Arusha’s Dyslexia Run sets sights on countrywide awareness campaign

ARUSHA: OVER 700 athletes participated in the annual National Dyslexia awareness run, held in Arusha with organizers planning future countrywide events from 2027 onwards.

Johns Habib Rashid, one of the founders of Dyslexia Tanzania, the event organizers, said there has been a great awakening with people now coming to terms with dyslexia and learning that it is not a handicap but rather a different way of learning and absorbing things among children.

“We are now working to increase training for awareness raising to ensure that dyslectic children get their rights in society including specialized education, involvement in sports and ensuring early intervention among parents,” said Rashid.

The Arusha City Sports Officer, Benson Maneno, said the council will ensure that all children in the urban precinct take part in the annual marathon as well as training sessions.

“But when it comes to dyslexia this doesn’t apply to only children but the entire population, including adults and renowned sports personalities, it is only that the awareness is targeting younger ages,” said Maneno.

On her part, Elizabeth Mwakajila Ayo the Director of Mrembo Safaris, said she participated in the Marathon as a parent and pointed out that dyslexia is curable as long as people become aware of the issue.

“It only takes proper nurturing for our children and if parents participate in these events, it will help them know how to handle the dyslectic children and support them,” she said.

At least 10 million Tanzanians are Dyslexic going by the fact that 20 percent of the country.

Tanzania continues with efforts to raise awareness on Dyslexia and the just held third instalment of the special athletics event was a springboard towards nationwide expansion from 2027 onwards.

Dyslexia Tanzania is usually organizing the marathon being one of the platforms for engaging children and parents to support Children suffering from Dyslexia in Arusha and Tanzania as whole.

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“We have several platforms that can allow children suffering from Dyslexia to display their talents,” explained Caudence Ayoti, the founder of Dyslexia Tanzania, who points out that they previously held talent shows for the children.

“Dyslexic children are not exactly slow learners but they are the ones with special skills that cannot be expressed through normal education environments, but most of the remarkable inventions in the world can be credited to people with Dyslexia,” said Caudence.

She pointed out that big names such as Steve Jobs, the man behind Apple and iPhone, was dyslectic yet achieved the biggest goals in technology advancement.

Now the annual race seasons serve as a platform for raising community awareness regarding Dyslexia. This time the organizers also brought experts to conduct workshops on dyslexia and what to do about the condition.

On the other hand, the organizers are now considering extending these special Dyslexia marathons to other regions across Tanzania. In 2025 they started with Dodoma.

Globally, at least 20 percent are dyslexic and the same figure may apply to Tanzania as well because usually 1 out of 5 people fall under the category.

Reports from Dyslexia Tanzania, reveal that the condition affects many children especially during learning sessions in class, but in reality, the dyslexic pupils are usually the ones with differently wired form of learning and in fact, most happen to be geniuses.

“The society does not understand the dyslexia condition, because it is a new concept,” said Claude, adding that while it is normal in the US and Europe, Tanzania and Africa must now start learning about the ailment.

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