http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Africa , Tanzania , Centre , Dodoma en-us Tue, 10 Nov 09 19:10:53 +0000 Tue, 10 Nov 09 19:10:53 +0000 Dear Far Away Faithful Readers We have just completed a 2 week training seminar and are ready to write grants and tackle some of the issues that the village survey pointed out as being of importance to their health and wellbeing. We have lots of work ahead of us. It was also a time to relax and renew acquaintances with 12 of our group. Everyone is still energized and ready to push their sle http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-370963.html It is hard to believe that our stay in Dodoma and Tanzania has come to an end. Our time here almost a year and a half has never dragged. I do not think there has been a moment when we have wished time to move on a little quicker. In fact mostly it has felt like time was rolling along at an accelerated pace. Be that as it may we have now come to the point of saying our goodbyes and returni http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-353895.html Drive down to Arusha was uneventful...stayed with friends of Robert just outside city in the most amazing house ever nice to have one last night of luxury before we start slumming it. We left Arusha early and reached Dodoma yesterday at around 6. Ate staple meal of rice and beans... before decamping to our christian hostel Yesterday we encountered our first problem with the car. Nothing major j http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-343899.html Sitting over lunch with her teaching assistants at the Early Years Centre Gerry became curious about the food they were bringing to eat. There were some very typical Tanzanian foods that one sees a lot rice with beans pillau mendazi chapati fruithellip But Gerryrsquos attention was caught by the bread that Pendo one of the members of her staff brought to school lovely fresh gold http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-343244.html Given the October school break Gerry and I decided it was time for a little travelling. Gerry our daughter Karen and a friend visiting from Canada planned a trip to Zanzibar and Mikumi National Park. I decided this time to go on my own so I opted for something a little out of the ordinary. My plan was to ride the Central Line of the Tanzanian Railway west from Dodoma to Kigoma on Lake Tanganyi http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-334583.html With a new sexagenarian in the family it's definitely time for a blog entry and a few pics.So Geraldine has turned 60 Much like the Queen Gerry enjoyed an official birthday and then held another celebration on the actual day. Last Sunday was the official birthday so we hosted a luncheon party for about 40 people. Our friends Jill and Brian Polkinghorne live just across the street from ou http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-330035.html I have read on a number of occasions that agriculture is the foundation of the Tanzanian economy so I thought this month I would pursue that theme a little. As we have visited the north of the country as well as the eastern coastal region and live in the central part of Tanzania we have been able to observe from the road at least a sampling of Tanzanian agriculture. The regions to the north and http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-325551.html In the same way that people around the world associate mounties mountains and hockey with Canada I expect Mount Kilimanjaro large animals and the Maasai often come to mind when people think of Tanzania. These are of course what tourism in this country is built on elephants giraffes and exotic safaris. Along with mining and agriculture tourism in Tanzania is one of the three largest secto http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-310120.html Tanzania is among the poorest countries in the world. A few stats the national budget is roughly oneninth that of BC and 1138 th that of Canada. Close to 40 of the population is considered to be malnourished. Foreign governments and agencies through grants and loans provide roughly 45 of the national budget. With so little lsquodisposable incomersquo the Tanzanian government is in no http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-288522.html Welcome to Dodoma the capital of Tanzania since 1974. On Thursday morning we left for the six hour bus drive to Dodoma to see the Budget reading session of Parliament the Bunge. The scenery was pretty with mountains and open plains and the occasional little village that happened to be in the same spot that they wanted to put the road. It was a long drive during which I managed to finish my bo http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-287536.html The Carpenterrsquos Kids Programme was established two years ago to address a problem faced by many of the children of this Diocese.Since 2002 Tanzanian children have been entitled to a free primary education from Reception Kindergarten up to Grade 7 known here as Standard 7. Prior to that time fees had to be paid to attend and as a result only about 50 of children actually went to school http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-268365.html This month I thought I would give you more of a look at the city of Dodoma where we live. Actually there are three Dodomas Dodoma Region the Rural District of Dodoma and the city of Dodoma. Dodoma Region is much like a province of the country. It is roughly 200 km eastwest 300 km northsouth has a population of 1.7 million and sits geographically in the centre of Tanzania. The principal http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-257031.html The Buigiri School for the Blind is one of five schools operated by the Diocese of Central Tanganyika. It was founded in 1950 by an officer in the Church Army and is situated in the village of Buigiri roughly 20 km east of Dodoma. It was the first school of its kind in the country which at the time was the British protectorate of Tanganyika. The choir from Buigiri School attended our church o http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-247183.html January blogOn December 28 Gerry and I joined eight other people from Dodoma and flew to Nairobi Kenya to attend the Brackenhurst Conference. This conference is held each year for four days in late Decemberearly January at the Brackenhurst International Conference Centre near Limuru a town roughly 45 minutes by car north of Nairobi. This is an interdenominational conference the purpose of wh http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-240333.html Our Christmas Season this year has been a mix of the familiar and the unfamiliar. The weather has certainly been different from what we normally associate with this season. Christmas Eve here was a sunny hot day in the mid30s. It is the rainy season however and on the night of Christmas Eve we had a heavy rain that cooled things off nicely for Christmas morning. Since the rainy season began http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-230530.html PrefaceIt has been too long since I added another chapter to this blog. My excuse is that I have been burdened with work and writing presents another labour. Not to mention Iran blocking travelblog.orgThis is likely my last entry from Tanzania 2006 and fills the gap between Zanzibar and Tanganyika. The three short journals are but fragments of my experience and there is more that could be told bu http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-224680.html For this blog entry we thought we would focus on our school but first a little background.Geographically the Anglican Diocese of Central Tanganyika covers the Dodoma Region which includes both urban and rural parts. The region has a population of over 1.2 million people of which 500000 are Anglicans. As both rural and urban districts of Dodoma are some of the least developed in the country an http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-224045.html Over the past several months we have taken a number pictures that have not found their way online but nonetheless we thought you might find interesting. So here they are a couple from England a few from our recent holiday to the coast and a few from here in Dodoma.While our time in Bagamoyo was punctuated by me keeling over it is a beautiful place and in hindsight provided a nice break. T http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-218722.html Gerry and I thought in this blog entry we would feature our home here in Dodoma. We are living very comfortably in a onebedroom unit with kitchen a sitting room and a small study. Our unit is one of six in a compound owned by the Diocese of Central Tanganyika our employer. Our neighbours in the compound are other diocesan employees mostly other teachers at CAMS. The people living here com http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-212507.html Sohellip.. this feels like it has been a long time coming. After a lengthy but enjoyable summer in the UK we finally made it to Tanzania. About two hours before we jumped in a cab to go from Karenrsquos flat in London to Heathrow Airport we received via email copies of our Tanzanian residency permits talk about the last minuteThe flight on August 30 was an overnight direct flight fro http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-204010.html