Tens of former street children near the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha have turned lodge staff at recently inaugurated Kiboko Lodge. Dutch charity Watoto Foundation has launched the project to create job opportunities in the area. - Former street kids are trained for at least 4 years at the Watoto Foundation vocational training school in Usa River, Arusha region, Tanzania, East Africa. Several boys have practiced for at least two years at other high standard lodges. All the profits from the lodge will be spent on the vocational trainings school and the drop-in centre in Arusha town. The idea is that one day the NGO will be independent of donors from abroad. Income will be derived from …

For years now, the beautiful Kilimanjaro glaciers have been gradually melting, to the extent of predicting its total disappearance in a decade or two. - Old people still believes that it can’t just disappear because that is where rains come from. Abisae Maeda, a VoicesofAfrica alumnus, climbs Mount Kilimanjaro on a regular basis and makes mobile reports showing the extent of the melting.

The northern Tanzania city of Arusha is home to vibrant nightlife with clubs, bars and international cuisine. Its exquisite location and beautiful countryside surrounding makes it a gateway to many activities. Hikes, treks, journeys to waterfalls, Safaris in some of the world's most prestigious game parks, cultural activities. - This means a lot of activities happen around here with an estimated population of one million people, within these activities the uses of drinks such as beer, Wisk and all kind of drinks goes together, with lots of empty bottles left at ends of celebration of being here. Thanks to Shanga the organization that's use these bottles to make life out of them.…

Rotary Club-Holland is supporting both financially and physically an ambitious project in Arusha, northern Tanzania, to build a huge tank that will store water for a better controlled and sustainable use of it. - The initial study was conducted by the Tanzanian government, in its effort to meet the 2015 Millennium Development Goals deadline. By that year, majority of the population should have access to safe, clean water. According to the government’s study, 3000 new water points have to be built every year, especially in rural areas. The reality however, is that only a few hundreds are being built every year, which pushes to fear that the deadline might not be met. This mobile …

A team of Lingo, a Dutch TV language programme, recently visited Tanzania, including Arusha and its Kilimanjaro Film Institute. Lucille Werner, is very enthusiastic about bringing a Swahili version of Lingo in Tanzania. - This mobile report shows and tells more about that

The Saint Elizabeth center has now water in its premises thanks to Rotary Club. The Centre, which is mainly a school but also a social meeting place, had been facing issues relating to water,m which used to come from a long distance donkey-back. - A visiting team of Rotary Club from the Netherlands spent a few days visiting the Center and other projects. This mobile report, shows their visit at the center, where they gave a hand to locals who were painting new buildings.

Mentally disabled people in the northern Tanzania area of Arusha should live as long and as decently as other people. This is one of the aims that Sibusiso Foundation is striving to achieve, by assisting children affected by mental disabilities. - It is estimated that 3 percent of the population in that area is mentally disabled. That is about 28,000. It has also been reported that the disabled live a shorter life than other people because they seem to live in the margins of society, and seem to have no access to basic and vital services, such as medic care. That is why most of the disabled are young. Children represent a great percentage. Some of these children live in special instituti…

From July 2010 onward, there will be no business restriction among the five members of the East African Community (EAC). The presidents of Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, and Burundi, signed on Friday 20 November the EAC common market protocol that will permit free movement of goods, capital, and labour force. - Despite this opening up of Tanzanians are still hesitant. Tanzanian deputy minister for foreign affairs, Zakari Onyonka, said that ordinary people suspect that Kenya would take advantage of this new situation. However, he suggests that the existing issues would be solved step by step.

The melting of the Kilimanjaro glacier is now happening at a worrying speed. Those who saw it last year come back and see a gap that was not there previously. Kilimanjaro guides who are in one way or another very close to what is happening, are affected in at least two ways: the environmental uncertainty and a predictable unemployment turn them into unfortunate witnesses of a catastrophe. - This mobile report features one guide, who has been climbing the Mount for the last seven years.

- This mobile report features one guide, who has been climbing the Mount for the last seven years.

A war rages on the slopes of Kilimanjaro between porters and tour operators on pay issues. When budget operators cut corners to save money, the porters are the first to suffer. Kilimanjaro porters are not usually employed permanently. Some quality responsible operators have teams of porters that they use on all their climbs, but most porters freelance. - They may walk to the national park gate every day, sometimes for many miles, hoping that someone will be looking for porters. That's where many budget operators pick up their porters. Budget operators do not pay their staff well, in some cases not at all. Kilimanjaro porters don't have many options. There are many more porters avai…

It is not strange to see pregnant women eating soil cake during their pregnancy in Tanzania, especially in Arusha. It has become popular among women and teenager because of its flavor. Gloria, one Arusha resident, has been eating soil for more than three years now. - She has been at different hospitals looking for treatment for a diagnosed lack f some minerals. The soil cake she eats appeases her thirst, which cannot be otherwise quenched. Parallel to that, women have turned soil cake into a profitable business especially at Morogoro region.

Local residents in the northern region of Arusha are calling the government of Tanzania to put local touristic attractions on its agenda so to increase tourism-generated incomes. Locals are also urging their fellow countrymen to look first home before planning long journeys to national parks. - Tanzania has been profiled worldwide as a place of national parks and of the legendary Kilimanjaro mountain. Its local beauties.

Illiteracy is still a major obstacle in Tanzania and many youths and adults have the sentiment that they have missed their chance due to the fact that they did not attend school. Having no qualification, they have to do physical jobs. - ‘If I had gone to school, I would have become a minister or a professor’, says Samuel, a resident of Arusha. He has been a rickshaw man for years. He blames his father, who had no chance to go to school either, for having not sent him to school.

I joined voices of Africa October last year. Since then I have been thinking of what to do next. I have always done my best, sometime staying awake thinking of how to improve my reports. Every day was bringing me new skills, new knowledge. - Despite the obstacles I faced it has been experience of a life time, I have been able to cover some aspects of what people are facing here. As a trained mobile reporter, my new role is to keep an observing eye on developments in my community. Since I was young wanted to become a journalist. With Voices Of Africa I got the experience about how the new media work. Voices of Africa changed my fate completely by making me a different person, a media pers…

There is a wrong perception within Tanzanian society about university students. The students of the university of Dar es salaam are complaining about the wrong and negative image people have of them, especially with regard to love. - They are also unhappy about society’s perception that they have denied God.

Following the unprecedented population growth in the Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam, initiatives have multiplied to solved issues related to it, among which transport. The Bajaji motorbikes, initially designed for the disabled are now being used by the non-disabled, and, in fact, are invading all the streets of Dar es Salaam, posing a traffic security challenge. - In this mobile report, Mr. Baraka, a resident of Dar es Salaam, gives his views as this recent development.

Efforts of all kinds are being made to end the frequent murders of albinos in the last months in the North of Tanzania. An Artist called Cyprian has joined the campaign using his music. He is convinced that society can be made aware through music - In this mobile report, Cyprian tells more about thatinitiative.

Since woods and timbers seem to be very expensive especially here in Arusha most people especially youth have been initiating new ways of making furniture by using various kinds of plants. It has been a good business for most of youth here in Arusha since raw materials are more affordable. - A long term consequence of this shift is that forest will be preserved, which means that the climate change will be slowed down.

The Arusha based but Dutch-funded Sibosiso Foundation has set out not only to identify but also to morally and medically assist mentally disabled children in the north of Tanzania. Mentally disabled children have limited possibilities to develop their capacities. - Many of these children also suffer from epilepsy which, in Tanzanian culture, are both taboos and reflected upon as punishment by God. Children with a handicap are kept out of sight and their family members are considered to be inferior and are treated as exiles. In this report, Sibusiso director Josje explains the Foundation’s activities and the challenges it comes across.

The low secondary school enrollment estimated at 10 percent in Tanzania has been blamed, among others, on the refusal or reluctance of primary school teachers to join their duty posts in the countryside. - With 10 percent of children proceeding with their secondary education, Tanzania has one of the lowest enrolment rates in the world. The Tanzanian government has set an ambitious target to increase the secondary school enrolment rate to 50 percent by to 2010. This has to start from the primary foundation that means improving the primary teachers college and the working conditions of these teachers. In this mobile report, the freshly graduated primary school teachers give their views on …

This year’s farming season in Tanzania has been marked by the delay of rains that provoked a late start of the planting season. Those who planted on time as usual in January and February are now replanting, at least if they have courage for it. - President Kikwete has promised to stand together with farmers. ‘ There is money’ he said in a speech broadcast on TV. However, he noted that high prices of food commodities still pose a major problem.

The Tanzania Media Fund (TMF) is a new fund that seeks to promote independence and quality in media, with a particular focus on public interest and investigative journalism. TMF believes that independent media is the lifeblood of a free and democratic society. - In this mobile report, the TMF officials explains what the Fund will do and how media professionals will benefit from it.

The Tanzanian film industry has considerably grown in the last few years, but it still remains a low-budget business. Film is now a bread earner for many Tanzanian actors and actress. They have been working harder to get to the point of being known all over the world through films. - In this report, those behind that industry explains what their ambitions and targets are.

Coconut is not planted every where here in Tanzania. It is mostly found in costal areas especially in Tanga region, Pwani region, and Dar es salaam. People from these regions know how to plant and how arch coconut, and also how to use them to make drinks and add flavour in a food. - In Arusha it is a different story: the majority know how to use coconut in food to add flavour but didn't know how to find good coconut on the market. In this mobile report M r Frank whose life run depends on selling of coconut explains how to find good coconut.