:: louder than swahili

Jobs at the Red Chili in Uganda

I have been through the Red Chili Backpacker's Lodge in Murchinson Falls in Uganda many, many times, when I worked in northern Uganda back in 2005-2007.

Now there is a couple of job opportunities open with the Red Chili in Murchinson Falls and Kampala. I am not tempted, but take a look here.

Tanzanian Soccer History - Live

 

The National Museum of Dar es Salaam was renovated recently. In fact, renovation hasn't been completed - however, yesterday a small exhibition on Tanzania's soccer history was launched by Tanzania's Prime Minister.

Obviously that meant no access to the actual exhibition untill all (the very long and formal) speeches were over. When finally granted access I have to admit that we were slightly dissappointed in regard of the quality of the exhibition - there was little connection between the different parts of the exhibition and very little accompanying text which could have explained why, what and how.

But as it usually happens around here, something turns around the situation. Suddenly, in walked a group of the old soccer players. Men who played soccer in Tanzania back in the 1950ties. All big smiles - proud to be part of this recognition.

A very historical moment.

Kanga shopping in Uhuru Street

One of the best souvenirs to bring back home from the Swahili Coast is a kanga. Or a couple. You will find the best selections of kangas to choose from in Uhuru Street in Dar es Salaam. They are sold in bulk, in many patterns and colours, in various qualities and at different prices - from 3500 to 4000 TSH. Do note the saying (a lot include 'mungu') - and that the kanga also is used as a way to communicate a message. Read more here.

Always remember one of the many Kiswahili sayings: 'That a woman can't be happy till she' got a thousand kangas.'

Still a way to go.

Kweli?!!

I receive all kinds of crap emails on a regular basis. This one below, however, takes a first place, mainly because the sender has taken the effort to appeal to the fact that I work for an NGO. At least that is how I interpretate it.

Sorry for passing it on to you (but I simply can't keep it to myself) - I know it leaves the reader with all kinds of questions to which there truly are no good answers. I once replied back to a similar email, asking if the sender thought I was an idiot. Now, I recommend ignoring this kind of emails completely.

How are you doing today? I am sorry i didn't inform you about my traveling to uk for a program called "Empowering Youth to Fight Racism, HIV/AIDS, Poverty and Lack of Education,It as been a very sad and bad moment for me over here and the present condition that i found myself is very hard for me to explain.

I am really stranded in uk now because I forgot my little bag in the Taxi where my money,documents and other valuable things were kept on my way to the Hotel am staying, I am facing a hard time here because i have no money on me to clear my Hotel bill, I am now owning a sum $2000 for my Hotel bill. I need you to help me out with a sum of $3,700 urgently so that i can arrange and travel back home,I need this help so much and on time because i am in a terrible and tight situation here, I had been starving so please understand how important and urgent i needed your help.

Please help me resolve this matter as soon as possible. I thank you for your help! I am sending you this e-mail from the city Library and I only have 30 min, I will appreciate what so ever you can afford to send me immediately through Western Union or Money Gram and I promise to pay back your money as soon as i return home so please let me know on time so that i can forward you the details you need to transfer the money through Money Gram or Western Union.how too send the money

NAME:Angela Raphael ADDRESS: 27 GUNSON COURT , GUNSON STREET MANCHESTER , UNITED KINGDOM ZIPCODE: M40 7NT Get back to me with the Details as : Senders Name: MTCN : AMOUNT SENT:

Photos from a walk around Tanga

I love Tanga. Maybe because it reminds me of lazy summers in Vojvodina. With a Swahili touch. Perfect for taking dusty, low-sun photos.

Dar 411 - News and Information Portal

If this News and Information Portal on Dar es Salaam, Dar 411, gives me what it promises, I am impressed. I haven't cheked it out fully, but so far it looks interesting.

In particular, I find this part interesting. Not to forget the effort of compiling the information on this city's transportation system.

Only problem is that I can't find out who is behind...?

'Do you know what the best thing about living in Africa is?'

On Tuesday when checking out of Tanga, the mzungu hotel manager, who had been circulating around the reception for a while, finally popped her million dollar question while I was in the process of stuffing a long line of assorted and colourful pieces of luggage into my Nissan Hardbody which was parked right outside the best hotel in Tanga.

The question obviously appeared to be rethoric. The manager also didn't hesitate providing the right answer in her own quiz: 'That you never have to carry anything yourself!'

The manager has quizzed me on another occasion earlier on, but conclusions like these still puzzle me. She has a point, obviously. Labour in Africa is cheap, and per tradition and out of lack of appropiate comodities the Tanzanians do not only carry their own stuff, but also whatever the wazungu come along with. Right from the beginning. It is a fine balance about being able to accept this luxury at the right times, and at other shut up and do it yourself.

It is a thing I do appriciate, I must admit, but for me the line is thin: I have no such luxury where I come from and there will be none of it when I return. I am brought up to never bring more than I can carry myself, but having the luxury here occasionally makes me forget it.

My 6-year-old Icelandic nephew, Baltasar, put the case into the ironic perspective when he asked me on his latest visit to Tanzania: 'Why have you got slaves?'. He was evidently referring to my watchman carrying my groceries and washing my car.

Made me think.

Places with strange names: 'Picha ya Ndege'

I keep passing the same places with names, which to me appear strange ( - and not just because my Kiswahili is not among the best ones).

This place - a small truck stop village on the highway between Chalinze and Dar es Salaam - I worked out the literal meaning of the name a while ago: 'Picture of a plane (or bird)'. 

Lakini, kwa nini?

According to a local Tanzanian the place is named after this little plane which the bar owner put up - and now the whole village is named after this.

Coca-Cola goes local (and Swahili)

Ugali, greens and tilapia. With Coca-Cola, of course.

Here the global brand (of them all) Coca-Cola reaches further out locally than tarmac and mosquito nets.

Photo from Chalinze.

High politics and daily life

Just returned from a short trip to Pangani and Tanga - a trip which as usual gave a lot of interesting inputs.

Religion in Africa is evidently approached very differently than in Europe. To a Dane the most interesting issue, however, is how Africans seem to make religions co-exist and integrate in daily life. Especially Tanzania - along the Swahili Coast - is very unique in this matter.

In Tanzania the population is more less half-half Christian and Muslim, but also Hinduism and a few other religions are practised. Few think of the fact that President Nyerere, who resided over Tanzania for 24 years, was Catholic, or that the present President Kikwete is a Muslim. For sure I never did, till I saw a picture in the newspaper of Kikwete celebrating the Ramadhan last October.

I don't refer to high politics or the religious fanatics, but to the ordinary Tanzanian making daily life in Tanzania work. The girls at the photo (from Picha na Ndege, a small town outside Dar es Salaam) is not a rare sight.

In Denmark it is.

In Denmark we have turned it into politics on all levels, and for the past 10 years Denmark has provided space for a heated - but unfortunately not always very nuanced - discussion on to what extent religion an religious symbols should be allowed in our daily lives. A veil is for instance still something many Danes simply can't accept.

In Tanga I went with a friend for a visit to a clinic run by an Islamic organisation, in many ways similar to a Christian mission station. Here the northern Sudanese director invited us both to visit Kharthoum one day, he being happily unaware of the Sudanese ban of issueing visa for Danish citizens. He also didn't know of the reasoning behind (the controversial Muhammad cartoons), and my friend and I didn't feel a greater urge to go into details. If curious about the cartoon crisis, read more here.

When I watch a group of children in a place like Tanga walking home from school, a mixed school - some girls wearing veils, some not - I can't help wondering what's Denmark's real problem?

Fear? Lack of confidence or awareness of one's grounding or roots?

The Economist: Waiting for that great leap forward

THE country already gets 40% of its government budget in aid, but now it wants even more foreign cash to help it through the economic downturn. How much is enough? Tanzania’s president, Jakaya Kikwete, smiles grimly. “We’re trying to bring down our dependency, but we’re grateful for what we receive.”

Read the whole article from the Economist here.

Photos from Pangani

One of my absolute favorite places - for taking photos randomly -  is Pangani, the laid-back Swahili town on the coast north of Dar es Salaam - about 45 minutes south of Tanga.

The light, dust, people and history makes it perfect for this purpose. Find more photos here.

'Into Africa: Intercultural Insights' (Africa tricks me everyday)

I'm reading a book at the moment called 'Into Africa: Intercultural Insights' by Yale Richmondand Phyllis Gestrin. The book explores the complex cultures of contemporary sub-Saharan Africa, and provides intercultural insights for anymore with an interest in Africa.

I have only two problems with this book - the first one is that it is in fact 10 years old, and that even though the most fundamental things have not changed, it doesn't pick up on newer trends (i.e. the influence from Internet, mobile phones, TV etc.), which play a significant role on the continent these days.

Secondly, in spite the book appears to be extremely accurate in its descriptions, and to provide very concrete examples, on occasion it is almost too precise as it also tends to genereralize a lot: 'When an African says this, he means that...'

However, the book is actually the best one I have found around trying to give an introduction to living and working in Africa, in fact it put words on a few concepts which I hadn't been able to grasp or explain.

One interesting example, I stumbled over today, is the chapter on 'The Expat and the Extended Family', where one piece of advice is that one shouldn't let oneself be drawn into an extended family, if one doesn't accept to play according to the African rules.  

Very true. Reading the book does in general give a good foundation for understanding African culture and its people, but it also provides good answers to a regular expat's questions, which might just solve some typical misunderstandings. - But as in real life, don't take it all too literally - make your own experience.

Africa tricks me everyday.

Find the book here.

Only in Tanzania...

In many of the rural areas in Tanzania people are now starving. The masika - the long rains - appear to be over, but in many places there was no or too little rain, resulting in drought.

It basically means that many among the 80% of the Tanzanian population, who depend on agriculture as a means to get something to eat, have no food.

On top of this, food prices go up (they always do when food is scarce, adding on irony to a grotesque situation).

According to the Guardian 'the price of main food crops like maize and beans have doubled compared to the previous months, whereby a 100-kilogramme bag of beans is sold at 120,000/- instead of 50,000/-. Maize is sold at 48,000 /- per 100kg bag compared to the previous price of 15,000/-.'

Lack of modern agricultural techniques, for instance irrigation, adds on to the problem.

Now people in 10 Tanzanian districts are asking for food, either free or subsidized. Tanzania has massive resources, if well-spent, it could reduce problems of this kind.

I should think so, however, I am no expert on agriculture.

Trying to find answers to why Tanzanians are starving due to a combination of predictable factors - among them drought, lack of agricultural skills and techniques and a decent infrastructure - I can' help thinking that the answer somehow indirectly is to be found somewhere around cases like this. As this blogger says; Only in Tanzania.

A Sunday at the Indian Ocean

The view - this afternoon - from the Kundichi Hotel & Beach Resort north of Dar es Salaam.

I think this is the best part of living in Dar es Salaam; The Indian Ocean.

Kunduchi is one of my favorite spots at the sea due to the fact that the place isn't echoing of the tones from a loud live band, or extended families letting their off-spring loose.

Like White Sands, Jangwani Sea Breeze, the Giraffe or the Beachcomber, which in my opinion are among the absolute worst resorts to spend a Sunday afternoon in Dar es Salaam.

But people's opinions differ, and we are all looking for something based on different expectations and experiences. A number of the readers who get directed to my blog via Google and who are looking for holiday options in Tanzania, will also be directed to Trip Advisor. A site meant to guide people via other people's opinions, but which also seems to be a let out for people's frustrations. I.e. take what visitors wrote about Kunduchi Hotel & Beach Resort here. Some of it true, some of it unfair, all based on personal opinions, likes and dislikes, expectations met or unfulfilled (generally, too confusing and unprofessional for me to ever taking Trip Advisor seriously).

Africa according to Desmond Tutu

      “When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.”

Quote by Desmond Tutu.

What did I learn after about 4 years around...?

I have started wondering a bit what I will take with me when I check out of Tanzania at one point.

More than 4 years in East Africa, and a lot of achieved skills which do not fit easily into a regular CV.

Possibly also a lot of habits which might not match a European context. I.e. I fear going back having to drive according to rules set in Copenhagen.

There is however, one thing I haven't learnt yet, in spite of 10thousands of kilometres: Parallel parking.

The funny things is that there are so many ways to come about it here, you just make up alternatives in the process (or simply park proudly according to your skills).

In fact, that seems to say a lot about what I have learnt around here.

NAFASI – ART SPACE IN Dar es Salaam

TANZANIAN AND EUROPEAN ARTISTS WORK TOGETHER AT NAFASI – ART SPACE AS PART OF EUROPE WEEK, IN THE YEAR OF INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY

A group of 8 Tanzanian artists will work together with 6 European artists for a week to create and present to the public joint contemporary artworks using cheap materials and equipment on the theme “something from nothing”.

 

Read more here.

Habari za leo?

Cycling coaches to attend seminar. Yes, Tanzania also has a cyclist association: CHABADA. Read  more here.

And in the northern part of Tanzania the government plans to include the legendary Oldonyo L'engai, referred to by locals as ' the Mountain of God' in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA), resulting in frustrated villagers. Read more here.

Tanzania has a deputy minister for Community Development, Gender and Children (interesting combination), called Dr Lucy Nkya, who has just called on Tanzanians who failed to take part in the countrywide referendum exercise to name suspected albino killers, bandits and drug dealers to name them through letters to regional police commanders and other regional leaders. Read more here. (Some people also call that a sophisticated kind of mob justice).

And finally, the Tanzania Communication and Regulatory Authority (TCRA) is busy working on the final details to ensure registration of all mobile phone SIM cards effective July, this year, as part of the strategy to clamp down on the theft of mobile phones and their misuse. Read more here.

Afrobarometer

 

 

 

A comparative series of national public
attitude surveys on democracy, markets,
and civil society in Africa.

The Afrobarometer is an independent, nonpartisan research project that measures the social, political, and economic atmosphere in Africa. Afrobarometer surveys are conducted in more that a dozen African countries and are repeated on a regular cycle. Because the instrument asks a standard set of questions, countries can be systematically compared. Trends in public attitudes are tracked over time. Results are shared with decision makers, policy advocates, civic educators, journalists, researchers, donors and investors, as well as average Africans who wish to become more informed and active citizens. www.afrobarometer.org

Zuma on front

On Sunday the Tanzanian newspapers on display in Kariakoo were reporting on Jacob Zuma's, inauguration, the new president of South Africa.

Self-proclaimed polygamist Mr Zuma, is also at present one of the most frequently blogged personalities in the African blogosphere.

Controversial presidents are good material for media, and chances are good that Zuma will keep it coming. I realise I might be suffering from a lack of regular gossip and soap series intake, - embarrasingly I must confess that I am expecting more entertainment from that side.

One long vein meandering its way into the heart of Dar es Salaam

Every morning of the work week I drive through the same 4,5 kilometre scenario along the Ali Hassan Mwinyi Road, from Regent Estate at the New Bagamoyo Road to Selander Bridge/United Nations Road in Upanga. And back again.

 

With very few exemptions the mornings are similar.

 

From early morning the road is packed with cars, from the oversize, governmental and non-governmental landcruisers with silky white interior to the worn-out Toyota salon cars, the tuk-tuks (which name sounds like a hostile tribe), dala dalas and what not. All forming one long vein meandering its way into the heart of Dar es Salaam.

 

Occasionally brought to a halt by a VIP enjoying the comforts on this country's weakness for hierachy, leaving the horrors of the traffic jam to the common people.

 

Due to the fact that the amount of cars doesn't match the squaremetres of available tarmac (though the ones who don't believe in waiting, will make up additional lanes) everything reduces to slow-mode. Here a life of its own has developed along the traffic jams of this road. With recurrent characters (myself included). This morning a traffic police officer greeted me at the Haile Selassie junction; ‘You are late this morning.’ I laughed, I was actually late. It makes a lot of difference when exactly you enter the traffic flow, and this morning I left my house at 7.40, 40 minutes later than usual.

 

Lakini, the Scandinavian capital I come from, a traffic police officer would never note it.

 

And Sunday one of the young men selling newspapers embarked on a discussion while I was waiting in the Morocco junction; ‘Why don’t you buy a paper from me?’ I told him, that I usually read them in the office. ‘But it is Sunday, and you don’t work on a Sunday!’

 

Also true.

 

On the other hand I do always buy the East African from one of the regular vendors who appear around the Big Baobab Tree. These guys know their customers well, and I live up to their expectation. The street vendors are in general intensive, but not very logical in their promoting. Do I really look like someone who plans to buy hangers, pillows, oranges and some weird-looking liquid for the car - in the traffic jam? All at once?! My 'sihitaji' or the 'sitaki' is never acceptable, and I am being starred at from eyes belonging to bodies captured by a draining mix of hunger and hope. That is if I don't give in to the junk I don't need and don't want.

 

My main challenge are the beggars, the handicapped and the sick. The young guy with no fingers on his hands, where one carefully has to leave notes (better than coins) for him to grasp between his palms; The bearded guy with a limp instead of a full leg: The young menthally sick boy with kind eyes about whom I am always thinking could have had a good life in Denmark. There is also the albino who works his way up and down on the whole stretch on all times. Once he summarized the whole scenario to me, when he said; 'It is up to you, babe!', when I looked back at him through a pair of expensive, black shades once given to me by my sister.

 

I saw myself from outside, and did not like the sight. Maybe he knew. Surely he sparked the dilemma I can afford to let me puzzle myself with on an existential level. The question between my conscience saying if you have, you must give - and my principle lack of belief in giving money to beggars; Or to buying things I don't see the use for just because the vendors then will go hungry.

 

In spite the days appear similiar, I can't help thinking that the stretch I drive through twice a day makes up the complexity of Tanzania too well. It surely demands patience, and frequent reviews on how far I will and can take myrself.

 

 

Downtown Kariakoo

Kariakoo is sort of the Tanzanian equivalent to the area around Arua Bus Station and Owino Market in Kampala. I like the place around Mafia and Congo Street, and on Sundays you can even find a parking space without too much hassle.

The streets are hectic, bustling, colourful. Alive. Smells rather exotic after a wet drizzle. Still, black water and garbage dumps add on to the reality of this place. Men at work, sweating, not giving space. Women dragging children across the street to the dala dalas. As a pedestrian, always lift your feet, and check where you put them.

I know some people warn about driving and walking in Kariakoo. There is always someone who knows someone who got her side mirrors dismantled (while sitting in the car), or someone who got robbed in the street. Or someone who got a bad stomach after drinking the sugar cane juice.

Never say never, but I have never ever experienced any trouble, and I have never felt uncomfortable walking round the streets of Kariakoo. 

But I'd stay far off the sugar cane juice. 

More photos here.

Bara ya Africa - the meaning of deep inside (of Africa)

When I worked with the Sudanese in northern Uganda, the people would say: 'We are going deep inside', when we were off on a mission. I always wondered what that actually meant. Linguistically as well as practically.

I mean, the Scandinavian would ask the obvious practical questions: 'How far inside, for how long, when will we be back, and will I need to bring my passport?' But in linguistic terms I have also been curious on how far you'd have to go before it counts as deep inside, and what exactly makes it count as such. 

Never seemed clear, and at one point you just go with the flow and stop asking.

However, a Tanzanian colleague explained the concept to me today like this.

'Bara' is a word in Kiswahili for 'the continent, the interior, territory'. Like 'Bara ya Afrika', the African continent, but it is also used more symbolically as 'the inside of Africa', as in opposition to the coast.

People from the coast, the Swahili, will say 'anatoka bara', meaning 'he comes from deep inside', from far away. (I also get the understanding it can indicate that the guy might not be as updated as the people on the coast. And that he might complain about those light meals they eat on the coast, he prefers his ugali or even the matoke. But that is another story.)

Those are the people who come from bara, the interior, from deep inside Africa. If I go deep inside I'll say 'nakwenda bara' (or 'ninakwenda bara') - still I am not completely sure when or where to use the phrase.

Get all the meanings of bara here.

The photo is from the road between Koboko in northern Uganda and Yei in Southern Sudan.

News on malaria research in Tanzania

From the Ifakara Health Institute's Spotlight Issue No 2 (read it all here):

• In 2007/8, nearly 20% of Tanzanian under tested positive for malaria. Prevalence in rural areas is more than double that in urban areas, and there are huge variations across regions.
• Data from previous surveys and studies indicate that malaria prevalence in Tanzania has roughly halved over the past decade.
• There has been a decline of similar timing and magnitude in malaria transmission, severe anaemia, fever incidence, malaria inpatient admissions and the proportion of fever cases positive for malaria.
• The reduction in malaria transmission, prevalence and morbidity corresponds closely to the increase in use of nets and ITNs. The protection nets extends beyond individual users to benefit the community as a whole.
• The fact that multiple malaria interventions have been implemented in conjunction makes it difficult to assign causation to any one particular control measure.
• All-cause under-five mortality has declined by nearly 40% since 1999. The evidence suggests that malaria-related deaths have declined by a similar extent.
• The fact the proportion of deaths directly attributable to malaria has not changed might be explained by a large control on all-cause mortality.

Homosexuality in East Africa - a taboo

When I lived in Uganda I followed the debate on homosexuality out of great curiosity. It is an issue which has been discussed in the Uganda public sphere and in the blogosphere. More than once I have myself been told off in harsh words for giving space on my blog to the topic. However, public debates on so-called taboos, i.e. homosexuality, does give a lot of information on a society's balance between conservatism and actual change. It also tells something of what a society fears and how far it will go to deal with it.

Interesting when you try to get familiar with a new culture.

I grew up in a place with a completely different take on homosexuality.

An example is the fact that 66-year old Johanna Sigurdardottir, was named as Iceland's prime minister in January 2009 - being the first openly lesbian head of government in Europe, if not the world - created a lot of attention abroad, whereas the Icelandics couldn't be bothered. One of my South African friends read about it in a conservative, Afrikaans newspaper, and started texting his overtly happy congratulations for being so liberal in Scandinavia. My Icelandic brother-in-law would rather discuss the PM's political compentences, which he disagreed with, than her sexual orientation.

Jackfruity has written an interesting article on gay rights bloggers in (mostly East) Africa. It is mainly referring to Uganda and Kenya where gay rights bloggers appear more active expressing their thoughts. Rebekah explains that Uganda is the only country in the world whose cabinet includes a Minister of Ethics and Integrity. The position is currently held by Dr. James Nsaba Buturo - a man who considers homosexuality a greater threat than corruption. He has accused the UN, UNICEF, Amnesty International and a host of other international organizations of promoting an “abnormal, unhealthy, unnatural” lifestyle in Uganda.

In Tanzania the (English-speaking) blogosphere does appear rather silent in regard of homosexuality. It doesn't mean that some people here aren't struggling with the taboo. Hence let me throw this article into circulation: 'When gay is not happy'. It is a personal and well-written article from the South African Mail & Guardian which questions the culture of silence in Tanzania when it comes to being gay.

Advice for 4×4 enthusiasts

Mick Farmer from OnCourse in Uganda is back with the kind of advice for 4×4 enthusiasts, I usually have to ask my brother about.

One of the exercises we do on our High range course, for example, is the slalom (weaving in and out of traffic cones). This doesn’t sound like much fun but come along and do it and you won’t want to stop.

It is true. Read here.

The photo is not from an excersise but a scene from daily life in the rain season in northern Uganda in May 2007.

When Ernesto Guevara was 37...

I have recently found myself slightly disillusioned in regard of development work in Africa. In particular, and let me emphasise that, my own role in this context. Which obviously is problematic on more than one level, as I happen to live in Africa, and have made a living based on a relative long line of jobs in the international NGO sector for the past 10 years. 

I hope it is a phase similar to the ones you get in other types of job sectors? Well, I also had malaria recently, and having my favorite part of the family visiting me a month ago, only made me miss them more, now that they have returned home.

I am not much for ranting effortlessly on emotional issues on my blog, however - just let me say that it isn't always a long line of palm trees in sunsets or bushy adrenaline driving this mission I am on.

Nevertheless, I'll leave it to Ernesto Guevara's 'The African Dream - 'The Diaries of the Revolutionary War in the Congo', which I took down from my bookshelf the other day (see also here). Guevara wrote these diaries in the Cuban Embassy in Dar es Salaam over a period of two months. He was 37 years old.

Dar es Salaam. 37 years. And the big Africa question.

Interesting coincidence, I thought. (Or maybe not, after all I am made of somewhat different substance than Guevara).

Guevara went to the Congo in 1965-1966 via Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Guevara, one of the heroes of the Cuban Revolutionary War and a minister in Fidel Castro's government, simply vanished, travelled via the U.S.S.R. and surfaced in the heart of Africa where he with 100 Cuban guerilla fighters to assist him put into action his theories of how to help the oppressed peoples of Africa.

Guevara believed in fighting imperialism, in revolutions - he had experience, ideals, and he tried to set himself as a good example. However, Congo was different than anything else he had tried, and it didn't exactly go as planned. His diaries were kept a secret up till the 1990ties, though the experience Guevara put forward was supposedly implemented in Cuba's ongoing support to African revolutions.

It obviously made me think about my own African context (which is where it gets messy, I admit)

Like what do the development agencies actually do when today's development support to Africa fails? Do they actually manage to link properly between the theories in Europe and the actual needs of the beneficiaries here? Don't the agenda of advocating the causes of poverty, of making celebreties taking an interest and of fund-raising for it all, take too many resources from the actual point? What when development agencies move on and apply a new set of methods or programmes instead of analyzing, adjusting to and admitting mistakes? And what is it exactly that Africa want? Development, but no change?

What I like the best about Guevara's diaries is the fact that he admits that there simply are things in his theory which never matched Africa, that he is insufficient and that there are things he doesn't understand. In these diaries Guevara analyzes his doubt in a simple and very honest way, but also with a remarkable respect for Africa.

What a relief!

Read it here.

No one can wear a green Kaunda suit like Kikwete...

Today I am wearing a toxic-green shirt. Two colleagues in my office instantly noticed, and laughed:  

Are you supporting CCM!?

Aren't we all?! I smiled (while trying to match the irony of the question).

Tanzania introduced multi-party system in 1992, which means that Tanzania has limited experience with different political parties, but a lot with CCM.

Here you can express your political affiliation by colour, but time it well. The colour of the Chama Cha Mapinduzi - the revolutionary party and the leading political party in Tanzania - is green and yellow.

Sparkling, grass green.

And I must say; no one can wear a green Kaunda suit like Kikwete (with a glimpse of his bare chest).

Imagine this in a European context!

A Danish male politician would never wear a grass green suit, nor would he not wear a shirt underneath, but would restrict himself to a conservative black, navy, grey or brown, and finish off with a tie.

South Africa: The Bang Bang Club goes to Hollywood

I quite enjoyed reading Greg Marinovic's book 'The Bang Bang Club, which takes place in the early 1990ties' South Africa. It is a book written by and focusing on the press, in particular photographers, covering the violence in the townships. It is also a book which lays out the background for some of the most iconic photographs from that period.

Now it is being filmed. Read more here.