Woman was found dead in the hotel room_ Mwananchi Communication Limited (MCL)_ 5 May 2016

Name of the story: Woman was found dead in the hotel room

Name of the media house: Mwananchi Communication Limited (MCL)

Country: Tanzania

Synopsis

Brief description of the item of work you submitted and motivation of why it is a good example of gender awareness and sensitivity in advancing gender equality Post-2015.

The story is about a woman who went with a man who was believed to be her partner in Bray guesthouse at, Kimara in Dar Es Salaam for a weekend. However, not all went when after the woman was found dead in the room took the night before. The man who was believed to be her partner was not there as well. The man who registered himself by the name of Hassan Ally, which was later confirmed not to be his name, left no evidence of neither him nor the woman.

The guest caretaker tried to call the number he register on the guests log book it was not reachable. So they had to call their management inform the bout it. Thus when the manager of the police to go and take body to mortuary as they waited for the relatives to show up and take the body for the burial.

The story is a good example of gender sensitivity because that happened after a series of women killings in different parts of our country. So as a reporter I played my role raise a flag about that because if we keep silent about such things women voices will never be heard.

Background

Why did you produce the story? What problem or context is it responding to?

My story was a wakeup call to the law makers and the society at large about women killings and torture and make them play the crucial role in making sure these things end once and for all.

Some many things were happening to women and very little action was taken against them. Even with this case, when she passed her picture (she was naked) went viral on the social media because there no way to trace her relative, so they did that for recognition, but it was not proper. Moreover, men, they should value women and treat the well. There was no way a man goes to bed with a woman and kill her afterwards. Even if she has done something wrong, I believe there is a better way to settle that not by ending her life.

Key objectives

What did you hope to achieve with this coverage?

Her body to be identified by her relatives so that she could be buried because the man who killed her left her helpless and I achieved that. If they had not claim it, she the municipal would do.

Awareness on women issues. They should be respect with equal measures as men. They should not be used as instrument for sex. They have all the right to enjoy it like men. Problems can be solved by talking not taking someone life. Raise a red flag about such treatment to women, lawmakers and activists to use anything in their power to stop that.

Target audience

Who did you hope to reach? Did you succeed in reaching this audience? What evidence do you have to that effect?

In my story, my hope was to reach Tanzanians from all works of like because if it happened to her it can happen to everyone in our society.

So if in my story in managed to do that I am sure those who got to read the paper did not only get the information about how the lady was killed but also how important it is to hang out with right people and at the right places and secured ones.

Giving the example of the women case, the guesthouse (Bray) she went with her partner was not safe. Even the environment was not so good and that why it was not even easy to trace the man who killed her. There were no CCTV cameras the security guard did not see him leaving; one can imagine such a place. However, even for guesthouse owner they learn the importance of tightening the security and the importance of CCTV cameras.

How did you go about researching and writing the story?

How did you gather the data, how many sources, female and male did you consult? Why did you choose these sources and how were their voices important?

The fist information I got was from the picture of the woman that went viral on the internet, especially Whatsapp in the morning after the night she was killed. I used the picture to trace the guest in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.

It took me the whole day to get the place. I was determined so I did not give up. Therefore, from when I got the place that is when the real work started. I interviewed my sources. I had four sources when I was starting because I had follow-ups after that. Two three men and two women.

Police officer, mortuary attendant (he did not want to be mentioned in the story, guest manager, guest attendant and Mwanyamala Hospital head. I choose them because they were the ones who could give me information I wanted and it was of value. Like the guest attend was there when the two entered the guest so her voice was crucial to this story.

Feedback

What impact did it have? What evidence do you have to illustrate impact?

When I wrote the story her family member went to Mwananyamala hospital were her body her was kept. They took it and she was buried in Mbeya.

Since she had another man she was leaving with, (I came to find out that later) they requested me not to publish that part of the story because it was an embarrassment for their family, and I respected that. In addition, they told me they would not find the man who did that, God would take charge.

In addition, mayor of Dar Es Salaam, call upon the guest owners and places of such nature to install CCTV cameras on their guest houses for security purposes. Not only that but also, activists for various organizations urged the government to take action on that after a series of such happenings.Follow up

How would you conduct a follow up to your story and why?

I kept on going at the Bray guesthouse to find out any new information and I used to report on my paper.

Police follow-up and hospital follow up, until the relative of the woman went to claim on her body. Police proved that too. In addition, final their relative was put to rest. They thanked me too.

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