CHRISTMAS IN DODOMA REGION
‘ . … Here in Dodoma some Christians will celebrate the Lord’s birthday with no food, some will be dying of cholera and children and women will continue dying of famine related diseases.. . .for the first time people have lived by collecting the scarce grass to sell as hay in Dodoma.. . .Now that the rains have started, grass has been eaten by ants hence a number of people will live on fresh wild vegetables … .as Government boarding schools have closed due to famine our schools have continued to operate; the sick are still treated in Mvumi and Hombolo hospitals …. it is only two crucial months to overcome before the famine eases ….. God’s work has suffered – there have been no parish teaching programmes, church service attendance has been halved.. .many Catechists and their families had to migrate to Morogoro where they hope to survive the famine – Extracts from an article by the Rt. Revd. G Mdimi Mhogolo in the ‘Diocese of Central Tanzania News’ December 1997.
22,700 WEEVILS
This is the number of weevils which bad been released into Lake Victoria by the end of October as part of the efforts to eliminate water hyacinth. The weevils were bred at a laboratory at Kibaha and tested at Pangani Falls. 34,000 tons of the weed had also been pulled out of the Lake by hand by the NGO LANESO over the previous nine months – Daily News.
SAVING THE ARTISTS
The forthcoming closure of the Goethe Institute in Dar es Salaam (one of 15 such institutes around the world which are being closed down as part of Germany’s budget cuts) might have spelt doom for Tanzanian artists but the Nyumba ya Sanaa, the centre used by many Tanzanians for painting, batiks, carving ceramics and other artistic endeavours is hoping to ease the situation. Centre Director Joephat Rweyemamu said that he would be offering space to artists to exhibit their work free – Business Times.
BOXING TRIUMPH
In what the Daily News described as a ‘frenzy of ululation’ and ‘one of the most thrilling moments in the history of boxing in Tanzania’ on October 12 at the Diamond Jubilee Hall in Dar es Salaam ,Tanzanian boxer Rashid Matumla scored a sixth round technical knockout over Hungarian Lorant Szabo to win the World Boxing Union’s light middleweight title. Earlier, Matumla’s young brother Mbwana won the zone five bantam weight title from Kenyan Mussa Njeu. The two boxers received Shs 1 million and Shs 500,000 respectively from wellwishers plus offers of free holidays.