SPECIAL REPORT: Students come up with solutions to burning social problems

Dar es Salaam.Leckton Moris recounts his agony in primary school where he used to follow classes sitting on the floor. “Desks were scarce and I couldn’t get one,” he muses.

That is etched in his memory and when he went to Hubert Kairuki Memorial University (HKMU) in Dar es Salaam he did not like other people to go through a similar problem.

Moris, a second-year medical student, teamed with friends to raise funds for buying desks for pupils in Dar es Salaam Region.

“To begin with, we made a survey in Temeke primary schools to see the enormity of the problem. So many pupils were sitting on the floor in classrooms. There were no desks. At that time the government was mobilising the public to contribute funds to buy desks. We started raising funds to complement the government’s drive on desks.”

The beginning was tough. “It was difficult to convince people to contribute funds. Some of them were suspicious of our plan. “Others told us bluntly the idea was overly political. We took time to make it clear to them.”

They sought accurate data on the shortage of desks.

“We surveyed 27 primary schools in Dar es Salaam. When we realised that the task could take us a long period to complete, we consulted the Kinondoni District educational officer to furnish us with data, but he told us submit a letter from the university administration,” he remembers. But statistics then showed 66,301 pupils lacked desks in Dar es Salaam Region.

Moris and his friends complied with the education officer’s condition. But when they submitted the letter to the government it took too long to respond.

Nevertheless, they started to raise funds. Their aim was to get Sh24 million to buy desks. But they got Sh584,000 from various contributors and some from their own pockets to have a total of Sh1.8 million to buy at least 10 desks for Kinondoni schools.

Meanwhile, Juliana Busasi, a fourth-year medical student and founder of Tanzania Health and Medical Education Foundation (TAHMEF) has a passion to serve people.

“During my childhood, I lived near a refugee camp in Kigoma. I used to see doctors attending to refugees and I was really inspired to become like them,” she says.

According to her, she got the idea of registering TAHMEF – a non-governmental organisation -- when she joined university.

“We started it with my seven classmates.”

Objectives of the NGO include raising primary healthcare awareness. “We have raised Sh6 million for financing screening programmes in various places.”

In cooperation with Kairuki Hospital and Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH) specialists they screened patients at Mikocheni and Kigogo.

“We screened at least 100 people; women and men aged above 50. It was established that 40 per cent of them had early stages of diabetes” she says.

“We conducted the second breast cancer screening at Kigogo in cooperation with MNH specialists. We also conducted breast cancer awareness seminars for Jangwani, Kisutu and St Anthony’s secondary schools. We served 150 girls in Mbagala. We trained 500 St Joseph Girls’ Seminary girls in Mwanza Region.”

In 2016 Busasi and her fellow students examined 3,500 people in Mwanza, Dar es Salaam and Coast Regions.

“We are still planning to reach more Tanzanians especially in rural Tanzania areas. We plan to launch a health insurance scheme with the National Health Insurance Fund to help low-income earners.”

Another student is Yahya Simba who has developed an online platform “www.desapoint.com” to enable university students to access studying materials.

“During my first year at the university, I used to miss lectures due to unavoidable circumstances. I struggled to get studying materials from my friends,” the third-year medical student recalls.

When in second year he met a Kampala International University student in Dar es Salaam who shared with him an idea to develop an online platform. “The beginning was really challenging as I had to raise funds to run the platform. I besought my fellow students to contribute at least Sh5,000 each but they refused.”

He proceeded on his own and currently the platform has 8,200 active members from various universities.”It is a great achievement. I’m proud of it. To become a premium member, one should upload studying learning materials. There is no registration.”

The HKMU Vice Chancellor, Prof Charles Mgone, has called upon the government to support young innovators to design a number of problem-solving initiatives.

“They can do better if they are well monitored and funded,” he says. He also urged the innovators to strike a balance in their activities to ensure that they do well in their studies. “If you are a very good footballer while schooling, you should also do well in your studies. You should be the best in school and the best in serving the community,” he insists.

The HKMU Dean of Students, Dr Alphonce Liwa, has assured the young innovators of his strong support to achieve their goals in developing problem-solving innovations.

“Once they came to my office, I was very impressed with their initiatives. I instructed them to put their ideas in writing. Again I normally allow them to go outside the university and carry out their social activities. We are proud of them,” says Dr Liwa.

“Innovation is beyond our capabilities. It has something to do with courage. Most young people tend to judge themselves whether they are capable of innovating or not and end up failing to accomplish their goals. The best way is to do things and let the outcome be judged.”