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Issue 00492 |
October 27 - November 2, 2007 |
issn 0856 - 9135 |
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Society |
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Return to Dignity By Edward Selasini
2. The Kilimanjaro MP special
seats Hon. Shally Raymond addressing adult students when she visited the
Return to Dignity NGO It is unusual to hear an adult from a Tanzanian village speak good English. But for Chome village some of the adult residents speak the English language quite fluently. Chome is a mountainous village located in Same district of the Kilimanjaro region. Typically, the residents are peasant farmers who maintain their livelihood by growing maize, beans and potatoes. These people are primarily Pare whose first language spoken is Kipare, not English. In the past few years there has been some change in Same district to account for the boost in language abilities. Hadhi Yaturudia (Return to Dignity) was registered as a Non Governmental Organization (NGO) in 2005. Hadhi Yaturudia was founded by Lloyd Cato, a black American small business entrepreneur from Southern California, USA. Hadhi’s mission is to enhance development by improving government school education in remote areas Cato was introduced to Tanzania by a Tanzanian citizen whom he had met and become friends with in California, 1993. This friend led him on his first trip to Tanzania in 1994, which became the beginning of a succession of yearly trips, taken every twelve months thereafter. Cato defined these visits by interacting largely with locals in the rural communities of remote Tanzania. As a result of these trips to Tanzania, Cato became particularly concerned about the suffering and lack of development caused by insufficient education in the rural areas. Thus, his NGO, Hadhi Yaturudia, was born. The NGO’s aim is to offer monetary reward opportunities to the rural teachers as incentive to improve their teaching qualifications. Rewards are based on improved student performance in the classroom. Hadhi Yaturudia also aims to create opportunities and links to the hardworking men and women in the rural villages, which will empower them economically thus enabling them to meet the educational costs and requirements of their children. The hope then is to thereby collectively enhance the level of education in these remote areas. The first Adult English class was started in 2004. Fourteen adults students attended the Chome Primary School location every Monday and Thursday from 4 - 5.30 PM. The class began with the NGO’s Operations Manager, Mr. Tawieli Kihara, a retired teacher and headmaster. Concurrently, another class ran at Munze Primary School under Anderson Chali who is also a retired teacher. Both graduated their classes in January of 2005 and were able to issue certificates. In August 2005, Hadhi Yaturudia started a program to train teachers at Marieni Primary School every Wednesday afternoon. This successful program continues today, but strategies are in progress to upgrade the program even further. The Kilimanjaro Member of Parliament (Special Seat) Hon. Shally J. Raymond was invited to visit the Hadhi Yaturudia to see how women are trying to eradicate illiteracy in Same district. She was able afterwards to tell them that they can now join together with SACCOS, she additionally promises that she will assist in applying for loans.
Hon. Shally has appealed especially to women in Same
district to utilise their plentiful natural resources to work hard and
eradicate poverty from their families.
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