I've visited the memorials in Washington, DC and Jerusalem dedicated to Jewish lives lost and I've cried at the recognition to what level of atrocity mankind is capable of sinking.
Where are the Jews of conscience? No righteous malice can be held against the survivors of Hitler's holocaust. These fragments of humanity were in no position to make choices beyond that of personal survival. We must not forget that being a survivor or a co-religionist of the victims of the European Holocaust does not grant dispensation from abiding by the rules of humanity.
"Never again" as a motto, rings hollow when it means "never again to us alone." My generation was raised being led to believe that the biblical land was a vast desert inhabited by a handful of impoverished Palestinians living with their camels and eking out a living in the sand. The arrival of the Jews was touted as a tremendous benefit to these desert dwellers. Golda Meir even assured us that there "is no Palestinian problem".
We know now this picture wasn't as it was painted. Palestine was a land filled with people who called it home. There were thriving towns and villages, schools and hospitals. There were Jews, Christians and Muslims.
In fact, prior to the occupation, Jews represented a mere seven per cent of the population and owned three per cent of the land.
Taking the blinders off for a moment, I see a second atrocity perpetuated by the very people who should be exquisitely sensitive to the suffering of others. These people knew what it felt like to be ordered out of your home at gun point and forced to march into the night to unknown destinations or face execution on the spot. The people who displaced the Palestinians knew first hand what it means to watch your home in flames, to surrender everything dear to your heart at a moment's notice. Bulldozers levelled hundreds of villages, along with the remains of the village inhabitants, the old and the young. This was nothing new to the world.
Poland is a vast graveyard of the Jews of Europe. Israel is the final resting place of the massacred Palestinian people. A short distance from the memorial to the Jewish children lost to the holocaust in Europe there is a levelled parking lot. Under this parking lot is what's left of a once flourishing village and the bodies of men, women and children whose only crime was taking up needed space and not leaving graciously. This particular burial marker reads: "Public Parking".
I've talked with Palestinians. I have yet to meet a Palestinian who hasn't lost a member of their family to the Israeli Shoah, nor a Palestinian who cannot name a relative or friend languishing under inhumane conditions in an Israeli prison. Time and time again, Israel is cited for human rights violations to no avail. On a recent trip to Israel, I visited the refugee camps inhabited by a people who have waited 52 years in these 'temporary' camps to go home. Every Palestinian grandparent can tell you the name of their village, their street, and where the olive trees were planted. Their grandchildren may never have been home, but they can tell you where their great-grandfather lies buried and where the village well stood. The press has fostered the portrait of the Palestinian terrorist. But the victims who rose up against human indignity in the Warsaw Ghetto are called heroes. Those who lost their lives are called martyrs. The Palestinian who tosses a rock in desperation is a terrorist.
Two years ago I drove through Palestine and watched intricate sprinkler systems watering lush green lawns of Zionist settlers in their new condominium complexes, surrounded by armed guards and barbed wire in the midst of a Palestinian community where there was not adequate water to drink and the surrounding fields were sandy and dry. University professor Moshe Zimmerman reported in the Jerusalem Post (30 April, 1995), "The [Jewish] children of Hebron are just like Hitler's youth."
We Jews are suing for restitution, lost wages, compensation for homes, land, slave labour and back wages in Europe. Am I a traitor of a Jew for supporting the right of return of the Palestinian refugees to their birthplace and compensation for what was taken that cannot be returned?
The Jewish dead cannot be brought back to life and neither can the Palestinian massacred be resurrected. David Ben Gurion said, "Let us not ignore the truth among ourselves...politically, we are the aggressors and they defend themselves...The country is theirs, because they inhabit it, whereas we want to come here and settle down, and in their view we want to take away from them their country...".
Palestine is a land that has been occupied and emptied of its people. Its cultural and physical landmarks have been obliterated and replaced by tidy Hebrew signs. The history of a people was the first thing eradicated by the occupiers. The history of the indigenous people has been all but eradicated as though they never existed. And all this has been hailed by the world as a miraculous act of God. We must recognise that Israel's existence is not even a question of legality so much as it is an illegal fait accompli realised through the use of force while supported by the Western powers. The UN missions directed at Israel in attempting to correct its violations of have thus far been futile.
In Hertzl's 'The Jewish State' the father of Zionism said: "We must investigate and take possession of the new Jewish country by means of every modern expedient." I guess I agree with Ehud Barak ( 3 June 1998) when he said, "If I were a Palestinian, I'd also join a terror group." I'd go a step further perhaps. Rather than throwing little stones in desperation, I'd hurdle a boulder.
Hopefully, somewhere deep inside, every Jew of conscience knows that this was no war; that this was not God's restitution of the holy land to its rightful owners. We know that a human atrocity was and continues to be perpetuated against an innocent people who couldn't come up with the arms and money to defend themselves against the western powers bent upon their demise as a people.
We cannot continue to say, "But what were we to do?" Zionism is not synonymous with Judaism. I wholly support the rally of the right of return of the Palestinian people. here.
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