Shinyanga Maarifa centre Sub branch publicised on Dira Newspaper

On 7th-13rd of October 2013 were visited at Kinaga Maarifa centre to see the progress of Centre located at Kahama district 12 kilometre away from kahama town and to be published on Dira Newspaper but still we have a challenge on power so that we can run the equipment we have at centre computers and other machine .

That is newspaper logo

CKF of Kinaga Maarifa centre arranging the machine at Kinaga Maarifa.

FARMERS EXCHANGE VISIT

Shinyanga Maarifa centre were visited the farmer of Songambele Maarifa located at Kongwa district in Dodoma region ,Ten members were visit at Songambele (Advisory committee and Focal group) and the aim was to share experiance of what the farmers from two sides are doing (Shinyanga and Songambele) and capacity building for the Songambele Advisory committee .
During our tour we learn there is huge opportunities from songambele community in Honey processing and Sunflower cultivation which are popular produced at Songambele and Dodoma in general as Region.
The team from shinyanga were encouraged the farmer of Songambele to try on  Pad production by using water harvest like what Shinyanga Farmers doing and the team was lifted the pad seed at Maarifa Centre  to ensure the Field officer of Songambele prepare a demonstration plot for pad production  .
Songambele community were very interested on pad production which was not applicable ever since.

Mr Emmanuel Magoso showing the pad seed to songambele community during meeting

Songambele community members at Somgambele Maarifa centre during meeting.

Testimonies

Esther Makono:
Nashukuru sana kituo cha maarifa centre kwa mafunzo waliyotupatia ya computer bila gharama yoyote ambapo binafsi yameniwezesha kujua namna ya kuitumia kompyuta na kuniwezesa kutembelea tovuti mbalimbali hasa  zihusuzo mambo ya muungu kupitia kanisa letu la Mashahidi wa Yehova(Yehova Witness) mafunzo haya ni gaharama kubwa kuyapata kupitia vyuo vyetu vinavyotoa mafunzo haya ya kompyuta jambo ambalo lilinifanya nishindwe kumudu gharama hizo kutokana na kuwa na watoto wanaosoma vyuoni ambao pia wanahitaji pesa ili waweze kuendelea na masomo yao ,lakini kupitia kituo cha maarifa ambacho kinatoa huduma zake bure nimeweza kupata mafunzo hayo katika program zifuatazo ambazo ni microsoft word,Excel,Power Point pamoja na Internet nashukuru sana.

MALARIA

RECOGNITION AND SUPPORT FOR TRADITIONAL ANTI-MALARIA.

Malaria is one of the oldest recorded and dreaded disseases and its one of biggest humanity killers in African Country and world in general.
Malaria remains one of the major public health in developing countries with children under five years ,Pregnant women and HIV/AIDS infected people being the most vulnerable.According to the world health organization (WHO)half of the world`s population is at risk of malaria and estimated 243million cases lead to nearly 863,000 deaths in 2008.

HERBAL MEDICINES:
Communities in tropical regions have traditionally used local flora as means of preventing and treating malaria where by 1200 plant species are used throughout the world to treat malaria and they are used by up to 75% of malaria patient like ALVERA SPECIES .

KNOWLEDGE CREATION

ALIN CREATE AWERENESS TO THE ILLITERACE PEOPLE IN BULIMA VILLAGE THROUGH VIDEO LIBRARY.

By:Innocent Minja

Arid Land Information Network (ALIN)through  Maarifa Centre together with the services offered at shinyanga maarifa centre include Library services , we are providing the secondary school books, Primary books,Agroforestry Agriculture ,Nursing, Laboratory  books and Video Library(DVD) and all services are offering free of charge to everyone who need the services without discrimination .

Library service.

Shinyanga Maarifa centre on library service is categorized into two parts include Books library (written document) and Video library (Video document) all these services offered at Maarifa Centre.

The corebussiness of ALIN(Farmers) according to the slogan of ALIN THREE (Enabling Access, Creating Knowledge and Empowering people)  makes  Shinyanga maarifa centre to empower them on the method of eliminate or reduce deforestation and land degradation as well as Climate change adaptation on using traditional energy through Improved Cook stove where by the group of Fifteen people were participated on viewed the Video of it at Maarifa Centre before going to the field for the further training whereby twenty three(23) farmers include local artisan were trained by using video clip which we have at Maarifa and seven(7) local artisan were qualified and are already build two stoves at Bulima includes Paul chalo,Jackson Lulinda,Mabanha mayega,Nyalulu Duda ,Tanaely Buganga ,Luhende John and Clement Tarange.Apart from Local artisan training we also have the student who learn on health and birth at Maarifa centre by using the books (material)we have at Maarifa centre include the HIV/AIDS protection to the pregnant women which are very interactive for the participant we are training over forty five(45) participant include Men and Women around Maarifa Centre and for those who live away from Maarifa Centre like Bulima and

 Kahama we are conducted the training through demonstration with collaboration of UMAT and AGAPE. 

Shinyanga Maarifa centre  through Library (video library)improved the health life for the farmers at Bulima  especially the women by using the strategic plant of reducing the number of Children for each family (Family plan) according to the life cost(Hard life standard) as we know you can found the village women carried a baby together with a load of fire wood on her head coming back to farmer for cultivation and most of the Men are non-cultivating people in the society especially on food production. They are pretending that only women are responsible for child care include food. After getting training and build two stoves for demonstration the family where by the stoves were placed (planted)they are happy to have the tool which may help them to use a little number of firewood which may also help them to reduce the distance of seeking the firewood compare with what they did now. 

Through video training (demonstration) people see what they suppose to visually and train them theoretically the same time which led them to appreciate the services offered by Maarifa Centre include

Mr. Marco Lucas: Thanks ALIN through Maarifa Centre (Shinyanga) for the training you gives us for Health and Birth together with Improved stoves training for our local Artisan through Video viewing (demonstration) as Maarifa centre member I real appreciate for the effort made by our field Officer Mr Innocent Minja not only he was creating Knowledge but also creation of employment to our local artisan in village.  

Chausiku Dotto; The Maarifa centre has really changed my life and I am very happy. For a long time I was at home doing nothing until one day when a friend of mine told me about the Shinyanga Maarifa centre. I went there filled an application form and was enrolled in computer training. I learnt word, excel, PowerPoint internet and e-mailing packages. I used the Maarifa certificate to search for a job opportunity where I secured one as manager of a stationary shop. My main duties include, typing, photocopying, binding, designing cards, lamination and binding among many others. Thanks to Maarifa

centre, my life has changed completely, I am a better person now!

Gaudancia Jackson; I was told about the Maarifa centre by a friend who saw the advertisement on free computer training, I never knew anything about computers, even knowing there is something called a mouse, I was trained on 5 computer packages and I am very grateful, I got an employment opportunity just after completing computer classes .I now run a stationary and mobile phone (Vodacom) shop. I am very happy because I can now support my family who are struggling to make ends meet. I recommend other people to go to the Maarifa centre and use the opportunity.

Participation at Graduation ceremonies in Kinaga and Shinyanga Maarifa centres

Kinaga Graduation ceremony: The ALIN team participated at two graduation ceremonies held at Kinaga and Shinyanga. This was meant to strengthen the FO’s work and to ensure that communities take the maarifa centre initiatives on ICT trainings more seriously. At Kinaga, the graduation ceremony was overseen by all stakeholders and the Kinaga ward councilor Mrs. Mary Manyambo and the school headmaster Mr. ……………. During a brief speech to the participants, Mr. Noah advised the graduates to exercise use of their new skills through voluntary work to support schools, hospitals and farmers to digitize their activities. He further encouraged them to take lead in using emerging e-opportunities to initiate their own enterprises.

The participants at Kinaga were trained by ALIN FO with support of Mwalimu Victor Gilbert. A total of 52 out of which 33Male and  19 were women were trained and graduated. According to MS Yunis Paulo Edward she thanked ALIN for the dedication in offering the training. She’s now competent and got a job at a stationery shop because her ICT competence. More ICT testimonies are captured in the next section.

Shinyanga Graduation ceremony: The Shinyanga graduation ceremony was witnessed by NAFRAC representative as host institution with some of the advisory committee members. The ceremony was held at the VIP parlor within Mazingira centre. To crown the excited trainees who had successfully completed the training, Mr. Omar representing NAFRAC and Esther Lungahi representing ALIN officially awarded the certificates. More than 104 trainees received their certificates. Majority of the graduates had secured jobs in stationary shops and as Mpesa agents at Shinyanga hence praised the ICT training initiative by ALIN as pioneering in their lives!

The graduation ceremony was graced by various speakers ranging from the Shinyanga Field Officer Mr. Innocent Minja, Advisory Chairman also representing NAFRAC management Mr. Omar, Esther Lungahi of ALIN Nairobi. Mr. Noah Lusaka while delivering a key note address explained the need for undertaking exams from a certified IT institution because the one given by ALIN is for participation. Additionally he encouraged the graduates to spread the benefits further by encouraging many people to come and use the Maarifa centre services. ‘The use of library and internet resources to initiate own projects or enterprises is quite low!’ said Mr. Lusaka. He thanked NAFRAC management on the continuous support to the Maarifa centre.

Mr Wilison Malongo one of ICT participant holding his ICT Certificate at Shinyanga Maarifa.

Mr Noah Lusaka akimkabidhi cheti Ms

LIBRARY SERVISES

SHINYANGA MAARIFA LIBRARY USER COMPLIANT  .
Shinyanga Maarifa centre offering different services include Library as we know in any country there is different curricular for eduction compare with other country like KEnya and Uganda Also they have different curricular .
In Shinyanga Maarifa Centre which located in Tanzania we are using different Education curricular compare with Kenya so the books we have at Maarifa centre is for Kenyan Curricular where the user of the services at Shinyanga Maarifa centre are complain on different materials we have and what they suppose to use  which led to poor performance on their examination especially national examination like last year Shinyanga region was the last region on examination performance this because of the large number of school have no enough books and the large number of secondary school are ward school which faced a lot of challenging compare by private schools so by providing the books which will be useful to the Tanzania education will improve the performance of the student around Maarifa Centre .

OUT REACH

LOCAL ARTISANS EQUIPPED WITH SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE ON BIO GAS PLANT INSTALLATION.

Shinyanga Maarifa Centre in collaboration by TaTEDO (Tanzania Traditional Energy and Development Organization) was conduct training  for focal group on sustainable modern energy uses valuable strength to under take capacity building activities to local community for improved delivery SMETs at  Bulima and Kahama District in Shinyanga region.

The Marketing altenative and efficient energy technologies and services has been imperfect due to little receptiveness skills and understanding of the technology and potential market this will improve the livehood of community (Local Artisan)by getting capital    .

Shinyanga Maarifa Centre we are providing knowledge to community and individual should use the skills to implement from what they lent from Maarifa Centre.

 

SHINYANGA MAARIFA CENTRE BRANCH

Shinyanga Maarifa centre establish a new maarifa centre as Shinyanga branch which located at Kinaga  village,Through collaboration between Shinyanga Maarifa centre , Kinaga Secondary school and NAFRAC we had made an agreement on how we can runs the centre.
Kinaga Maarifa centre is located 12 kilometer from Kahama town which involves Nduku ,Ubilimbi,Igunhwa and Kinaga so the centre is settle at centre of other villages .
The former minister of Natural forest and Tourism of Tanzania Hon.Ezekiel Maige he was donated five computers to start and we expecting to receive the Machine next month after Easter and he promised that will support the solar energy as source of power.
The aim of established the branch is due to the location of Shinyanga Maarifa centre which is located at Shinyanga Town where by the beneficiaries of the Maarifa centre targeted are Farmer .
For the beginning we are registered 150 participant for ICT training which is 80%of the total number of people registered .

ICT participant at Kinaga

This is new Maarifa centre located at Kinaga -Kahama.

ICT PARTICIPANT AT KINAGA VILLAGE WHERE SHINYANGA MAARIFA CENTRE BRANCH LOCATED

ICT training proceeding at Kinaga maarifa centre where SMC branch located in kahama.

VISITORS FROM FDC SWEDEN AT MAARIFA CENTRE

Today we had visitors from FDC(Folk Development Collage)namely Martina Herbert,Reine Johannes and Aron Benell they have in shinyanga training secondary youth on internet.
They heard about our Maarifa centre through Nafrac and decided to visit on a fact finding mission .
I took through what ALIN is an international  NGOs that facilitate information and knowledge exchange to and between extension workers and arid land communities in Uganda,Kenya and Tanzania.
Free services offered like basic computer training,Internet Access ,Library service and Online Market information e.t.c.Luckly we had ICT training in session they had a chance to chat with our trainees .
They agreed to co-operate with us to have us train student at the school of Albinism at Buhangija Secondary school.

Student from Folk Development Collage Sweden

Innocent Minja(FO) with FDC student from Sweden at Maarifa Centre.

OUTREACH ACTIVITIES

Monitoring and evaluation of greenhouse cultivation and reformed of focal group member at Bulima Village.

Greenhouse vegetable  is among of activities where by shinyanga maarifa centre offered  to the people around Maarifa especially  Tomatoes ,cabbages white pepper and Chinese so shinyanga maarifa centre made capacity building on how to use a good way or method on Greenhouse.together with the monitoring with Agricultural officer form TaTEDO Mr Edward Monga he was Advising the farmer or group member how to get more production on greenhouse include using of manual or fertilizer   .

so together with monitoring of greenhouse vegtable at Bulima we also reformed a focal group member and giving them the way of monitoring the group(FOCAL GROUP GUIDELINE) to make sure all member should participate on different activities arranged by the focal group leader and these are focal group leaders names selected by the all focal group member during the meating held at Bulima village Mr Msafiri Delefa(Chairman),Joyce Shija(Vice chairman),John Lucas(Secretary)and Christina Kayungili (finance ).The group has 15 participant (8 female and 7 male).

The Village chairperson addressing the focal group members on use of the knowledge provided by Shinyanga MC at Bulima Village.

Focal group members at their farm

Ready tomatoes for harvesting

TESTIMONIES

Henri Thomas:

He was performed well his examination after gets 85% of the exams while previously he was got 56% of the same exams"Am happy to say that Shinyanga Maarifa centre helpme on my study especially on of the subject which was tuff to me (Anatomy)am now performing well from56%to 85% marks,I encouraged other student to use the opportunity we have at Maarifa Centre by using the Books available for the Health at Maarifa Centre".   

Costantine Weja: 

Thanks ALIN for establishment of Maarifa centre to the community and I thanks Mr Andrew Chibwana a Forester from NAFRAC as well as Innocent Minja (Field Officer) for the support since i was there for knowledge sharing on Nursery tree seed line am now starting with 1500seed of different categories of trees and my target is 5000 seed at the end of next year(2013).My request again to Maarifa centre to help me on marketing so that i can sell my trees.I encourage other farmers to use the centre for gaining knowledge as well as-advise from exterssion workers from NAFRAC as well as Maarifa centre.    

Rev:Joseph Samwel Seni:

The skills i get from Maarifa centre have change my life due to the fact that previously i had a pastures problems whick make me to move with my cattle 10 kilomethers from my home place for finding pastures but currently i have enough pastures for my cattle and sometimes i sell for other farmers who have the problems which had improved my livelihood by giving me money..Through Maarifa centre am Improved my livelihood through Sustainable Pastures.

Rev Joseph Samwel Seni

ICT TRAINING

in session

Community members attending a free computer training session offered by shinyanga maarifa centre.

HIGH DEMAND ON ICTs TRAINING FOR THE COMMUNITY AROUND MC FOCUSED TO MAKE SOME CHANGES FOR THE BENEFICIARIES .

Shinyanga Maarifa centre together with other services were planed to make some change on how to recruit the new ICT participant on next program where by we planed to the people with ALBINISM should get first priority to get a chance this will reduce racism (Racial Discrimination)   among the society and not only on ICT but also all activities which the normal human being doing this also is the result of reducing the killing of ALBINISM in shinyanga.

We have the special school in shinyanga called BUHANGIJA SECONDARY SCHOOL were by the student with ALBINISM gens  are kept there for further security if you remember Tanzania was fighting ageist killing of Old women as well as our fellow Tanzania with ALBINISM   so we also proud to be close with them to share with them what we are doing at maarifa centre.so we are glad to say welcom for the people with ALBINISM at Maarifa centre and we are no longer discriminating Organization ALIN is here for all people around Maarifa centre.

                                   ICTs training session going on at Maarifa centre

and we are realizing that the people who trained at Maarifa centre are better than those who are coming from Collage this is due to lack of time for practice compare with what we are doing at maarifa centre were by the participant can make more practice include exams,Quiz and normal practical exercise and all services are offered FREE OF CHARGE .

                                          ICTs training proceeding at Maarifa centre

 
                                    This is ICT training chamber looks like at Maarifa Centre