Founded last year by Savannah Fund‘s Mbwana Alliy and Rachel Hamada, a Tanzanian journalist who lost family members in the Skagit disaster, Usizame.org is a free SMS-based ferry check-in and alert system, designed to help prevent major marine accidents in Tanzania.
Swahili for for ‘don’t drown’ ‘Usizame’ today is remembering tragic sinking of the MV Skagit in waters near Zanzibar July 18 2012.
According to Usizame, “Skagit was the second ferry to sink in this area in a year, and brought the estimated death toll for both incidents to over 2000. This was the disaster that made a group of us – and, we hope, you too – say “never again”.
Today being the incident’s first anniversary, the Usizame project wants to thank to all its subscribers for signing up for updates and IMPORTANTLY commemorating the dead and update the community on their progress.
The Usizame.org team will be speaking at the biggest ferry regulation and safety conference in the world, the Interferry conference in Malta, Europe this year October too spread the word about what they are doing to make ferry travel in Tanzania safer and also expect to raise funds and expertise.
TechMoran would like to send our heeartfelt condolscences to the families who lost loved ones in the tragic accident a year ago. Though their bodies are gone, we remain forever united in spirit. God alone is our refuge!
We also sent our sincere regards to the entire Usizame team, Mbwana Alliy and Rachel Hamada, Allen Machary, John Francis Mukulu, Mrusha Jones and Hassan Khamis. GOD BLESS YOU!