Written By Sarah Rosenbloom
Hello and warm greetings from a cold and rainy Kilimanjaro on this first day of May 2018! We are now 14 months away from the 16th biennial conference of the International Association of Special Education, and planning continues apace to ensure it’s going to be the best conference yet!!
Six months ago, the international planning committee and the local planning committee met up in beautiful Lushoto, where the 16th biennial conference will take place in July 2019.
Local Planning Committee From left: Sarah Rosenbloom, Gasto Lekule, Geoffrey Kingazi, Dr. Edward Bagandanshwa, and Msafiri Mbilu
More specifically, the conference will be held at Sebastian Kolowa Memorial University in the tiny village of Magamba up in the Usambara Mountains in the Tanga region of Tanzania.
On our recent reconnaissance mission back in October 2017, both committees surveyed the scene and did a ton of legwork to make sure that the venue and its environs will be perfect for all our many conference-goers from around the world.
We discussed in detail the plans for each of the different conference rooms and facilities on the university’s campus; the considerations for IT needs; the various hotels and dormitories in which guests can stay during their time here; the logistics of transportation, meals, and basic needs of our visitors; and all sorts of other good stuff.
Now, in early May, we are gearing up to meet again back in Lushoto and see what has transpired in the intermediary six months. Local transportation, catering, conference bags, and letterhead have all been attended to. Call for proposals have been posted online and are currently being received and reviewed. Safari companies have been contacted and alerted to our event, so they might be aware there will be more business than usual around that time. You could say everything is coming up roses, except that here in Tanzania at this time, we are undergoing the long rains, and the roses won’t yet rear their buds for another six weeks or so.
Thus, we leave you with a parting photo of some of the local inhabitants and how they cope with the gloomy weather: big smiles under even bigger umbrellas!
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