MBEYA CITY : MY HOME TOWN

 

Mbeya

Mbeya is a city located in southwest Tanzania, Africa. Mbeya's urban population was 280,000 in 2005. Mbeya is the capital of the surrounding rural Mbeya region (population, with Mbeya, totals approx. 2 million).

Mbeya is the first large urban settlement encountered when travelling overland from the neighbouring nation of Zambia. Mbeya is situated at an altitude of 1,700 meters (5,500 ft), and sprawls through a narrow highland valley surrounded by a bowl of high mountains. The main language is colloquial Swahili, and the English language is extensively taught in schools.

History

Following the 1905 gold rush, Mbeya was founded as a gold mining town in the 1920s. The TAZARA railway later attracting farming migrants and small entrepreneurs to the area. Mbeya and its district was administered by the British until 1961. Mbeya Region was created in 1961. Mbeya City is now a growing metropolis and business centre for the southern regions and the neighbouring countries of Malawi, Zambia and Congo. The City is well connected with an all-weather road that forms part of the "Great North Road" running from Cape Town to Alexandria. The City has several tribes including the Safwa, Nyakyusa and Nyiha, all being agricultural peoples. Mbeya also boasts as one of the regions that form the bread basket of Tanzania. 

 

Economy and infrastructure

Local government is administered via the Mbeya Urban District authority and a Regional Commissioner.

Mbeya has weather with enough rainfall and fertile soil which enable it to be thelargest producer of maize, rice, bananas, beans, potatoes (Irish & sweet), soya nuts and wheat in the entire country. Tanzania has a free market in agricultural produce, and Mbeya transports vast amounts of its maize to other areas of Tanzania. There is also extensive animal husbandry, with dairy cattle predominating. Mbeya is also the biggest producer of high-value export and cash crops in Tanzania; those crops are coffee (arabica), tea, cocoa, pyrethirum and spices. There is some smallholder cultivation of tobacco. Firewood is collected by women and girls, from the wooded valleys and mountainsides. Bamboo is naturally abundant in the forests, and there are plans to teach local people about this versatile plant and its many uses. Some gold is still mined in the rural Chunya District, by artisan miners.

Mbeya is considered to be heading the Southern Highlands Regions, that's why there is a Mbeya Referral Hospital which serves the whole of the Southern Highlands regions, Bank of Tanzania BOT, Mbeya Cement Company, Afri Bottlers Company Coca-Cola Company, SBC Tanzania Ltd Pepsi Cola Company, Tanzania Breweries Limited, NMB, TIB, Mbozi Coffee Curing Limited, Tukuyu Tea Company, Tanzania Oxygen Limited TOL - KYEJO, CRDB all these serve as zonal representative for southern Highlands. There are also a number of companies and statutory organisations with zonal offices in Mbeya.

 

Education

Besides a growing number of secondary schools like Meta, Sangu, Loleza, Mbeya day, Iyunga,Igawilo, UWATA Secondary School, St Mary's Mbeya, St. Francis Girls Secondary School, which the best Secondary School in Tanzania (the leading school in the entire country, has been in that position for couple of years now). Mbeya has some institutes of higher learning education:

• Teofilo Kisanji University is a young institution of the Moravian Church in Tanzania offering courses in theology,business, arts, sciences and educational studies, as well as training pastors and. Since 2005, it has grown out of the earlier Moravian Theological College. The college is situated at Soweto suburb.

• Mbeya University of Science and Technology (MUST) formerly known as Mbeya institute of Science and Technology(MIST) is a public institution offering degrees, advanced diplomas, and ordinary diplomas in various engineering disciplines.{ MIST was formerly known as Mbeya Technical College (MTC)}. The College is at Iyunga area.

• Mzumbe University (MU) Mbeya Campus is situated in Forest area next to the Bank of Tanzania. This public University offers bachelor degrees and diplomas in law and business, as well as providing evening programs in postgraduate studies.

• Tanzania Institute of Accountancy (TIA) is another public University, offering advanced diplomas and ordinary diplomas in Accountancy, Procurement, and Material Management. The Institution is situated at the Mafiat area, along the Tanzania-Zambia Highway.

• Agricultural Research Institute (ARI Uyole), with a training college and a large research library. This was previously the Ministry of Agriculture Research and Training Institute (MARTI).

• MARTI-Igurusi is a training college in agricultural sciences, and is similar to the ARI Uyole. Its uniqueness is based on being the only agricultural institution in Tanzania which offers various irrigation courses

• Shukrani International College of Business Management and Administration is an institution operated by The Salvation Army in Tanzania. Located in the Soweto area of Mbeya, it offers diploma courses in Business Administration, Sales and Marketing, Computer Studies, Office Management and Administration.

• VETA Southern Highland Zonal Centre is another vocational training college, situated in the Ilomba area.

• Tumaini University has also opened its centre in Mbeya, at Uzunguni area, which offers various diplomas and certificate courses. The processes are underway in order to open the University College at Uyole

• The University of Arusha has already opened its centre at SOWETO suburb, which offers various courses there.

• Mbeya Medical training center (MMTC)is a complex medical training college located adjacent to Mbeya Referral Hospital, it offers Advanced Diploma in clinical Medicine, Diploma in Dental therapy and diploma in nursing.

• Tukuyu Teachers College and Makandana Teachers College, they offer Certificate and Diploma.

• Uyole Social College, belongs to the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, it offers Certificate in Sociology.

• Mbozi Mission Nursing College, is under Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.

• Uyole Teachers College is a branch of Tumaini University.