:: louder than swahili

Honey, can you do something for Kenya?

Aristofanes' old, Greek comedy 'Lysistrata' - it is a comic account of one woman's extraordinary mission to end The Peloponnesian War. Lysistrata convinces the women of Greece to withhold sexual privileges from their husbands as a means of forcing the men to negotiate a peace, a strategy.

Somebody must have been reading that in Kenya? Or maybe the idea is just plain simple:

In seven days, women in Kenya will refuse to go to bed with their husbands. Women in Kenya fear that the bickering between the country's president and the prime minister will lead to new unrest in Kenya.

Therefore, they initiated an alternative campaign: They will refuse to have sex with their husbands in seven days. The women behind the campaign hope the government rivals' wives Lucy Kibaki and Ida Odinga will also participate. 

'Big decisions are taken in the bedroom, so we ask the two women to ask their men: Honey, can you do something for Kenya?', explains Patricia Nyaundi, one of the women behind the campaign to BBC.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga last year in March agreed to share power among themselves to establish peace in Kenya, though they came from each their own party. Unrest in Kenya followed the elections in December 2007 when Kibaki declared himself the winner, while opposition leader Odinga claimed that there had been fraud in the election result and he was backed by international observers. Disputes after the election claimed 1,500 lives and drove 300,000 from their homes before the rivals ended peace.

Respect to the women of Kenya for thinking out of the box.

The text is partly taken from politiken.dk and from BBC Africa.

Latest news from BBC Africa on the deadly blast in Dar es Salaam

Latest news from BBC Africa on the deadly blast in Dar es Salaam - read here.

People uses the word 'earthquake' to describe how they felt today. I thought of gunshots or thunder. Irregular though. Others that they thought that the al-Qaeda had returned. People saw the wall crack and a big screen crack in the book shop in Shoppers' Plaza (where I live close by).

ITV is reporting the facts, but no one is asking why there is an ammunition dump close to a residential area in Dar es Salaam. No one is asking how this could go so wrong? And possibly worse as the ammunition is spread all around now as depicted on TV.

The BBC article also cites people for saying that the city is in chaos. That might be true in terms of the central part, but it is not visible i Upanga, Ada, Regent, Mikocheni and Mbezi - relatively far off the area where the explosions took place.

Serious though, two people are reported dead, and about 300 seriously injured.

But not one word about this on IPP Media in English (nor on This Day) but instead a highlight from today on President Kikwete's inauguration of the construction of the 240-km Arusha-Namanga-Arthi River highway at Lengijavu in Arumeru District, Arusha Region.

Interesting media approach - is all I can say.

Huge blasts rock Tanzanian city

I heard explosions from the distance, but was clueless. No one winked an eye.

Typically, you have to read it on Facebook, the BBC or watch Kenyan TV (!!) to figure out what's happening in your own town.

Huge blasts rock Tanzanian city

Why hasn't Bono got Africa under his skin?

Pascal at The Citizen blog from Uganda (who is finally blogging again) is making an interesting point here:

Bono has been criticized for being yet another European who insists of telling Africa's stories. We have no trouble talking about ourselves. What we have trouble with is finding people who want to work with us. In this case, Bono and Hewson (Bono's wife) deserve a nod for letting their actions do the talking.

I looked further into the comments from Tumwijuke at the Ugandan Insomniac, who can't stand Bono, and Pascal who thinks that he (Bono) tends to overshadow Africans in his rush to help out. Our pride is even bigger than our problems.

I used to big a big fan of Bono, from before Bono knew of Africa. Back then I was 14 and thrilled when our English teacher used U2's lyrics where we then discussed Northern Ireland, IRA, conflicts, politics - and artists taking a stand. The difference I suppose is that Bono is a catholic and he is Irish, and that back then he spoke about his own stuff. Back then my experience of Africa was limited to the famine in Ethiopia, Idi Amin and apartheid. It wasn't very nuanced, and neither was I.

Later Bono took on Africa. In fact one of U2's first experiences were to play concerts in South Africa after the abolishment of apartheid. I read the book Bono in Conversation with Micka Assayas some time ago - not an especially outstanding book - but there is one passage I like, where Bono admits that he didn't get one thing: the majority of the spectators at the concerts were white people. U2 had expected them to be black, now that U2 had been fighting against apartheid.

I don't have a final decisive stand on Bono and Africa. I think Bono is a bit over-hyped, too obsessed with black shades and being Bono, and I don't listen to U2's music anymore with the same enthusiam. Too mainstream. But in terms of 'telling Africa's stories' I think the long line of African artists (or people who stayed around long enough to at least try to get it under their skin), who promote Africa and who integrate Africa into their actual work, write or sing about Africa because they can't help it, do a much better job.

Like Hugh Masekela when he performs The Boy's Doin' It, Stimela or Bring Him Back Home. It comes with a heartfelt message on culture, poverty and political struggle. When Johnny Clegg performed 'The Crossing' in the Civic Theatre in Johannesburg on June 29 2009 - people cried because he talked from a personal experience which was part of a South African context. Or just listen to him perform Asimbonanga where he welcomes Mandela on stage. When Freshlyground sings Mowbray Kap at concerts in Europe, the Europeans suddenly realise that Africa is different from what they imagined - that Africa rocks.

Back in the 1930ties the Danish authour, Karen Blixen, wrote 'Out of Africa', which might seem altmodish today, but back then was unusual. Jacob Ejersbo wrote 'Eksil' (a Danish novel about growing up in Tanzania in a boarding school environment), which was published a month ago. And The Weekenders is a real good example of making Africa inspire authors for them to write about it (one of my favorites is Irwine Welsh, the author of Trainspotting, who is taken to a little Southern Sudanese town and afterwards writes about homebrew). Interesting is also this CD In the Name of Love: Africa Celebrates U2, where Africans sing U2. Funny at times, but truly original.

U2 hasn't embraced Africa in this way. Bono is still on about his own personal struggle with God, catholicism and what not. On the side he does Africa, which is where my main doubt about Bono lies: How come Africa hasn't got under his skin, yet?! (I am saying this without having checked U2's latest CD, but notify me if wrong!)

Let me conclude along with the Tanzanian singer, Nakaaya Sumari, who in an interview on 17 April 2009 says that Africa needs African solutions to African problems.

The African continent has a long line of fantastic people already promoting Africa. Maybe Bono should start hanging out with some of these instead of the boring guys in the NGOs, Vanity Fair, World Bank and governments?

Masika - the long rains

The ground floods.

The sky looks like this:

The colour of cement drying.

I can't wait till the masika is over

 

Wanna buy an aquarium with live fish (while waiting for green light...?)

Hard to believe, but true.

On Ali Hassan Mwinyi Road in Dar es Salaam the street vendors are selling (locally produced) aquariums with Lake Malawi (or look-alikes) fish.

The vendors simply walk down along the line of cars waiting to turn at United Nations Road with the aquariums on their heads.

Four Pieces of Advice from Rakesh Rajani

I just found a worn-out notebook from a session last year on the topic of education in Tanzania at the British Council in Dar es Salaam, where Rakesh Rajani gave four pieces of advice.

1. Read fiction. Minimum a novel a month. It stimulates your imagination. It makes you travel to places. It makes you dream.

2. Engage actively in the media. Call a talkshow. Write a letter to the editor. Take a stand.

3. Do something. Start at home and with your neighbours. Improve your own space. Start with yourself and your home.

4. Engage in the educational system. Join a school committee or something else. Just don't sit back.

 

These pieces of advice were targeted a predominantly Tanzanian ordience, but I believe they count well for the rest of the world, too.

It sucks to be poor in Dar es Salaam when it rains...

It sucks to be poor. It really sucks to be poor in Dar es Salaam when the masika - the long rains - floods your house.

Pictures from yesterday at The Old Bagamoyo Road.

More weather vocabulary here.

Win a trip to Tanzania (in Danish)

In Danish. Please read more here.

South Africa: The Importance of Voting

On March 4 I joined one of my Danish friends at work while I was visiting South Africa. He is a journalist and had scheduled an interview with the chairwoman, Ms Brigalia Bam, of South Africa’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in Pretoria for a TV programme about Denmark’s support to the anti-apartheid movement.

But there was also time to talk about the up-coming elections on April 22. 117 political parties were registered, 42 met the deadline on the Monday we waited in IEC's reception after our meeting with Ms. Brigalia Bam for our taxi to take us back to Johannesburg. 

There we overheard the debating of some of the representatives' of a political party which had missed the crucial deadline. My friend joked; 'Do you think they are from the ANC?'

ANC did make the deadline. In fact the ANC is today leading the polls.

Yesterday two South African friends called: ‘We are standing in the queue. We are voting’. Calling from a nursery school in Johannesburg. A nursery school outlined by barbed wire. Some people call you at special occasions. This is one of them, and I felt honoured.

‘Do you know where you want to put that cross?’ I asked

‘Not yet’, he laughed, while I self-righteously tried to explain that in Denmark being a ‘couch voter’ is considered pathetic, and than voting by leaving a blank ballot is better than not voting at all.

At least you made it up from the couch.

Some wicked comfort, I admit, to a nation where the actual right to vote in itself means more than a Dane can ever imagine.

My friend went on explaining about his dilemma of where to put that cross. Of what he truly believes in (ANC) and what (Jacob Zuma) has subsequently changed.

‘But we are sending you photos to put on your blog’.

About half an hour later I received this SMS: ‘Just did it. Feel like a South African again.’ Both my friends are in their 30ties. One of them voted for the first time, the other didn’t vote since 1994.

Whatever is to happen for a South Africa under Jacob Zuma, leaving the couch for leaving your cross, shouldn't be underestimated.

Zanzibar: Warming up for the World Cup 2010

The 2010 FIFA World Cup is going to take place in South Africa next year, however, it is a thing a lot of Africans are looking forward to. 

It isn't yet yet, but the wood carvers in Stone Town on Zanzibar are so ready for 2010.

Maasai Mix straight from Maasailand

Last week I went to Kibaya Town in Kiteto. The afternoon before I laid myself down with malaria, I visited the Maasai market in Kibaya Town. Lucky - it is only being held twice a month on the 2nd and 15th.

There was everything for sale a Maasai can dream of: Long knives, red powder and polyester yarn (for the morani's hair extensions), nyama mbusi in plenty (roasted goat), mandazi (Tanzanian donughts), cold beers (and a lot of very drunk Maasai), beads, bangles, shoes of old car tyres, food items, cassava, maize, dagaa (little, dry, smelly fish) clothes - you name it.

Thanks to Mustafa from CORDS for taking us!

Check out more photos here.

Mal air. Bad air. Malaria. Bad for you

People once thought it was the gas from the swamps which made them sick. Not until the 19th century it was clear that malaria is caused by a parasite carried by a mosquito. Malaria - mal air - comes from Italian, but it goes well in Kiswahili, too.

Here everybody knows the meaning of it.

And I got it again. Last Thursday while in Maasailand.

I can feel it already in the early morning. I simply can’t get out of bed. My whole body – muscles and bones - hurt. Abit like the flu, but just more heavy. But I get up, have a cold shower which makes me freeze even more in the dry morning air.

I make it to the Maasai village, walk and talk, till I have to go and sit in the car. While I wait in the car for the driver to take me back to Kibaya Town, the women of the village, I have visited now for my 3rd time, take up first row positions staring at me with sincere sympathy.

One has a baby who also has malaria. A baby, but no dawa. No medicine. Aish!

I sweat and I ache, and I try to remember how to say high fever. Joto la homa or something. Not necessary, my eyes answer them back shiny and feverishly. I keep thinking if that baby feels what I do, she keeps a better face. If you ever had malaria before you know what is ahead of you, and you certainly don't want a baby to go through it. Babies die of malaria every day in this country. Globally malaria kills about 880,000 people every year. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for more than 60% of infections and 80% of the deaths from the disease. 

I feel like someone beat me up, as if someone walked over me with heavy shoes, drove me over with a truck. As if someone put my head into a microwawe oven.

Fortunately, I have a self-test kit and treatment on me, and I know how to use it (with some help of a colleague who can prick my finger  for the blood sample). I know enough from last time I got malaria to measure my fever regularly with a thermometre, to drink water and to keep my head cool. I have realised that a big part of making it through the first day with malaria is all about this, secondly not to panic.

I can't say that I haven't felt scared. Malaria is not just an awful disease because it easily turns lethal. Malaria also takes away motivation for life in general - you only think about how and when it will leave your body. I also can't say that being a passenger for 130 kilometres on a bad road makes you feel any better.

I don't have any good advice on malaria, I can only tell you what I have done and what I would do. It might not necessarily be correct. After all, I got it again.

Previous posts on malaria:
Malaria prophylactics, self test kits and keeping your head cool
Time Out

Yellow sunflower on the road to Kibaya Town in Kiteto

Bizarre Foods in Tanzania: The clotted tissue

Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern is an American TV-programme, featuring Andrew Zimmern who travels around the world to taste strange food. At least, the kind of food which appears strange to the Americans and most likely the rest of the western world.

One of the researchers behind the programme wrote me about a year ago asking me for suggestions in regard of Tanzania. I asked some Tanzanian colleagues, and I ended up, amongst others, suggesting this kind of drink here.

I haven't tried it myself. Not sure I will stomach it, and I suggest you don't eat or drink while you watch this.

Where non-waterproof mascara and high-heels make no sense

About 10.30 this morning it started to rain in Dar es Salaam.

Full speed for a couple of hours, turning the roads into rivers. Like in this photo from United Nation Road.

Due to the fact that it seems that Dar es Salaam's draining system doesn't match the density of the population and rain, everything runs wild when it rains like this.

I left the office around 6.30 this evening, drove down Migombani Street towards my home, only to realise that I couldn't enter the street where I live. I tried one of the back roads, ended up in a pitch black street with stranded cars.

Wicked feeling. I actually got scared. I haven't felt like that for very long. Maybe I have a phobia regarding deep, dark potholes? I blessed my decent car (and the fact that the NGO I work for hasn't changed its car policy (yet)), continuing without the car taking in water or getting sucked into the Indian Ocean through a sudden hole in the road.

Even though I live in the metropolis of Tanzania, there are days where non-waterproof mascara and high-heels make no sense.

Taking back Zimbabwe. Fuck Mugabe: Clear message from Johannesburg band

When I was in South Africa in March a friend introduced me to Cassette. Another Johannesburg band. Apart from a new and lovingly lively version of Elvis Costello's Pump It Up, the CD also offers an excellent song called Get In The Ring, which basically is a very direct message to Zimbabwe's President Mugabe to get lost.

I can't find the lyrics online, but the most fascinating part of it goes like this:

Taking back Zimbabwe
Fuck you, Mugabe

Politicians ought to listen, not only to people, but to rock musicians, too.

The good things about power shortages

In Uganda, a story ran in the media a few weeks ago, that one of its ministers attributed the high fertility rate of Uganda to its many power shortages.

Good excuse, some might think. But power shortages are undeniably part of defining a country's development level, and in Dar es Salaam the weekly power cuts also add up.

Yesterday, we had no power from 18 hours up to midnight.

And what do you do when you have guests?

Baltasar took the opportunity to learn more chess from his father, who also talked about when he was a boy and experienced power shortages in Iceland's minus degrees.

(And I ventured to take a perfect and super pedagogical 'father-son image'.)

Unlike here, where it is tropical, 30 degrees hot and stagnant, and where one of the worst problems of not having any power is that it is difficult to sleep without a fan.

Baltasar in Zebra Print

  My Icelandic nephew is visiting me for Easter together with his parents.

His mother had made him a new wardrobe of African fabric.

This afternoon he was sporting his favorite - the zebra.

Good fun, and more here.

From a hot afternoon in Dar es Salaam

 

'Zebra & Giraffe'. According to the Tanzanians

In a conversation late last night with one of my Tanzanian colleagues, he explains that in Dar es Salaam it is not unusual to label women 'zebras' and 'giraffes'. His examples are vivid, and it is not difficult to imagine that 'giraffes' are the tall ones, and the 'zebras' the ones with the wide asses.

Frankly spoken.

However, 'Zebra & Giraffe' also happens to be the name of a very popular Johannesburg rock band which started out as the solo project of Greg Carlin. In May 2008, Carlin released Z&G debut album "Collected Memories" and then formed a live band with members Alan Shenton, Rob Davidson, Darren Leader & Andrew Maskell.

Do the South Africans know what 'Zebra & Giraffe' means in Tanzania?