Floods in Dar es Salaam

Tanzania President Dr Jakaya M.Kikwete talking to one of the children who is the victim of recent floods

 Tanzania has been grieving in recent days for the loss of lives and severe damage to properties causes by floods in the time when the rest of the world was celebrating Xmass. We stand together united in these trying times, our President went to see first hand the damage caused by the floods that came in the time when Tanzanians were in the festive mood.

Part of Dar es salaam city road side that was badly damaged due to the floods that affected hundreds of residents

 Dar es salaam has been given a wake up call to improve its infrastructure so that in the future heavy rain will not be able to cause so much damage, it is up to the city council to take the recent floods as a lesson and a warning that the weather pattern in the world is changing and Tanzania should brace itself so more harsh weather ahead.

Children carrying a mattress they received from aid workers

This blog is dedicated to children of Tanzania, Africa and the world. It is only right that we show what the children went through, above is unnamed trio were seen carrying the mattress that was given to them by the aid worker. I would like to recommend all Tanzanians that helped the children through this tragedy. 

Good news for all the media personnel, AMKA will be launching a media workshop in Tanzania that will involve journalists that have are dedicated to protect and promote children rights. To join in, just email anganilet@yahoo.com or facebook me Anganile Mwakyanjala. Together lets use the media to protect and promote children rights. 

Mr President Jakaya Kikwete during Interview with Children

In Tanzania's State House with Mr President Dk Jakaya Kikwete. Children had an opportunity to interview him about children rights in the country. The interview was arranged by Ministry of Community Development, Gender and Children in collaboration with UNICEF and other stakeholders. We were there! 

Veteran TBC 1 children Radio technician during a Program shoot in a primary school in Kisarawe 

VISIT TO HOME CENTERS IN DAR ES SALAAM

entrance to Songa mbele street children home center 

Songa Mbele houses older boys who where once street children,

. The house through in bad need of repair serves as a comfort zone for boys who have been traumatized by the harsh street of Dar. The home center takes care of more than 15 street children.

Our meeting with children at New Hope family street children home

New Hope family street children home has a remarkable story. The home center was established by two former boys who were living in the streets, who after experiencing first hand the brutality of the streets decides to evade the same fate for other children by starting this home. years later this center is a home for more than fifty children from all corners of Tanzania, who came to this home to seek refuge. New hope is living up to its name. 

A shop owned by New Hope family, the shop brings income to the home center 

Children playing at Kwetu home center

Kwetu home has been a haven of peace for girls who have endured violence in the community. This center houses girls for up to six months as the staff at the center finds the parents or existing relatives. Eventually the girl is reunited with the parents.

Entrance to Kwetu home center

Me and children at New Hope Family street children

A child's Help

The UN says about 3.6 million people are at risk of starvation in Somalia

Somali famine: Ghana schoolboy raises aid money

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An 11-year-old Ghanaian schoolboy has so far raised more than $500 (£300) for victims of the famine in Somalia.

Andrew Andasi (L) met WFP representative Ismail Omer to ask for advice

Andrew Andasi launched his campaign last week after watching footage of people walking in search of food.

He told the BBC he wanted to raise a total of $13m during his school holidays from private donations.

After a meeting with the UN World Food Programme Bank director in Ghana to ask for advice, Andrew set up a bank account for donations on Tuesday.

"I'm very very sure that I can raise it in just one month," he told the BBC.

"I want individuals, companies, churches, other organisations to help me get 20m Ghana cedis."

TV guest

He said that UN organisations had advised him to raise money rather than food for his Save Somali Children from Hunger campaign.

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"If they send it to Somalia they can buy it [food] somewhere around Somalia… because if we gather the food items it will take a long time and the plane will cost a lot," he said.

The BBC's Samuel Bartels in the capital, Accra, says the boy's determination has impressed Ghanaians and he has been appearing as a guest on TV and radio shows in recent days.

Ismail Omer, the WFP representative in Ghana, said he was impressed with his efforts.

"He is doing a lot of work and that is laudable," Mr Omer told the BBC.

"When he came to my office and said this is what he is doing, I was so delighted - I became emotional.

"I hope he can be a good leader to his generation."

Andrew, who has printed flyers and stickers for his campaign, said he was moved to act by seeing the images of Somali women and children walking for days in search of food.

He said he wanted to use his time off during his summer school holidays to help them.

"There has been serious hunger and death for [a] long time [in Somalia] - and if it goes on their country will be useless," he told the BBC at the headquarters of Ecobank Ghana in Accra after setting up a special bank account for donations.

"If I get the opportunity to go to Somalia I will talk and I will let the UN to make an announcement the warring groups in Somalia should stop because of the sick children and women," he said.

The UN says about 3.6 million people are at risk of starvation in Somalia.

More than 11 million people across the Horn of Africa have been affected by drought this year - the region's worst for 60 years.

Drought

East Africa drought: 

African Union holds donor summit

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From BBC AFRICA 

The African Union is due to hold a much delayed summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa to pledge funds for the famine gripping the Horn of Africa.

Tens of thousands of people are believed to have died in the famine

The AU has already pledged $500m (£300m), but the UN says that at least another $2bn is required to help those in need.

At least 12 million people in Somalia and neighbouring countries require emergency assistance, the UN says.

Tens of thousands are believed to have died since the crisis began.

Response criticised

African Union Commission chief Jean Ping urged Africans to "act out against hunger by providing both cash and in-kind support for urgent life-saving assistance to our brothers and sisters in the Horn of Africa".

The US, Britain, China, Japan, Brazil and Turkey have all pledged funds to the region, as has the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) - a gathering of Islamic countries - but the contributions have fallen short of the requested assistance.

Correspondents say several African governments have faced criticism for their lack of response, and Aid agency Oxfam says only a handful of African countries have donated money so far.

The food crisis is said to be the most serious to affect the continent since the famine in Somalia in 1991-1992.

How to be take care of the children around you

1. Children do as you do. Your child watches you to get clues on how to behave in the world. You’re her role model, so use your own behaviour to guide her. What you do is often much more important than what you say. If you want your child to say ‘please’, say it yourself. If you don’t want your child to raise her voice, speak quietly and gently yourself.
    
2. Show your child how you feel. Tell him honestly how his behaviour affects you. This will help him see his her own feelings in yours, like a mirror. This is called empathy. By the age of three, children can show real empathy. So you might say, ‘I’m getting upset because there is so much noise I can’t talk on the phone’. When you start the sentence with ‘I’, it gives your child the chance to see things from your perspective.
    
3. Catch her being ‘good’. This simply means that when your child is behaving in a way you like, you can give her some positive feedback. For example, ‘Wow, you are playing so nicely. I really like the way you are keeping all the blocks on the table’. This works better than waiting for the blocks to come crashing to the floor before you take notice and bark, ‘Hey, stop that’. This positive feedback is sometimes called ‘descriptive praise’. Try to say six positive comments (praise and encouragement) for every negative comment (criticisms and reprimands). The 6-1 ratio keeps things in balance. Remember that if children have a choice only between no attention or negative attention, they will seek out negative attention.
    
4. Get down to your child’s level. Kneeling or squatting down next to children is a very powerful tool for communicating positively with them. Getting close allows you to tune in to what they might be feeling or thinking. It also helps them focus on what you are saying or asking for. If you are close to your child and have his attention, there is no need to make him look at you.
    
5. ‘I hear you.’ Active listening is another tool for helping young children cope with their emotions. They tend to get frustrated a lot, especially if they can’t express themselves well enough verbally. When you repeat back to them what you think they might be feeling, it helps to relieve some of their tension. It also makes them feel respected and comforted. It can diffuse many potential temper tantrums.
    
6. Keep promises.  Stick to agreements. When you follow through on your promises, good or bad, your child learns to trust and respect you. So when you promise to go for a walk after she picks up her toys, make sure you have your walking shoes handy. When you say you will leave the library if she doesn’t stop running around, be prepared to leave straight away. No need to make a fuss about it – the more matter of fact, the better. This helps your child feel more secure, because it creates a consistent and predictable environment. 
    
7. Reduce temptation. Your glasses look like so much fun to play with – it’s hard for children to remember not to touch.  Reduce the chance for innocent but costly exploration by keeping that stuff out of sight. 
    
8. Choose your battles. Before you get involved in anything your child is doing – especially to say ‘no’ or ‘stop’ – ask yourself if it really matters. By keeping instructions, requests and negative feedback to a minimum, you create less opportunity for conflict and bad feelings. Rules are important, but use them only when it’s really important.
    
9. Whining: be strong. Kids don’t want to be annoying. By giving in when they’re whinging for something, we train them to do it more – even if we don’t mean to. ‘No’ means ‘no’, not maybe, so don’t say it unless you mean it. If you say ‘no’ and then give in, children will be whine even more the next time, hoping to get lucky again.
    
10. Keep it simple and positive. If you can give clear instructions in simple terms, your child will know what is expected of him. (‘Please hold my hand when we cross the road.’) Stating things in a positive way gets their heads thinking in the right direction. For example, ‘Please shut the gate’ is better than ‘Don't leave the gate open’.
     
11. Responsibility and consequences. As children get older, you can give them more responsibility for their own behaviour. You can also give them the chance to experience the natural consequences of that behaviour. You don’t have to be the bad guy all the time. For example, if your child forgot to put her lunch box in her bag, she will go hungry at lunch time. It is her hunger and her consequence. It won’t hurt her to go hungry just that one time. Sometimes, with the best intentions, we do so much for our children that we don’t allow them to learn for themselves. At other times you need to provide consequences for unacceptable or dangerous behaviour. For these times, it is best to ensure that you have explained the consequences and that your children have agreed to them in advance.
     
12. Say it once and move on. It is surprising how much your child is listening even though he might not have the social maturity to tell you. Nagging and criticising is boring for you and doesn’t work. Your child will just end up tuning you out and wonder why you get more upset. If you want to give him one last chance to cooperate, remind him of the consequences for not cooperating. Then start counting to three.
     
13. Make your child feel important. Children love it when they can contribute to the family. Start introducing some simple chores or things that she can do to play her own important part in helping the household. This will make her feel important and she’ll take pride in helping out. If you can give your child lots of practice doing a chore, she will get better at it and will keep trying harder. Safe chores help children feel responsible, build their self-esteem and help you out too.
     
14. Prepare for challenging situations. There are times when looking after your child and doing things you need to do will be tricky. If you think about these challenging situations in advance, you can plan around your child’s needs. Give him a five-minute warning before you need him to change activities. Talk to him about why you need his cooperation. Then he is prepared for what you expect.
     
15. Maintain a sense of humour. Another way of diffusing tension and possible conflict is to use humour and fun. You can pretend to become the menacing tickle monster or make animal noises. But humour at your child’s expense won't help. Young children are easily hurt by parental ‘teasing’. Humour that has you both laughing is great.

Help the children in Somalia

by UNICEF

  Somalia one of the harshest places on the planet, an extreme environment that presents huge challenges to its people just in terms of simple survival. The combination of  a hostile, predominantly arid environment, difficult terrain with settlements scattered over vast distances, the legacy of a nomadic way of life and a civil conflict that has shattered social structures and exacerbated poverty add up to mean that a Somali child’s chances of surviving to adulthood are among the lowest of children anywhere in the world. Add to this the fact that the odds of the child’s mother dying during pregnancy or in childbirth are also extremely high. These high death rates stem from the interaction of a number of causes set within a complex  socio-political context , but are largely attributable to  disease, dehydration, malnutrition, lack of safe water, and poor sanitation.

Diarrhoeal disease-related dehydration, respiratory infections and malaria are the main killers of infants and young children, together accounting for more than half of all child deaths. Cholera is endemic in Somalia, with the threat of outbreaks recurring annually during the “season” from December to May, when in many crowded communities  the pre-conditions are set as a result of critical  water shortage.The major underlying causes of diarrhoea are the lack of access to safe water, and poor food and domestic hygiene.

Malnutrition is a chronic problem in all areas, and becomes acute when areas are struck by drought or flood, or where localized conflict flares up, scattering populations. A persistent shortage of food  (mainly due to successive droughts and conflicts), low quality diet, poor feeding practices and inadequate home management practices contribute to  many children being inadequately nourished.

© UNICEF Somalia/02-09-Taylor

One of the greatest hinderances to girls' enrolment is that traditionally they assist their mothers in bearing the burden of domestic labour and are often sent to work to generate income for the family.

Neonatal tetanus and other birth-related problems are a further cause of many infant deaths, while measles and its complications result in widespread illness. Immunization coverage is not yet sufficient to prevent measles outbreaks. Susceptibility to measles is compounded by poor nutrition and transmission is rapid where living conditions are crowded, resulting in a high death rate.

Though data are lacking, Somalia is among countries with the highest incidence of tuberculosis in the world. Overcrowded conditions in camps where many displaced people are living , general lack of treatment facilities, poor quality drugs and malnutrition keep tuberculosis as one of the country’s main killer diseases.

Inadequate water and sanitation provision cost lives

Lack of access to safe water is a striking feature in almost all parts of  Somalia. Probably less than 1 in every 3 households (29 per cent of the population) uses an improved drinking water source. A result of erratic rainfall patterns which are responsible for both droughts and floods, this climatic causation has been compounded by the destruction and looting of water supply installations during the civil war, by depredation during continuing conflicts, and through the general lack of maintenance of  existing infrastructure.

Only 37 per cent of the population of Somalia have access to adequate sanitation. Poor hygiene and environmental sanitation are major causes of diseases such as cholera among children and women. The impact of poor environmental sanitation is particularly felt in the cities, towns, large villages, and other places where people are living in close proximity to each other with waste disposal adjacent to dwellings. Lack of garbage collection facilities is another factor affecting the urban environment and polluting water sources, along with the proliferation of plastic refuse bags.

Progress

Some dynamic progress has however been made in the field of health. Somalia has stepped up its polio eradication drive as part of the global polio eradication effort. No cases of the wild polio virus have been reported since 25 March 2007.