Neema's introduction to Maynooth and the CDPC

Arrival

I arrived in Dublin on 9^th September 2006. I admired the beautiful scenery of Ireland, it is such a green and clean environment. In September, the weather wasn’t so different from my hometown, Mbeya, which is in a highland area in Southern Tanzania. I was warmly welcomed by Hayley and felt at home.

Introduction/Orientation

Hayley introduced me to some members/staff of the CDPC program and took me in various places in NUI Maynooth, both the North and South campus.

Going through Readings and Discussing with Dr. Thomas Strong

Tom Strong has been supervising me and he has been keen on following up what I do through discussion. He has been with me on each step of my studies, particularly by providing me with useful literature. I am now conversant with utilising up-to-date journal articles in community development; I have been going through them, writing précis and discussing them with Tom. Our discussions have been useful to me as they help me to think critically, broaden and enrich my understanding of development issues.

 Classes at Trinity University

I have also been privileged to attend lectures on Wednesdays at Trinity College Dublin. I take the train to go into Dublin to attend my statistic lectures with Mary, my CPDC colleague who is also from Tanzania. These lectures have been extremely helpful in providing me with knowledge on the statistical part of research which is necessary for presenting and analysing data.

School Visits

Mary and I have visited schools with Joseph (the CDPC’s Education Officer). During our visits, we met with students preparing for BT Young Scientist Competition. They have various topics for their projects which are based on health issues like TB, nutrition for people living with HIV/AIDS, sanitation, life span and many others. In all projects they had in mind the health challenges facing Africa. The youth who were doing the TB project were eager to see TB eradicated in Africa as it was eradicated in Ireland. We were impressed to see the Irish youth thinking of Africa at such a tender age. We appreciated the culture that the Irish people have of implanting knowledge to youth. This will bring about high level of commitment to the developing countries when they grow up.

With Mary Rwegasira, 'down the country'

We highly appreciated good work done by Joseph in developing young scientists and were pleased to learn that CDPC is in the process of introducing a similar programme targeting the East African Youth in science development as well. This programme is relevant and timely for our youth in Africa so as to encourage them to generate ideas that will be resourceful in nation-building.

Visiting the Country Side

Joseph gave us countryside tour of Ireland and the landscape was extraordinarily beautiful. We admired the lovely scenery and learned that the Irish people, unlike Africans, live independently. We also had an opportunity to visit one of the oldest castles and highly appreciated the architecture. The building was erected about 1,000 years ago and was as good as it could have been then!

Attending various workshops

I had an opportunity to attend workshops on Hunger, Livelihoods and HIV/AIDS as well as History and Challenges of TB at the Irish Aid Voluntering and Information Centre in Dublin and NUI Maynooth respectively. These are issues that are continuously challenging to the low resource countries, including my own country. These diseases of poverty have led to high morbidity and mortality in the vulnerable groups for example women, children, and orphans. Development workers from various NGOs shared their experiences in overcoming those burning issues. I was so interested to see youths who were conducting a Nutritional project for People Living HIV/AIDS invited to the workshop. Through such workshops they get exposure, broaden their understanding and gain more confidence.