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Some 20 people have died in a stampede at a church service in a stadium in Tanzania , officials have said.
Hundreds of people attended the prayer service on Saturday evening led by a popular preacher in the town of Moshi, near Mount Kilimanjaro .
Pastor Boniface Mwamposa, who heads the Arise and Shine Ministry and calls himself “the Apostle”, reportedly poured “holy oil” on the ground, prompting the crowd to surge forward in the hopes of touching it.
The rush to be anointed by the oil led to people crushing one another, resulting in the deaths of 20 people and 16 people being injured, Reuters reported .
Commissioner Kippi Warioba said five of those killed were children, and there were concerns the death toll could rise.
Show all 18 1 /18Tanzania: Poverty biggest barrier to education Tanzania: Poverty biggest barrier to education Today poverty remains one of the greatest barriers to enrolment in education and no better example of this can be illustrated than in rural and remote parts of Tanzania. A majority of children in Tanzania do not attend school due to informal fees or voluntary parental contributions required for enrolment. This includes among other things, the compulsory purchase of shoes. Foundations like TOMS have given 95 million pairs of shoes to people across 82 countries.
Photos Paddy Dowling/EAA
Tanzania: Poverty biggest barrier to education Chacha, 12, was born and raised in a small village in northwestern Tanzania, where he lives with his mother and two siblings. He has never set foot in a classroom and is one of a reported 1.89 million out-of-school children in the country today. Chacha works seven days per week scavenging gold mining sites, digging up rocks containing gold-residue. To avoid being captured or shot by mining and government police for trespass, he works under the cover of darkness, 6pm to 6am. The rocks he finds, he sells to middle men, for approximately £1.50 per shift, who crush them to extract the gold. He explained: “I have no choice, I know the work is dangerous but I feel I have to help provide for my family. It makes me sad not being able to go to school.” The money Chacha earns he uses to purchase clothes for himself and his siblings, the remainder he gives to his mother to contribute to food costs. When he returns home from his 12-hour shift, he tends to the family cattle.
Paddy Dowling/EAA
Tanzania: Poverty biggest barrier to education Evaline, 11, was enrolled in grade three at Remagwe primary school, when at the age of eight, her father passed away suddenly. In 2018, she returned to school with the help of her teenage sister, who had told her about the EAA-GMT education programme. She lives with her mother, who is a farmer, and her four siblings in a grass thatch house with no mattress. Evaline helps her mother with farming and domestic work. The family survive on two meals per day, usually one meal of soft porridge and another of stiff porridge. She walks about 1.5 hours each way to school, something not uncommon to these children in the hardest to reach areas of northwestern Tanzania. Evaline dreams of becoming a nurse and understands she can achieve her dreams through education. Her role model is Maria, a nurse in the city of Mwanza who originates from her village. Evaline’s message to the world is that they should support all the children to receive education.
Paddy Dowling/EAA
Tanzania: Poverty biggest barrier to education Often shoes that adhere to a specific dress code are required for students to attend school. In addition to uniforms, books, transportation, other informal fees or the cost of shoes can be a roadblock to enrolment. TOMS Giving Shoes help to reduce families’ financial burden.
Paddy Dowling/EAA
Tanzania: Poverty biggest barrier to education Jonas, 12, was born in a village situated on the shores of Lake Victoria. He now lives with his father, a fisherman, and his step-mother a farmer. Jonas enrolled into an Educate A Child (EAC) and Graca Machel Trust (GMT) partnership in 2017. GMT conducted a survey reaching out to the community to help identify out-of-school children in the region. The survey identified more than 20,000. Jonas was one of those and set foot into a classroom for the first time at the age of 10. The mandatory age for school enrolment is seven, however his family’s lack of available funds meant he could not enrol into school. Also childhood illnesses, easily treated by relatively inexpensive medicines, meant he spent a huge part of his childhood unwell as his father could not afford treatment. When asked what it was like to take his first steps into a classroom, he replied: “It was incredibly exciting, and now it is even more exciting as there is a good chance I will go to secondary school.”
Paddy Dowling/EAA
Tanzania: Poverty biggest barrier to education Afya, 14, was enrolled into primary school through the EAC and GMT partnership in 2017, after being identified in the out-of-school children survey. Despite being enrolled in school, poverty still remains her greatest challenge. Her guardian refuses to contribute to the informal fees or voluntary parental contributions required to continue enrolment.
Paddy Dowling/EAA
Tanzania: Poverty biggest barrier to education Matteus, nine, in the office of the principal at Remagwe school, looks down while he nervously scratches at the torn and faded zebra-print fabric sofa. One of the pre-requisites for children attending school in Tanzania is that parents must contribute to scholastic materials like school uniform and shoes, of which he has neither. His parents, both farmers, are unable to earn more than £375 a year in wages. They are sustaining a family of five. Matteus was identified through the partnership as being from an incredibly poor background, which would prevent his enrolment. He wakes early to ensure all the farm chores are complete by 11am. When he returns from school at 6pm he collects the cattle from the pastures and then helps his mother in the house with any jobs. Matteus and his siblings have two meals a day of porridge and bananas. They cannot afford any protein in their diet.
Paddy Dowling/EAA
Tanzania: Poverty biggest barrier to education Elizabeth, now 16, was enrolled at school aged 13 with the partnership, which helps the hardest to reach children struggling with things like poverty, early marriage and female genital mutilation. At age six, her father passed away, followed by her mother when she was 12. She was placed under the guardianship of her uncle, who was arranging her marriage, with her unaware. The incentive for parents looking to marry their daughters is to benefit from sizeable dowry payments, more often livestock or land. Elizabeth’s second uncle heard the news of the marriage arrangements and spoke to the new education programme. Elizabeth wanted to enjoy her right to education and her second uncle helped void the pending marriage arrangements. She explained how extremely grateful she is to the foundation that gave her the opportunity to enrol and avoid the marriage she never wanted.
Paddy Dowling/EAA
Tanzania: Poverty biggest barrier to education Mamoke, 10, has never been to school. Abandoned by her biological parents along with her eight siblings, she now lives with her grandmother in the village of Kuriyah. She grazes cattle six hours a day for her grandmother in return for her keep. She was registered for school but never enrolled. Her grandmother and guardian is unable to afford the voluntary parental contribution fees. Mamoke describes her household as poor, her grandmother unable to provide more than one meal per day for her. Mamoke added, “There are many days where we do not eat at all.” She dreams of becoming a teacher, if she was able to go to school, so she can help others in her current situation.
Paddy Dowling/EAA
Tanzania: Poverty biggest barrier to education Josephine, 14, is an orphan and now lives with her aunt. She lost her parents and youngest sister to Aids, however, her blood-work is clear and negative. She was enrolled into the joint education partnership in 2017. Living far from school, she is forced to travel 4km to get there. Poverty remains a constant worry for Josephine as her aunt will not contribute to the additional costs. When asked what it meant to her to have access to education she replied, “Being in school means I will face less hardship and have a less fragile future. I would much prefer to be in class than live at home with my aunt who tries to prevent my going to school. She often beats me. She wants me to get married.” She was identified by the partnership as being vulnerable and teachers would buy her exercise books to ensure she doesn’t go without. Despite being three years behind she is catching up extremely quickly and ranking in the top five students out of 168 pupils.
Paddy Dowling/EAA
Tanzania: Poverty biggest barrier to education A young girl nervously clasps her hands as she explained how she was beaten repeatedly and threatened with being married off at the age of 13. In remote rural parts of Tanzania, the average age of marriage is between 12-13, from which point they are invited to leave the family home and fend for themselves. This makes them extremely vulnerable.
Paddy Dowling/EAA
Tanzania: Poverty biggest barrier to education A young boy seated in a dark classroom. In 2001, Tanzania implemented the Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP) and eliminated public school fees to increase access to primary education. But the programme has faced many challenges.
Paddy Dowling/EAA
Tanzania: Poverty biggest barrier to education A young girl enrolled at Remagwe school in northwestern Tanzania. The school allows her to attend without uniform, which is a rarity. Uniform, shoes and scholastic materials are expected to be funded by parents under voluntary parental contributions, which are around £10 per year. The fees are an enormous barrier to enrolment, typically parents working as farmers will collectively earn no more than £375 a year in wages that must support and sustain a family.
Paddy Dowling/EAA
Tanzania: Poverty biggest barrier to education Maryam, 12, has been enrolled in primary school since 2014. She lives with her mother and six siblings, who have all become domestic servants in houses. Education up to the age of 16 is free in Tanzania, except for the parental voluntary contributions. Her mother, a farmer, only earns £380 per year and has been paying £69 towards “informal” school fees for her daughters. Maryam has ambitions of becoming a nurse. She wants to help women, explaining: “Women are very vulnerable in Tanzania, friends my age have been married or propositioned for early marriage”. And she added, “Young girls in primary transitioning to secondary schooling take risks walking to school of being kidnapped.”
Paddy Dowling/EAA
Tanzania: Poverty biggest barrier to education A classroom blackboard used to provide lessons at Remagwe Primary School Today challenges to establishing an effective and stable education system persist. Assistance from international donors and partnerships helps the Tanzanian government achieve universal primary education and refurbish classrooms to improve the learning experience for children.
Paddy Dowling/EAA
Tanzania: Poverty biggest barrier to education As challenging as it is to see past the barriers to providing a quality education for children, small changes such as repainting blackboards for teachers and students can have enormous and direct benefits.
Paddy Dowling/EAA
Tanzania: Poverty biggest barrier to education Alex, 13, explained: “I can no longer wash my clothes any more as they will fall apart”. He has no school uniform, unlike many schools in Tanzania, his school still allow him to attend class. His sandals are torn and one held together by a bit of wire twisted at the sole. Alex enrolled into the first grade of his school in 2017 at the beginning of the EAC/Graca Machel Trust partnership. He lost his father when he was very young to a simple case of diarrhoea. He now lives with his mother and five siblings. She supports the family by working the fields as a peasant farm hand. For him, poverty remains the greatest barrier to his education, having to walk four hours each way to school, meaning he is constantly tired at school. Challenging geographies is a major barrier to education in remote Africa.
Paddy Dowling/EAA
Tanzania: Poverty biggest barrier to education A typical classroom in rural Tanzania, often without any electricity. Classroom furniture is in need of repair and broken floors leave a surface of sand or mud. In 2001, Tanzania eliminated public school fees to increase access to primary education. This bold move by the government saw a rapid increase in enrolment overnight but abolishing school fees has left schools trying to deliver education on a shoestring budget. Tanzania has the desire to make the change to education but it needs help from the international community to continue the process.
Paddy Dowling/EAA
“The incident took place at night and there were many people, so there is a possibility that more casualties could emerge,” he told Reuters.
A witness who was at the service, Peter Kilewo, told AFP news agency the scene was “horrible” and people were “trampled on mercilessly, jostling each other with elbows”.
Local media reported that Mr Mwamposa flew to Dar es Salaam, a city on the Tanzanian coast, after the stampede to lead a prayer service at another branch of his church instead of attending to the injured.
Police said an investigation has been launched, and added “some churches are disturbing us”.
There has been a rise in the number of pastors who claim they can perform “miracle cures” and eradicate poverty in Africa in recent years.
Preachers who spread what they call the “prosperity gospel” have been involved in financial scams and money laundering schemes, as well as other stampedes.
Last year, three people were killed in a stampede at a church in Pretoria during a service led by Shepherd Bushiri.
Mr Bushiri is Africa’s wealthiest preacher and was charged with money laundering and fraud in February last year after allegedly smuggling cases of money out of South Africa on his private jet.
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