Activist Spotlight!

Rebeca Gyumi

My heart is pounding as i take an elevator at Regency Business Park thirty minutes before my interview with her. This is not the first time i am visiting this place but today i am here for a different purpose, to interview Tanzania’s golden Girl, Rebeca Gyumi.

Rebeca has won the hearts of many youth and adults through her work as a volunteer, television personality and a youth activist. Rebeca is one of those Television personality that i have been truly admiring and i was so astonished of how humble and friendly she was as i was asking her my questions on different issues.

She is currently working for femina hip, a reputable organization that envision a gender equal society in which youth are confident and competent change-makers. She is also involved with other different youth initiatives as an advocate and mentor.

When i asked Rebeca why did she become a girls rights activist, she replied calmly;

‘’I have grown up in a society where when girls are empowered can contribute greatly to the development of their society and i am a living example’’.

She added that she is grateful that her mother believed on education which is also her area of interest. Rebeca looked straight at my eyes and said firmly, ‘’education is a tool for emancipation of girls’’.

Rebeca wants to see a society where girls are not defined as people who stays in the kitchen and wait for marriage. She is dreaming for bigger things especially after the end of girl power (Nguvu ya Binti) Television Show which i do not remember missing an episode.

Her call to the government is, the government of Tanzania should make deliberately efforts of involving youth on decision making. She also urges the government to make sure youth have a neutral National Youth Council as the Country is in the process of creating one. Rebeca urges International Organization to continue supporting youth initiatives.

As i was finishing i asked her if she had anything to add, she replied yes and i allowed her to go ahead. Rebeca said, ‘’We as young people should demand for a space since we are the majority. Our voice will only be heard if we demand for that’’. Her last statement continued to repeat on my head as i was heading back to my office.

Shujaa Wa Kwetu

Given Edward

---

Given Edward ni Kijana wa kitanzania mwenye miaka ishirini. Kijana huyu wa kitanzania ni shujaa wangu na kijana ambaye amehamisisha si tu vijana bali watu wa rika mbali mbali. Given amekulia katika maisha ya shida sana; ambapo wakati anasoma shule ya msingi ilimbidi kuamka asubuhi sana ili kuweza kufika shuleni kwa wakati.
Kwa nini Given ni shujaa kwangu? Mwaka 2014 mwezi wa pili Given alianzisha MyElimu, tovuti ya kisasa inayowezesha wanafunzi wa sekondari kujadiliana na kubadilisha mawazo. Tovuti hi ina nyenzo za masomo yote yanayofundishwa katika shule za sekondari nchini Tanzania. Kupitia tovuti hi mwanafunzi anaweza kujifunza nyumbani na kufaulu vizuri mitihani.

Mpaka sasa zaidi ya wanafunzi elfu moja wamejiunga na wanafaidika na tovuti hi. Tovuti hi ni jukwaa lilio mtandaoni la kusaidia wanafunzi katika masomo yao. Kitu kinachonistajabisha ni Given kuacha jukwaa hili kuwa huru kwa kila mwanafunzi. Kijana huyu halipishi wanafunzi kujiunga na jukwaa hili adhimu.

Mwezi uliopita Given pamoja na vijana wengine wanaofanya vitu vizuri kwa jamii kutoka nchi za jumuiya ya madola walipewa tuzo na Malkia kwa mambo wanayoyafanya katika jamii. Vile vile Given alipata nafasi ya kuzungumza na watu mbali mbali wanaofanya vizuri katika maswala ya teknolojia na uvumbuzi duniani. Lengo kubwa la Given ni kutaka kutoa mchango katika kubadilisha dunia.

Given ni kijana shupavu na jasiri. Mbali na kufanya miradi yote hi kwa jamii, kijana huyu pia ni mwanafunzi. Vile vile ni kiongozi wa mashirika mbali mbali ya vijana.

A Year in A Page

I have just realized that i have not publish an article online (Not only in this blog) for more than a year. I remember the last thing i published online was this article about the Souls of Murambi. It was a report while i was still a participant of the PBI organized by Never Again Rwanda. I think the PBI is a good beginning of writing what i have been through during the past year.

After the end of My Tax, My Health Campaign, a campaign on Tax Justice which was a fruit of a Global Change Course that was organized by Global Platform Tanzania i had an opportunity to attend the Third International Conference on Family Planning in Ethiopia. This was just a day after the end of My Tax, My Health Campaign  . 

I was still a student, in my third year and summer holiday had just ended. Friends, even before the trip to Ethiopia had started calling from school, threating me about how hard third year courses were and how nasty Professors were. I was busy with the campaigning and sometimes i went to the University to distribute campaign posters. 

After the conference, i went straight to school. It was the fourth week since school was opened. I had missed a lot but i think i leveled everything in just a week.  As i was giving myself hope that i was in the same level with everyone, here came an opportunity to go to Rwanda for the PBI for two weeks, the meaning is apart from the four weeks i had missed earlier, i was going to miss two week in middle of a semester. 

After the PBI, which involved a lot of lectures on peace building,site visiting and leveling on Kigali's new year eve, i came back to school and this was two weeks before the University Examination. I had to read and rely on energy drinks. 

During the short holiday between first and second semester i got involved with Liters of light and translated the reports of a projects on Micro Finance for Bus4Africa pro bono. At the same time i was still involved with UNFPA Tanzania where i am a member of the Youth Advisory Pannel and AWAS where i am a Global Youth Ambassador. 

The second semester was very fast. In the middle of it i arranged a road trip and go to Kenya to meet my friends and attend two events that they had organized, African Symposium on Innovative Ecomics and Lead4Change. After my trip to Kenya came an opportunity to go to the Parliament in Dodoma. I arrived a day before this trip, a political trip that involved students who were doing International Relations.

Finishing school was another success in 2014. Two days before i finished my last exam, i signed a contract with YouthfulCities and became an Urban Decoder for Dar es salaam City. In November, 15th 2014, i graduated and later went to Zambia for a conference. 

After the conference in Zambia, i went direct home. I had not gone to my home town for three years i spent at the hill. I had not met my Father and Siblings together for sometimes. It was a reunion!

Coming back to Dar, i joined an agribusiness company. My first assignment was to go and establish the Company in Zambia. I went to Zambia and spend time trying to establish a Company. A job that i did pretty well despite all challenges. After my assignment in Zambia, i came back and i was offered a General Manager position.

Despite everything i am still committed in all issues that has to do with sustainable development, youth and women empowerment. I am now involved with Youth4Change, advocating the end of Child Marriage and Female Genital Mutilation. I am also a student taking evening classes and part of the UN-MGYC Youth Working Group.

A Long Way To Go!

When i got a chance to study tax justice in the global change 2013, all my comrades and friends were against me. They did not understand what i will be doing with the knowledge on tax justice. Their faces were full of doubts every time i introduced the subject on tax justice; my family too was a bit doubtful. I am pretty sure if it was not for my political aspiration i would have listened and drop the chance. Some of my comrades even dared to say i was losing focus. It was not easy, i had to sacrifice a lot.

Even after spending three weeks in the training i have met people with negative minds on the course and i sometimes get convinced that i did not make the right decision. It is a long way to go and sometimes i feel there is so much work to be done. I am not trying to regret being here because i still hope things will change for the better and i will meet some of my expectations. I am also very different when it comes to knowledge; i believe the knowledge i am getting will one day be essential to me. I think the only problem i have is i was not taught to leave anyone behind.

Ok! Let's leave the expectations and feelings and look at what i am learning. Tax justice! These are just two words, tax and justice; but we know hard it is to get justice in this word. Tax justice is a very controversial issue. Two days ago a prominent lawyer came to my class and tried to show some of the loop holes which companies are using in tax avoidance and tax evasion; i truly did not understand how does the authorities allow loop hole for tax avoidance and tax evasion. 

There might be few of us who are benefiting by betraying the majority, that's absolutely selfishness. I know the issue of tax is very complicated but i think it's time for those few to stop their selfishness and act for national interests. Wananchi also should be told what is happening. It is not fair for a local Mwananchi to pay tax while a multinational company enjoys a ten years tax holiday. Do we have to do all this to attract investors? Do we have to give tax exemptions to attract investors? Is there no other way of attracting investment. 

I am sure there are other ways but we are so selfish to put person interests we have in those multinational companies at stake. I know it is a very hard fight, a fight where personal interests are questioned. 

Love Is My Religion!

I have had several friends from western countries who are atheists, not believing in God at all. The first time i met such a friend it was very hard for me to accept that one can not be a believer and still be good. I did not want to believe that atheists were good especially after learning the impact of religion in a human life at a very young age. But as long as i stayed with him i realised that he was more human than i was, than most of those who believe in God.

I am not trying to justify atheism but i believe one has a right to be an atheist. Freedom of choice is a fundamental right of all human beings. I have used an example of atheist to try to explain the attack at Westgate Mall in Nairobi Kenya; were attackers seem to use religion to justify their selfish, cowardly and brutal attack of innocent people. They have killed so many innocent people and they have kept many as hostage. The hostage are suffering not knowing what will be their fate while the death roll increases as time moves.

This act is not religious if one could judge it in terms of religion. I have never heard of a religion which encourages killings. Never! If there is such religion then that religion has lost focus. I do not want to mention the name of the terrorist group because by doing that i will be giving them credit but what they have done is not fine at all. There are no reasons to justify such an incident, an incident of mass killing.

I am deeply touched by the water gate attack and i pray for Kenyans and the continent at large. I just hope one day all humanity will understand that the only true religion we have is love. One should do to others what he or she would like others to to him or her.

The slopes Experience!

With just one week on earth Boi had to travel hundreds of kilometres in a very rough road. It was a rain seasons, few days before Christmas of 1989. His mother had to take the burden of carrying him and make sure that he survives to see another day. According to his mother the journey was tiresome but the baby did not cry at all, he had a happy mood all the way. At that time the baby had no name and he was supposed to be named two weeks after his birth on Christmas day, Monday 1989.

Every time i reflect on the story of Boi whose first Christmas was on the road, i get a feeling that he was born an adventurer. From the first days of his life travelling has been a part of his passion. He knew that travelling was not bad and embraced travelling throughout his life. He did not cry during the tiresome journey because he knew his destiny is on the roads. Even after passing through the life expectancy of children in his country, on his birthday, he told his mother that he wanted to be a driver; not a doctor or a priest as his mother wished.

Days have gone and Boi is now a grown up person who has ended pursuing a career in diplomacy, believing that one he will be an ambassador and travel far away from his motherland. Last week, Boi went to the slopes, a place similar to the place he went on his first journey. This was a unique journey for him, Boi had never gone to the slopes without a reason despite his frequent visits. The slopes meant funeral, the slopes meant ancestors, the slopes meant baptism but this time it was different; the slopes meant learning.

The experience on the slopes was different. It was his first time there but he still felt at home. The two peaks Boi always see in his slopes visit were not there, neither the family cemetery nor his grandpas. It was a moment of learning, talking with strangers, gathering information. 

A Week in The Platform!

Life is strange. You meet people, you leave people. Some of them you even forget everything about them. Some you meet and become friends but destiny interrupts. Some you live with them, help each other in life but at end go separate ways and never meet again. That's life!

Two weeks ago i got an email inviting me for a global change course. As a change agent i was very happy to receive the good news and i had a lot of expectations. I call myself a selfless person even though not to that extent but i believe in the judgement of my own. After receiving the mail i knew it was another chance not only of learning but also meeting new people and living with them for another fifty eight days. 

The day came and it was that Sunday evening with a lot of excitement. Despite being sad to leave the hood and the land lady who had started bringing trouble every night, not because i had not paid her but because i had not offered her free beers for two months. She kinda got tired of me, an altruist who used to help her solve her every day problems. 

The journey was not that long but i was escorted by the new friends i had made in the hood. They all thought i was going Mbele kimya kimya (Abroad). These friends whom most of them were weed smokers. I had to make friendship with them for security reasons. They say keep your friend close but your enemies closer. I wanted them  to be their friends so as to avoid trouble every time i go to my room late. 

Arriving at platform was not that hard. As a trump i approached the get and meet this security officer whose face i don't remember. As i entered the room i meet a Gambian friend whom we had a short chat about the football match. I made more and more friends as times go on. I think it was a first time to make such friend in just a second.