Just like the great Martin Luther, I also have a dream. A dream that one day the retired teacher at home whom I call ‘mother’ will have a tractor digging her farm instead of a hoe, a dream that my community will have light from electricity bulbs and not kerosene lamps, and that Tanzania will be on the least countries with corruption. IST has given me a great opportunity to share my dreams but also to hear other peoples’ dreams; people who come from different areas and different backgrounds. I came to realize that although we might have different stories, we all share common goals; goals of development, growth and positive change. As I was playing piano one day, I saw the way all my fingers moved in different directions but they all had the same aim of creating melody and harmony. It occurred to me that working as a team towards common goals could lead to realization of many dreams. Hence forth, I have become a link between my community and the International community. Most people in my village, community and country have great ideas on how to solve the problems facing our country but what they lack is confidence and skills to share their ideas. Inferiority complex has affected the confidence of many Tanzanians that their ideas are left unspoken and unheard. IST has given me an opportunity to learn and develop my confidence. I can present infront of the class and read  a speech infront of the school. I aim to share these skills with my local community. Encouraging men and women to participate and speak out in debates and discussions. My personal goals are also to be able to share the knowledge and experiences with the local community. I believe this will enable those less fortunate than me to be able to expand their understanding and awareness of the problems and challenges we are facing. Incorporating the people experiencing these problems means getting more answers on how to overcome them. My aim is to be able to work with the groups that are mostly left out such as street children, and orphans, instead of big bodies such as non governmental organizations. 

I feel proud to be Tanzanian. The culture, the songs, the dances; they all bring beauty. My goal is to share this beauty, and my pride, with the outside world. Together with a few friends at my old school, I founded a club that taught students various traditional songs and dances. We performed these at many school events, and audience members from other villages came to watch. We even challenged ourselves and performed Macbeth by Shakespeare. People loved seeing us dance, and our creative energy brought smiles to their faces.

When I started attending the international school, I brought my local culture with me and began sharing the beauty of my country with students from all over the world. I was asked to perform at school assemblies, the graduation ceremony, and International Night. Through these events, I expressed the lifestyle of different tribes, not just as a form of entertainment, but as a unique approach to sharing knowledge. I have a vision of Tanzania growing economically through the tourism industry, not just because of safaris and beaches, but through our culture too. However, awareness is needed, and I hope my dance and song will continue to be appreciated as I pave my way to Duke University. 

I have always believed that the body and the mind are connected. Well my friend Imaan Tamimi said, “It is obvious because they are all in a single body, therefore everything is connected”. Even though she sounded funny, she was right. Everything in our body is connected to each other. They work together in performing different tasks. I wish human beings worked together like that, what a perfect community we would create! Every individual will play a role like a single body part while still connected with others, hence build a strong community, one that resembles a single body of a person.

However, today I am going to share with you how to stay healthy. This is important because, we not only need our bodies healthy but as students, we need our minds healthy and running too. 

I recently found out that a person can lose 350 calories in 45 minutes. Wow!!..Isn’t that amazing? I am thrilled with the news. Therefore, I will go forward to keep my body and my mind healthy. I will start going to the Gym after school in the days when I do not have any community service or creativity. I am also planning to start morning exercises in order to keep my mind active in the morning. This will be a great opportunity for me to keep practicing my swimming and improving my strokes. One of my dreams is to be a great swimmer, and I know I can so I will…

(Source: health.com)

SELL ICE-CREAM, BUY ICE CREAM FOR A MTONI KID!!

The fund raising season has already began. It is good because the first event has been great, even though we did not have a lot of volunteers to help out but we still did it. It does not matter the quantity but the involvement of the few. I am proud and happy because we have gained experience of marketing, management and sales. We are looking forward to a great upcoming season!…

As a way to develop my personal talents and abilities, I, together with my friends came up with an idea of formulating a band where we can be able to sing, play musical instruments and perform in various occasions. In our band, I am the discipline chairman and secretary of the group.

Through the band, I was able to compose a song concerning love and life called ’ THIS IS LOVE ’ . By working collaboratively with other members, we were able to harmonize the song with nice beats and sounds. Mr. Green was of really great help in singing and the playing of instruments.

The band has developed my confidence in facing the audience and also increased my abilities of creativity. Currently, I am to working  present ideas and issues of global importance through my coming songs. Hopefully I will be able to produce and record an album with my band. More over I am still working on my piano practise so that I can be able to play the instrument with my songs to increase emotional attachment and feeling of music that takes and moves everybody away with the excitement.

The goal of our band is to develop, raise and strengthen musical talents that are unseen and forgotten. We have a free entry hence anybody can join and we are looking forward to welcome new group members in this activity which is FUN and EDUCATIONAL.

Drama has become the most interesting activity for me at school. It gives me challenge to perform at stage and impress the audience which you are delivering the message. Also the themes that are in the plays are educative and lifetime experiences. During this term we were working on the play of “Macbeth” which resulted into a successful performance. I played as the “doctor” and “one of the Duncan’s house maids”. These two characters gave me much experience and also they introduced me into a world of poetry that I had to put into reality.

Furthermore I have learn how to work with a group of people in achieving one goal. Drama has given me an opportunity to manage my time because I spent many hours doing practice and still had to complete my school works and other activities.

I have also learn how to do some traditional African dances like “the makonde dance”. It is fun, and hard work.

Acting has always been something I love. Even in my daily life, I act. For me its fun and a talent I love exploiting. In my former school, I used to do drama and directing and am happy that I will be able to continue doing it at IST. I have met new people and working with other team members is so great because we all see, understand, feel and hear each other and it is really a great mind and body exercise too. This is because, while working you has to be able to create ways to attract, stimulate and entertain audience while reflecting purpose, but also a body exercise because you have to move your whole body and create energy out of it to make the scene more live. Our teacher’s are so nice, kind and understanding that they make us work whole heartedly.

In drama I have learnt more things concerning the art including ways to engage the audience and poetry plays. My first play is MACBETH, which I really enjoy learning to perform it. It has a moving story which makes it even more interesting to explore through. I am hoping that through this activity, I will be able to educate and entertain my society. Also I will learn more about the world and life, people and characters because drama reflects all that and more. It gives us an eye to see what is considered imaginary and an ear to hear the loudness of the silence. Drama is a talent, an art and a gift that some have most.

Habitat for humanity is a community service that I really feel committed to. Whenever I take time to think that what would happen if I had no shelter? Where would I be living? On the streets, drainage systems, where? It is obvious that life would have been very difficult without shelter. When I was young, the only thing I was worried about were food and games, in my list of basic needs, I would definitely put food, games and sleep. Few years ago, before I joined Habitat for humanity, it was most likely that you would find me seriously arguing that shelter and water should totally be removed in the list of basic needs but rather put food, juice and movies. I love movies and to me this was my new basic need, but when I deeply took time to think again, I replaced movies with education. I never kept shelter in my list of basic needs because I did not understand how essential it is. But today, I have a new list on my mind. The basic needs of human beings are food, shelter and clothing. And this I have proved after I joined Habitat for Humanity last year. I remember the video that changed my views. It was the video I watched the first day when I entered Habitat for humanity. The video showed different people without a place to live, being on the streets knowing that at some point it is going to rain, the cold and fear of anything that might happen anytime. While watching that video, I pictured the insecurity those people had and the help they needed. This gave me so much incentive to be committed in this community service because through it, I will be able to help those people who are exposed to that kind of environment. I am happy that I have been able to participate in brainstorming ideas of fund raising as well as the fund raising events. In the past year, we have had Color Barbeque; and Spring Carnival which raised a lot of funds. We have also had various bake sales and in all those events, my participation reaped a lot of good fruits in terms of the funds we get. This year we are looking forward to directly participate in house construction projects and collaborate with other CAS groups like Prompt to ensure we build a strong base of commitment in fulfilling these goals.