:: louder than swahili

Should 'new Danes' be like everybody else?

I blog for Blogging Denmark, Denmark's official website, run by the Danish Foreign Ministry, where you can also find other bloggers blogging about issues related to Denmark. My perspective is obviously coloured by my distance.

My latest post:

A Danish union is currently running a campaign for integration of  ‘new Danes’ into the labour market. The campaign is, translated into English, called ‘Part of the Solution’.

The campaign caught my attention when I browsed the Internet, and came across a banner asking me: ‘Should ‘new Danes be like everybody else?’

In Danish we have gradually internalised the concept ‘new Danes’ in our Danish language (‘nydansker’ in Danish). The Danish Language Committee defines a ‘new Dane’ as a person whose family derives from another place than Denmark.

Part of the union’s campaign is an on-line survey here, where some of the questions are (freely translated):

‘Should there be a special room for prayer at work?’
‘Should ‘new Danes’ get used to the regular Friday beer?’
‘Is multiplicity an advantage for the work environment?’

I have worked in East Africa since June 2005, and I couldn’t help wondering about these questions in relation to my own context.

Read it all here.

Give me your gun!

Quick snapshots from my Sunday in Ally Maua, a suburb in Dar es Salaam. According to one of my guides amongst the ones with the worst reputation in terms of crime.

I find it hard to tell, I must admit, on a lazy Sunday like this. The people I interviewed, however, had been robbed recently at night, and not just that once, but for the third time.

Dar es Salaam is a tricky place in this sense. Crime doesn't necessarily come with poverty, and it doesn't show. Moreover, local Tanzanians have a tendency, in my experience, to overstate a potential risk, in order to protect you. On the other hand many wazungu tend to take the advice too lightly, or don't listen at all. 

Nevertheless, I must say it isn't a factor I deal with on a daily basis. I know there always is a potential risk. I have seen drivers on Nyerere and Morogoro Road been robbed for jewellery and mobile phones by street thugs. But it is a rather quiet affair, and the worst thing really is when the thugs are being targeted by mob justice.

In fact, during the past four years violent crime has escalated in Copenhagen to an extent that makes me feel way more unsafe cycling home through the centre of the city at night than talking a walk - in Tanzanian company - in Ally Mavua on a Sunday afternoon.

When working in your own city turns into an expedition

I have been working Friday, Saturday and Sunday with a very talented photographer. James Seigel is normally based in Cape Town, doing phootage of a quality which an NGO of our calibre seldom can pay for.

However, he offered MS Tanzania/ ActionAid Denmark and our partner organisation, Tanzanian Youth Coalition (TYC), his competences in return for basic commodities and a set-up.

So, for the past three days I, the photographer and Adrian and Juma from TYC have been cruising the suburbs of Dar es Salaam talking to people from Mabibo, Makumbusho, Kijitnyama, Sinza, Tegeta (and beyond), Magomeni, Mansese, Ubongo, Ally Maua, Kekuwanga and Bombalauma.

It is amazing how deep you can enter via local Tanzanians and a purpose - suddenly you are in the lounge of a complete stranger's house, who tells you her/his story, while another one of us is battling with a never ending supply of children who want to be digitalised wearing broad smiles.

For the past three days I have seen an uncountable amount of men peeling potatoes - and others frying, selling and eating them.

I have been invited, repeatedly, to church by a reverend who played his gospel out that loud that I'd gone mental if I lived in that place. Many mosques have called for prayers (and I am repeating my regular explanation 'that I don't need a house to practice my faith', when asked what my religion is).

Coulourful laundry everywhere.

Homemade antennas reaching for the blue sky.

Tropical heat under iron sheet roofs, while trying to put my scarce Kiswahili at some good use.

Zig-zagging over channels of sewage and garbage. 

I have been in awe of the colours of dusty walls in low sun.

The smell of  warm charcoal and humid limestone.

I have seen women in kangas much nicer than the ones I have ever bought ('Mombassa' they said, when I asked 'wapi?'). 

In fact, I suggested TYC that we'd start planning guided tours to suburbs with curious names, inspired by this.

The idea was to speak to youth who had received training in entrepreneurship skills at TYC, and to produce some small portraits of youth who have been capable of making a change in their own lives. The interviews were amazing and we were in fact all surprised, as it turned out that all six we spoke to had made impressive changes, and expressed it with pride.

One of the women gave the advice: ' Don’t sit back. Don’t wait for being provided for.'

And finally, I have to say that I myself learnt a few things in terms of photography - the photos are amazing, and I can't wait to put it all together.

Photo by James Seigel.

A Sign Painter's Shop in Dar es Salaam

Yep, it is Osama on the right.

Snapshots from the Dar es Salaam Suburbs

More Money, More Problem!

Must admit that I feel tempted to send this photo to the Danish Foreign Ministry.

However, less money is not necessarily less problem.

The photo is from Moshi.

Twittering From Iran

Lots of debate in the blogosphere on the role of social media in the Iran protests. Should we pass on information, or do we put the people in danger? Twitter is one tool, and one proposal circulating is to set your Twitter profile to 'Tehran' in order to make it harder to detect Iranian twitters. I just did.

What I think? I doubt the amount of the various kinds of information will give anyone the correct picture of the chaos in Iran now. However, the fact that the people of Iran use the social media to express their attitudes, and communicate it so massively, has an enormous impact - and send signals which are hard to misunderstand.

I also think what that would have meant 9 years ago in Belgrade, Serbia, when the Serbs went on the streets to protest against Milosevic. It might have made a difference in the way the outside world understood the Serbs as individuals.

More cartoons here.

Obamania in Kenya

More Obamania here from Africa.

There you are....

hanging on a string in the photographer's window in a street in Arusha...

Sura Kitabu - Facebook in Kiswahili!

Recently, Facebook launched a version in Kiswahili, Sura Kitabu, which targets nearly 110 million Kiswahili speakers.

From the BBC Africa:

Symon Wonda, one of the project's initiators, said they wanted to launch a Swahili version to safeguard the future of the language.

"The youth, the future generation, if you look at the biggest percentage of users on Facebook, they are the youth," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.

Very interesting ways of thinking in deed.

Jambo Network has a guideline here on how to set your Facebook to Kiswahili.

Not the ordinary safari photos

Just for your information: I didn't kill the hyena.

But, still, quite a safari.

Obama for sale in Moshi (but no safari boots)

I am on a safari, which today took me from Lushoto (where the freezing cold convinced me that Europe is never gonna be real fun again) through Moshi to Usa River.

I stopped in Moshi for a short walk. Departing Dar es Salaam in flip-flops, is a Swahili Coast habit hard to beat.

Hence I tried to buy a pair of safari boots in Bata Shoes.

None my size. though. But I gotta get some. Seems like the northern Tanzanian thing to do.

Blogging for Blogging Denmark: What makes me feel Danish?

I'm blogging for a relatively new initiative called Blogging Denmark, which is a sister site to Denmark.dk – Denmark’s official portal. The aim of Blogging Denmark is to create a range of commentary on Denmark and the Danes.

If you would like to blog on blogs.denmark.dk then contact editors@denmark.dk for more information.

Read my first post here, which admittedly is a write-up of several previous posts from my English and Danish blogs.

Swahili Simplicity

It doesn't take more; 3 plastic chairs, a table, a makuti roof - and the Indian Ocean.

I arrived with a friend at ten this morning to Kipepeo Camp at the Southern Beaches in Dar es Salaam, and later the makuti hut was filled with various people who make this Sunday activity perfect.   

The beach is among the best in Tanzania, much much better than the northern beaches, only problem here is getting there, as you have to cross the harbour with a ferry. A very much disputed ferry, which on occasion tends to run based on principles not obvious to me. A new rule has now been introduced: Passengers are not allowed to sit in the car while driving on board the ferry!

However, as usual, rules can be bended - a white landcruiser with 4 important-looking wazee was excempted, and went first in the line.

On the way back we rounded 56 Bhog in central Dar es Salaam for a South Indian meal. Fantastic. Fantastic to still be able to discover new stuff (20 minutes later my stomach was churning, though, but I'd do it again).

I don't think I'd ever get tired of the Swahili Coast concept. And I do know it is important not just to work your ass off 5 days a week, and do it in the weekends, too. Then I might as well be in Copenhagen. For me there has to be space for taking in what actually makes me want to get up in the morning in the long run.

We're moving mountains

When Sie Nicht Zusammenarbeiten Wollen...

The notice is from my favorite place in Dar es Saalam in terms of Indian food - for instance my favorite kachori with coconut relish and pili pili - the Badminton Institute.

If you have ever seen someone eating paan, you might understand the background for the Badminton Institute's warning.

Will you give us a lift to our Bible classes?

Why not?!

I, on the other hand, needed a photo for an article.

Something which illustrated Christianity.

Sasa hivi.

Something for something, so I got my photo and took three nuns in light blue dresses to their bible classes while answering the obligatory questions regarding my religion.

Do you want more sasa & less bado?

"Sasa" means "now", and "bado" means "after", "far", "afterwards", "later" or "not yet".

Now, I have passed this billboard on the New Bagamoyo Road in Dar es Salaam for a couple of times. Seen through the eyes of the mzungu it is a brilliant idea to mix significant words/concepts from Kiswahili with English.

We all want whatever we really want sasa. Not bado. That might be universal.

However, in particular, I find the the "sasa-bado" mechanism curious in an African context. People do live for the "sasa" - which in my experience often entails little planning for the future, from hand-to-mouth and, therefore, with little preparation and a lot of improvisation. Reasons are plenty, but we do also live in the territory of hakuna matata and pole pole. Things seldom happens now,  and most often the more correct answer would be "after", "far", "afterwards", "later" or "not yet".

For sure, we all want a fast connection rather sasa than bado!

Thanks to the Kamusi Project for the linguistic explanation.

Albino killers on the front page

On today's newspaper front pages it is very evident that the so-called albino trials have started.

The BBC Africa is reporting about it here. BBC Africa refers to 'about 17,000 albinos living in Tanzania'. The Tanzanian newspaper 'The Citizen' has the photo (above) from High Court in Kahama, Shinyanga Region on their front page, and refers to '150,000 albinos living in Tanzania '.

I have almost given up on finding an (supposedly) accurate number. I doubt it is a matter of the ability to count. However, the diversity of numbers used (when you google for it) might illustrate the reasons why the whole albino issue is rather confusing.

The Citizen is, not to forget, digging into the creepy details describing the actual actions of the accused men in the photo. Not at all unusual around here, and the fact that a newspaper has the above photo on the front page, where the accused persons stare into the camera with an intensity which appears strange if you really are guilty.

I mean, why would someone voluntarily expose one's guilt on the front pages?

Another interesting fact is that the file name of the photo is 'albino killers' - rather symbolic for the initiative the government embarked on back in January 2009, where the agenda was to solve the albino killings in a rather fast and easy way. Maybe a bit to fast, considering that Tanzania has a constitution, which does emphasise that legally, the men cannot be 'albino killers' until proven guilty?

The men in the photo do look back at me in a way I do not understand. In Southern Sudan I experienced something similar when I took photos in Yei Prison, where prisoners however were very unwell, and besides, claimed innocence.

Chances were high that they were. I don't know about the men in the photo - the trial has to show. 

Golden Tulip Hotel Mystery

The Golden Tulip has probably got the best swimmingpool in Dar es Salaam. An infinity swimming pool with a magnificent view of Dar es Salaam and the bay.

However, while someone has made an interesting attempt to give the hotel an Arabic/ Swahili design, it appears as if it was given up to a Yugoslav interior designer during the socialist era, who must have wrapped the hotel and staff up in a time pocket, and sold it to an Indian tycoon (who also likes everything in brown colours).

I go there for the swimmingpool. And expect nothing more. But most tourists do, and the friends I have sent off there (who i.e. also wanted lunch) where not to too overtly excited.

Places like the Golden Tulip are mysteries to me.

The hotel has such great potential, but it isn't used.

All in one place: Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, Julius Nyerere - and Barack Hussein Obama

Shop owners, offices and institutions in Tanzania are obliged to have a picture of the present president hanging on the wall.

In many cases the former president, Nyerere, hasn't been taken down.

Obama pops up in various forms all the time as a constant reminder of the fact that there is more to life.

I just read his recent speech from Cairo here, which filled me with hope. I know that the rest of the world is working overtime to analyse what the speech really will mean.

Sometimes things are what they are, and should just be kept simple.

Like when expressed on a kanga.

We Need Ground Rules...

I'm in a workshop at White Sands, a 4 star hotel in Dar es Salaam which has made a business of catering for organisations like the one I work for.

For 3,5 days I'll be sitting in a conference room with air-condition, flouroscent lightning and carpets which tranfers static electricity when you move your metallic chair over it.

From my seat I have a straight view over the big group of participants gathered here. Also a view of the Indian Ocean embraced by green palm trees, which might eventually make me go crazy as there is glass in between.

When we started out yesterday someone suggested 'ground rules'. I have been in somewhat over 100 workshops/ meetings/ seminars the past 10 years, and it never fails:

The people have spoken, and they want ground rules.

The reason why is quite unclear to me, and personally I'm against ground rules. Mainly because I don't believe they'll ever replace common sense (and because it doesn't work).

Just try guessing how many of these are already broken here on the second day?

Financial Times/Arena: Is aid working?

The FT's Arena blog is a forum for the debates of the times. Its latest discussion is on the the controversial and difficult issue of aid, and whether it works. Over the coming days, FT specialists and guest commentators and economists will join the debate. Readers are also invited to leave comments. 

Check it out here.

Workshop. Volleyball. White Sands

Not sure I'd drink out in Chad...

Hungry people in the central African nation of Chad have raised an old culinary fad from the dead - to get their fangs stuck into fried blood. 

The blood is not just used for food - which is no more unusual than when my grandmother made me help her prepare blood sausage, which in spite it is regarded a nutricious supplement, never was among my favourite.

In Chad, blood is nevertheless also used for producing the local brew, and Ironically, the locals have dubbed it 'vampire'.

'Vampire' is making a killing in Walia's ubiquitous bili bili (local millet brew) bars, where liquid diets require some supplements. "The taste is good, a bit like liver. I really like it," said James, a Saturday-morning drinker.

A bit like liver.

From the BBC Africa. 

Sharing Experience at 'Beyond Good Intentions'

Beyond Good Intentions is an organisation committed to uncovering more innovative and effective approaches to international aid worldwide. Through film series and educational programs the organisation is working to catalyze a much-needed dialogue about aid effectiveness in hopes of transforming the current system.

I am honoured having been invited to share one of my personal experiences with development work here. I chose a previous blog post from July 2008, which I believe illustrates my own dilemma working with development in Africa.