GEITA GOLD - Part 1

Brian and I just completed our volunteer work in Geita.

Geita is located about 300 miles north of Kigoma, which is roughly the same distance as Chapel Hill, NC to Washington D.C.  A drive that would take roughly 4.5 hours here equated to a bone jarring, teeth chattering, head bumping 8.5 hour joy ride.  And if you haven’t already read Brian’s blog entry about that adventure you REALLY need to:

http://sportingcommunities.edwardswan.com/?p=2911  

Geita is located in the highlands just south of Lake Victoria so it enjoys slightly milder temperatures than Kigoma, but more importantly it has developed around one of Africa’s largest gold mines.  It is similar in size and population to Kigoma, (Geita is roughly 120,000 compared with Kigoma’s 135,000 based on the 2007 census), but due to the influence of the mine Geita’s economy is richer and more diverse.  While Kigoma relies heavily upon fishing from Lake Tanganyika and agriculture with most inhabitants struggling to exist primarily upon sustenance farming, Geita has grown primarily around the local gold mine.  And while the mine only employs a few thousand, which is a small percentage of the local population, a lot of other businesses have sprouted up to support the mining industry such as welding, carpentry, hotels, and the local hospital (which is the biggest in the region), thus bringing more money and opportunity to the region in comparison to the isolated Kigoma.

And while we are on the topic of the basic economic structure of Geita and Kigoma I thought these facts, which I found online while researching their populations, would be of interest:

§         90% of the work force in Tanzania is devoted to farming.

§         Tanzanian women walk for up to 6 hours to get the wood to cook for 5 days. (I can certainly attest to that with the amount of women I saw walking in the middle of nowhere, far from any village, while driving from Kigoma to Geita)

§         In Tanzania almost 50% of the population is under 15 years old.

§         In the Kigoma region, families’ annual per-capita income is lower than $100 and it costs roughly $70 dollars a year to attend secondary school.

§         An American citizen consumes as much as 179 Tanzanian citizens.

§         On average, life expectancy in Tanzania is 46 years, 32 years less than an American!

§         67.8% of the population in Tanzania can read, but only 56.8% of women can read and write.

§         The majority of children in Tanzania speak two languages, the tribal dialect and the national language (Swahili), in addition to English which is learnt at school.

So due to the slight insertion of more money from the mining industry into the local economy, families in Geita have a slightly better financial picture.  Consequently more families have the ability to support their children not only through secondary school, but sometimes even university and their view of the importance of education was markedly different from that in Kigoma.

As listed above, in Kigoma (one of the poorest regions in Tanzania), many families don’t have the money to send their children to secondary school which is the equivalent of our high school.  Primary school (grades 1-7) is free in Tanzania.  However, there aren’t enough teachers or classrooms to provide for all the children and they suffer from a lack of funding for the basic books, paper, pens, and pencils so often times even though primary school is ‘free’, it isn’t truly available for all and the quality can be poor. 

Secondary school is roughly $70/year and in addition uniforms, books, and school supplies must be bought.  A family whose annual income is less than $100 simply cannot afford this.  In addition culturally these small villages are still living as if it was 100 years ago in mud huts with dirt floors, thatched roofs, and no water or electricity where the woman’s role was to be the housewife.  So in addition to not having enough income to afford school, many do not see the purpose of spending money to educate a girl whose future role is just to be a housewife.  So if there is money available and a choice must be made between a son and a daughter attending school, the son will get the opportunity.  The girl is given no chance and no choice.

The other shocking information I learned in Kigoma is that parents will ‘sell’ their daughters virginity for money.  In some small village there is still the belief that having sex with a virgin will cure you of AIDs, but primarily it is done solely for the monetary gain.  A man will negotiate and pay the parents a one time fee to have sex with their young daughter (often times just 13 or 14 years old!) claiming they will continue to financially support the soon to be pregnant young girl and her future child.  Of course the man disappears after having sex paying the parents an agreeable amount to stay quiet.  Shocking, disgusting, and sad – at the age of 13 a young girl’s life is irrevocably changed because of a short sighted dire financial decision by her parents.

So while my experiences with the kids and coaches of Kigoma were overwhelmingly positive, I must admit in retrospect that I left Kigoma a bit disheartened and frustrated with the lack of support for girls’ participation in sport.  Getting girls involved in sport at a young age is critical because the girls learn that they have a voice and a choice.  They become empowered and confident, as well as more motivated to stay in school so they can change their lives.  Through sport they see that anything is possible.  Patience is the key – these cultural issues are deeply ingrained in their society and financially many are handcuffed – change takes time.  Thankfully they at least have Nico and a small core of dedicated CaC coaches!