The Script

  The Script is surely getting on my list of favorite bands this year. I love their lyrics. I chose "We Cry" cause of the message it holds to all of us. My favorite track? Now that would be telling :)

"There's so much sad
wanna flood the ocean
We are all in tears
from the world exploding

Together we cry..."

Glimpse of Arusha

Gotta admit, I did fall in love with Arusha.

Wale wa Nkuaranga, lazma kumbukumbu ivute hili eneo. Wanakitimoto balaa maeneo haya.

The famous Nane Nane grounds. Hapa ni mlango wa kuingilia kwenye maonyesho ya 2012.

Proudly made in Arusha.

Trying to go through different regions of Tanzania. There's always something glorious and memorable at every place. Neeexxxt....!!

Perfect by Pink

Pink, yet again you have given me food for thought...

 
"Mistreated, misplaced, misunderstood  
Miss "no way, it's all good",
It didn't slow me down 
Mistaken, 
Always second guessing  
Under estimated, 
Look, I'm still around"

Tips for Up and Coming Writers

Are you interested in becoming a writer? Are you unsure on how to go about it? Don’t worry, dip into this jar of tips and get your writing on track.

(Illustration retrieved from eps.schoolspecialty.com)

- A writer reads and researches. You should read a lot especially on the area you are interested to write on.

-  When you decide to write, it’s better not to have money or fame as your reason to write. Have the right reasons and those will inspire you better.

- Live life and explore it. You can either be an outgoing, adventurous person or you can explore your imagination. Don’t limit it thinking it is ridiculous or impossible, that might actually be your best seller’s niche.

v  - You can have another author for a role model, just don’t be a copy cat. Be inspired then look beyond them and find your own writing. The best writers write as who they are.

v  - Start small. Don’t think of a novel as your first work. Short stories, articles, essays or poems will help you practice for the greater picture.

v  

 - If it’s a dialogue speak out loud and see if it sounds real. You are creating "real living" characters and they should sound like it. Well, they are real enough in your creative world, give them life.

 (Illustration retrieved from www.canstockphoto.com)

-  Once you start, finish. Don’t write two paragraphs and give up that it doesn’t make sense. Write it to the end and then re-read it. You can also ask someone you trust to read it for you.

  - Don’t be discouraged. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and you probably can’t be a writer overnight. You need to practise and practise some more.

 -  Most important, have fun creating a work of art. It will certainly reflect well on your audience.

                        

Battlefields

We may all live on earth, but it feels like we live in different worlds. Some trying to survive in their own world, others simply to exist in one. Everyone everywhere has a battle to fight so never look down on any one, you don't know if it's a sword of victory you'll raise in yours or a white flag. There's a saying I like "Don't look down on anyone unless it's to tie their shoe laces"

Moshi, Kilimanjaro

 

(Mlima Kilimanjaro, kwa wachaga hiki nikithibitisho tosha kuwa uko nyumbani)

 

(Round about ya KNCU/Posta, Moshi mjini.)

(Njia panda marangu mtoni. Wakwenda rombo, marangu, kilema mkyashi..hii ndio njia yetu mara nyingi. Hapa huwa wanakuwa na maindi ya kuchoma matamu kweli.)

 

 

 (Mto marangu kama ukitokea soko la Kinyange)

(Home sweet home, Marangu)

Food for Thought

Whatever we do in life creates a chain of reactions that not only affect the course of your life but that of others in this generation and the next. ask yourself to day, how do you "hold" the world?

Let us try and be considerate of how we treat the world. Let's not take more from it than we are willing/able to give back. One day our children will ask us of the gaping holes we've left them and the barrenness of the lands we pass on to them. One day they will demand of the poisoned earth we give them as a legacy. What will our answers be? Where will hide our faces then?

The actions of today should be considerate of tomorrow. Nurture and don't endanger, spread love and not hatred, be a flame of joy and not "dante's inferno". Remembering that everything we do is infectious, let's be less of a cancerous disease and more of a nourishing breath of life to the world. 

Knowledge: A Vessel We All Need? (finale)

Education is meant to mold us into better beings. By better it doesn’t mean we are more self righteous, it doesn’t mean we deserve more than others, it doesn’t mean we have the right to look down on others. It means we have the ability for better evaluation and understanding. We gain the power to realize potentials and find ways to better our societies socially and economically. 

"We can try to cut ourselves from our fellows on the basis of the education we have had; we can try to carve for ourselves an unfair share of the wealth of the society. But the cost to us, as well as to our fellow citizens, will be very high. It will be high not only in terms of satisfactions forgone, but also in terms of our own security and well-being." J. K. Nyerere

Let’s look at ourselves and ask us today, what has education molded us into? How has it changed our lives? How have you changed the lives around you? As a nation what kind of education are we investing in? How much are we investing in it? It’s good to count numbers of those receiving “education” and see it rising day by day. But can we count on the knowledge gained? If there is one thing I count on, knowledge doesn’t give us answers, it gives way to more questions. And it is in questions that we find growth and advancement.

"A Rising Tide Floats all Boats"??

http://www.irinnews.org/Report/97630/Aid-for-Trade-does-it-help-the-poor

I found this to be very interesting. 

Lost Cause or Course?

A friend of mine sent me this earlier. I couldn't agree more. We lose a lot of talent in our communities because they don't fall within the margins of what we define as proper or correct.

Knowledge: A Vessel We All Need? (Continued)

(University of Dar es Salaam, Nkurumah building)

Many nations, having understood the importance of knowledge for development, have invested on education. And this is education, not as a stage of growth, but as growth itself.  Here I quote one of the most recognized leaders in the world

“Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.” J. F. Kennedy

Education should not be about teaching what to think, it should not limit free thought or expressions. It should be about learning how to express free thought coherently. It should not conform one to a uniformity of what to think, or sever ones’ talent because it does not fall in with an existing uniformity. It should be about discovering, nurturing and encouraging abilities so that each one makes a place within their environment.

Just as the cultures in history differed in acquisition of knowledge, even individuals today differ in how they learn. However, practice still remains the most adopted means of learning. With practice one attains and expresses not only knowledge but also skills. Therefore, education should perpetuate the production of knowledge and skills. Education should help a person use the knowledge and skills to grow ones-self and their environment. This is discipline and not conformity. Discipline includes rules and responsibilities, consequences and expectations. Discipline helps one to strive and excel, to persevere in a course, to give dedication to ones abilities despite resistance or challenges. When we are not disciplined, we lose focus easily; we become easily swayed and lose our chances in learning or playing ones part in changing our environment.

All this requires a great effort. Knowledge and skills speak of untold wealth. And to acquire any wealth, investment is inevitable. Every nation that has invested sufficiently on education with a purpose has yielded great fruits. Here I stress on “education with a purpose.” Let’s take an arrow as an example. When a person makes an arrow, they have to consider the length and distribution of weight appropriately. And when one throws the arrow, they have a target. They throw the arrow with the force needed to hit the target. Everything is done with a purpose. When one single mistake occurs, or when a calculation is overlooked, no target will be hit. Similarly, we should have education with a purpose and work towards it. We cannot have shortcuts, loopholes, or mistakes; because we will never hit the target.

(...to be continued)

Say NO to Drugs

This is not where we would like to see our children, our brothers and sisters, our friends and companions. This is not a place we would like to find ourselves in. Before you embark on a journey, think of the destination; is that where you want to end up?

Knowledge: A Vessel We All Need?

From the day we are born, we learn. From the moment we learn, we project.  What we learn over and over and project over and over becomes habitual. It becomes a part of us and that forms our attitudes and our perceptions. What sustains from our learning is knowledge. Knowledge comes from exposing all our senses to the environment around us. And in turn what we are exposed to changes us just like what we project changes the environment around us. What you are reading here is an impact of what I have learnt from being exposed to the environments around me. 

This is a very crucial observation. It means that when what we are exposed to is negative, we learn from it and most likely project what is negative too; as it applies to what is positive. However, this also depends on what has the strongest imprint in our lives. Change is inevitable then because every moment of our lives we learn, acquire new knowledge; which changes our projections.  When we want change in our environment, we should instill knowledge that is sufficient to support the change we want. As humans we have evolved to appreciate the power of knowledge. In every culture across the world, knowledge was treasured and was a tradition. Acquisition of knowledge, whether through teachings or experience, differed from culture to culture just like the content of the knowledge. Even so, it was a mirror of the people and their environment then just as it is today. A friend of mine once said “there are no good or bad people, we are simply a reflection of our environment.” A society that supports the advancement of knowledge, embraces every individual’s effort to learn, that does not limit unique ventures, or even fear the changes that come with them; is a society that grows and prospers.  

(To be continued...)