Art In Tanzania Newsletter
June 2014
Contributors Jenny Johnson Saara Kanula Lukelo Mkami
Josiah Msamba
Hanna-Mari Pulli Irene Rofail Anni Vase
Our Mission Statement To promote the development of the most vulnerable communities in Tanzania though education, arts, health and environmental conservation programs, developing partnerships with local NGOs and with the support of international volunteers who help funding our programs while having a meaningful experience.
Karibu!
Welcome to the first edition of Art in Tanzania’s monthly newsletter! These newsletters, written by our volunteers, will keep you up to date with what is going on in Tanzania each month and show you some of the great activities that we are involved with here at Art in Tanzania. Inside you can meet one of our new team members, read about one of the many exciting events that have taken place in June, take a look at our trip to Prison Island and see our photo of the month, as well as many other exciting things! We hope you enjoy our first edition! Karibu sana!
Contents 2.
Meet The Team!
3.
Photo Of The Month
4.
The Charity Goat Races
8.
Zanzibar International Film Festival
10.
Young Reporters
11.
The Day Of The African Child
12.
Take A Tour To Prison Island
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Team! e h T t e e M Name Aija Age I’m 36 years old Nationality Finnish Occupation I teach Finnish to13-16 year old children. I have been a teacher for 11 years. AIT position Team Leader, Dar Es Salaam Do you have any previous volunteering experience? Yes I do. Already when I was 25 years old I worked in the “Emmaus” -project in Sweden and Denmark. After that I have been for instance working with Service Civil International (SCI) e.g. in Croatia in environmental projects; creating art from trash, cleaning beaches and developing the local recycling system. In 2011, I worked two weeks in an orphanage in Vietnam where I organized after school activities to children and in the beginning of this year I spent two weeks in Zanzibar working in a sea turtle project. How long are you planning to stay in Tanzania? I would like to stay here until December, so six months in total. What are your tasks going to be as a team leader? My main task is to work as a team leader especially for volunteers who come here to teach. I would like to hold e.g. workshops for the new volunteers with the focus on how to teach and what methods to use. I would also like to make sure that with the volunteers’ help the teachers will have time for all of the students and their individual needs will be noticed. What are your reasons for volunteering? I have many reasons for volunteering. I want to do something useful, get to know the local people and get some balance to my work life back home. Volunteering also gives me a chance to combine work and holiday. What are your interests? I like to work with children, teach and do environmental work. What else do you want to do in Tanzania? Travel to Zanzibar and go on a safari! Do you have dreams? I would love to sleep on a beach somewhere in Zanzibar and watch the stars.
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Art In Tanzania Newsletter
Photo Of The Month
Taken by Hanna-Mari Pulli A curious young girl from Bunju orphanage eating lunch!
June 2014
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alaam
The Dar Es S
Charity Goat Ra
ces
7th June 2014 Written by Anni Vase
The Goat Race Track!
The 14th annual Dar Es Salaam Charity Goat Races was held on a sunny Saturday at The Green on Kenyatta Drive, Msasani Peninsula. The event was brought to Tanzania by Paul Joynson-Hicks from Uganda in 2001 and it has managed to raise funds of over 795 Million Shillings since then. The money raised goes to charities and small, local organizations in Tanzania and the aim is also to raise awareness of the less fortunate that need help and support. The event is organized through volunteers and the support of many sponsors whose help is vital for the success of the event. Every year, the Races attract more than 4000 people from Dar Es Salaam and elsewhere.
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Art In Tanzania Newsletter
In this year’s event, there were seven races in which 10 goats competed against each other. For every race one was able to bet for their favorite goat(s) for a minimum of 2,500 shillings. For the winners, prices were given according to the odds on the winner goat. All the races started with a small parade. The parade was led by a bagpiper who was followed by the goats that were carried around the track. After the small parade, the goats were put on the starting line to wait for the competition to begin. In the race the goats ran two laps around the track followed by jockeys who made sure the pace stayed fast through the whole race. The crowd were also able to buy raffle tickets with the chance of winning prizes such as SWISS return business class ticket to Europe and one year free internet with equipment, installation and support provided by UhuruOne. All the prizes were donations from the event sponsors. Goat Races also have many fun competitions to participate in. This year the competitions consisted of, for instance, The Best Dressed Couple, Most Colorful and Creative Hat and The Best Dressed Group competitions. The winners of each category had creatively put together outfits related to this year’s theme, “The Great Goatsby”. The event was fun for the whole family; children were provided a free Kids’ corner, where they could get face paintings, jump on a bouncy castle and play games with other children. The event guests were treated with multiple food options. Everything between sushi, ice cream, pizza and Thai food was available. Hydration of the event guests was taken care of by, for instance, Coca-Cola, Kilimanjaro and Savanna. Towards the end of the day, people started enjoying the music, dancing and having little pick-nicks on the grass.
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Art In Tanzania Newsletter
On your marks, get set, go!
For more information and to be part of next year’s Goat Races, visit The Goat Races website: www.goatraces.com
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Zanzibar International Film Festival
14th - 22nd June 2014 Written by Anni Vase
Ngome Kongwe - The Old Fort and Ampitheatre where ZIFF took place
Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF), is East Africa’s biggest annual film, music and arts event. This year the event was held on 14th-22nd June 2014 and it celebrated its 17th edition. During the ten day festival films from Africa and other parts of the world are shown to the event audience. Every year the festival guests can also enjoy live music, dance, performing arts, seminars and discussion panels. The festival is held in several venues in Stone Town such as Old Fort Amphitheatre and Double Tree by Hilton hotel. ZIFF also has Women’s Panorama with a focus on women’s issues, Children’s Panorama where children and youth can participate in watching the films and discussing about them and Village Panorama that extends the event to rural societies. This year’s festival’s theme was Common Destiny with the aim of reinforcing the audience’s awareness of the shared histories of continents, nations, communities and cultures.
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Art In Tanzania Newsletter
This year the film festival opened with screening of Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom which honored 20 years of Democracy in South Africa. The film was introduced to the guests by South-African actress Terry Pheto, who is one of the stars of the film. The opening weekend also consisted of parade, night concert with Tanzanian and Senegalese music and dhow race. ZIFF workshops give an opportunity for filmmakers to develop their skills, promote their work and create networks. This year the focus of the workshops was on screen and script writing and storytelling and the emphasis was on Swahili language filmmakers. Every year ZIFF also awards films in various categories. This year the golden dhow award for best feature film went for Half of a Yellow Sun, directed by Biyi Bandele (USA) and silver dhow for best feature film for The Thorn of the Rose – Espinho da Rosa directed by Filipe Henriques (Guinea Bissau). Golden dhows were also given away in the following categories: Best East African Film, Best Documentary and Best Short / Animation.
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Young Reporters
9th May 2014 Written by Saara Kanula
The first Art in Tanzania Young Reporters group graduated in May 2014. Eight children from Pwani Primary School in Dar es Salaam attended the first Young Reporters group organized by Art in Tanzania. Local and international volunteers were teaching the group of children basic reporter skills. The main purpose of the project is to develop a Young Reporters’ Network which enables young people's voice to be heard though media all over Tanzania. The program is part of the Children's Agenda which is a coalition of organizations committed to advocate children's rights. In the first Young Reporters group the pupils were learning how to write news articles, interview, take pictures and make radio blogs as well as how to use internet and social media. The kids were very eager to learn and had lots of great new ideas on how to raise awareness of children's rights. For example they made a short movie about gender equality in education and a radio blog about the condition of toilets in their school. Art in Tanzania’s volunteers also made a documentary about the course and what they were teaching to the children. On Friday 9th of May every pupil got their certificates and the whole group celebrated their graduation by the pool of Bahari Beach Hotel. The day was full of laughter and joy!
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Art In Tanzania Newsletter
16th June 2014 Written by Lukelo Mkami
The Day of the African Child
On Monday 16th June, Art in Tanzania joined the celebrations for the Day of the African Child, which began in 1991 and has been celebrated on this day ever since. It is held in commemoration of the Soweto uprising in 1976 in which around 10,000 school children marched to protest the poor quality of education and demanded the right to be taught in their own language. Hundreds of young students were shot by security forces and in the two weeks of protests that followed, more than a hundred were killed and more than a thousand were injured. Today, the Day of the African Child promotes awareness of the continuing need for improvement of the education systems that are available to African children. Each year, governments, NGOs and other international organisations discuss the rights of children in Africa and the challenges they need to address. This year’s theme was: A child-friendly, quality free, and compulsory education for all children in Africa. This theme supports what Art in Tanzania has endeavoured to achieve. Inclusive education has allowed thousands of children to learn alongside their peers and reach their full potential This year Art in Tanzania Celebrated the Day of the African Child at Tegeta Nyuki, events that took place that day included: A presentation of songs, poems and plays by children from Artist Groups and Pwani Primary School . Art in Tanzania also took the opportunity to explain the importance and origin of this day to parents and teachers so that in subsequent years they will continue to mark this special day in celebration of their children. Also Art in Tanzania, as a part of the Unicef Agenda Tanzania program, provided learning materials like books, pens, rulers etc. to the students from Pwani Primary school and street Children who joined in with the celebration.
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Take A Tour To... Prison Island This fun half day trip starts from Stone Town, Zanzibar. From Stone Town a small boat takes you to the nearby Prison Island, also called Changuu which is a home of giant tortoises. In the tortoise sanctuary you are able to pet and feed the tortoises and learn about the history of the island. The island itself is beautiful with its white beaches and clear waters. From the island, the trip continues to a small sandbank which is about 30minutes boat ride away. This little island is only visible during the low tide and disappears under the water when the tide rises. On the Sandbank you can snorkel, swim in the ocean and enjoy a delicious lunch prepared by the chef (who is also the driver of the boat!). After relaxing in the sun on the beautiful Sandbank, watching it gradually dissapear, it is time to head back to Stone Town.
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Art In Tanzania Newsletter
Website www.artintanzania.org
Goat Races www.goatraces.com
Blog www.volunteer-africa-blog.org