“STAYCATION” AND HOW WAZUNGU ARE COPING WITH CURRENT DIFFICULT ECONOMICS

“Portmanteau” is a blending of two or more words to form one; for example smog (smoke and fog), brunch (breakfast and lunch), Wikipedia (Wiki and Encyclopaedia) or to be more familiar Tanzania (Tanganyika and Zanzibar).

Linguistically speaking, portmanteau was popularised by English author and mathematician Lewis Carroll in the 19^th century, very fond of playing with words. German poet and journalist Heinrich Heine of the same era also loved the lingual form and created at least 60 “portmanteaux” (note the French plural form). In Kiswahili portmanteaux are quite common too, e.g. Lelemama (a traditional East African coast dance), Darubini (microscope), Runinga (television), etc.

German writer, Heinrich Heine, fond of portmanteux...
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MY DINNER WITH THE EGYPTIAN COUPLE

“Is it halal?”
“The meat or everything else?”
“The meat, my friend, the meat.”
Dr. Mohammed Kharib (not real name) is gingerly holding the delicious fried chicken. After assuring him it is halal and that I actually do not eat pork we continue dining in peace. An hour later we have all retired to the living room, drinking, chatting. We are waiting for Haifa to get ready to sing.
By the way this is not the famous singer, model and provocative Haifa Wehbe from Lebanon. Haifa is just an assumed nickname of Dr. Kharib’s wife, Wahida; an amateur musician.
She and her husband have been my friends for many years since the days I visited Cairo for the first time. I have always been fond of Egyptian people who I find warm hearted and sincere.
Long time ago I use to work in the Egyptian Embassy in Dar es Salaam as a translator and receptionist. I have memories of those wonderful Egyptians helping me stutter through Arabic greetings.