Tom & Jenny in Tanzania. Sasa kinapatikana Dar es Salaam

Kwa habari zaidi wasiliana na BASELINE AFRICA

Hamad Masauni aibukia Kikwajuni...

Baada ya kulazimika kujiuzulu Uenyekiti wa Umoja wa Vijana(CCM) kutokana na kashfa ya kughushi umri wake, Hamad Masauni amechukua fomu ya kugombea ubunge katika jimbo la Kikwajuni...

Swali la kizushi, katika fomu hiyo atajaza umri gani?

Zaidi kama inayosomeka hapa

Wapanda Baiskeli Wasaidia Mradi wa Hospitali Makunduchi

Dr Jon Rees, of Brockway Medical Centre in Nailsea, travelled to Zanzibar in June to take part in a bike ride around the tropical island, off the coast of Tanzania, East Africa.

The 38-year-old GP was among a 40-strong group on the sponsored cycle ride for the Makunduchi Project which in total raised a staggering £80,000.

The aim of the trip was to raise funds for a maternity services in a rural area which currently has almost no medical care for mothers during delivery.

Maternal mortality rates are currently 170 times higher than in the UK, with one in 180 mothers dying in childbirth.

Jon said: “The trip was a great success – the local bikes were slightly crude and you were very lucky to have working brakes or gears, the roads were rough, and the temperature high.

“Cycling between 60 – 80kms per day proved a great challenge, but was highly enjoyable also – it was the first time Zanzibar had seen a bike trip of this scale, so the reception in the villages was noisy to say the least.”

The fundraising will allow the Makunduchi hospital to begin maternity services later this year and hopefully lead to significant reductions in maternal and infant mortality, added Jon.

He said: “I had never done anything like this before but I enjoyed the challenge.”

The ride took etween seven-10 days along a route close to the equator.

Jon who is married to Seema, a GP in Portishead, said: “Although there is a sense of paradise on the Indian Ocean Spice Island with its white sandy beaches and coral reef lagoon the average life expectancy is 47 years

“One in 180 women die during delivery of their child and one in six children die under the age of seven with the majority dying when aged less than two years.”

Jon took his one-year-old son Krishan out a lot of the back of his bike is helping with his training.

The doctor, who also has seven-year-old twins Kamran and Jaya, also cycled back and forth from his Bristol home as part of his training.

He said: “My training regime was to cycle into work from Bristol and back is approximately a 21 mile round trip and going out on call on my bike whenever possible.”

Jon is a trustee of the charity with a slogan ‘Money raised is not just a drop in the ocean’.

He said: “We have complete control over the fund, so there can be no corruption.

“People can see exactly where their money is going and monitor progress. People can and will make a difference.

“I am involved with this charity having worked in Zanzibar's main hospital approximately seven years ago as a surgical trainee.

"I spent some time there learning some operative procedures that we rarely carry out in this country.

“I worked at Mnazi Moja Hospital in Stonetown, the capital of the island - the hospital is completely unable to cope with the huge numbers of patients coming in from rural areas, and a terrible lack of resources.

“This project aims to help manage the less sick patients in the community and allow the main hospital to concentrate on more major illness.

“I became involved in a twinning project between this hospital and Musgrove Park where I was working at the time.”

It was a consultant at the Taunton hospital who is the founder of the charity.

Backwell and Nailsea Medical Group practice manager Maggie Robins collected toys for Jon to take out and Backwell & Nailsea Rotary Club is supporting the project by raising funds for an anaesthetic machine for the maternity unit at the hospital.


Nailsea People

Umuhimu wa Kura ya NDIO hapo Julai 31, 2010

Sio siri tena kwamba siasa za umimi,chuki na utenganao hazina nafasi tena katika visiwa vya Zanzibar. Hii ni kutokana na muafaka wa kihistoria uliofikiwa na Rais anayemaliza muda wake hapo Zanzibar Mhe. A. Karume na Mhe. Maalim Seif, ambao kwa pamoja waliona uhumimu wa kuwa na Zanzibar moja yenye kuelewana licha ya tofauti za kisiasa.

Utengano wa Zanzibar na hasa kijografia umesababisha kuwepo kwa mikwaruzo mingi kwa watu wa visiwa hivyo licha ya baadhi yao kuwa na maingiliano ya kifamilia. Tatizo la utengano huu lilitokana na Mapinduzi ambapo upande mmjoa wa visiwa hivyo kujiona kuwa unahusika zaidi na mapinduzi hayo kuliko upande mwingine wa visiwa hivyo. Hivyo basi utaona kuwa utengano huu ulijengeka zaidi kisiasa.

Imechukua zaidi ya miaka arobaini na sita kwa wanzazibari kuona kuwa kuna umuhimu wa kuelewana na hasa katika uwanja wa kisiasa, ambao umecheza nafasi kubwa katika mgogoro na mtafuruku wa utengano visiwani humu. Awali rais wa kwanza alikuwa akitamka hadharani nafasi ya wananchi wa kisiwa kingine katika uongozi wa juu visiwani hapa. Kauli zake hizo ni baadhi ya mizizi ya utengano visiwani.

Machafuko ya hali ya hewa mwanzoni mwa miaka ya themanini hayawezi kuwekwa kando katika mtafaruku huu. Kwani yalionyesha wazi ni kwa kiasi gani baadhi ya wanavisiwa wanavyochukuliwa katika hatima ya uongozi wa juu visiwani humu. Hii iliongeza mbolea katika utengano na chuki miongoni mwa wanavisiwa.

Kurudi kwa mfumo wa vyama vingi, ndio ilikuwa kilele cha utengano. Kwani kwa mara ya kwanza Watanzania wengi waliweza kujua nini kinaendelea katika visiwa hivi. Kauli nyingi za ajabu ajabu zilisikika katika kuona kuwa utengano wa kisiasa, itikadi na hadi kifamilia unaendelea visiwani hapa, hadi kusababisha kupoteza maisha ya baadhi ya wanavisiwa ambao walikuwa wamechoshwa na kadhia hizo.

Leo hii sio vyema kutupa lawama kwa upande wowote uliohusika na kujenga migogoro hii. Kwani pande zote kwa namna moja ama nyingine zimehusika kikamilifu katika kujenga utengano huu.

Hii ndio inafanya kuwa kila mpandae maelewano visiwani humu aone umuhimu wa kupiga kura ya NDIO. Kura hii ina umuhimu mkubwa sana katika maendeleao ya kijamii visiwani humu na kufuta kabisa historia chafu ya utengano na migogoro isiyokwisha ya kisiasa.

Matokeo ya kura ya NDIO yatawezesha wanavisiwa wote kufungua ukurusa mpya katika maisha yao ya kila siku. Ukurasa ambao utaweka historia miongoni mwetu na ulimwenguni kwa ujumla.

Napenda kusema kuwa hii ni nafasi adhimu iliyotukuta wanavisiwa, ya kuweza kujiamulia wenyewe hatima ya maisha yetu kisiasa kiuchumi na kujamii. Kumbuka kuwa hapo awali maamuzi yote makubwa juu ya maisha yetu yalikuwa yakitoka juu, kabla la hili la tarehe 31/07/2010.

Ni vema kwa kila mwananchi mwenye sifa ya kupiga kura siku hiyo kupiga kura ya NDIO, ili kuweza kuwa na visiwa venye umoja na kuelekea kwenye kuunda serikali ya umoja wa kitaifa mara baada ya Uchaguzi Mkuu.

Tatizo letu tunalijua na tiba yetu ni kura ya NDIO.