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. 

CALL FOR TANZANIAN BLOGGERS TO BE ORIGINAL AND INVENTIVE

The blogging phenomenon kicked off in late 1990s- but in Tanzania was picked up by news reporter Ndesanjo Macha -a decade ago.  As Ndesanjo (pictured below) campaigned tirelessly for Swahili blogging, running workshops and attending world wide conferences while maintaining hold on his Jikomboe blog very few understood the meaning of the word, let alone using the internet as feverishly as today. Those days, Ndesanjo confessed he was blogging for love arguing this was the future of global communication.

Other local bloggers started getting noticed after the vicious murder of a Tanzanian couple  in the USA  September 2006. Suddenly we were dependant on Michuzi and internet Radio Butiama to get information that was not readily available on mainstream media.  I personally began blogging in 2007.

How things have changed since!

Ndesanjo’s Jikomboe site is no more; he is currently, leading contributor (with over 4,200 posts) of the interactive Global Voices.  Last year he was named “Africa blogger of the year.”

Meanwhile, Tanzanian bloggers are flourishing with diverse themes, as well as social networking sites such as the influential Jamii Forums, created in 2006. Some are  educational –e.g.  Award winning Mwanamke Na Nyumba (openly discusses sexual problems) and Al Hidaaya analyse different aspects of the Quran.

Sites  have mushroomed in hundreds. And within this ascent are big bucks.   Whispers that certain bloggers are earning as much as ten thousand dollars a week might be exaggerated but companies are using blogs to reach their markets. This has made Tanzanian blogs (specifically) hard to scroll through as pages are crammed with massive advertisements.