I have now been teaching our Adult English class for a week and a half. I have designed the programme based on some prior knowledge of vocabulary, but not really of grammar. The topics covered so far have been greetings, basic introductions, numbers and plurals. With a total of 16 students having turned up at any one time, and an average of about 12 each lesson, I'm feeling pretty chuffed with myself and assume that they are all enjoying it.

Its tough, not only because they really do…

First there was Hollywood. Then Bollywood. Now.... Tollywood?

I've always wanted to coin a phrase, so this is what I have christened the Tanzanian film industry. However, my experiences this weekend have left me somewhat disillusioned and doubtful as to the future of my career as a Tollywood Movie Star.

It turns out a friend of a friend of a friend is making a movie and he was looking for two Mzungu stars. Why not, I thought, it'd be a bit of a laugh, and by the sound of it i'd…

Wake Up Call is a peaceful, global action for positive change that takes place on 21^st February, 2012 (21.2.12). It’s a simultaneous action by young people in more than 80 countries. On this day we hit the streets, the phones and also our keyboards to say:

This is a Wake Up…

The Human Dignity exists and must be respected by every one, and every one is to be respected without discrimination.

PEPA/Organization, Discover who you are helps you to make the difference in this world,

Join us today to save the Human dignity,

www.pepaorganization.org 

poverty is one of national problem for development country, allot of people got difficulties only to get some food, to enjoy at the day, every day I go to campus through city bus, is so poor when I saw children they have to work on the street, it's not supposed to be like that they have to enjoy their child time with their friends and good education. I'm 18th years old, I really interest in social act, so, with my friend I establish the organisation that move on poverty eradication, and hope…

Hey everyone, want to invite you to write a love letter to someone very special...The Earth!! please do.

Love letter to the Earth

The topic for today's blog post is names. Since we are keen to get our students either able to write their own name (children and adults) or at least recognise it by sight, names are something I spend a lot of my day writing, reading, "sounding out" and teaching. This has created a number of unexpected issues. Let me explain:

Names tend to fall into one of a few categories.

1. "Western" names, if I can call them that, by which I mean names that a Westerner would be familar…

This morning I went to church. I have been meaning to do so for a while, since it is such a large part of the Tanzanian culture and I was very curious to discover more. I was brought up in a church-going Church of England family, but did not continue the practice as an adult. Nevertheless, my views on faith are as-yet undecided, and so I like to think my mind is open.

I was told church was at 8 o'clock, so I dragged myself out of bed and was ready in plenty of time, having donned my…

Are you an innovative Agent of Change that fosters youth development through sports and culture? Are you between 18 and 28 years old? Do you consider yourself a youth leader, social entrepreneur, community volunteer or innovative business entrepreneur?

IDB invite you to submit your candidacy to participate in the upcoming  IDB Annual Meeting, which will take place in Montevideo, Uruguay, from March 15 to 19, 2012. Fourteen…

In the past week we have had what can only be described as a butterfly storm: hundreds and thousands of small white butterflies filling the air and fluttering around the school playground. Whilst theories on their appearance seem to range somewhat, the consensus seeems to be that they are a forerunner of heavy rain. This surprised me since I thought the rainy season wasn't until later in March, but perhaps climate change has reached these parts of the world too.

In any event,…

Tupendane is Swahili for we do love and care. I arrived back in Canada from a 5 month stint in Tanzania 2 weeks ago and had the experience of my life. When I left for Tanzania I had no idea of what would happen and sometimes I look behind me in disbelief. I arrived in Tanzania in September 2011 with joy ready to live and attempt to get along with the corrupt management of what was then known as Children for Children's future. Little did I know that 1 month after my arrival so much would…

Yesterday afternoon, one of the children was brought to me because she was "ill". The two local teachers clearly assume I have medical knowledge, or at least more than they do, since every time a child is "ill" they are brought to see me. Usually they are just thirsty or ate too much sand in the sandpit. But this time was a little different. Taji is about 5 years old and has been coming to Cheka for over a year. Her breathing was extremely fast and shallow and she didn't look very well. I…

I decided yesterday that I would cook dinner for the family. Partly an altruistic act, since Caren works so hard cooking every day for me, and partly because I fancied something different to eat! I had already brought with me a recipe I thought they would like, so I set off for Central Market in Arusha.

The market is a bustling mini-labyrinth of stalls selling everything from fresh fruit and veg, to dried fish, household items and plastic bags. It is also full of fly-catchers. A…

I haven't wrote on IOH for a while (I think my last comment was last summer) and used IOH pretty much only as a source of information, but I decided today to post that video, and plan on doing so every two weeks (2012 resolution;)), as I reorientated my research (Master Degree in Philosophy) last september on environnmental ethics. More specifficaly, on the question of nuclear technologies for energy purpuses. To be even more specific, I intend to cover the…

This time i want to share a story about amazing singer, i know you will like his songs also. 

Sabotage (formerly known as Sab Rafiuddin) is an award winning lyricist/musician from London. Born in Watford but ethnically from Pakistani/Kashmiri descent he is also an undergraduate Law student. Still only just 20 years old, he has firmly established his name on the UK…

I find myself living in a deeply religious community, something that is providing some very interesting experiences. As far as I can gather, Tanzania is largely Lutheran (presumably a result of the German occupation at the end of the 19th century), although there are also a number of Muslims, Anglicans and Catholics here too. The indigenous tribes follow their own religion, which I have yet to learn anything about.

Although I was raised Church of England in a churchgoing family, I…

Aid flows by country since 1960, visualized.

Click on image for more (to actually zoom in and out of the visualization).

More by Gregor Aisch on Visualizing.org

I just got a new data set on international aid flows. This is my…

This year, Cheka School has 48 children who we provisionally divided by age into four classes - 3, 4, 5 and 6 years old. Some of the children, mainly those who came to Cheka last year, have already had some structured schooling; others have clearly had help and encouragement at home; others can't yet hold a pencil.

We are therefore faced with the issue of where to start with our teaching, and what to teach them.

Although we employ two local Tanzanian teachers, we aren't…

The World Food Programme has just started a new series of videos featuring a little girl called Molly. They gave her a small video camera and asked her to film her surroundings and her daily life. I'm attaching the playlist here. It should technically update with more episodes as they come.…