Thanks to all of you who have commented on this blog, either on this site or in emails to me. If you're finding it informative then that's great. I'm glad to be sharing some of my life with you.
I thought that you might be interested in some of the items I've been reading about in the newspaper:
-The global economic crisis and its impact on Tanzania. The other day the President was talking about two projects to which investment commitments had been made, nickel mining and aluminium production, and that these are now on hold for an indefinate period because of the economic situation. They would have madeTanzania self-sufficient in aluminium production as well as created thousands of jobs. Tourism and export earnings have also declined in the past few months, and one example is given of coffee and the 30 per cent drop in price that it has experienced. Have you all noticed a 30% drop in the price of the coffee you buy? What's wrong with this picture???
- A shameful phenomenon that the government is trying to stop is the killings of albinos for their body parts. It appears that some traditional healers believe that the blood, bones and skin of albinos have magic powers that bring luck to those that wear them, and so there have been about 45 albinos killed in Tanzania during the last 18 months. Unfortunately, when things are difficult some people revert to fear and witchcraft and that has led to this awful situation. It's a great shame to the country and there is now a concerted effort to stop it. This is happening far from the cities, of course.
- A talk given by the Irish Ambassador to Tanzania on St. Patrick's day stated that she's worried about the situation of maternal health here in the country. She gave the statistics that 578 Tanzanian women out of 100,000 die in childbirth while in Ireland it's l (one) out of every 100,000. That's a big difference, isn't it.
- The minibus drivers were on strike for some few hours because the government wanted to reduce the fares because the price of fuel has decreased. That didn't go over very well with the owners of those buses and there hasn't been a resolution yet but they did go back to work. Almost everyone in the towns uses these buses so they're badly needed.
- Right here in Arusha people are worried about the lack of rain. It's unseasonably warm and dry these days, and folks say that the maize (corn) that was planted last month is now all dried up. If this were a usual season it would be raining every day now, they say.
Have a good weekend, and for all of you who are celebrating the coming of spring, Enjoy the warmth!
Very interesting about maternal health. It really makes our modern medicine and wonderful advances that we make each and every day in this country seem like a miracle. It is tragic that this miracle is not spread throughout the world.Thanks for the great information! I love reading and hearing about your part of the world.
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