LEARNING ABOUT TANZANIA

This school year our group of students planning to travel to Tanzania in 2012 has kept up the theme of Africa and UNESCO. These 23 students have made informative morning announcements not only in our school but also in our neighbouring school, Haukiputaan yläkoulu (a junior high school). They prepared posters that still hang on the walls giving other students a glimpse of Africa and Tanzania. Some students gave oral presentations in their other courses and here are summaries of them in English:

Tanzania

Tanzania’s capital is Dodoma and it’s located in East-Africa. Tanzania’s area is 947 300 km2. Population is 40 213 162 and climate is tropic and there are plenty of animals.

Tanzania’s two biggest national parks are Kilimanjaro and Serengeti. Kilimanjaro National Park is located around Africa's highest mountain. There live many mammals which are endangered. Serengeti national park, which is Tanzania’s largest park, is known for mammal packs wandering. It is the most notable nature conservation area.

There are a lot of forests in Tanzania. About 43 %, forest is felled yearly for fields and pasture area. Near lakes and coast climate is tropic and middle plain is dry and hot. Highlands and mountain is a little bit cool.

- by Eveliina Satomaa

Tanzania

Tanzania is located in southern Africa. Surface – area of Tanzania is 947 300 km ², and population about 40 million. Tanzania also has a total of 21 protected areas including 14 national parks. There are also seven UNESCO World Heritage sites. Dodoma is the capital of Republic of Tanzania, and official languages are English and Swahili.

National Parks

One of the most famous Tanzanian National Parks is Serengeti, which is a large highland area while it is also the oldest national park in the area. Serengeti’s surface area is about 30 000 km ², and most of the area is savannah, but there is also a forest. Serengeti’s fauna is quite wide: there live more than 2 million herbivores, like gazelles and zebras, but as well as thousands of predators. There is organized for example hot-air balloon safaris, and basic safaris on foot. There are also a lot of other national parks in Tanzania, for example Arusha, Ngorongoro, Gombe, Katavi, Tarangire and Ruaha.

Agriculture

The majority of Tanzania's population is employed by agriculture. Most of the Tanzanian agriculture is located in northern Tanzania and Tanzania's western coast. The most common agricultural products are bananas, cassava, rice and corn. Coffee is also produced quite a lot. Especially Mount Meru’s fertile area is excellent for farming of coffee.

Zanzibar and Pemba Island’s climate is humid and warm, and that kind of climate is excellent for farming coconuts and aromatic plants. In Tanzania women form the majority of the workforce in agriculture. Tanzanians produce for export mostly coffee, tea, cashew nuts, cigarettes, cotton, sisal and a wide range of different spices.

Farms in Tanzania are usually relatively small (about 1-3 hectares). People there normally use hoes, but sometimes also tractors and oxen.

Erosion

Erosion is a result of landslides. Erosion is visible mostly in mountain areas, for example Mount Kilimanjaro’s one high is very worn and leveled. Rainfall and landslides are contributing of erosion.

Deforestation

About 43 % of Tanzania's surface is a forest, and that’s about 39 million hectares. Forests in Tanzania are destroyed annually, approximately 90 000 hectares. Forests disappear because of deforestation and cutting firewood. However there are also protected areas in Tanzania, like national parks, where harvesting is not allowed.

-by Eeva Savilaakso

Christianity in Africa

Africa is an important part of Christianity, because about 20 percent of Christians live in Africa. African Christianity is developing fastest compared to other Christian parts of the world. There is tens of thousands of churches in Africa, which have their own interpretation of the Bible. They also have their own attitude to Christian values. Christian teachings have widely mixed with local beliefs, and also the local customs and culture give a nuance to African Christianity.

Christianity arrived in Africa already in the first century. Nowadays almost half of Africans are Christians, so Christianity is widespread in Africa. In the early days Christianity focused on North Africa, but as a result of the rapid spread of Islam Christians became a minority. After that spreading, Christianity focused on southern Africa. Southern Africa became a spreading area of different Christian churches.

African worship can be very lively and free-form and the local music and art can be strongly present. Some African churches have maintained local customs and have invented religious meanings for them. African biblical interpretation is much different from western biblical interpretation.

Christianity is spreading strongly in Africa and the African role in the Christian world is growing all the time. However, missionaries have still much to do in this big continent.

- by Eetu Väänänen

Education in Tanzania

In 1970 Tanzania had free education for all students. Being a young state meant troubles in the economy, and school fees were enabled from 1984 until 2001. After the school fees were dropped in 2001, primary school enrolment has increased rapidly as well as pre-primary and secondary education has also expanded steadily in the last few years. The increasing number of students resulted to more needs in space, teachers and studying equipment.

Even though Tanzania has shown positive growth in education, there are still difficulties in achieving universal primary education. Such things as education quality and the passing rate for primary school students who reach the final level bring challenges. Disability, orphanage and child labor are also additional worries.

As the number of school-aged children grows, the quality of teaching fails to do so. The number of children enrolled does not match the supply of qualified teachers or educational materials. Many of the schools in Tanzania are not healthy or safe environments especially for young girls.

The number of girls and boys in primary school is almost the same. Unfortunately girls make up only 35 per cent of the children who make it through secondary school. By the age of 14 approximately half of Tanzania´s children have left school. Only one third of the children go on to attending secondary school and less than 1 per cent go on to enrolling in institutions of higher education.

Dar es Salam University is the oldest and biggest university in the country. It was founded in 1970 and the number of students enrolled in the years 2007-2008 was about 5800. Women made up about one third of the students.

Sources:

http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tansania#Koulutus

http://www.unicef.org/about/execboard/files/TANZANIA_CCPD_2011-2015_final.pdf

- by Jenni Posio

Health in Tanzania

The under-five mortality rate in Tanzania in 2006 was 118 out of 1,000. Life expectancy at birth in 2006 was 50 years. The 15–60 year old adult mortality rate in 2006 was 518 out of 1,000 males and 493 out of 1,000 females. The leading cause of death in children is malaria. For adults, it is HIV/AIDS. The treatment coverage for people with advanced HIV infection in 2006 was 14 percent. Other leading causes of death in under 5-year-olds is pneumococcal disease (pneumonia) and rotavirus diarrhea). Health care in Tanzania is poor. 118 in 1000 children die before the age of five.

HIV/AIDS in Tanzania

Among the 1.4 million people living with HIV/AIDS in Tanzania, 70.5 percent are 25 to 49 years old, and 15 percent are 15-24 years. In ages 15-24, women have a higher prevalence rate than men in the same age group. The greatest challenge facing the health sector is to deliver quality health services to the Tanzanian population. Since the 1990s, structural adjustment policies and HIV/AIDS have greatly reduced the health-sector workforce. A second challenge is poverty, important because the cost of drugs and health services is a financial barrier.

- by Marko Moilanen