Iringa, Tanzania – Inauguration of the DREAM center in the midst of a great celebration of freedom
In 1961, the day in which Tanzania obtained its independence from Great Britain, a torch was lit on the highest peak of Kilimanjaro, to symbolize the freedom given back to the country’s inhabitants -then Tanganica – and, from a certain perspective, all the inhabitants of Africa. It was a torch of freedom, mwenge wa uhuru in swahili.
From that time, every year, this torch traces a path which touches all the regions where Tanzania is divided. A long procession of cars accompanies it quickly from city to city, to remind everyone of an independence achieved peacefully, to have a celebration of the people at every step, with music, songs, and dances which at times involve hundreds or thousands of people, to send messages of solidarity and civil cohabitation (this year it is a message against all kinds of violence). |
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Last July 11, the flame passed through Iringa, where the work marking the start of the second DREAM center of Tanzania is coming to an end. What better occasion for the official inauguration of the center?
This new DREAM center, right in the middle of the city, marks a response of excellence to a health situation which gave rise to much concern due to the prevalence of HIV in two figures in the whole area.
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It is, essentially, an occasion for the citizens of Iringa to celebrate a new freedom, freedom from an epidemic which can be stopped, freedom from the fear and stigma which always comes with AIDS.
Therefore, in the presence of the authorities who followed along the torch’s course, a brief but meaningful inauguration ceremony took place. |
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The music and applause accompanied the cutting of the golden ribbon, while the climate of joy and celebration communicated the message of hope and peace bursting out from all aspects of the event. The flame of freedom, taking off for a new destination, left behind it a center which is now ready to offer free care to the many who seek to be liberated from illness and suffering.
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