Ahadi ya O'Neil kwa Ulimwengu wa Soka

Meneja mpya wa Sunderland Martin O’neill anasema mchuano kati yao na Manchester City tarehe mosi Januari utakuwa mtanange wa hakika, na hiyo ni ahadi yake kwa wasikilizaji wa matangazo ya Ulimwengu wa Soka kupitia Idhaa ya Kiswahili ya BBC London. 

Idhaa ya Kiswahili ya BBC itakuwa inatangaza mechi hiyo moja kwa moja kutoka uwanja wa Stadium of Light, mjini Sunderland.

Martin O’neill anafahamu jinsi ligi ya primia ya Uingereza inavyofuatwa sana na mashabiki wengi Afrika mashariki na kati, na pia anafahamu siku hiyo watangazi wa Idhaa ya Kiswahili ya BBC watakuwa uwanjani kutangaza mchuano wao dhidi ya Man City.

“Naona fahari sana kwamba tunafuatiliwa kutoka maeneo mengi, barani Asia hadi Afrika mashariki. Hili linanipa furaha kubwa, kwa sababu najua Sunderland ni klabu kubwa tangu zamani, ni vile tu vilabu vingine ambavyo vina fedha nyingi vimeipiku,” O’neill aliambia BBC Ulimwengu wa Soka.

‘’Lengo letu ni kuirejesha hadhi ya zamani ya Sunderland, na hiyo inawezekana.” Aliongeza.
Mechi hiyo inatarajiwa kuwa ngumu huku Man City wakipania kukaa kileleni kwenye msimamo wa Ligi, nao Sunderland wakidhamiria kupata matokeo mazuri ili kuimarisha nafasi yao.

Bwana O’neill amewaahidi mashabiki Afrika mashariki kutazamia mchuano mkali.
“Nina hakika kutakuwa na fataki,” alisema.
Kuhusu mshambuliaji wa Ghana Asamoah Gyan ambaye aliondoka klabu hiyo kwenda kucheza Uarabuni kwa mkopo, Bwana Oneil aliiambia BBC angetaka kumrudisha mchezaji huyo katika klabu baada ya kipindi cha mkopo, lakini akasema hatua kama hiyo itategemea Gyan mwenyewe, klabu anayoichezea na pia bodi inayosimamia Sunderland.

Wachezaji kutoka Afrika waliosalia katika Sunderland ni Stephane Sessognon kutoka Benin, na Ahmed Almohamady kutoka Misri.

Benin na Misri hazikufuzu kushiriki fainali za kombe la mataifa ya Afrika, na hii inampa furaha Martin Oneill kwamba wachezaji wake hawataondoka mwezi Januari kwenda kuwakilisha mataifa yao katika fainali hizo zinazoandaliwa kwa pamoja na Gabon na Equatorial Guinea.

“Ni furaha kwa sababu sitahitaji kupoteza wachezaji hawa muhimu kwa kipindi cha mwezi mmoja, na tutakapokuwa na mechi ngumu hiyo haitakuwa sababu yoyoye ya kuwa na wasi wasi.”

Michael Essien kurejea uwanjani Januari

Kiungo wa Chelsea Michael Essien atarejea uwanjani katikati ya mwezi wa Januari baada ya kupona maumivu ya goti yaliyokuwa yakimsumbua kwa muda mrefu.

Michael Essien akiongea na vyombo vya habari

Mchezaji huyo wa kimataifa wa Ghana hajacheza kandanda msimu huu wote baada ya kuumia kabla ya mechi ya kwanza ya kufungua msimu.

Kocha wa Chelsea Andre Villas-Boas amesema Essien anakaribia kupona kabisa ili aweze kucheza mechi akianza katika kikosi cha kwanza.

"Atarejea katika kikosi katikati ya mwezi wa Januari na atakuwa tayari kwa mechi," alisema Villas-Boas.
"Natumai ni wiki tatu tu zimesalia, atakuwa katika nafasi ya kucheza mechi ngumu na akianza katika kikosi."
Essien aliumia goti wakati wa mazoezi ya kujiandaa kwa msimu, ikiwa ni maumivu mapya aliyoyapata muda mfupi tu tangu apone goti ambapo nusura angetundika viatu kabisa na kuacha kandanda.
Amekumbwa na kuumia goti vibaya mara tatu katika kipindi chake cha kuichezea Chelsea.

Twaweza: Long walk to ending gender violence

 The 16-day global activism against gender based violence ended recently with the marking of the International Human Rights Day. This year’s theme was “For everyone, for every day in every way, let’s stop any kind of violence against women.”

The aim was also to highlight the key roles that women play in the family and the society in general. In Tanzania, support for women’s issues is one of the priorities of government as well as non-governmental agencies.

The campaign drew the attention of policy makers, governments and civil society, to advocate for the elimination of all forms of violence against women and foster community rights development organizations.

HakiMadini under the ‘We Can’ campaign “Twaweza” has been organising various activities in Arusha as part of the 16-day activism in collaboration with district alliances, organisations, change makers and institutions since last year. This year, the event was marked on November 30 at the Blue Fame Triple A .

Activists focused attention on the issue that violence against women is one of the most widespread of human rights abuses. It includes physical, sexual, psychological and economic abuse, cutting across boundaries of age, race, culture, wealth and geography.

It takes place at home, on the streets, in schools, the workplace, in farm fields, refugee camps, and especially during conflicts and crises. Its manifestations range from the most universally prevalent forms of domestic and sexual violence to harmful practices, abuse during pregnancy and other types of femicide.

Globally, six out of every ten women experience physical and/or sexual violence at one time or another. A World Health Organization study of 24,000 women in 10 countries found that the prevalence of physical and/or sexual violence by a partner varied from 15 percent in urban Japan to 71 percent in rural Ethiopia, with most areas being in the 30-60 percent range.

When people think of spousal abuse, the danger lies in criminalising all men and hating them for their violent nature, yet surely not all men are violent.

The Tanzanian population is estimated to be 44.7 million as for July 2011. Almost half of the population is under 15 years which makes it about 21 million people.

Roughly in every three people only one is a man. That gives the ratio of two to one. Simply, this means that we are talking about seven million men - potentially violent, which can be translated into a lot of cases of physical domestic abuse.

There are many reasons one can give for violent actions by men, though they can never be justified. But the bottom line should be that at any cost should be change our ways and mainly culture by challenging and changing social attitudes, behaviour and practices that engender violence against women.

“In association with the Twaweza national alliance’s mandate to facilitate and create networks for action, our programme will be organised in partnership with various institutions. Working in partnership ensures that domestic violence remains everyone’s responsibility,” said David Mtiruka, acting director of Haki Madini.

Two years of the “Twaweza” camping in Arusha Region focused on awareness and creating change makers, at the same time clarifying obligations of the state to prevent, eradicate and punish violence against women. However, the continued prevalence of violence against women demonstrates that this global pandemic of alarming proportions must continue to be attacked with creative new strategies.

“Violence against women and girls has far-reaching consequences, harming families and communities. For women and girls aged between 16 - 44 years, violence is a major cause of death and disability. In 1994, a World Bank study on ten selected risk factors facing women in this age group found rape and domestic violence more dangerous than cancer, motor vehicle accidents, war and malaria.

Studies also reveal increasing links between violence against women and HIV and Aids. A survey among 1,366 African women who live in Africa including Tanzania showed that women who were beaten by their partners were 48 percent more likely to be infected with HIV than those who were not,” said the northern zone project manager of the “Twaweza,” campaign, Eliamani Rassia.

The Twaweza campaign has made some progress in addressing violence against women in Arusha, Manyara and Kilimanjaro and it has contributed to instituted national plans of action.

However, gaps still remain as there are no specific legal provisions against domestic violence, while marital rape is not a prosecutable offence in Tanzania, he pointed out.

“Observations relevant to research, policy and service provision enabled us to have a general picture of the nature of the problem behind violence against women in the zone. Some of the problems identified are structural, cultural and others social, all posing challenges to the media and others in addressing the matter.

A solution to conflict, as proposed by one of interviewed activists, is to discuss all differences before they blow out of proportion.

“When things get too hot and complicated, I prefer to walk away from the situation and come back to it after they have calmed down,” he added.