AUTHOR'S PROFILE

As a student for a Masters degree in International community Economic Development; a program developed and conducted by Southern New Hampshire University of U.S.A in collaboration with the Open University of Tanzania (2007/2009); my profile is as follows:-

My name is as mentioned above, and I was born 1956 in a village called Olevolos in Kimnyak ward, Arumeru District in Arusha Region. I grow – up in a Maasai family, my father having five wife’s, my mother being the fourth wife. Born in a big family and have several brothers and sisters; in a Massai family it is a common tradition that young boys when they are five years of age and above, their day to day duty is to look for cows, goats and sheep. Girls busy with home related matters. Taking children to school in a Massai family is not customary, because they believe that by the time a child is absorbed in school, automatically the child drops the Maasai culture and traditions and lost the Maasai Identity. The Most important and valued Maasai Identity is the ownership of livestock, i.e cows, goats and sheep. .Maasai people believes that all cows goats and sheep all over the world belongs to the Maasai people.

It happens one day, me and one of my brothers, both 10 years of age and looking after our fathers goats and sheep, together we decided to kill one goat and barbeque for our
Midday meal. We fixed a false story to tell our father, that one goat just disappeared and we could not find it. Our father ordered our elder brother to go out and look for the goat, and very unfortunately during their search, they recognized the place where we barbequed the goat meat and even the skin which we left. They reported to our farther ;and there is when we are taken and beaten to tell the truth. After the beating, our father was angry with us and our next punishment was to be taken to school.
From that day my school life started. I started my primary school and finished standard seven in 1973. I passed my exams and selected to join Galanos Secondary School in Tanga Region, in 1974. In 1977, I completed my ordinary level education and passed my exams and selected to join Mazengo High School in Dodoma Region. There I studied Physics, Geography and Mathematics.
In 1979, I completed my A-level Secondary education, and the next year (1980), I joined the National Service (J.K.T) for one year. After the National Service I was employed by the then Tanzania Housing Bank as a site Inspector. I worked with the Bank for two years, after which in 1983, I joined the Institute of Development Management (IDM) Mzumbe and studied Business Administration for three years. I graduated in 1986, and managed to get a job with Northern Electrical Manufacturers Company Ltd. (NEM-LTD).
I was employed as a sales and marketing officer, responsible in selling and marketing all the company’s products. I maintained this job for 14 years until 2000 when the company stopped its operations due to lack of adequate capital to sustain competition from cheap imported goods. In year 2001 myself and other members decided to start an NGO, called OSOTWA Mt. Meru Community Based Conservation Organization (Osotwa Mt. Meru Cbco). The main objective of Osotwa Mt. Meru Cbco, is to raise conservation awareness, and provide environmental education to the Communities living down the slope of \Mt. Meru; for the purpose of protecting the Eco-system of the Mountain, for the benefit of current and future generations. In Osotwa I work as the Chairman of the organization.