I want to go to Jupiter, says young Tanzanian student

I have been meaning to share this story, ever since I visited Shepherds Junior School.

Last September, I had the good fortune of visiting Mama Lucy Kamptoni who is running an exemplary primary school in Arusha, Tanzania. I had been following her work with great interest on twitter, and was in awe of her amazing collaboration with the dynamic people at EpicChange.org. Reading about her primary school students using twitter was one thing, but meeting them and Mama Lucy in person was another. I could not pass up the opportunity.

After touring the impressive facilities including a well stocked library, neat rows of classrooms, gardens with vegetables and flowers, with the picturesque backdrop of Mount Meru, we finally stepped inside one of the classrooms. We walked into a classroom of beaming 6th grade students eager to find out who these visitors were. After an exchange of greetings and introductions, we had the pleasure of asking them what they wished to become when they grew up. One girl said "A doctor", another boy "A lawyer", another girl "A businesswoman", but the answer that struck me the most was from a young boy who said "Astronaut" !

The other career choices were understandable because role models for each are readily available in Tanzania. To the best of my knowledge and google, there is no Tanzanian or African astronaut, yet.
I think the boy also went to mention a few words about Neil Armstrong, the first man to land on the moon. And so i asked him, half not believing, "why Astronaut ?" He said, "I want to go to Jupiter."
"Why Jupiter ?", I prodded further. "Because it is the biggest planet," he answered, with the calm confidence of someone who has spent a lot of time thinking about this possibility.

I was speechless.

I remember thinking, here I am talking to the reincarnation of William Kamkwamba - the Malawian genius boy who was called crazy for building a windmill in his village, using scrap metal parts and drawings from a physics textbook. Here I was face to face with a young determined Tanzanian student, with the audacity to dream about going to Jupiter; when most of us only dreamt of going to America or Europe! How many more children like him, and William Kamkwamba are out there ?

I share this story to remind us of the countless young genius children who should be given a chance to pursue their dreams and imagination, at whatever cost. The work Mama Lucy is doing nurturing these young minds is priceless, and deserves our best support - whether it be kudos and/or dollars.
Preferably both.

I hope many of you will consider supporting her work and her students by making donations here.

When in Arusha, please take a moment to visit Shepherds Junior School, and say hello to the young Astronaut before he heads out to Jupiter!

Team Afrika - talk the talk, then walk the walk - Truth Circle 10/2, AIDS Walk 10/3

Good People -

We are really excited about the two events coming up this wknd. Thanks to everyone for the great show of support for the effort, and for the brave souls who have signed up for the AIDS walk. We received several queries esp about the Truth Circle at Safari DC - Here's more background info to help prepare for the two wknd events :

1. Videos about Dr. Mandefro's work on YouTube: "All of Us"

7 min version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82qlQXX3GRU&feature=PlayList&p=7AC2572F5D1196D8&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=16

2 min version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YokxFK9J5f8

2. Few intro words from Dr. Merhret Mandefro:

"Health literacy as a whole is incredibly important for HIV prevention efforts.Health literacy is a significant prerequisite to the effectiveness of how people make health-related decisions in the context of their everyday life – at home, at the physician’s office, the workplace, the market place, the health care system, on the internet as well as within their communities and spheres of political and professional influences. Different concepts of health and illness, literacy levels, audience-specific barriers, cultural differences and several other factors all influence people’s ability to understand, process, speak, and act upon health related information.Thinking globally about health literacy goes hand in hand with acting locally. The Truth Circle is a way to act locally.

The Truth Circle is a local effort to address these factors through the most common activity of all -- just talking about it. The foundational assumption of the Truth Circle is that improving communications is a pathway to achieve health and social behavior results and ultimately improve public health outcomes as it relates to HIV. Special focuses will include implications and communication strategies within the context of interpersonal communication as well as vulnerable and immigrant populations."

3. Additonal comments we posted last week at the K-forum: www.kforumonline.com

==

details once more:

Friday Oct 2nd, 6:30 to 8pm
Truth Circle, Safari DC, 4306 Georgia Ave NW, Washington, DC 20011-7122

Saturday Oct 3rd, 8 to 10AM
AIDS Walk Washington, Freedom Plaza, Washington DC
www.aidswalkwashington.org

Shughuli watu, na watu ndio sisi (swahili: an event is about people, and we are "the" people)

Karibuni Sana!

--

Frank Minja & Asteria Hyera
Co-Captains Team Afrika

Team Afrika - a small experiment in solidarity - Oct 3rd

Good People -

AIDS Walk Washington DC is Saturday Oct 3rd. Please Save the date!

We are looking for 25 or so heads to join Team Afrika, this Labor day wknd:

www.aidswalkwashington.org

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This year we are not looking to raise thousands of dollars as we have in the past (www.teamafrika.org), though every little bit helps the Whitman Walker Clinic - which provides excellent HIV care in the Washington DC area. Please do give what you can afford, times are even harder for HIV patients.

In the next few weeks, we will explore some of the 'drama' that keeps people of African descent at the forefront of the HIV epidemic, worldwide. From Washington DC to Jo'burg to Kingston to London to Kinshasa to Accra to Paris to Dakar to Atlanta, and beyond. Cud dis be white man juju on African people ?

Also, on friday Oct 2nd (the night before the walk) we hope to host a 'First Fridays' event with a "truth circle" as the main theme. We are fortunate and excited to have onboard our sister Dr Mehret Mandefro, one of the founders of www.truthaids.org to lead the discussion. This should be real good people, stay tuned for details.

--

We are looking for 25 or so heads to join Team Afrika, this Labor day wknd:

www.aidswalkwashington.org

--

Frank Minja & Asteria Hyera

Co-Captains Team Afrika

Team Tanzania Scholar

Good People -

We are pleased to announce that we are finally ready to collect funds for the first Team Tanzania Scholar Awards:

www.firstgiving.com/teamtanzaniascholar

We propose to provide merit scholarships for the best MD students in each class at Bugando Medical school. The scholarships will cover the family contribution portion of the fees, thereby helping Tanzanian families while promoting academic excellence.

The Team Tanzania scholar idea was first explored at the 'Muungano' brunch held in NYC on April 26th, 2009. We had initially hoped to use the idea to help raise funds and galvanize Tanzanian support for the Touch Foundation campaign. Unfortunately and surprisingly, we were thoroughly discouraged from pursuing the idea though the Touch Foundation b/c of the bureaucratic complexities raised by the Touch Foundation.

Because the idea seemed to have strong resonance among Team Tanzania members, we felt that we had to pursue it through other means outside the Touch Foundation. Hence we revived MAENDELEO to collect funds for the awards. Maendeleo was incorporated 501(c)3 in 2003; and was instrumental in our previous successful medical textbook drives for HKMU, KCMC and TAMSA / Muhimbili. MAENDELEO has been underground for the past few years b/c life got just too busy for conference calls, board meetings and retreats.

We hope that the Team Tanzania scholar idea will resonate with many of you. Please contribute today:

www.firstgiving.com/teamtanzaniascholar

Comments and questions are also most welcome.

A decade of rivers

Back and forth over Msimbazi river, going against traffic on Salendar bridge

Swinging on Daladala’s Masaki-Posta, or catching the cool breeze of a pick-up ride

Sunset and sunrise bike rides along the Charles river, that bench by Harvard bridge

Stopped to smell roses and pick up my princess, who led me back to the Nile rivers

Now growing our roses just east of West River, waiting for the next bridge

The next river

05/10/2004

This is really neat. Will be back later.,

(Later, like five years later .. not five minutes ;-)