KISWAHILI PROFESSOR SAID AHMED MOHAMMED- UNSUNG MAESTRO OF EAST AFRICAN LITERATURE...

 I was watching a William Shakespeare TV documentary with a couple of secondary school students, recently. In the middle of the programme one asked if I had read Hamlet. I said, I had. Romeo and Juliet? Yes. Julius Caesar? Sure.

“Where did you read them?”

I said at Ilboru secondary school in the highlands of Arusha, Tanzania. I also acted in a Caesar play; I was Cassius and saw “Romeo and Juliet” film at the British Council in Dar es Salaam.Yes. William Shakespeare is known in Africa, I explained.

The youths thought Shakespeare is an archaic thing only forced unto them (to waste time) whereas the writing legend has been utilized for ages across the planet to learn English. Shakespeare is the second mostly quoted English writer after the Bible while his plays the most used in cinema. And what significance for the British? It means glory for the English language plus financial gains.

Swahili prolific author and lecturer, Prof Said Ahmed Mohammed Khamis
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ADAM LUSEKELO-TRIBUTE TO A VERY SPECIAL TANZANIAN WRITER

When people  die we tend to focus on their good sides and forgive the horrible.  Adam Lusekelo made us laugh and think at the same time. He was one of the funniest, cleverest guys. No wonder when I heard his passing, instead of tears I reflected on his jolly character.

Last time I sat with Adam at Nyumba ya Sanaa (May 2009) with blogger Michuzi muffling down Ugali (while avoiding chocking himself with laughter); the humorous columnist kept blowing his nose starring disgustingly at his handkerchief.
"That is a lot of snort,” he said grinning; it was his way of mocking his disease.

Yes. Adam had diabetes for many years, he was thin and I could not believe how emaciated he had become.

(Adam "Njinja" Lusekelo, inside Nelson Mandela's famous cell at Robben Island)
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