CITIES SMELL, BUT EACH HAS ITS OWN PARTICULAR AROMA

Cities smell. This is normal. And...

 Each has its own scent. Just like the legendary Russian novelist, Leo Tolstoy, wrote at the beginning of “Anna Karenina” (a novel published 1873). “All happy families are alike, but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

Mkokoteni pusher - Magomeni, Dar es Salaam, 2009.

First time I arrived in Dar es Salaam in 1970, aged fifteen, I recall the smell of the sea salt and water. Nothing else. These days Dar stinks of dust, smoke and car fumes. The sea salt and fish can only be found closer to the beaches of Kigamboni, Jangwani, Kunduchi, etc. These palm trees (below) are hard to find in the mid city today.

 City smells tell you something about inhabitants and their activities. When I first set foot in Copenhagen in 1984 I recall the pleasant aroma of bread, cakes and alcohol.

THE ANTAGONISTIC MAN, HIS GIRLFRIEND AND MARIJUANA...

Well. We cannot really call her a girl, although she is very small, petite, short and thin. She is a grown up woman. He  is a wiry and skinny matured guy; spindly almost, as though permanently twisting and wriggling around a spider’s web. The two shuffle inside fast,  since trains hardly wait for over a minute. They seem relieved. Rain is pouring down. Angry rains. Annoyed angels, someone is heard joking among the travelling passengers.

“Ha! Ha! Did you see their bloody faces?” The man’s voice booms in the silent, crowded train, making every passenger sit up and wonder. His female companion clasps her hands firmly on her chest, as they sit. The train starts rambling on battling the rain storm. It is around nine o’clock at night; still light and clear, like north hemisphere’s summers are.

The man keeps blinking his eyelids rapidly: “That was a good smack in the face!” He booms arrogantly; a bassy voice ejected out of his skinny frame. The volume is loud, the manner crass and rude. She cuddles up to him. 

He kisses her sharply and passionately on the neck then booms again:

“You liked it when I smacked him didn’t you, darling?”

She giggles.

KISWAHILI NA MAHUSIANO YETU NA UTAMADUNI WA KIARABU

 Shangwe zilizoenea Ulaya nzima sasa hivi ni mashindano ya soka, Brazil.

 Ila wasiwasi uliowashika wanausalama wanaojua mikunjo kunjo ya shuka na kanzu za ulimwengu wetu ni tafrani kali zinazoendelea Syria na Iraq. Wasiwasi wa  mashushushu na wanasiasa Majuu ni hatari zitakazoenezwa na migogoro hii. 

 Uingereza mathalan imedai  vijana 400 wazawa  hapa, wanapigana Syria. Wakimaliza watarejea na kusambaza ugaidi  ulimwenguni.  Vyombo kadhaa vya habari Uingereza vimeonya jinsi mamia ya vijana wake wanavyomenyana pia Iraq,  Libya, Afghanmistani, Kenya na Somali  alipo mwanamke wa Kizungu anayetafutwa kuliko fedha.

Samantha, mmoja wa wanae na mumewe gaidi aliyehusika na mauaji ya London 2005. Picha toka gazeti la Mirror

 Samantha Lewthwaite, alikuwa mke wa mmoja wa magaidi wanne waliolipua mabomu na kuua  watu 51 mjini London mwaka 2005. Inadaiwa Septemba 2013, magaidi wa Al Shabaab (walipoua  67 na kujeruhi 175),  Nairobi, Mwingereza huyu mwenye watoto wanne alihusika.  Inadaiwa keshasilimu (anaitwa Sherafiya) na kuolewa na mmoja wa viongozi wakubwa wa Al Shabaab, Hassan Maalim Ibrahim.  Al Shaabab maanake ni “vijana” kwa Kiarabu, ilhali  Boko Haram  ni Elimu ya Kizungu ni Haram.

 Mauaji ya makundi haya  hufanywa  kwa madai eti yanatukuza Uislamu.

USIKU KUCHANGIA JENGO LA WASICHANA WANAOKWEPA UKEKETAJI TANZANIA

Niko hoteli kubwa la The Russet, katikati ya maskani ya wafanyakazi wa kawaida, kaskazini ya  London. Nimealikwa kutumbuiza ngoma za Kiafrika. Mauzo ya sherehe hizo yatasaidia kijiji kimoja Tanzania. Watayarishaji ni shirika la urafiki baina ya Uingereza na Tanzania, BTS yaani British Tanzania Society. Janet Chapman na mwenzake Jonathan Pace, ni wale wazungu wachache wanaofikiria mazuri tu kuhusu Waafrika, hususan Watanzania.

  Watu wa makamo.

Miaka 30 iliyopita  Janet alifanya kazi ya ualimu Sudan,  vijijini; akichanganyika na wakulima na wafugaji maskini. Kati ya jambo ambalo hakulipenda ni mila ya kuwatahiri wasichana wadogo au kwa Kiswahili cha kileo, ukeketaji.  Janet anasema kwa kuwa mwenyewe alikuwa na mabinti wadogo wawili- ambao leo wameshakuwa watu wazima- yalimgusa sana. Baadaye aligundua adha hii imeenea nchi nyingi   bara Afrika, Mashariki ya Kati na Asia.

 Takwimu za shirika la Afya duniani (WHO) zinakadiria wasichana na wanawake milioni 91 na nusu barani wamekeketwa. Kati ya hawa milioni 12 na robo wana umri mdogo wa miaka 10 hadi 14.  Tovuti la habari za ukeketaji (FGM) linadai nchi 26 za Kiafrika, ikiwemo Tanzania zinabeba bendera ya ukeketaji. WHO inafahamisha kati ya wanaotetea adha hii ni mama wazazi waliokeketwa na  baadhi ya wanaume.

WHY ARE SO MANY BEAUTIFUL WOMEN IN LONDON SMOKING?

 I am walking down the road at a steady pace.

 Busy road.  London, late morning. Ahead of me is a woman in high heels, red jeans and matching red jacket. Her shoes are going clack –clack- clack, like a duck song. Beautiful woman. Her pace is similar to mine, if not faster and self confident. There is one problem, though. She is blowing smoke my way and adding to the menace of London’s polluted air, I can hardly breathe.  

“Many women are smoking, nowadays!” I moan to the other lady strolling beside me. Steady and springy and also click -click clicking her shoes.

“So what?” She brushes my question as though an unwelcome fly hovering over a cup of honey.

We carry on.

HOW IS COLOMBIAN WRITER, GABRIEL MARQUEZ RELEVANT TO US IN EAST AFRICA?

Gabriel Marquez busy at his desk.  AP photo from First Post....

Over forty years ago when I was at Ilboru Secondary School, teachers encouraged education in various ways. Take Mr Hopland from Norway. During my form two year he offered weekly prizes if you read many books. I recall getting my share of glory. It has since helped me in pursuit of knowledge. Or the beloved literature Zimbabwean lady, Mama Victoria Chitepo. She used to sit in front of our form three class, shouting sternly:

“Boys! I want you all to look at my face! Boys! Come on!”

It was slightly intimidating to keep a steady stare. Think. We averaged 16 and 17 years and uneasy about females.  The age of broken innocence- when you begin viewing women other than respectful mothers, aunties, sisters and grandmothers.

But Mama Chitepo  (pictured in the middle) had a peculiar manner of teaching. She was also foreign.  Around that time, Ilboru Secondary School- late 1960s to early 1970s... was a “palace” of international teachers. We had Scandinavians, Americans, British, West, East and South Africans, not to mention Tanzanians. Years of serious, serious education.

TIMES ARE HARD BUT TOO MUCH BOOZE WON'T RESOLVE THE ISSUE...

I was in a late, late night bus heading home after a gig; tired but, satisfied that we had played our music well. Gratified that we had got paid too. These days being given wages promptly after any job can be a hassle. Money is a “tough ride.”

Dude,  I was slightly annoyed by unusual noises coming from the upper deck of the bus, but not too surprised though, as this is a normal scenario when you take a  London bus in the wee hours of the morning, to paraphrase the Scottish expression.

 Drama, melodrama and verbal theater.