JOYCE MAGOTI

 

Maine.

 

A US District Federal Judge in the state of Maine, John Woodcock Jr., has praised Tanzania as a peaceful and democracy abiding country.

 

The Judge who could not hide his love for Tanzania also mentioned the late Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, the Tanzanian founding father, as one of the heroes of democracy in Africa who also was a role model to many.

 

“Tanzania is a friendly country and has attracted many in the world but all this is a result of good leadership of your Father of The Nation, Mwalimu (Julius) Nyerere....I was attracted by the history of your leadership since I was a school kid,” said the Judge who was speaking with a group of nine Tanzanian journalists who visited the court in their month long exchange program tenable at the University of Maine (Umaine).

 

Woodcock who is an appointee of the Bush administration three years ago, pointed further that compared to other neighboring countries like Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe Tanzania political leadership has distinguished itself from encouraging political violence to remain a democratic state.

 

He said when he was school kid such a political leadership named together with such tourist attractions like the famous Mount Kilimanjaro and The Serengeti National Park attracted him to know more about the East African country.

 

“Today I feel honored to host journalists coming from a country I loved most since my school days. I will take this opportunity to advise you that when you go back home continue writing objective stories to move ahead your society and cast a good example to your neighbors,” he insisted.

 

Earlier the visiting junos attended a court session presided by Judge Woodcock in which the court was in session to read a sentence for a Maine resident who was accused of burglary and unlawful possession of a weapon.

 

In the two hour session, Judge Woodcock found the accused guilty of the two felonies, to sentence the named McCurth (52) who was defended by a private advocate  Jeffrey Silverstein, to 17 years in imprisonment

 

After the sentencing the Judge, in a light moment with the visiting junos said sometimes its difficult for him to keep his humanity outside the cases.

 

“There are times when I feel like crying when I send someone to jail but I have to follow what the law says, because otherwise I will be promoting evils,” said the Judge.

 

Unlike in Tanzania, the visitors saw that the court was highly furnished with modern tools including computers, microphones and the Judge was also aided by a number of staff and the sessions were conducted in a brotherly way and the accused was at each stage informed of his rights and obligations by the judge.

 

The Tanzanian journalists are in a third week at the Umaine and will next week move to Washington DC for more practical training and media attachments. The program is funded by the American people through United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Tanzania office.

 

JOYCE MAGOTI

 

Maine.

 

A US District Federal Judge in the state of Maine, John Woodcock Jr., has praised Tanzania as a peaceful and democracy abiding country.

 

The Judge who could not hide his love for Tanzania also mentioned the late Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, the Tanzanian founding father, as one of the heroes of democracy in Africa who also was a role model to many.

 

“Tanzania is a friendly country and has attracted many in the world but all this is a result of good leadership of your Father of The Nation, Mwalimu (Julius) Nyerere....I was attracted by the history of your leadership since I was a school kid,” said the Judge who was speaking with a group of nine Tanzanian journalists who visited the court in their month long exchange program tenable at the University of Maine (Umaine).

 

Woodcock who is an appointee of the Bush administration three years ago, pointed further that compared to other neighboring countries like Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe Tanzania political leadership has distinguished itself from encouraging political violence to remain a democratic state.

 

He said when he was school kid such a political leadership named together with such tourist attractions like the famous Mount Kilimanjaro and The Serengeti National Park attracted him to know more about the East African country.

 

“Today I feel honored to host journalists coming from a country I loved most since my school days. I will take this opportunity to advise you that when you go back home continue writing objective stories to move ahead your society and cast a good example to your neighbors,” he insisted.

 

Earlier the visiting junos attended a court session presided by Judge Woodcock in which the court was in session to read a sentence for a Maine resident who was accused of burglary and unlawful possession of a weapon.

 

In the two hour session, Judge Woodcock found the accused guilty of the two felonies, to sentence the named McCurth (52) who was defended by a private advocate  Jeffrey Silverstein, to 17 years in imprisonment

 

After the sentencing the Judge, in a light moment with the visiting junos said sometimes its difficult for him to keep his humanity outside the cases.

 

“There are times when I feel like crying when I send someone to jail but I have to follow what the law says, because otherwise I will be promoting evils,” said the Judge.

 

Unlike in Tanzania, the visitors saw that the court was highly furnished with modern tools including computers, microphones and the Judge was also aided by a number of staff and the sessions were conducted in a brotherly way and the accused was at each stage informed of his rights and obligations by the judge.

 

The Tanzanian journalists are in a third week at the Umaine and will next week move to Washington DC for more practical training and media attachments. The program is funded by the American people through United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Tanzania office.

African Wars and The Sad 
Story of Somalis in Maine

By Joyce Magoti

Lewiston, Maine

"We would like one day to see peace and security in our country because is not easy to live in America and we can’t keep a lot of family in this country," that is a voice full of thoughts back home from Dr. Said Mohamud the founder and President of African Immigrants Association.

 

Dr. Mohamud was talking to 9 Tanzanian journalists who  visited the Maine Lewiston city where Somali community live after left their country  as Refugees for the reason of extended  civil war.

 

He said due to prolonged civil wars in their country the have been forced to leave Somalia and he blamed other African countries allegedly to have created the war because of various interest to Somalia.

 

“Many nations have interest to Somalia including America, Egypt, Kenya. So I don’t think that one day we will stop that war, so our main vision is to unite ourselves as well as to make strong society to help themselves live in America.

 

"My duty is to help African people (in Maine) to cope with American culture especially in education, we help the young who are able to go to the college teaching them language and educate them because Americans don’t trust our education so they tell us to repeat studies even if you’re a graduate," he told the journalists.

 

Expressed the wish shared by many African communities of returning home oneday.

“I wish some days I can go back home, I miss my home, my   job, my cars, I would like to live in a peaceful country and democratic,” said Dr. Mohamud.

Before visiting the Somali community the journalists visited Lewiston Sun and lead by Tony Ronzio, the editorial page editor, apart from learning on the American press, Toni also gave a long history of the Somalis in Lewiston saying they come from different countries where they lived after running from their homes.

 

He said the Maine Community helped to encourage them to join in secondary schools and some of them have graduated in colleges.

 

“They come in America and choose where they want to live and the Community here has supported them to by starting English program in order to manage their life, further more, they control their life by doing temporary works,” he added.

 

On his part Laurent Gilbert the Mayor of Lewiston city when he was talking to Tanzanian Journalistin his office he added that, the Somali likes to live in America because they feel safe and the Community will continue to help them in education and other programs though now there is no more money to support them in many programe.

It is understood that apart from Somalis also Sudanese, Congolese and other Africans migrated in the areas and as of now about 4,000 new immigrants have moved to Lewiston since 2001, and dozens are still arriving every month.

Eight years ago, the town’s adult education center had only 76 student learning English as a second language and now some 950 pass through every year due to the increasing people from Africa. 

HIV/AIDS Not So Hot in The US

 

Joyce Magoti

 

COMING from a continent where HIV/AIDS is every where and where many people are dying because of the disease, Tanzanian journalist currently attending the exchange program in Maine were relieved to learn how in the US the disease is not an alarming issue.

 

Tanzania alone, due to the spread of the disease, the country has launched a number of anti-HIV campaign with the President himself, Jakaya Kikwete, leading in the testing exercise.

 

Speaking with the Tanzanian journalists at the University of Maine recently, Professor Claire Sullvan, who has researched on a number of health communication and campaign related to HIV /AIDS in Sub Saharan Countries said unlike Africa, the US has controlled spread of the disease.

 

She said because of the problem in Africa a number of campaigns have been introduced including 'One Love' and 'It Begins With You.'

 

Professor Sullivan had cited a number of Sub Saharan countries where the programs have been running.

 

However no research have been done before the programs were put in place, as some countries has tribes that still practice polygamy system as well as inheriting wives.

 

So in my point of view the One love campaign will be possible if they will do research first in order to find the best way of campaigning in those areas.

 

Although HIV/AIDS in US is not an issue, the Don had expressed fear for those practice same sex relationship that might be in high risk of contracting the infections.

 

At the Broadcasting Network the visiting journalists were told when they visited the station that the last story was publish on the 1st of December that is The World AIDS Day.

 

Learning of such news is a big push to a country like Tanzania where, after such experience the journalists are expected to go back home and enlighten their own society.

 

 

HIV/AIDS Not So Hot in The US

 

Joyce Magoti

 

COMING from a continent where HIV/AIDS is every where and where many people are dying because of the disease, Tanzanian journalist currently attending the exchange program in Maine were relieved to learn how in the US the disease is not an alarming issue.

 

Tanzania alone, due to the spread of the disease, the country has launched a number of anti-HIV campaign with the President himself, Jakaya Kikwete, leading in the testing exercise.

 

Speaking with the Tanzanian journalists at the University of Maine recently, Professor Claire Sullvan, who has researched on a number of health communication and campaign related to HIV /AIDS in Sub Saharan Countries said unlike Africa, the US has controlled spread of the disease.

 

She said because of the problem in Africa a number of campaigns have been introduced including 'One Love' and 'It Begins With You.'

 

Professor Sullivan had cited a number of Sub Saharan countries where the programs have been running.

 

However no research have been done before the programs were put in place, as some countries has tribes that still practice polygamy system as well as inheriting wives.

 

So in my point of view the One love campaign will be possible if they will do research first in order to find the best way of campaigning in those areas.

 

Although HIV/AIDS in US is not an issue, the Don had expressed fear for those practice same sex relationship that might be in high risk of contracting the infections.

 

At the Broadcasting Network the visiting journalists were told when they visited the station that the last story was publish on the 1st of December that is The World AIDS Day.

 

Learning of such news is a big push to a country like Tanzania where, after such experience the journalists are expected to go back home and enlighten their own society.

 

 

Host Families; An exposure to the Inner American Life

By Joyce Magoti

LAST weekend was one of the best moments for Tanzanian journalists who are in Maine for a USAID-Tanzania funded exchange program-a visit to host families.

This I have to confess was one of my greatest days in my life since I touched the American soil, when I went to spend two nights with American people in their home sharing experiences of life and getting an opportunity to know their inner living.

Me and my colleague, Levina Kato were hosted by one family and they welcomed us warmly and we lived with them the two days as one family joyfully.

Our hosts Kristine and Bruce Red was very lucky to find out that we are going to live with them all weekend then ask their friends Betty and Greg Jamison to have dinner with us.

 

Cris told us that she always come to Africa in Ghana where she was the among of people who help orphanage center their, for the moment I get the point that our hosts are helpful and kind all the time of their life.

 

     

The sooner we reached their compound, they started to include us in their life as we went down to the kitchen to prepare dinner because it was around seven and dinner was served to us together with a number of invited neighborhood families.




Dinner  time was a very important avenue for our hosts to learn a lot of issues about Tanzania and we exchanged skills and information with them.

I learned that most American people like to know much about Africa although they are badly fed with only negative news such as hunger, famine, diseases and corruption from the international and local press.

We spent time telling them some good news about Africa and Tanzania in particular and most of them were impressed and vowed to visit this country anytime.

After a fairly good sleep the next day took off with a tour of The Acadia National Reserve where we saw the natural beauty of Maine and we also later on the day visited the famous Bar Harbor Beach, sand beach, Thunder stones and Acadia hills where we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon.

I found the Acadia Beach well kept and preserved and the city around the area reminded me of Tanzania's Zanzibar stone town which attracts a number of tourists.

We spent the last day of our session on shopping and talking top our hosts before they took us back to the campus.

Through this program I learned a lot about Maine and the US in general especially on their perception of issues like health care, international relations and further more how much they love their country.

I think Tanzanians should know much about American live as our two countries also improve their relationship, so I will upon landing back home share this experience with my people at home.




 

 

 

Host Families; An exposure to the Inner American Life

By Joyce Magoti

LAST weekend was one of the best moments for Tanzanian journalists who are in Maine for a USAID-Tanzania funded exchange program-a visit to host families.

This I have to confess was one of my greatest days in my life since I touched the American soil, when I went to spend two nights with American people in their home sharing experiences of life and getting an opportunity to know their inner living.

Me and my colleague, Levina Kato were hosted by one family and they welcomed us warmly and we lived with them the two days as one family joyfully.

Our hosts Kristine and Bruce Red was very lucky to find out that we are going to live with them all weekend then ask their friends Betty and Greg Jamison to have dinner with us.

 

Cris told us that she always come to Africa in Ghana where she was the among of people who help orphanage center their, for the moment I get the point that our hosts are helpful and kind all the time of their life.

 

     

The sooner we reached their compound, they started to include us in their life as we went down to the kitchen to prepare dinner because it was around seven and dinner was served to us together with a number of invited neighborhood families.




Dinner  time was a very important avenue for our hosts to learn a lot of issues about Tanzania and we exchanged skills and information with them.

I learned that most American people like to know much about Africa although they are badly fed with only negative news such as hunger, famine, diseases and corruption from the international and local press.

We spent time telling them some good news about Africa and Tanzania in particular and most of them were impressed and vowed to visit this country anytime.

After a fairly good sleep the next day took off with a tour of The Acadia National Reserve where we saw the natural beauty of Maine and we also later on the day visited the famous Bar Harbor Beach, sand beach, Thunder stones and Acadia hills where we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon.

I found the Acadia Beach well kept and preserved and the city around the area reminded me of Tanzania's Zanzibar stone town which attracts a number of tourists.

We spent the last day of our session on shopping and talking top our hosts before they took us back to the campus.

Through this program I learned a lot about Maine and the US in general especially on their perception of issues like health care, international relations and further more how much they love their country.

I think Tanzanians should know much about American live as our two countries also improve their relationship, so I will upon landing back home share this experience with my people at home.




 

 

 

the visit to Bangor Newspaper

My tour to Bangor Daily News

 

My visit to Bangor Daily News paper, which is one of leading media in Bangor town, Maine served a big deal of what I like most, which is to learn from others’ experience.

I was particularly concerned on how the media (Bangor) interact with their audience by allowing them to post their comments on website, challenge the paper and provide some constructive suggestions for development and improvement of products.

I was particularly moved by the fact that Government do not interfere in editorial decisions of media outlets be it owned by individuals, organizations or public institutions.

Bangor Daily New is a daily newspaper in Bangor, Maine, covering local news, sports, business, jobs, and community events, which published six day a week in Monday through Saturday.

According to BDN website the Circulation is 55,627 copies per day as well as owned by family

Apart from the freedom they enjoy, and public interaction the visit to the family owned paper exposed me to new experiences on supervision and management of the media.

For instance to attendance of day’s project meeting and postmortem by all staff and supervisors including the Managing Editor was an eye opener to how the media personnel back home could cooperate together to develop better products.  

I was interested to learn how the editors are prepared to come for the morning meeting whereby they came with tip offs for the entire newspaper starting with splash to the last page.

The editors were getting along together in discussion, which implies that have a focused goal of bringing up the best product the next morning.

The development of online products are attributable to time factor such that most people have no time to read the actual print product.

As such BDN has come up with the number of different online products to cater for customer’s needs.

Some of the products according to Josh Tuttle, the online editor are alert message on cell phones, face book, twitter and a slot for readers’ comments

Josh said nothing change in this journalism for the reason that public will gather information with no different along with exclusively similar to any media.

Its seems that now we are going to move from printing journalism to online especially in the advancing technology movement.

Nine Tanzanian journalists are in Maine University for exchange for four weeks sharing ideas with and experience with the Journalist of US the project that sponsored by USAID and UMAINE.

 

Joyce   R.  Magoti,

Kulikoni &Thisday Newspapers ,

Media Solution Company Ltd,

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

 

The Impression of My First Day in Maine

 

I dreamed of seeing a beautiful land when I was in the sky, my dreams came true when I saw the Maine land after landing down from the plane, I had never seen the beautiful  land like this in my life time.

 

It seems that people of Maine like their environment more than anything because they work hard to have green forests with different kind of trees along the river, I am sure that  people of Maine conserve very well the sources of water for the coming  generation.

 

 

 Few minutes before landing at Bangor International Airport hosts  came to pick us from the airport to Orono and by that time  I found them charming and kind while inviting us in the City.

 

Among the people  who came to welcome us are Prof. Mike Hastings, the   Director office of Research and Sponsored Programs, Prof. Mike Socolow , Department of Communication and Journalism together with Kurt Klappenbach the one of masters students  who takes good care of us since that day up to date. 

    

We went to the Woolley Room in DTAV Community Center for a welcoming meeting and orientation and after that professor Mike took us back to the Patchy House for rooms.

 

Our rooms are very nice and attractive with good facilities in side including nice bed and other thing which is important for our daily uses.

 

 

We had dinner at Governors Restaurant , Stillwater Ave ,Orono, we find interesting foods and drinks including refreshment like ice creams and tasted water.

 

I feel very well to be in Maine especially in Maine University and am ready  for the long journey in classes.

God bless the people of America and the people of Maine.

 

Joyce Magoti

Media Solution Company Ltd

Kulikoni & Thisday News Paper

Dar es salaam Tanzania.

The Impression of My First Day in Maine

 

I dreamed of seeing a beautiful land when I was in the sky, my dreams came true when I saw the Maine land after landing down from the plane, I had never seen the beautiful  land like this in my life time.

 

It seems that people of Maine like their environment more than anything because they work hard to have green forests with different kind of trees along the river, I am sure that  people of Maine conserve very well the sources of water for the coming  generation.

 

 

 Few minutes before landing at Bangor International Airport hosts  came to pick us from the airport to Orono and by that time  I found them charming and kind while inviting us in the City.

 

Among the people  who came to welcome us are Prof. Mike Hastings, the   Director office of Research and Sponsored Programs, Prof. Mike Socolow , Department of Communication and Journalism together with Kurt Klappenbach the one of masters students  who takes good care of us since that day up to date. 

    

We went to the Woolley Room in DTAV Community Center for a welcoming meeting and orientation and after that professor Mike took us back to the Patchy House for rooms.

 

Our rooms are very nice and attractive with good facilities in side including nice bed and other thing which is important for our daily uses.

 

 

We had dinner at Governors Restaurant , Stillwater Ave ,Orono, we find interesting foods and drinks including refreshment like ice creams and tasted water.

 

I feel very well to be in Maine especially in Maine University and am ready  for the long journey in classes.

God bless the people of America and the people of Maine.

 

Joyce Magoti

Media Solution Company Ltd

Kulikoni & Thisday News Paper

Dar es salaam Tanzania.

welcome to my blog,  which will be publishing kind of issues including beauty tips.

hope your going to enjoy many things especially my trip to Us in Maine University for USAID Tanzania Journalism Exchange Project Project 2009.

We are nine Tanzanian Journalist in this project and i wish  all of us are going to enjoy and learn  more things from the big University like Maine which offered BA Communication , Mass Communication and Journalism, (BA in Journalism).

More over, we are going to share  experiences from other media house in Us, Tanzania Journalist will have an opportunity  to share experiences  with the Us Journalist so us to build up their carrier and improve our efficiency. 

Joyce Magoti,

Journalist from Tanzania in Media Solution Company Ltd

Kulikoni and Thisday News Papers,

Dar es salaam.