Saturday, April 14, 2012

Morogoro, the city without an ocean

Morogoro, the city without an ocean

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Dar es Salaam is well known for its moniker term of "Bongo" to mean "brain", literally implying to residents and all the visitors who visit the city to use their brains wisely because Dar is full of crooks who are good at cheating visitors and easily soliciting money from them.
On the other side to the north of Tanzania lies the other city of Mwanza, well known as the "rocky city". I asked Isaac Methusela a colleague in our office who happens to come from there "rock city" why this acronym was given to this city.
(Tourists visiting the famous rock garden in Morogoro recently, rock garden attracts alot of tourists visiting  the township of Morogoro Photo
He says the city is really rocky so much so that some of the houses are built from rocks while the sole famous miraculous combination of the rocks which are spotted visibly in the Lake Victoria carries the symbol of the city.
Yet my interest was on this other city lying to the South of Dar es salaam called Morogoro or just Moro which I was going to visit. The city is branded as "Mji kasoro bahari" Swahiri for  "a city minus an ocean" in English.
I had leant before my tour of "Mji kasoro bahari" that this brand was given to this city after comparing it with several other cities  and realizing that the only thing Moro city lacked was an ocean and thus the brand of "a city minus an ocean" was born.
Upon my arrival at 6PM from Dar es salaam boarding Abood bus services for $4.16, I searched for a place to sleep. I however couldn't find one because I had arrived at an awkward hour and most of the good hotels had already been occupied by guests who had come from different localities to attend seminars that were to take place the following morning.
Mine was going to take place at the Glonency 88 Hotel; it was being organized by Tanzania Food and Drug Authority.
(The writer Kenan Kalagho crosssing Morogoro river recently in Morogoro. Rock city garden lies along the fanmous river Photo
I however did manage to spend a night at a low class hotel for $15, the hotel that lacked a name and was neither fitted with a television set in its rooms let alone no warm water in the showers.
I couldn't hesitate the next morning but to find a better and suitable place with security. Luckily I found one at the heart of Moro city centre, at Gwami Hotels where a single room ranges between $20 - $40 a night with warm showers and DSTV channels.And when the night came I had to visit the "snake bar" located at the heart of the city centre where I had to enjoy the "Nyama choma" for only $7 at half a kilo.
One thing that kept roaming up in my mind was on whether I would find any attraction in this city minus an ocean where I could 'unwind' after  the seminar.
As we finished the seminar at around 5PM I went on to look for someone to guide me around the city since there was none other than the bodaboda driver Swallo Kahinde.
"There are no attractions in this city. The only place where tourists usually visit upon arrival is the Mikumi National Park located at some 200km away from the town," Kahinde said.
It was unbelievable to hear such statement from a Moro resident whose city is surrounded by huge chain of beautiful Uluguru Mountains that gives it spectacular scenery especially if you happen to come from a city like Dar on a plain coastline.
These mountains are a good place from where one can exercise both mountain climbing and experience the waterfalls that comes with the rocky Morogoro River flowing from the mountain through to the city.
"But aren't there any waterfalls around those mountains?" I kept pressing Kahinde.  "There is one good place to visit, he said, "the rock garden resort".
I should have gone with you to the national museum which was unfortunately destroyed during the 1979 war against Idi  Amin and has never been reconstructed," he said.
The rock garden resort lies to the east of Moro at Mtori Street. It is a 20-kilometer journey that costs a tourist about $6 as return fare from the city centre by a motorbike. I was welcomed by the natural setting beside the virgin Morogoro river.
It is more than just a resort, though it offers no beddings but only food stuffs and drinks. We were soon joined by some five tourists soon after our arrival and paid a $1 entrance fee to tour the place.
However the garden boy who came to give us the ticket could not allow me to enter the place with my camera unless I paid him $50.
(Swalo Kahinde the Bodaboda driver who took me to the famous rock garden resort at the cost of $6 on return ticket from Moro city center. Photo
"Cameras are not allowed in this area unless you pay me $50", he said. I protested and was  rescued by a young girl who was washing the dishes who argued that there was nothing wrong with taking personal pictures around the place and even for publication because that will make the place be famous.
"You see whether he take pictures for himself he will show them to his/her friends and they will be interested in coming here and if he publishes these pictures then the place will even be famous," the dish washer girl argued.She seemed to have not been learned at all, yet she was more intelligent than the elder young garden boy.
After a while I was allowed together with Kahinde the bodaboda driver to tour the Morogoro river.  At the rock garden resort you will have a chance to spot baboons and other wild animals like antelopes that descend down the river from Uruguru Mountains.
The rock garden resort offers soft and hard drinks including variety of buffet. We had however arrived very early at 9: 30 AM and we couldn't have time to taste any of buffets especially considering also that I was to board a bus at l0 AM for my way back to Dar.
The rock garden resort is owned by Judith Karue in partnership with John Darue. It is visited by hundreds tourists daily to experience the natural surroundings along the resort.
Despite the absence of the ocean the fresh air and whistling created by the river and the beautiful trees make the place worthy visiting.

The varsity that changed Tanzania's education system

The varsity that changed Tanzania's education system

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The Open University of Tanzania has been present in Kenya and will be starting operations in Rwanda in the next two months. Kenan Kalagho of East African Business Week talked to Vice Chancellor Prof. Tolly Mbwette about the university's progress as it attains 20 years since inception. Below are excerpts: 
(The Vice Chancellor of Open University of Tanzania Prof, Tolly Mbwette speaking during an Interview with Kenan Kalagho of EABW.  Photo
Qn: It is now 20 years since the inception of this university in 1992. It has the highest enrollment of students in the country. What has made it grow that fast?
Ans: The Open University of Tanzania (OUT) is growing fast but not fast enough. This is because while other open and distant learning institutions around the world admit students with an 'experience' requirement, for us we have to abide by the Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU) rules which requires a minimum admission requirement for students joining  higher learning institutions in the country.
The Tanzanian society has taken time to understand  us. People used to look at us as a second grade university but now that fallacy is disappearing in their mindset after seeing that most of our students land very good jobs than those in residential universities.

Qn: The Open University offers open and distance learning. How are the new entrants coping with the open and distant learning programmes?
Ans: There are very few direct entrants compared to direct entrants.  However the coming in of TCU entrants has helped a lot to change the conception of the OUT. Most of these students move fast in their studies and complete in three years .
We also realized that these new direct entrants need to be taught as most of them are form six leavers but we would want to use this system through the Open University of Tanzania Students Organization (OUTSO). We realized that if we give a go-ahead to lectures they might charge students more than what is required.
We have also created a programme that encourages students to study using ICT. We have developed a system where the university sells laptops to students at a low cost (US$270) so that many students can have access a computer to ease learning.

Qn: What do the direct entrants selected by TCU mean to the University and to Tanzania as a country?
Ans: With the increased number of secondary schools more students are joining the higher learning institutions. They are few students who become absorbed in residential universities because such universities need more facilities to absorb the large number of students.
Students prefer to join the OUT rather than residential universities mainly due to strikes in most private and public universities which affects their studies and performance.
This means that the government should make sure that the Open and Distance learning institutions are expanded as they are the only way forward in solving the problem of the increased number of students joining the higher learning institutions .

Qn: The OUT has observed several changes, among them being the switching  over from the assignment system of grading students to the new form of test and a final examination, what prompted you to adopt this system?
Ans: Since we removed the assignments we have seen that the aspect of cheating among students is no longer there.
The loss to student's assignments is also no longer an issue. This new form being applied at the OUT is much robust and resolute than residential universities and therefore a better way of grading students that aims at reducing plagiarism among students.

Qn: Would you say the new system is a better way of equipping and preparing professionals at your university to compete in East Africa and the world at large?
Ans: Students here are more practical than those in residential universities because here most of the students graduate on experience.
Students learning at the OUT have ample time to look for jobs and or be attached to different organizations while still studying.
This system is much better because we do not only grade students' ability through the test and final examination but rather students are also required to fill in the Student Progressive Portfolio (SPP) where a face to face session between students and lecturers is conducted in order to assess the ability of a particular student before undertaking their final examination.

Qn: What challenges is the university facing?

Ans: There are a number of challenges we are facing, one of them being funding. We hardly get funds from the government and we use the little resources we have to develop and move this institution forward. We urge the government to use the unit cost as a basis in funding universities.