Sababu kuu nne ‘zinazowatafuna’ wakulima wa korosho nchini.
MKOA wa Mtwara umezungukwa na Bahari ya Hindi, na eneo la nchi kavu kuna miti ya mikorosho iliyopandwa tangu enzi ya wakoloni.
Ni moja ya mikoa nchini inayowavutia watu wengi wakiwamo wawekezaji, hasa baada ya Serikali kuanza kuchimba gesi na kubadilisha mfumo wa kuuza zao la korosho na kuwa katika mfumo wa stakabadhi ghalani.
Korosho ndilo zao kuu la biashara katika mikoa ya Pwani, Lindi, Ruvuma na Mtwara.
Kwa Mtwara, mkoa huo umekuwa maarufu zaidi baada ya wataalamu kueleza kwamba panapochimbwa gesi pia mafuta yanapatikana.
Ndiyo maana hivi sasa ukifika katika mkoa huo, moja ya mambo yanayozungumzwa na wananchi, ni gesi kuhamishiwa mkoani Dar es Salaam na kuyumba kwa soko la korosho nchini.
Msingi wa makala haya ni kuzungumzia mambo yanayosababisha kuyumba kwa soko la korosho. Kwa mfano, makala haya yanauliza, Kwa nini soko la korosho linayumba?
Baadhi ya wakulima katika wilaya za mkoa huo kwa nyakati tofauti, wanasema soko la korosho linayumba kwa sababu mfumo wa stakabadhi ghalani umeingiliwa na watu wanaosimamia maslahi yao badala ya wakulima.
Wanasema mambo yanayosababisha kuyumba kwa zao la korosho ni vyama vya msingi kutokuwa na mtaji wa kununua korosho kutoka kwa wakulima, baadhi ya wafanyakazi wa serikali kuhusika kuwakandamiza wakulima, mgomo baridi wa wafanyabiashara na madeni kutoka vyama vya msingi.
Sababu hizo zimechangia wakulima wa korosho kutonufaika na kilimo hicho, na pia kusuasua kwa vyama vya ushirika ambavyo havina mtaji kwani navyo vinategemea fedha kutoka kwa wakulima hao
Kwa mfano, chama cha ushirika cha msingi cha wilaya kinachukua Sh50 katika kila kilo moja ya mkulima ikiwa ni gharama za uendeshaji.
Katika makato ya Sh50 kwa kila kilo, msimu wa korosho mwaka wa mwaka jana (2011/2012) wilaya ya Newala na Tandahimba waliuza kilo 64, 124, 110 kwa wanunuzi na kupata jumla ya Sh76.5 bilioni.
Kwa hoja hiyo ikiwa utazidisha kilo za wilaya hizo zilizouzwa kwa Sh50, hakika vyama vya ushirika vilikusanya fedha nyingi.
Goat rearing helps villagers fight poverty.
Deep in a hilly village of Itonya lives a man called Yoram Mienda. His village is within Kilolo district, and is located nearly 100 kms from Iringa municipality.
At 65, Mienda was used to small-scale farming, growing traditional cereals to feed his family. However, his farming activities were not enough to make him live a decent life because of low productivity. In a nutshell, farming didn’t give Mienda enough income to meet daily needs.
Worse enough, people in the area had stopped growing tea and coffee decades ago, putting most of them in a tight angle, when it came to getting money. Mienda and his colleagues in the village had to find other means of getting a livelihood. One of the options was for them to get into the forest for small wild animals for food and sometimes for timber.
They also collaborated with some businessmen who needed hardwood timber from the Udzungwa forest reserve. They risked getting into the forest for cash. All those activities posed serious threat to the forest as sometimes hunting small wild animals involves fire, which is one of the serious concerns in forest conservation. Illegal logging for whatever reasons is not allowed in the forest reserve.
Right now, things have changed in Itonya village as Mienda and some villagers who used to illegally get into the forest are good ambassadors of forest conservation.
Most of the over 3,000 people in the village are very positive with the idea of participatory forest management. This is so due to the introduction of an environmentally friendly project in the village. Dairy goat rearing project has changed people’s livelihoods in the area. Mienda is one of the beneficiaries in the project that was designed to give people income generating activities. He is now busy with his goats, which give him money on a daily basis from milk sales.
The idea, which was hatched and financed by the Eastern Arc Mountains Conservation Endowment Fund (EAMCEF), was meant to reduce pressure on forest resources.
Recounting, where he started, Mienda says: “It was like a dream when my name was mentioned as among the beneficiaries of the dairy goat rearing project. My name was mentioned at the village meeting where 18 people were picked to get into this project three years ago.”
Before getting one of the improved dairy goats, Mienda and his colleagues, had to undergo some theoretical and practical training on how to operate the project.
“Many of us had no knowledge on how to take care of goats…this is a new phenomenon in this area. We thank EAMCEF and other experts for making this idea possible,” he says, as he takes his goats to the pastures.
In Itonya village, 18 people benefited from the project, whereby each beneficiary got one goat. Since 2009, Mienda has many goats generated from the project and now is assured of getting money from selling milk.
He gets 10 litres of goat milk a day. And one litre is sold at 1,000/-. So, everyday Maenda gets 10,000/-, an amount which is enough to make him live a better and happier life.
The arrangement of this project, when one gets one goat he/she is supposed to give one male goat child to another villager who wasn’t part of the first batch of the project.
“The idea is to make sure that the project spreads to all the villagers living around the forest reserve,” says Benson Mgeni, coordinator of the Dairy Goat Project.
He says there is a very close link between goat rearing and forest conservation.
“Here people get animal protein from goats. They also use goat’s waste to fertilize their farms and increase production per acreage,” he says, adding that the move also slows down pressure to the forest reserve.
Since 2009, when the project kick-started in the five villages, which are adjacent to the Udzungwa forest reserve there today are more than 140 goats.
“We started with just 60 goats, which were given to the first batch of the beneficiaries, but now many people are in this project,” says Mgeni, who is the Kilolo District Livestock Officer.
“To us, this is a success story when it comes to forest conservation as people will be concentrating on the projects than encroaching the forest…we appeal to people to adopt the idea,” says Francis Sabuni, the EAMCEF Executive Director.
He asserts that his fund has been enhancing understanding on the linkages between socio-economic development and biodiversity conservation through binding implementation arrangements among project beneficiaries.
“We have helped villagers get alternative income sources in addition to forests…Itonya is one of the villages in Kilolo district, which have benefited from the support by the fund,” says Sabuni.
He says dairy goat keeping is one of the many projects introduced to communities in a bid to reduce people’s reliance on natural forests.
It is estimated that since 2009, more than 250 dairy goats and 1,000 improved chickens have been disbursed to villagers across areas which are close to Tanzania’s Eastern Arc Mountains .
“This is why the fund is asking for more financial support from environmental partners to make its endeavors achieve its desired missions,” Sabuni says.
He notes that the responsibility of controlling depletion of the country's largest forest if for all people who live on planet earth.
Last year Norway signed an agreement with the fund worth 9bn/-, which enables EAMCEF implement a five-year project in the five mountainous region forests which currently face an annual depletion rate of 0.1 per cent due to human activities, such as uncontrolled fire, conversion of natural habitats to agriculture and illegal logging.
Other challenges include unsustainable collection of firewood and building materials, and inappropriate mining activities.
Eastern Arc Mountains plays an imperative role for the livelihood of Tanzanians in different ways, as it acts as water sources for irrigation, power, industrial and domestic use for cities and urban centers located in the central and eastern part of Tanzania.
“Irrigation schemes in coastal regions including Morogoro, Tanga and Kilimanjaro depend on water flowing from these mountains. That’s why we want the entire ecosystem to be conserved and it will be sustainably conserved if communities living along those areas are empowered in different ways,” Sabuni says.
Why you should not `dump` your baby in boarding school.
During a visit at my daughter’s school a few years ago, I was shocked to learn the school admitted children as young as age two as boarders.
Can you imagine a two-year-old baby in boarding school! I raised my concern with my daughter’s class teacher who admitted they had several toddlers as boarders at the school. He said some were not even a year-old!
The teacher told me some of those babies were in boarding school because they have busy parents.
Yes. Busy parents! “Some parents travel a lot and have less time to be with their children,” the teacher told me.
It is understandable that in today’s world, people need to work hard to earn a living, but we need to have limits. Some parents today are too busy with work, as they try to secure a better future for their children to the point that they no longer have a single minute to be with their children.
Well and good. But one wonders the kind of future these parents are trying to secure for their children if they don’t even have time to spend with them in the first place! In some families, a week could pass without children seeing one or both parents.
These parents leave very early in the morning while the kids are still asleep and return when the children have gone to bed.
Parents need to balance work and family for not sparing time to spend with the children is equal to neglecting them. And many parents are doing so. Because they are too busy, others traveling every now and then, some parents are resorting to sending their children to boarding school at tender ages.
An age when child education specialists and psychologists say children need to be under the care of their parents. The age at which they need parental love the most.
But here are parents who, like one school owner put it ‘dump’ their children in schools so they can be helped to take care of them by other people. Parents have no time to give love and care to their children anymore. They assign the job to total strangers.
What they don’t ask themselves is how is it possible for a stranger to love and take good care of your child if you, the parent can not do so?
According to this school owner, some babies, are in boarding school as a result of relationship break-ups. “When relationships turn sour, the children are dumped in boarding school,” said the school owner, adding with a smile; “at least these parents want their children to get an education.”
What kind of education do stressed and sad children get when all they do is cry and brood over their ‘missing’ parents? Parents have since time immemorial been calling it quits but I never heard of any dumping their children as a result. I mean responsible parents.
One worker at the school told me the parents only get to see their children on visiting days once in every month. And not all parents have the time to visit every month though.
“You should see the way the children cry when parents leave,” the worker told me. So heart breaking!
I agree with the school head who refers to the act of sending babies to boarding school as ‘dumping’ the children.
How on earth can a parent send such a young child to boarding school? Why choose work or whatever it is over your child? Well, I know we need to work to be able to provide for our children, but we also need to consider their welfare.
I have a two-year-old child and every time he rests on my lap when I return home from work, my mind usually goes to the poor kids in boarding school. I never forget the sight of a small baby crying at the school (a boarder), probably seeking for the attention and love of its caregiver who at that time was busy with other kids. You know, the way children do when they need their mothers’ attention!
Know what happens when these children don’t get the love, attention and pampering they expect to get from a parent? Anger and frustration build up in them and the effects can be enormous later in life. Such children tend to lack love, care, and sympathy for others.
Experts discourage sending children to boarding school at an early age saying children need parental care as this is the basic elementary knowledge they need for proper psychological development and maturity.
A University of Dar es Salaam Early Childhood Education expert, Prof. Akundaeli Mbise was recently quoted as saying that sending children away denies them the basic right of continuous communication with their parents, which is the basis of their social, physical and intellectual stimulation before they are ready for an autonomous life in school.
“Admission into boarding school at an early age leads to poor emotional growth. Separating children under eight years from their parents makes the children frustrated emotionally,” says the psychologist. Most children, according to psychiatrists get stressed as a result and some end up becoming mentally ill, later in life.
Taking little children to boarding school detaches them from their families and psychiatrists say this could lead to the children abandoning their parents or having low attachment with them as adults.
“Losing parental warmth may lead to developing negative behaviour for lack of cooperation, low level of sympathy, exposure to bullying among children with nowhere to transfer the sense of stress, leading to fear and seeking revenge,” Prof. Mbise was quoted as saying.
Some psychiatrists recommended that the best time to take children to boarding school, if necessary is when they are in standard four. Most children are ten in standard four.
Experts have for a long time expressed concern over today’s parents’ busy schedules which leave them with no time for their children. As a result they say, parents fail to notice the malpractices their children engage in during their absence and due to lack of parental guidance.
This has been costing parents dearly in the long run as children turn into irresponsible adults. Some become drug addicts, prostitutes, you name it.
“Children today are left to look after themselves because of the parents’ busy schedules and this is really costing us. People are abandoning their children,” says Yusta Ntibashima, Community Awareness Programme Manager for the Mwanza-based Kivulini Women’s Rights Organisation.
She says parents don’t have time to sit and talk with their children and only complain when things go wrong.
Parents whose babies are in boarding school need to reconsider their decision. No matter how much money you pay to your child’s school, just remember no one can provide your child with the parental love they need and deserve.
Children aged between nine months to five depending on the child and environment, are famous at temper tantrums. According to experts, toddlers tend to have temper tantrums because they have such strong emotions but can not express themselves the way that older children and adults do. They also throw tantrums to let others know that they are free and can do what they want.
This is a normal developmental milestone as toddlers explore to find out who they are, a stage experts say repeats itself in adolescence. Only parents can handle these tantrums better which is why children need to go through this stage with their parents.
Caregivers at school don’t have the time to deal with children as individuals. They don’t have time to give the small kids the love they deserve.
I heard a story of a nursery teacher who scolded a child for soiling his shorts and angrily told him to go wash them. And such teachers are many.
Imagine leaving your child in the hands of such a teacher for months while ‘you make money!’ Or because you and your partner went separate ways? Why do this at the expense of the children’s happiness and future?
I strongly recommend that parents should only take older children to boarding school and only when necessary. We need to put our children first and not money or our careers/businesses. We need to sacrifice for our children even if it means quitting our jobs for our children’s sake. It’s high time the government banned admission of babies into boarding school!
Educating girls means eradicating poverty.
A letter from Campaign for Female Education (Camfed) Tanzania’s Co-Executive Director, Lydia Wilbard, to a girl from a poor family called Desderia, is a very inspiring one.
Published in the organisation’s latest newsletter, the letter encourages Desderia to work hard to achieve her dream of getting an education so as to help her family out of poverty.
Like Desderia, Lydia who too comes from a poor background, struggled to be where she is today. She lost her mother when she was ten and her father was too poor to afford keeping her in school. Lydia would be sent home to collect school fees from time to time and would therefore miss classes for long periods.
The worst happened when her father died before she completed high school. Lydia had no one to pay her school fees. However, this did not deter her as she fought tooth and nail to ensure she achieved her dream of getting a university degree. And she did achieve her dream, against all odds. Today Lydia holds a Master’s degree from a US university!
“Now I am co-Executive Director of Camfed Tanzania and I am sharing your story with others so they can see what life is like for people like you and me. And what amazing things happen if we’re given a chance,” Lydia tells Desderia in the letter.
Lydia talks, in the letter, about how Desderia and her family used to go without food and how their mother, a peasant, used to struggle to make ends meet. All her family’s needs depended on her meager income as a hand hoe farmer.
Despite her desire to educate her children, Desderia’s mother could not afford to pay for their secondary education. Her brother dropped out and started a small business to augment the family’s income.
After primary education, Desderia worked in Dar es Salaam as a maid. Life was tough at her employer’s house but she had no alternative. But as a Swahili saying goes, ‘Mungu hamtupi Mja wake’ (God does not abandon his servant). When the exam results were out, Desderia was among those selected to join secondary school.
It’s her brother in the village who broke the good news to her. He told her Camfed would be sponsoring her education.
When Desderia enrolled in secondary school, her dream was to become a journalist and Lydia tells her in the letter; “You are already half way there. You are on the path to education. And as a journalist I know you will tell the stories of other girls like you so that many more people can have the same chance you had. I wish you every success.”
Lydia is a role model to girls like Desderia. It is from poor backgrounds like hers and Desderia’s that most of the successful women in our country today come from.
Like Lydia says, girls from poor families can do wonders if given a chance. And this is what Camfed Tanzania, is striving to do. To give girls from poor families a chance to eradicate poverty by helping them get an education.
According to the 2007/08 Tanzania HIV/AIDS and Malaria Indicator Survey (THMIS), every fifth Tanzanian girl has no education at all. These are likely to marry and start having babies early as a result. The 2004/05 Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey (TDHS) shows that almost a quarter of all girls between the ages 15-19 are already mothers or have begun childbearing. And 23 percent of all maternal deaths are among young pregnant girls.
Camfed would like to see this trend reversed. It would like to see more girls in school. Basic Education Statistics in Tanzania (BEST 2010) show that only 18 percent of girls have completed secondary school education. This is why Camfed supports girls from poor families to obtain secondary education and its efforts have seen many go to university.
Camfed works in Zimbabwe, Ghana, Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania. In Tanzania, Camfed works in four regions of Iringa, Morogoro, Coast and Tanga. It works in ten districts of Handeni, Pangani, Bagamoyo, Rufiji, Kibaha, Morogoro rural, Kilombero, Kilosa, Iringa rural and Kilolo.
Because of poverty, many children in Tanzania are not in school. Some drop out simply because their parents can not meet basic school-going costs. In such circumstances, it’s the girl-child who is likely to miss out on education. In African culture boys are considered more important and therefore given priority when it comes to education.
Camfed works towards ensuring both girls and boys get equal access to education by supporting girls from poor families and orphans to get secondary education. The organisation provides bursary support to girls in 193 secondary schools which covers school fees and other related costs such as pocket money, uniform and accommodation among others.
Camfed also runs a Safety Net Fund (SNF) for both primary and secondary school children whose objective is to keep them in school. A total of 351 primary schools benefit from the support which covers both boys and girls.
According to Fatina Kiluvia, Camfed’s Impact Manager, the organisation which was officially registerd in Tanzania in 2006 sends money to the schools for the purchase of scholastic materials for the needy children.
In both projects, teachers, school committees and community members are involved in identifying those who deserve the support.
Teacher mentors take up the responsibility of providing the required materials as well as psychosocial support to ensure the beneficiaries remain in school.
“We started our operations in Iringa and have been expanding ever since. The plan is to spread our wings to as many places as possible depending on availability of resources,” says Kiluvia.
Camfed started with areas where girls were at higher risk of dropping out due to either poverty or cultural reasons.
In Iringa for example, girls drop out of school to work as maids in the city. In Coast region, when girls reach puberty, they are normally taken out of school for initiation which sees them miss classes for long periods and subsequently get married.
Camfed’s Director of Operations and Finance, Msaada Balula says Camfed’s intervention has seen girls who would have otherwise never have gone beyond primary school go to university. Today some of them have jobs and are helping their families.
Last year, a total of 6,310 girls received bursary support while 64,227 children benefited from the Safety Net Fund.
However, not all girls under Camfed’s support complete secondary education or pass their final exams. Difficult school circumstances are to blame. These include teacher shortages, shortage or lack of teaching and learning materials as well as long distances to school among others.
“These are national challenges,” says Balula.
But Camfed never allows these girls to stop there. Some of them get involved in business under Camfed Association (CAMA)’s programme, a peer support network for young women that helps facilitate their transition from school to young adulthood.
Others undergo short courses such as nursing and teaching while some become leaders in their communities.
Balula mentions long distances to schools as one of the challenges when it comes to retaining girls in school. They come across many challenges on the way to school, some which lead to pregnancies.
Ignorance is another challenge. Because they don’t understand the importance of education, some families do not give Camfed the cooperation it requires to ensure girls remain in school.
“Some parents or guardians take the girls out of school to either work as maids or get married. Most of the children we support are orphans and their grandmothers prefer they stay at home to help with house chores,” Balula says.
Kiluvia calls upon government to speed up implementation of its guidelines to allow schoolgirls who get pregnant back in school after they deliver. “We advocate for girls to be given a second chance. Denying them a chance to complete their education is punishing them,” she says.
As a remedy for school pregnancies, Kiluvia says both students and the community should be given access to sexual and reproductive health information. “Many school children don’t have access to this. They are humans and have feelings too. Lack of information is what puts them in trouble. Adults take advantage of this,” Kiluvia says.
She calls upon parents to stop being too authoritative saying; “It doesn’t work this way. We need to change the culture of how we talk to our children.”
To protect girls from early pregnancies, Camfed gives girls life skills education to build their confidence and help them realize their values.
Some teachers, according to the Camfed officials, dare not teach pupils about sexuality fearing the community’s wrath.
“We know of teachers who don’t want to teach this because they get reprimanded at church when the children report this to their parents,” says Kiluvia who thinks children need the right information at the right time.
Through its community health outreach programme, Camfed provides basic health information to community members through various community health campaigns. The programme focuses on preventable diseases such as HIV/Aids and other STIs, malaria and family planning among others.
The target groups are women attending health centres, pupils, out of school youths, families and the public at large.
Kiluvia says more needs to be done by the government as far as community sensitization is concerned.
Let`s arrest alcohol abuse for schoolgirls` safety.
At a time when they are supposed to be at school, learning with other classmates, some girls are chased from school due to pregnancy. Not out of their free will but because they have been raped, worse still by someone who is drunk.
Sadly, excessive alcohol incites violence in some men, who pounce on school going children and sexually abuse them, destroying their future.
Such was the case of 15 year old Beatrice Shirima (not her real name) of Magomeni Mwembechai whose innocence was taken away by her neighbour who was drunk.
When the incident happened, early this year, Beatrice was in Form II at a school in Morogoro.
“During the Easter holiday, I returned home to be with my family. On the day I was raped, my mother had sent me to the market,” said the 15 year old girl who was allegedly raped by someone she called Juma.
“I met my neighbour on my way back home from the market. He told me he had a new movie which he wanted to lend me. He looked drunk but I went with him because I trusted him since we stay in the same neighborhood and exchange movies,” she said.
Beatrice says to her surprise when she arrived at Juma’s place, no one was around.
“He dragged me to his bedroom and took advantage of me; I was raped by someone I trusted,” she says with tears in her eyes.
Beatrice narrated that her parents quickly took her to a police station where she got a PF3 form, and then received medical treatment at Mwananyamala hospital.
Adding that the medical examination confirmed she had been raped and the suspect was eventually arrested.
“I went back to school when the holiday was over and after a month I started feeling sick. My teachers suggested that I go for a checkup; I was shocked when the results showed that I was pregnant. My parents were immediately told to come and pick me up from school,” said Beatrice.
She started having some health complications, “last month I delivered a premature baby who survived for a few days and then passed away,” she said.
This is the dilemma a young girl had to go through because of someone who abused alcohol and became violent.
Elizabeth Muhangwa is the Legal Officer and Coordinator at Tanzania’s Crisis Resolving Centre (CRC). She says the organization receives cases of teen pregnancy seeking legal remedy.
“When I am handling cases involving school pregnancies, most of the young mothers are psychologically affected because they are forced to start an adult life at an early age; others are as young as 14 years old and are already taking care of their own children, despite them too being children,” she said.
Muhangwa said “others feel rejected because most men refuse to take responsibility of the pregnancy or children born from these young girls.”
“At Crisis Resolving Centre, we receive cases of rape involving school going children and some say the perpetrator was drunk. The parents testify that the girls are so traumatized and their grades at school are affected drastically,” said Ms Muhangwa.
Indeed alcohol related abuse destroys the future of school going children, who are the leaders of tomorrow’s generation.
According to medics at Mwananyamala hospital, the hospital has been receiving many rape cases which involve people who have abused alcohol or drugs.
“Most of the rape cases we receive are at night and the bad thing is that young girls are raped by people whom they trust and know very well,” said Dr Spitla Makeyi who is a VCT/PMTCT expert at Mwananyamala hospital, Kinondoni District in Dar es Salaam.
Such cases can reduce if people stopped excessive drinking of alcohol and respected the rights of the girl child.
Recently, the Minister for Education and Vocational training Dr Shukuru Kawambwa said over 5000 secondary school girls in the country are chased from school every year due to pregnancy and these girls are not allowed back to school after delivery.
Unfortunately some of these girls end up pregnant after being raped. Therefore parents should ensure that perpetrators of such acts face justice and avoid solving the cases at home.
The country’s education policy should also be reviewed in good time to allow girls go back to school and be empowered through good education and in turn be responsible citizens who contribute to national development.
Prisca Wallace is a Gender and Development Student at the Mwalimu Nyerere Memorial Academy. She agrees that alcohol abuse plays a role in school pregnancies.
“Some school girls go to night clubs and after getting drunk are raped by unknown people while others end up having unsafe sex resulting into pregnancy,” she says.
Her advice is “school going children should concentrate on their studies and not take alcohol because it contributes to pregnancy. Once pregnant, a girl is forced to get married at an early age and stop school; this ruins her chances of having good employment, improve her livelihood and that of society at large.”
A Bunju resident and 2nd year student at Mzumbe University, Isihaka Ibrahim says some parents make a living through selling local alcohol in local pubs and the daughters have to accompany their mothers in doing business, after school.
“In such areas, parents cannot do anything about it if the daughter is sexually harassed or raped as this will ruin the business. Instead, they resort to settling issues at home,” says Ibrahim.
“Parents who spend more time in pubs, drinking alcohol do not have the time to talk to their daughters on issues regarding safe sex, this makes the girls vulnerable and be bought with small gifts, resulting in school pregnancy,” he says.
Ibrahim concludes by saying the majority of young girls who drop out of school due to pregnancy come from poor families and find it difficult to take care of the baby when born, this further stresses the young mother who is still a child.
It is imperative that parents educate the girl child on dangers of teenage pregnancy and how alcohol abuse plays a role in damaging their future. This will go a step further in reducing school pregnancies.
Likewise, men who abuse alcohol and sexually abuse young girls should stop. This is ruining the lives of potential leaders of tomorrow, making them illiterate and struggle to find means of looking after children at an early age.
In these 16 days of activism against gender based violence, it is hoped that different stakeholders in the country will come up with tangible solutions to assist women who are mostly victims of Gender Based Violence (GBV) and protect the girl child whose future is coming to a standstill due to unwanted pregnancies.
'Wanaume wakibadilika ukatili wa kijinsia utapungua'
Vitendo hivi vimekuwa vikitokea katika maeneo mbalimbali nchini hali ambayo imekuwa ikisababisha kuendelea kuwepo kwa matukio ya unyanyasaji hasa kwa wanawake na watoto.
Kuna aina nyingi za unyanyasaji wa kijinsia ambazo zimekuwa zikitokea kwa wanawake na wanaume ambapo wengi wamekuwa wakiyaficha manyanyaso hayo kutokana na kuyaonea aibu.
Ukatili wa Kijinsia ni kitendo chochote kinachoweza kumsababishia mtu mwingine madhara kimwili, kiakili, kingono, kisaikolojia, kiutamaduni, maumivu au hata kifo kinachotokea katika familia au jamii.
Ukatili pia humamaanisha vitendo vyenye kusudio la kulazimisha, kutisha au kuogofya mtu na hivyo basi kumshurutisha kufanya jambo kinyume na matakwa yake.
Kutokana na kuwepo kwa hali hiyo wanaharakati na wadau mbalimbali wamekuwa wakiadhimisha siku 16 za kupinga ukatili wa kijinsia ambapo kampeni kabambe ya kimataifa inaongozwa na Kituo Cha Kimataifa cha Wanawake katika uongozi "Women Global Leadership" tokea mwaka 1991 lengo ikiwa ni kuwakomboa watu walioko kwenye mateso hasa wanawake na watoto.
Chimbuko la siku 16 za kupinga ukatili wa Kijinsia ni mauaji ya kinyama ya akinadada wa Mirabelle yaliyofanyika nchini Dominika mwaka 1960 na kuanzia Novemba 25 mwaka 1991 Umoja wa Mataifa ulitenga siku hii kama siku ya Kimataifa ya kupinga Ukatili dhidi ya Wanawake.
Maadhimisho hayo yanafikia kilele Desemba 10 ambayo ni siku ya Kimataifa ya kuadhimisha tamko rasmi la Haki za Binadamu ikiwa ni ishara ya kuhusisha ukatili dhidi ya wanawake na haki za binadamu na kutia msisitizo kwamba ukatili kama huu ni uvunjaji wa haki za binadamu.
Kutokana na hali hiyo Jeshi la polisi nchini kwa mara ya kwanza tangu lianzishwe limeungana na wadau mbalimbali kwa kufanya maandamano ya amani kupinga ukatili wa kijinsia kwa watoto.
Jeshi hilo limeamua kufanya hivyo kutokana na ongezeko la vitendo vya ukatili nchini katika maeneo mengi na kusababisha amani kupotea.
Akizungumza na majira katika mahojiano maalumu Kamanda wa Polisi Mkoa wa Kinondoni, Charles Kenyela anasema kuwa, kumekuwepo na sababu nyingi ambazo zinapelekea kuwepo kwa unyanyasaji wa kijinsia.
Anasema baadhi ya sababu hizo ni pamoja na biashara haramu ya gongo, matumizi ya madawa ya kulevya na uuzaji wa pombe kali ambazo husababisha ukiukwaji wa haki za binadamu.
Anasema kuwa, vitendo hivyo vimekuwa pia vikitokana na udhaifu wa huduma za kisheria ambapo baadhi ya wanajamii hukosa msaada wa kisheria, kuwepo kwa sheria zilizopitwa na wakati, mitazamo finyu ya waendesha mashitaka mahakamani, makarani, mahakimu na wengine katika usimamizi wa sekta ya sheria.
Anasema kukosekana kwa haya yote kumekuwa kukiwafanya waathiriwa wa ukatili kuendelea kubaki katika maumivu makali maishani.
Anasema kukosekana kwa utekelezaji wa mikataba ya kimataifa kuhusu haki za wanawake kwa dhati kama vile mkataba wa kimataifa wa kuondoa aina zote za ukatili dhidi ya wanawake (CEDAW), tamko la Kimataifa la Haki za Binadamu (UDHR) ni sababu kuu ya kutowajali waathiriwa wa ukatili.
Kenyella anasema kutowaadhibu wanaosababisha ukatili huo ni kuruhusu kuendelea kuwepo miongoni mwa jamii na kuifanya jamii kutoona sababu ya kutoa taarifa pale wanapofanyiwa ukatili.
Anaongeza kuwa, katiba imetoa haki ya usawa baina ya wanawake na wanaume. Hata hivyo sheria nyingi nchini hazifanyiwi marekebisho ili kuweza kuendana na katiba ya nchi.
Anasema kwa upande wa uchumi hali ya ukatili hujitokeza kwa sababu wanawake wengi hawana vyanzo vya vipato na hivyo kuwa tegemezi hali ambayo husababisha kunyang'anywa vyakula na mahitaji mengine ya msingi kama vile mavazi na ada za shule kwa watoto wa kike.
Anasema tabia ya kufanya hivyo ni ukiukwaji wa haki kiuchumi ambapo pia kuna wanawake wamekuwa wakilazimishwa kukabidhi vipato vyao kwa waume zao au rafiki zao wa kiume na ndugu wa marehemu kunyang'anya mali za wajane vimekuwa ni tatizo katika nchi nyingi za Afrika.
Anaongeza kuwa takwimu za kiulimwengu zinaonyesha kuwa, ukatili wa kijinsia hauko kwa wanawake tu bali hata kwa upande wa wanaume ingawa takwimu nyingi zinaonyesha kuwa wanawake ndiyo wahanga wa ukatili kijinsia.
Anasema nchini kwa mujibu wa utafiti uliofanywa na WHO takwimu zinaonyesha kuwa, maeneo ya majiji kama Dar es salaam asilimia 41 ya wanawake ni waathiriwa wa ukatili wa kijinsia na asilimia 56 ya wale wanaoishi mkoa wa Mbeya hawajawahi kupata ukatili wa Kijinsia GBV kwa wenzi wao.
Anaongeza kuwa, utafiti wa mwezi Mei 2010 uliofanywa na REPOA unaonyesha asilimia 34.8 ya wanawake na asilimia 3 ya wanaume wameshafanyiwa vitendo vya ukatili ambapo mwaka 2007/9 jumla ya kesi 543 kutoka Zanzibar visiwa vya Unguja na Pemba zilitolewa taarifa polisi.
Anasema utafiti uliofanywa na Idara ya Taifa ya Takwimu mwaka 2010 kuhusu hadhi ya wanawake nchini Tanzania ulibaini asilimia 39 ya wanawake wanaafiki kuwa wanaume wana haki ya kupiga wake zao endapo atabishana naye.
Anasema asilimia 37 ya wanawake waliohijiwa wanaafiki kwamba mume ana haki ya kumpiga mkewe kwa sababu ya kuondoka nyumbani bila kumuaga mumewe wakati huo asilimia 40 ya wanawake wanakubali kuwa mume ana haki ya kumpiga mkewe pale anapozembea kuangalia watoto.
Anaongeza kwa upande wa suala la unyumba asilimia 30 ya wanawake wanakubali kuwa mume ana haki ya kumpiga mkewe atakapogoma kufanya tendo la ndoa wakati huo asilimia 53 ya wanawake wanaafiki mume ana weza kumpiga mkewe kwa sababu nyingine yeyote.
Anasema utafiti mwingine uliofanywa Dar es Salaam na TAMWA unabainisha kwamba kati ya wanawake kumi wenye mahusiano ya ndoa na wapenzi wao wanawake tisa wameathiriwa na ukatili wa kijinsia.Pia kati ya wanawake kumi wanawake sita wameathiriwa kimwili.
Anasema pamoja na Jeshi kuanzisha madawati maalumu yuanayoshughulikia unyanyasaji wa kijinsia wapo baadhi ya wanawake ambao bado hawaoni umuhimu wa kuyatumia aidha kwa kuona aibu au kutoyafahamu.
Anasema kutokana na hali hiyo kila mmoja ana wajibu wa kuwa balozi mzuri wa kufikisha ujumbe huu ili kuweza kupunguza tatizo laukatili wa wanawake na watoto ndani ya familia.
Kwa mujibu wa Naibu Waziri wa katiba na Sheria Bi.Angellah Kairuki anasema ukatili wa kijinsia unakwamisha maendeleo ya nchi kwa kiasi kikubwa.Hivyo kila mmoja anapaswa kupambana nao kwa kutoa elimu kwa jamii.
Anasema utafiti uliofanyika mwaka 2010 na Idara ya Takwimu ulibaini asilimia 39 ya wanaume wanaamini unyumba ni sehemu ya haki yao.
Anasema vitendo vya ukatili wa kijinsia katika amri kumi za Mungu na kwenye vitabu vya dini zote vinaeleza kuwa wanawake hawapaswi kupigwa bali wanahitaji kulindwa na kuheshimiwa.
Naibu anaongeza kuwa changamoto kubwa iliyopo kufikia malengo ni kutoa elimu ila kila jamii iweze kuelewa haki za binadamu na sera ya taifa ya 2009 ya kuwalinda watoto na wanawake.
Anasema kauli mbiu ya mwaka huu ni 'Funguka Kemea ukatili dhidi ya wanawake sote tuwajibike' ambayo inasisitiza kuchukua hatua kwa kukemea ukatili dhidi ya wanawake.
When child spacing happens by chance, not by choice.
Dorisiana Paschal’s youngest child is only ten months old and the 40-year-old mother of 11 suspects she is pregnant again. She has been having fevers lately and having been there many times before, there is no mistaking she could have conceived.
If Dorisiana’s fears are confirmed, this will be her 16th pregnancy. Four of her children died as infants.
“My fingers are crossed my sister. I just don’t know what will happen if I conceive,” the resident of Kishuro village in Muleba district tells me during a phone interview.
Dorisiana is among 222 million women in developing countries who do not have access to modern contraceptives. She just relies on fate for child spacing and usually finds out she is pregnant again a year or so after giving birth. She tells me one would think her children are twins given the short birth intervals between them.
According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)’s 2012 State of the World Population report, 867 million women of child bearing age in developing countries have a need for modern contraceptives. Of these, 645 million have access to them.
UNFPA’s Executive Director Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin says lack of access to contraceptives is inexcusable. “Family Planning is a human right. It must therefore be available to all who want it. But clearly this right has not yet been extended to all, especially in the poorest countries,” says Dr. Babatunde.
Lack of information
Dorisiana knows women who use contraceptives but has never dared use them herself. She has heard from those using them that they have side effects. “Those who use the pill or the injection say they have side effects. They say they cause high blood pressure.”
She is among millions of women in developed countries who according to UNFPA are unable to plan their families because they lack access to information, education and counseling on family planning. These women can not access contraceptives and face social, economic and cultural barriers including discrimination, coercion and violence in the context of their sexual and reproductive lives.
The little information Dorisiana has on contraceptives is just hearsays from fellow women in the village. She has never had a chance to hear from health experts. No one at the only health facility in the village has ever counseled her on family planning, let alone tell her the various methods on offer.
This is no surprise given that the dispensary in the village is run by Roman Catholic nuns. Whenever Dorisiana gives birth at the dispensary, the health workers only immunize her child and tell her to bring the baby for antenatal visits every month. Nothing more. Instead of counseling her to use family planning methods, the nurses (not nuns) usually scold Dorisiana, wondering why she does not go for sterilization.
The Roman Catholic church only encourages and supports natural family planning methods. These include abstaining during the fertile days in a woman’s menstrual circle and mucus monitoring among others.
It regards the use of barrier methods of birth control such as the condom and hormonal contraceptives such as pills and the injection as interfering with conception and hence considers their use to be a sin.
However, studies show that modern birth control methods are more effective compared with natural family planning methods.
A US-based Reproductive Health, Population and Gender specialist, Dr. Nancy Yinger, says 80 out of 100 newly wed couples not doing anything to prevent pregnancy will get pregnant in a year. And 40 per cent of those monitoring mucus will become pregnant.
Dr. Yinger who is a Senior Technical Advisor for Gender, Monitoring, Evaluation and Research for EngenderHealth’s RESPOND project, which stands for responding to the Need for Family Planning through Expanded Contraceptive Choices and Program Services, says people should be let to choose the number of children they want provided they do the right spacing. Child spacing is important to both mother and child and doctors recommend that women wait at least three years between births.
The health risks
If Dorisiana conceives as she suspects, both she and the baby could be at high risk of dying. Dr. Yinger says the risk of maternal deaths go up with more than four births.
An Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at the Mission Mikocheni Hospital in Dar es Salaam, Dr. Clementina Kairuki, shares the same sentiment. She says conceiving at this state not only jeopardizes Dorisiana’s health but that of the baby too.
Dr. Kairuki says a woman needs to recuperate before she conceives again. This helps her regain the minerals and vitamins she loses during pregnancy. A deficiency of these during pregnancy can have negative health implications for both mother and child.
Given her age, Dorisiana is at risk of developing pre-eclampsia, a development of high blood pressure and protein in the urine. It is the most common of the dangerous pregnancy complications. It may affect both the mother and the foetus and being older than age 35 is among the risk factors.
A weakened body system is another risk since body organs such as the heart, liver and others get overworked during pregnancy. Having had more than five children, Dorisiana also risks a uterine rupture if she conceives again. This is a tear in the wall of the uterus. Studies show that uterine ruptures cause high maternal and neonatal mortality in many rural settings in the world.
A woman is likely to suffer excessive bleeding after five births and Dorisiana is highly susceptible given that her uterus is already loose. Dr. Kairuki refers to the term medically as uterine atony, which she says is the loss of tone in the uterine muscle. The OBGYN says in the case of uterine atony, the uterus fails to contract hence leading to acute bleeding. This she says is the leading cause of maternal deaths.
Every year, close to 8000 women die during pregnancy and child birth in Tanzania as a result of conditions that could have been prevented or treated.
Desire to close factory
When Dorisiana was pregnant with her youngest child, she was put on bed rest for nine months. Her cervix was too loose to carry the baby to term. The doctor suggested she delivers at Rubya Hospital. “But labour started when I was at the dispensary and luckily, I delivered safely.”
Giving birth fifteen times at such short intervals is no easy task at all. Dorisiana says she has suffered a lot and thinks she already has enough children. She now wishes she could close the factory but she does not have money to undergo sterilization.
“Due to what I have been through, I would have already gone for sterilization but I can’t afford the 60,000/- they charge at Ndolage Hospital,” she says, the determination and seriousness in her voice very clear.
She no longer fears her husband to whom the family size does not matter as long as he can put food on the table. In Dorisiana’s village, it’s the younger generation that seems to be dancing to the tune of family planning. They stop at four or five children. “But as for us with older husbands, they insist on having more children provided they can feed them as they have enough land for cultivation. But it is us women who bear the brunt,” says a concerned Dorisiana, whose husband Paschal is 64.
Most women her age have between seven and nine children and most don’t have a choice when it comes to family planning. Those using contraceptives do so secretly.
The nations total fertility rate, that is the average number of children per woman is five, which is considered very high.
They say education is the key to life but Paschal, Dorisiana’s husband, is yet to see the evidence of this. All the children in the village who went to secondary school are idle in the village. This is why he was not motivated to send their two older daughters to secondary school after primary education. Their 21-year-old daughter is now married with two children and the second born (18), works as a maid in Dar es Salaam.
The third born recently completed primary education and Paschal has no plans to take her to secondary school if she is not selected to join a public school.
Government’s commitment
During the London Family Planning Summit in July, USD 2bn was garnered in funding commitments from developing countries and USD 2.6bn from donor nations. This funding aims to make voluntary family planning available to an additional 120 million women and adolescent girls in developing countries by 2020. However, additional resources are needed to give access to all women who need the service.
Women who need contraceptives in Tanzania are many and their needs are yet to be made. The unmet need stands at 25 per cent. When addressing the London Summit, President Jakaya Kikwete said; “We are determined and committed to do better in the coming years. We have set ourselves a target of getting 60 per cent of contraceptives prevalence coverage by 2015.”
This means increasing the number of women under contraceptives from 2.4 million in 2010 to 6.6 million by 2015. And President Kikwete is confident that this is possible given the high number of women whose contraceptive needs are yet to be met.
He promised that the government would ensure family planning programmes are implemented fully.
An estimated USD 88.2m will be required between 2010 and 2015 to meet the contraceptives commodities and supply costs.
“The government already has a family planning budget line for commodities. It’s also benefiting from contributions of health partners such as DFID, USAID and Australia AID among others,” said President Kikwete adding; “We therefore look forward with great anticipation to the outcome of this Summit. We would like to see the financing gap closed so that we can provide the targeted 4.2 million women with the contraceptives they not only need but deserve.”
He said the support from partners has made a huge difference and that it accounted for the achievement the country has made so far. Things would be worse without their support.
Even if Doris is lucky to get her period this month, her future still hangs in the balance for she can not afford to have a tubal ligation. She needs assistance without which she could be just another statistic in the maternal deaths figures. Remember, no woman should die giving life!
BABA ABAKA MWANAE WA MIAKA 2.5 NA KUMUUMIZA VIBAYA.
WAKATI wanaharakati wakipaza sauti za siku 16 za kupinga ukatili
,mkazi mmoja wa mtaa wa Sedeko kata ya Stendi kuu wilayani Serengeti
John Nashon(25)amembaka mwanae wa miaka 2.5 na kumuumiza vibaya kisha
akatoroka.
Tukio hilo ambalo limepokelewa kwa hisia tofauti na wakazi wa mji wa
Mugumu linadaiwa kutokea novemba 26,majira ya saa 12.00 jioni mwaka
huu katika mtaa huo na kuripotiwa kituo cha polisi Mugumu mjini.
Mama mzazi wa mtoto huyo akiongea na Mwananchi akiwa hospitali teule
ya Nyerere ddh alikolazwa kitanda namba 8 wodi ya watoto ,alisema
wakati unyama huo unatendeka alikuwa sokoni.
“Nilimwacha mwanangu na baba yake ambaye ni fundi wa magari gereji ya
Mayala mjini hapa,kurudi kufika mlangoni mme wangu akanieleza niingie
ndani haraka nimkande mtoto mwili mzima kwa maji baridi…nilikuwa sijui
kinachoendelea”alisema na kuendelea
“Kuingia chumba cha kulala nikamkuta mtoto amelala
kitandani,kumnyanyua damu zikamwagika mithili ya maji kutoka sehemu
yake ya siri…kumwangalia nikakuta amechanika sehemu zake za
siri”alisema.
Hali hiyo ilimpelekea kumwangukia mwanae na kuanza kulia kwa uchungu
na alipotaka maelezo kwa mme wake alisema alimsukuma kwa bahati mbaya
mwanae akaanguka kwenye kochi na kuchomwa na msumari sehemu zake za
siri.
“Nilipomwambia tumpeleke hospitali akakataa tena akinitishia kunipiga
kwa madai kuwa siri itafichuka…niligundua kumbe ndiye kafanya unyama
huo,nilitoka kwa nguvu hadi kituo cha polisi na kupewa pf 3,nikimwacha
hapo,lakini alikimbia na haijulikani alipo”alisema.
Hata hivyo alipomuuliza mwanae kilichomtokea akasema kuwa baba yake
ndiye aliyemfanyia unyama,huku akishangaa kwa kitendo hicho kwenye
ndoa yao iliyodumu kwa mwaka mmoja toka novemba 2011.
Mganga mkuu wa hospitali hiyo Dk.Kelvin Mwasha amekiri kumpokea mtoto
huyo na kuwa amelazwa wodi la watoto ,kutokana na maumivu na kuvuja
damu nyingi ililazimu kuongezewa damu.
“Sehemu zake za siri zilikutwa zimeharibiwa sana ,amepata huduma ikiwa
ni pamoja na kuchukua sampuli za maji yaliyokuwa yanatoka ukeni kwa
ajili ya vipimo …amekutwa yuko salama,lakini hili tukio si la kawaida
linatakiwa kulaaniwa ,na ndiyo yanaifanya wilaya kuonekana na matukio
ya ukatili”alisema.
Hivi karibuni katika uzinduzi wa siku 16 zakupinga ukatili kamanda wa
polisi mkoa wa Mara Absalom Mwakyoma alisema kunaongezeko kubwa la
matukio ya ukatili,ambapo kwa mwaka huu toka januari yameripotiwa
matukio 201 ikiwa ni tofauti na mwaka 2011 matukio 148 yaliriripotiwa
polisi.
Mwisho.
