A Short History of the Swahili Language

Kelvin Odoobo from Kigali, writes an entertaining piece about the history of the Swahili language. His opening starts with "A common saying, that Swahili was born in Zanzibar, grew up in Tanzania, fell sick in Kenya, died in Uganda and was buried in Congo...” Read on, his article is informative and entertaining. The picture in this post is of a boat off the Zanzibar coast. Wasalam!

Time Has Come

The time has come to report that in 10 days, I will be on a plane bound for Dar es Salaam. After my first trip to Tanzania back in 2004, I vowed to return in a professional capacity. Well that time has come. I am partnering with a colleague at Dartmouth College, Fred Pond, to provide training and expertise to the staff at the Library of Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS). The project is funded by Abbott Fund and coordinated by the Global Health Initiative at the Dickey Center for International Understanding, Dartmouth College. Our planned activities at the MUHAS Library for the period March 17-28 include the following:

1. Perform Customer Service Workshop, plus in-house, one-one training with key personnel; based on result of workshop, future follow-up training expressed in a planning document.

2. Review recent reference desk installation re: staffing issues, collection resources to support reference service.

3. Follow up on biomedical literature searching training performed in January 2005; focus areas determined via brief survey of MUHAS Reference staff. Include directories for free sources of e-journals.

4. Investigate & make proposal for MUHAS-based research database at MUHAS, e.g. abstracts of faculty-produced research.

5. Review IT equipment inventory for planned ICT Classroom, completed in Excel document, suitable/conformance for submission to granting organization.

The Director of the MUHAS Library, Rehema Chande-Mallya visited Dartmouth and the University of Vermont last week as part of an exchange program. While here Rehema worked with Fred and me to finalize the plans for our training and consulting effort. In addition, we worked together on a draft proposal to convert records to create a comprehensive online catalogue for the MUHAS Library.

Rehema is the author of "Assessment of the use of information and communication technology in the improvement of performance and efficiency in the banking sector: a case study of the National Micro Finance Bank (NMB) Dar es Salaam", which appeared in the University of Dar es Salaam Library Journal, vol. 7(2) 2005: 27-42. Read the abstract.

Fred previously visited the same library back in 2005 to provide ICT (Information and Communication Technology) training as part of the Dartmouth/Boston University AIDS International Training & Research Program.

Research Study on Risk Factors for Maternal Death in Tazania

A 2008 research article from BMC Public Health identifies risk factors for maternal death in the highlands of rural Tanzania. "Tanzania has one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in sub-Saharan Africa. Due to the paucity of epidemiological information on maternal deaths, and the high maternal mortality estimates found earlier" ... more

Poverty: the Fine Line Between Survival and Living

Peter Temu wrote openly yesterday in JamboForums "Where we Dare to Talk Openly" in an article titled "Is Tanzania all that poor?" Poverty is a relative condition. North American poverty does not compare well to African poverty. Having seen poverty in Eastern and Southern African, in my home country Canada and my adopted country the US, what I saw in Africa, I have yet to see here. Nevertheless, my daughter, a college student in Florida, who has participated in relief work at the Immokalee migrant work camps, assures me that abject poverty in Southern Florida is alive and well. Getting back to Mr. Temu. He does outline well some of the issues that prevent progress in Tanzania, however, until those issues are adequately addressed, real poverty will continue to sting his countrymen. Granted, there are some Tanzanians who go to bed with something in their stomachs, but the majority scrambles every day to survive rather than live.

Free coffins for the deprived

Here's an example of a Tanzanian taking advantage of an opportunity, despite the disadvantages, and carrying out his trade with compassion. Peter Mwangu reports in IPPMedia that "There are specific spots in the city of Dar es Salaam where coffins are sold. Any one in need of a coffin will be advised to visit places such as Manzese Argentina, Muhimbili, Mwananyamala and those" ... more

New Mammal Discovered

BBC News, Science/Nature Section is reporting the discovery of a new mammal in Tanzania. The cat-sized animal, which is reported in the Journal of Zoology, looks like a cross between a miniature antelope and a small anteater. more