Pulling up stumps

In the ICC World Cricket League Division Three competition just completed in Darwin, Tanzania lifted its ranking from 7th to 6th in the Division of eight teams.

Tanzania's captain, Hamisi Abdallah, bowling in Darwin

That’s a good effort! And what a great experience for these cricketers to have the opportunity to travel and play against seven other countries from around the world, including Argentina and Italy as well as smaller nations like Fiji and Cayman Islands.

I hope that the kids at St Jude’s get the chance to learn cricket. Perhaps cricket is one of the many opportunities that will develop as the school becomes more established and the children grow into the high school years.

It seems to me that things are changing rapidly in Africa because so many countries are on the path of economic growth. A recent OECD report, African Economic Outlook 2006/2007, indicated that GDP growth rate in Africa has averaged about 5 percent annually in the past six years, rising to 5.5 percent in 2006, and is expected to reach 6 percent in 2007.
The report noted that sound macroeconomic policies in most African countries has increased business confidence leading to a pickup in private sector investment.

The Chief Economist of the African Development Bank, Dr. Louis Kasekende pointed out that,

Yet, the continent still needs to accelerate and sustain growth to the level of 7 to 8 percent to be able to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2015.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) annual report on sub-Saharan Africa said,

Optimism over sub-Saharan Africa has grown in recent years, thanks to debt relief, global economic expansion, high prices for commodities such as oil and a general improvement in policy-making.

The IMF said it was too early to assess whether the higher growth rates were helping poverty but noted governments had been using the proceeds of debt relief to provide key services.

With these gains, it is likely that when the kids of St Jude’s graduate, they will be poised to step into the professional roles needed by their growing economy. Perhaps they will also get to play cricket and travel the world!



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Cricket update

The Cricinfo points table for ICC World Cricket League Division Three, 2007, shows Tanzania ranked 5th out of 8 countries in the competition.

Now that's not TOO bad is it? It is good enough to keep them in Division Three. The bottom countries will drop down to Division 4 (*gulp*), while the two countries in the final, Uganda and Argentina, will be promoted to Division Two.

Yellow River, Kakadu, Northern Territory

I wonder whether the visiting teams will get to visit Kakadu? I hope so. I remember the sunset tour on the Yellow River – so many birds!

I guess you can tell that I'm a bit of a cricket tragic....

Computers and cricket

Cricket update – Tanzania lost its game to Uganda in the World Cricket League Division Three contest currently underway in Darwin. But, as my mother would say, we just have to make the best of it and get on with things.

The main thing I want to share with you today is some news about a whole rash of new computers priced to be accessible to poor countries. I have blogged here about the One Laptop Per Child iments(OLPC) program of Negroponte that aims to provide $100 computers to schools in poor countries. Despite developing a suitable computer, OLPC is not finding buyers amongst governments of poor countries. This doesn't surprise me one bit. The poorest countries are struggling to build classrooms and train teachers to provide the rudiments of elementary education to their kids.

Sudeep Banerjee, India's education secretary, said,

We need classrooms and teachers more urgently than fancy tools.

One commentator says,

The OLPC project is based on the idea that just providing computers can make a huge difference, as children will spontaneously use them to make up for what they lack in books and other equipment and experiences. But many education researchers dispute this theory. And the more that classroom structure and teacher training is needed to maximize the computers' benefit, the more the programme will end up costing governments.

I was interested to read this report about competitors to OLPC. Intel has developed Classmate, and Novatium has developed NetPC, both aimed at schools in poor countries.

Intel's Classmate computer

It is great to see these developments because it means that when poor countries are ready to implement computers in schools, there will be a number of affordable options to meet their needs.

These new computers are a reflection of growing recognition that the slice of world population at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP), i.e. the poorest people, can be regarded as a viable market for goods and services. As these people/countries lift themselves out of dire poverty, they will enter world markets, both buying and selling. It is clear that a number of computer providers are positioning themselves to sell cheap computers to BOP markets – and education is the market they are tackling first.

Jhunjhunwala, the brains behind NetPC, aims to start where they can have a real effect — among the market of emerging middle classes and schools that can afford the computers and have the resources to use them effectively. He says that the OLPC will be irrelevant to developing countries because in the poorest strata of society "this toy will just be sold or stolen".

It's good to see that the governments of the poorest countries have the wisdom to see that the $100 computer is useless without the supports needed to use it effectively.

And it's great to see the School of St Jude has its own strategy for including computers in the classroom.

World Cricket League, Day 1

Cricinfo reports the first day of competition in the World Cricket League, Div 3, tournament, being played in Darwin.

The opening pair of Steve Gordon and Ainsley Hall stroked unbeaten centuries to steer Cayman Islands to an easy 10-wicket victory over Tanzania. Gordon hit a 119-ball 104 laced with 12 fours and a six and Hall faced 150 balls for his 100 with 10 fours and three sixes as the Cayman Islands achieved victory target with 26 balls to spare. Tanzania, put into bat, made 206 for 6 with Athumani Kakonzi top scoring with a 105-ball 82. Shaheed Dhanani contributed 38. For the Cayman Islands, Ronald Ebanks snapped up 3 for 40.

Ah well.... 206 for 6 is not bad, especially as Cayman Islands is rated the strongest team in the tournament.

Tanzanian cricketers visit Australia

The Tanzanian national team is one of the eight nations playing in the World Cricket League Division 3 tournament in Darwin this week.

This tournament provides a stepping stone towards qualification for the 2011 World Cup. The top two teams from this event will join UAE, Namibia, Denmark and Oman in Windhoek, Namibia at the ICC World Cricket League Division 2, in November. The top teams from that tournament will go to the ICC World Cup Qualifier in the UAE in 2009.

Tanzania have prepared for the competition with a three week training camp in India in April, which saw them take on five local sides in warm-up matches. Hamisi Abdallah's side also gained valuable experience when they took on some of the Associate member countries taking part in the World Cricket League Division One in Nairobi in January, although they did suffer a 79 run defeat to Scotland.

I'm glad to see the Tanzanian national team visiting Australia. Cricket seems to be one of the most skilled and least violent of the big international games, so it is a sport that I would like to see encouraged. And, as the Australian government recently banned the Australian cricket team from visiting Zimbabwe as a sign of disapproval of the Mugabe regime, it is important that we put out the welcome mat for other African countries.

While I understand the impetus towards African solidarity, I am disturbed to see African countries put solidarity with the Mugabe regime ahead of broad principles of fairness and effective government. In the same way, I get annoyed by the stance that 'Africa is a hopeless case, look at Zimbabwe'. The poor practices of the Mugabe regime reflect on all African countries. So, I am glad that I have learnt a bit about Tanzania, because it allows me to point towards other African countries that are relatively well-run but still desperately poor.

What reason is there not to help, when you find a good project in a country that is working hard to improve the standard of governance and the economy? You can help to ensure that the future leaders of Tanzania, get an education that includes solid values as well as the broad foundations for effective professional lives.

Give your support to the School of St Jude, in Arusha, Tanzania and help Fight Poverty Through Education.

Tanzanian cricketers to visit Australia

Here’s a piece of news that I’m just catching up with. Cricinfo reports that the Tanzania cricket team will be coming to Australia in May to participate in the ICC World Cricket League Division Three competition.

It will be played in Darwin between 27 May and 6 June 2007. I wonder how much we will see broadcast? I guess that Cricinfo will be my best resource to find out how things are going.

Captain: Hamisi Abdullah

The ICC runs international cricket. Apart from the top tier Test competition, there are five divisions for international competition, so it is to Tanzania’s credit that they made it into the Third Division. Neighbouring Kenya is the leading African cricket team and they are playing in the First Division. The teams playing in the Third Division in Darwin will be –

• Argentina, Cayman Islands, Fiji, Hong Kong, Italy, Papua New Guinea, Tanzania and Uganda

The US team had won a place in the Third Division, but they have been suspended from the ICC due to issues of poor governance (whatever that means). So here is one field where Tanzania is outperforming the mighty USA. Then, again, the current corruption scandal around Wolfowitz of the World Bank suggests that Tanzanian officials are no worse than officials in other countries when it comes to correct behaviour.

To prepare for Darwin, the Tanzanian team has travelled to India for a 20-day training spell. Cricket was brought to Tanzania by British and Asian residents in the late 1800s. It has been reinvigorated in recent years and is supported by development initiatives for juniors and women’s cricket, coordinated by Tanzania Cricket.

Somehow, it seems important to know that a Tanzanian national sporting team has opportunities to participate in international sporting events. It’s all part of the complex web of exchanges that keep us connected.

Cricket

Bushfires aren't the only sign of summer in Australia. The other big indicator is the start of the cricket season.

Justin Langer opens for Australia in the first test match at the Gabba

Like any seasonal event, cricket sometimes dominates the horizon and sometimes ticks along in the background . This is a BIG year. England is touring and we are determined to win back the Ashes.

England's team are all under 30 years, while Australia is fielding a team of old hands all of whom are over 30, except Michael Clarke, aka 'Puppy'.

I love cricket. The most strategic and complicated game of all sports, it has a grand history of spectacular performances, passions and gaffs as well as a whole rainbow of personalities including players, umpires and commentators.

What are the national sporting passions of Tanzania, I wonder? Perhaps the struggle for a basic existence leaves little energy for formal sport. But then, Ethiopia has cornered the market on long distance running. Maybe the German influence in East Africa planted the seed of soccer in the country.

The kids at the School of St Jude are getting a great education that gives them a world-class foundation in literacy, knowledge and critical thinking, as well as a strong ethical perspective.

Along recruiting and training all the staff, working through many issues, not to mention fundraising and putting up a new building each year, the school is establishing a sports program.
Gemma included the following picture in a recent newsletter.

School of St Jude Football Team

She wrote:
I realised our soccer (or ‘football’ to you non-Aussies!) and netball clubs were training successfully when the leaders asked if they could invite a local school, St Thomas, for some friendly games one afternoon. The whole school enjoyed the spirited performances of all our teams and exerted as much energy off the field as there was on it with singing and barracking for the St Jude’s players! Luckily the scores were pretty even so the St Thomas team should be happy to join us for another great afternoon of exciting soccer and netball later in the year.

There's plenty to celebrate when kids who suffer all the disadvantages of extreme poverty can eat, learn, and play games, thanks to the School of St Jude.