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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MAJOR SPORTING EVENTS AND THE QUEST FOR POLITICAL MILEAGE...

Last week former heavyweight champion and one of the most famous personalities in the world, the African American, Muhammad Ali celebrated his 70^th birthday. For a whole week London’s ITV beamed one hour documentaries of his fights called “Ali Still the Greatest.”

Ali floors Liston in their second match in 1964. Pic from here

Among Ali’s best tournament was 1974  “Rumble in The Jungle” where he faced George Forman and beat him in the eighth round in Kinshasa. The contest was so interesting that it has nurtured two finest films:  “Soul Power”, featuring musicians who performed at the event : James Brown, Miriam Makeba, Luambo Makiadi, Tabu Ley, BB King, Bill Weathers, etc. Dubbed the “the black Woodstock”, by Wikipedia, “Soul Power” was launched in 2008 and has amazing music from especially Miriam Makeba, Mama Africa, who died after performing in Italy, the same year.

Miriam Makeba's "best of" released in 2001

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DOG POO AND A FRUSTRATED LONDON STREET SWEEPER

A poplar tree

I had just passed a disgusting, smelling, large chunk of dog’s diarrhoea under a Poplar tree. Poplar trees are part of London’s green vegetation. Next to bees, trees are our best allies. Trees help make a city ( like this) replete with smoke fumes and smog,  petrol and diesel fumes,  industrial waste and general pollution by absorbing carbon and giving us oxygen. Without trees life on earth would indeed, sleep.

Poplars, however, can also be destructive as their long roots (growing up to 40 meters) may damage houses.
A few years ago I was puzzled to see long, meandering cuts appearing in almost every single wall of my London flat. I remember feeling petrified and confused when the land surveyor blamed the splits on Poplar trees in my garden.
“But they are so beautiful.” I protested.
“No,” warned the surveyor, “they have to go!”
“What about the birds and squirrels who sing from those trees every day?”
There was no compromise. Lose the Victorian house or demolish two Poplar trees.
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THE LIFE AND COURAGE OF CANCER VICTIM NICOLE DRYBURGH

Nicole with famous Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb. Pic from Rotary International UK

May 2010 saw the death of cancer victim Nicole Dryburgh.

News of the 21 year old young English woman was not widely spread and very few of us including myself had been aware of the deceased previously. Recently BBC London showed a documentary of Nicole as she braved herself against a disease which had left her paralysed and incapable of seeing or hearing. Yet in her ten year battle Nicole managed to raise 100,000 pounds for Teenage Cancer Trust, published two books, had her own website and won numerous awards.
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KINDLE, E-BOOKS AND THE FUTURE OF TANZANIA’S POOR READERSHIP ...

I was chatting to a shop assistant at one bookshop in Zanzibar two months ago. Like Casey bookshop in Arusha, this is the best in town yet on the shelf were mostly school text materials and very, very few Swahili authors. Yes, I saw one or two copies of Professor Said Ahmed Mohammed, the late Mohammed Said Abdullah and Adam Shafi 

Famous author and promoter of Swahili literature and language Adam Shafi  when he visited the UK in 2007. Pic by  F Macha

Had I been a foreign tourist searching for Tanzanian literature I would have been disappointed.  No Ismael Mbise's “Blood on our land”(1974), autobiography of former cabinet minister Edwin Mtei (From Goatherd to Governor, Mkuki 2009) or historian Mohammed Said's The life and times of Abdulwahid Sykes (Minerva, 1998).
 It is like visiting a country that has just experienced war; no writers, no stories to tell. The shop assistant quipped: “Our people do not read anymore. Now imagine this. If I am one of those citizens who do not read, what will happen if I become a political leader? Will I suddenly promote reading and buying books?”
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INAHITAJIKA TENA KAMPENI YA “MTU NI AFYA” KUHIMIZA VYOO VISAFI AFRIKA

Kuna mambo ambayo kila jamii duniani huyahisi muhimu kuliko mengine. Kwa Mzungu akipita akaona mbwa yuko radhi achutame kumpapasa na kumpa  maneno mema. Kwetu kusalimiana wanadamu muhimu kuliko hidaya kwa wanyama.

Basi la "Baharia" mjini Moshi. Picha na F Macha

Ndiyo fikra inayonizonga nikiwa safarini Arusha kwenda Dar es Salaam. Mabasi yetu Bongo ni ramani nzuri ya kuujua utamaduni na jiografia ya miaka 50 baada ya Uhuru toka kwa Mwingereza. Ukiwa visiwani utasikia Taarabu na Kaswida; hapa Arusha hadi Moshi dereva katuwekea muziki wa Injili. Kama ile Kaswida inayoghani swalaa mbalimbali za Adhana (alfajiri) ya majogoo na Isha (mwisho jioni); nazisikia sifa kwa Yesu Kristo zikiliiza kwa jazba.
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SELF DESTRUCTION AND THE CATACLYSMIC NATURE OF 2011

Psychology describes self destructive behaviour as a combination of self harm and abuse to oneself. When repeated over a period of time, it becomes a habit. And how do you avoid such behaviour? Writing a letter to his son in July 1969, while still in prison Nelson Mandela advised Makgatho:
“Never allow yourself to be discouraged by difficulties or setbacks, and never give up the battle even in the darkest hour.”

Nelson Mandela -photo from Jokero Blog

Whether he listened to his father or not, Makgatho died in 2005 aged 54. Unashamed, Mandela revealed publicly that his second son had died of HIV. Fighting the stigma that has mystified African society, Mzee Mandela declared on television: “Aids is no longer a disease, it is a human rights issue.”
 Mandela’s life has been a brave fight against snags, snags and more snags. He was in jail for 26 years, lost his marriage, two sons and most recently his great grand daughter, Zenani.
Why did he not booze, take drugs and kill himself, i.e.  Self destruct?
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