RECALLING THE MADMAN WHO CHASED AND FLOGGED LADIES ON SAMORA AVENUE

Ugali kwa mtindi... 

Around 1978 to early 1980s Dar es Salaam, there used to be a man who terrified women.

Those days the word terrorist was not so instantly understood as in 2014. But this thin bloke, (I guess he was around 170 cm, or 5 foot 7, not tall or huge, as you can imagine), ruled one road in Dar. Independence Avenue, re-named Samora Machel Avenue,  homage to the late Mozambican leader. A  bustling street; filled with tourists, students (Forodhani Secondary School nearby), coffee shops, beauty salons, Asian shops, banks,  restaurants, offices, bookshops; a place to be. Hip.

 The chap was always dressed in a black kikoi, tied from waist down like the Sarongs made internationally famous by English footballer David Beckham (pictured below) in 1998.

 Kikoi, indeed, is standard outfit for East Africans, especially in poor areas. This nightmare from hell, wore one, carried a stick and he was as angry as he was menacing. Never to guys, though.

We are talking of pre- internet days. Us in the media wouldn’t even photograph the chap who I soon found out had a mental illness and highlighted his saga in my then weekly column of the Sunday News.

Women feared him. Seriously.

TEZI KIBOFU, AFYA NA KINGA YA MARADHI YANAYOTUKABILI -sehemu ya 1

Wiki hii,  Mheshimiwa Rais J Kikwete, alikuwa Marekani kufanyiwa matibabu ya tezi ya uume, hospitali ya John Hopkins,  Baltimore. Kitakwimu maradhi haya huwafika asilimia 45 ya wanaume walioshapitisha miaka 60.   Ingawa lengo la makala haya si kuzungumzia hali ya Rais, ni vizuri tukitathimini tatizo hili linalowasakama wanaume wengi. Miongoni mwa walioshafikwa ni marehem Nelson Mandela, kiongozi wa Waislamu Marekani, Louis Farahkan, mwanamuziki maarufu hayati James Brown, mwigizaji mashuhuri wa Hollywood, Robert De Niro, nk.

Miaka michache iliyopita niliwahi kuandika juu ya afya ya uume ( na uke vile vile) na kuhimiza haja ya kuelewa namna ya kutunza na kufanya mazoezi kutunza viungo hivi. Kwa wanaume viungo viwili muhimu husika ni mfuko wa mbegu (korodani) na tezi kibofu. Visipoangaliwa vyema husababisha saratani ambayo kihisabati,  inaua mwanaume mmoja kati ya  saba, duniani. Moja ya suluhisho kuu ni kuzifahamu dalili   kabla hazijaota kutu.  

Lakini tezi ya uume au tezi kibofu, ni nini hasa?

AFRICA’S TRUBULENT TIMES: LESSONS FROM GRANDFATHER ANAELI MACHA

To continue with last week’s theme.

Gloom and pessimism reigns. Even the football contest in January has been affected via Morocco. History, however, proves all continents have gone through mud and snort and fart. Why are Europeans marking 100 years of their slaughter in 1914? They too passed through hell. Lessons.

It is not only us.

 Someone recently, WhatsApped me that we are currently governed by gangsters. Harsh? The guys that led African renaissance were so principled and focussed that they had to be stopped, instantly.  Patrice Lumumba (Congo, 1961), Ben Barka (Morocco, 1965), Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana, 1966), Marien Ngouabi, (Congo Brazzaville, 1977), Thomas Sankara (Burkina Faso, 1987), etc. Some muddled through. Mwalimu Nyerere (1962-1985) and Nelson Mandela (despite a 26 year, prison sentence), to name a few....

 We have had misfortunes. Truly.

But is it all external? Politics and governments?

Last week I asked this significant question. How does one find courage to carry on?  Where do you unearth hope to work, relax and strive?

One of my personal beliefs is to look into your own kitchen.  Roots. Inspiration through those closest. Family, friends, teachers, colleagues.

My grandfather the preacher, writer, broadcaster, linguist and philosopher  (first right) with President Nyerere President Julius Nyerere (second left) , Dar es Salaam, 1962.  Family Archives Pic

My great, grandfather, Abraham Macha was born in 1840 and died aged 95 in Old Moshi, Kilimanjaro. He lived a long life and had many children. His last kid was a well known preacher.

Reverend Anaeli Macha was born six years before the First Great War began in 1914. At the time Germans were ruling Tanganyika and many Africans had to go die for the vampire. Just like they would against Adolf Hitler in 1939. 

MJADALA WA MADHARA YA UVUTAJI BANGI WAPAMBA MOTO UINGEREZA

Bangi.

Neno lenye maana na majina mengi. Marijuana. Cannabis. Sigara kali.  Spliff. Kaya. Na kadhalika. Kwa Kiswahili asili ya neno “bhang” ni Kihindi. Sina hakika kama zamani kabla ya ujio wa wageni tulilienzi jani hili. Jani lililo mkebe mmoja na “kunguni” wa dawa za kulevya. Heroin. Unga wa Cocaine. Na mengineyo.  Dawa zinazomgeuza mwanadamu dude, afriti,  mahoka,  jambazi. Dawa zenye uwezo wa kuharibu  jamii  kama ilivyo Mexico sasa hivi. Unabisha? Ingia, You Tube.

Uuone uhayawani wa dawa za kulevya ulivyoshawabadili wanadamu   mafisi. Kuwapeleka wake, mabinti na dada za majambazi wenzao mwituni kuwafyeka shingo na mashoka. Tunaambiwa magaidi wa ISIS huko Syria na Iraq, hukata shingo. Mexico hukatakata mwili vipande vipande  kisha wakaviacha viozee vichakani mithili ya vinyesi.

Hebu tafakari  ufisi kama huu ujipenyeze Tanzania. Ndiyo mwisho. Hatuna tena nchi ya amani wala kuingia mitaani wikiendi kula nyama choma; kuzamia misikitini, jamatini au makanisani. Ni harufu ya damu kila mahali. Ulaghai kwisha kazi. Hamnazo.

Sasa bangi...

VITA DHIDI YA KULAWITI NA KUBAKA WATOTO VYAWAKA MOTO UZUNGUNI – Sehemu ya 2

Vitendo viwili vichafu  “vinavyofichwa” na watawala duniani ni biashara ya dawa za kulevya na unyanyasaji wa watoto. Ingawa  vya aibu na ufidhuli vina faida sana kwa wahusika. Dawa za kulevya ni biashara inayotajirisha haraka kuliko zote.

Ripoti iliyotolewa na Idara ya Kuzuia Uhalifu na Dawa za Kulevya ya Umoja wa Mataifa (UNIDOP) mwaka 2011, inasisitiza  asilimia 20 ya  kipato cha dunia hutokana na biashara hii ya ki-Ibilis. Ndiyo maana mtu yeyote anapopambana na ujambazi huu lazima atauawa. Haya yanaonekana Mexico - kilele cha ujambazi wa dawa za kulevya. Video za mauaji – wakiwepo wanawake na vigoli- wakikatwa katwa  kwa mapanga, visu na mashoka zimeselelea mitandaoni.

 Habari za Watanzania waliokamatwa wakibeba unga au “heroin” ughaibuni sasa zimekuwa nongwa.

Unyanyasaji wa watoto hauna faida ya kiuchumi ila ni “jaha” kwa wahusika.  Hali kadhalika ni rahisi kuwatumia watoto  kubeba silaha, mizigo, kuwalawiti nk. 

VITA DHIDI YA KULAWITI NA KUBAKA WATOTO VYAWAKA MOTO UZUNGUNI

 Leo tuzungumzie watoto. Tuangalie afya, mapenzi na usalama wao. Hakuna kipindi cha historia yetu wanadamu ambapo watoto wanafanyiwa  unyama duniani kama sasa.

Mwezi Machi,  Shirika la Umoja wa Mataifa la Hazina ya Watoto (UNICEF) lilisema tangu vita vianze Syria,  watoto 10,000, wameuawa  makusudi. Wengine milioni tano hawana makazi maalum.  Mauaji haya yanafanywa  majumbani,  mashuleni, mitaani na  kambi za wakimbizi. Watoto wanapigwa risasi makusudi na magaidi wa Boko Haram, Nigeria. Miezi miwili sasa wasichana  200 waliotekwa mkuku na wanaharam hawa (wanaotumia dini kama ngao ya uyahawani wao) hawajapatikana. Kila kukicha watoto vijijini na mashuleni Nigeria wanauliwa bila hatia yeyote.