TANZANIAN PUBLISHES BOOK ON RUSSIAN EXPERIENCES DURING SOCIALIST ERA...

Some books have to be written. They must be published not for ego, money and fame - but future generations.

 “An African Student in Russia- Soviet Union” by Dr Onesphor Kyara is that type. Having failed to find a publisher (one of rejection slips hurled back by the mighty Penguin) Dr Kyara decided to self-publish. Thanks to our golden era of internet and information technology self publishing is easy in 2014.

 Available on Amazon,  E-bay, Apple i- books, as well Burns and Noble /Nook, “An African Student in Russia-Soviet Union” will soon reach  Africa based readers if Dr Kyara’s efforts succeed through  Mkuki na Nyota, local bookshops and South Africa’s Kalahari.

These are  early days.

It has only been two months...

 At the height of Ujamaa policies and the international cold war it was taboo to say certain things. 

Kyara and Marina at the height of their romance and subsequent marriage. The interesting book tells it all...

UBORESHAJI LUGHA NCHINI WATEGEMEA SANA WANAHABARI NA UJUZI WA FASIHI -1

Mzee Adam Shafi, mwandishi nguli aliyeanza shughuli zake kama mwanahabari zamani. Leo lazima kumsoma. Umahiri wake wa lugha hausemeki. Picha na F Macha, 2007.

Wiki iliyopita kulikuwa na mdahalo na majadiliano moto bungeni. Lugha ipi itumike kufundisha watoto wetu mashuleni? Tatizo hili si ngeni kwa nchi zinazotumia zaidi ya lugha moja kimawasiliano. Wakati ninaishi Canada miaka iliyopita niliepuka matatizo kwa vile kitongoji nilichoshukia kiliongea zaidi Kifaransa. Nilikuwa nimekwenda kusoma  mwaka mmoja. Kawaida Mtanzania unapofika  nchi isiyozungumza Kiingereza- hubidi utumie wastani wa mwaka mmoja kujifunza lugha. Haya yamewasibu wanafunzi waliokwenda Urusi, Ujerumani, China, Cuba nk.

Mwandishi nikifanya shughuli ya kutengeneza bustani, Canada, mwaka 1995...picha na S Vanessa.

Canada inazo lugha mbili : Kiingereza na Kifaransa.  Bahati  yangu wakati nikifanya kazi magazeti ya Uhuru na Mzalendo,  nilijifunza Kifaransa na ingawa ujuzi wa lugha hiyo si mzuri kama Kiingereza, ilinisadia sana masomoni.

MORNING CHAT WITH A FABULOUS, FRAIL ENGLISH OLD LADY

A good day becomes evident in the morning...so the Swahili proverb goes.

It was ice cold but the sun was shining. That means much to folks living in the Northern Hemisphere.  I had rushed to the bakery to get fresh bread. Now hold on. In East Africa eating bread is not that preferred as Maandazi, Vitumbua or Sambusa.

Maandazi - pic from Taste of Tanzania

Bread is the queen of light meals and breakfast in places like London.

I had just purchased a fresh loaf- still hot and soft and smelt so tantalizing that I  needed all will power to stop, slit a chunk and well...eating while rushing is not healthy, they say. Speaking of health, I had to pop into a pharmacy to buy something. This needed further will power because there was a queue. Next pharmacy was a further ten minute walk. So I decided to join the line. Gave my order, paid, bingo; told to wait.

“How long is it going to take?”

The sales clerk gave me a certain disapproving stare.

“Only  joking, sorry.” I quickly said. The annoying and menacing queue spoke volumes. 

WAALIMU NA WAHADHIRI WANALO JUKUMU KUBWA KUENDELEZA ELIMU AFRIKA

Kufuatana na kampuni maarufu ya huduma za uhasibu, Ernst na Young, yenye makao makuu London, kuanzia mwaka 2,000 hadi 2015,  Afrika iko katika maendeleo makubwa  kiuchumi. Ingawa sisi wenyewe tunajihisi hali mbaya, ulimwengu mzima unalitegemea bara  kwa mali asili na hali ya hewa.

Na hayakuanza leo. Baada ya mkutano maarufu wa Berlin ,  1884- chini ya uenyekiti wa Mfalme Otto Von Bismarck- wakoloni walikuja, wakaondoka.  Watawala wenyeji wakaendeleza uzi ule ule wa kikoloni: kupora; wakishirikiana na wakubwa; wakihadaa kwa maneno maneno na bunduki. Dunia nzima inatushangaa vipi, sisi matajiri wa mali ghafi, bado tunategemea misaada; vita vya wenyewe kwa wenyewe, magaidi wanaua hadi wanafunzi na watoto : Nigeria. Wanawake wanabakwa, Kongo, Sudan na Jamhuri ya Afrika ya Kati.  Kwa maskini asiye na mali au nguvu za kisiasa, elimu tu ndiyo ubwabwa uliosalia.  

Asili mia ndogo sana wanafikia shahada ya mwanzo  (Bachelors) au  Diploma; na  kidogo zaidi kuendelea shahada ya kati (Masters), uzamili.

Kama Francis Magomeni(jina la bandia) aliyekuja kusoma shahada ya uzamili (uchumi), London, karibuni.

“Nataka niwe kama akina Profesa Lipumba, Profesa Palagamba Kabudi,  Profesa Muhongo. Si lazima niwe Waziri, lakini niwe fresh.  Nchi yetu yahitaji wataalamu.  Wakenya, Uganda, Burundi wanachukua kazi zote, kwa vile sisi hatujasoma.”

Hayati Nyerere. Mwanaelimu na mwalimu maarufu kuzidi wote katika historia ya Tanzania.

Picha ya Wikipedia....

A THING OR TWO ABOUT KENYAN ACTRESS LUPITA NYONG'O

 Lupita Nyong'o being interviewed by ABC presenter Jimmy Kimmel in January 2014...

One of the biggest talks across London and the Uzunguni world this past week has been the film “12 Years a Slave” by black British director, Steve McQueen. Among its award winning cast is an actress from neighbouring Kenya who is brightening the northern hemisphere like a full, sparkling moon.  She has not only been praised for her brilliant acting abilities, but her character, looks and taste of clothing.  The Western media is in love with her so much- that every other day something about her is been published. She is a breath of fresh air bubbling positive African news in the rich world. Just watch one of the numerous television interviews she did with Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC, on You Tube, for example to see what I mean. When Hollywood star Leonard DiCaprio, stopped to kiss her on her cheek, photographers could not stop snapping. Yes. She is a star and an East African at that. But, hold on. Who is she? What …is she called? To start with her name is a mouthful.

Lupita  Nyong’o.

Lupita is easy, but Nyong’o- for non East Africans- is like teaching them to say “ng’ombe” (cow), ng’ang’ania (cling) or “ng’ambo” (other side)…how do you pronounce that? 

WHAT IS ETON COLLEGE DOING IN TANZANIA?

I never imagined meeting someone from Eton College.  

It is a place you only hear on the news and movies. They include famous writer, Ian Fleming– creator of James Bond- who died aged 57 in 1964. James Bond is as part of British mist, fog, horses and rain, as is the Queen, Beatles, Spice Girls, Fish and Chips and of course Eton.  The said establishment has on its hit list, 19 Prime Ministers – past and present.

Famous  journalist and author George Orwell  who wrote such masterpieces as Animal Farm and 1984, studied at Eton. Pic from Telegraph Site...

These are the chosen few, upper class, royalty. Cost to enter Eton is in the region of £30,000 per year; more than three times the cost of an average University annual fee, which majority students find hard to foot; and if you heard of the 2010 student- fees riots, you can imagine the colour of money, smell of cash.  Currently many foreign students are looking elsewhere in Asia and Latin America or just local universities to study.

Yup. Eton is something else.

 A boys’ only boarding school; it was founded by King Henry V1 in 1440- a very long time ago, indeed. The school has been referred to as the chief nurse of England’s statesmen, and a saying goes: “the British Empire was built on the playing fields of Eton.”

LONDON GIVES POST ACHIEVEMENT AWARD TO SHAABAN ROBERT

Shaaban Robert's grand-daughter, Amina Wazir, collects award for her genius grand-dad from  Mr Frederick Sumaye. On the right, seated is His Excellency High Commissioner of Tanzania, Hon. Peter Kallaghe.   

 Pic by Jestina George

The writer Shaaban Robert, who died aged 53, in June 1962 was a very  “popular read” during the 1960s and early 1970s. Somewhere along the line, he was almost forgotten. Early 1990s, the newly launched Mkuki na Nyota revived this eminent Kiswahili genius, and thanks to the hard work of its founder Walter Bgoya,   many of Shaaban Robert’s masterpieces are readily available in bookshops across East Africa today.  For those unfamiliar with the author, I would recommend “Maisha Yangu Na Baada ya Miaka Hamsini” (My Life After 50).  The book sums most of the Tanga born thinker’s qualities:  essays, personal recollections, poetry, thoughts on life, racism in Tanganyika of the 1930s and 1940s, TANU and Nyerere, duty to society, role of writers, etc.

Kusadikika, his most famous novel which is said to have partially inspired late President Nyerere's Ujamaa  policies.