:: louder than swahili

Female wazungu in flock

2009-11-12T12:28:08+03:00

Occasionally I have to go to the international clinic in Masaki on the peninsula in Dar es Salaam. Some weeks ago, after having returned from a 10 hours' drive, I urgently needed a cure, which would make an infernal mix of stomach cramps, exhaustion and back pain go away.

Two women of my tribe enter the waiting room, accompanied by their children, who also make up the reason for their visit. They occupy a line of chairs, and start talking while they make bland gestures, and communicate at the top of their voices in their native tongue.

Exchange greetings, and exchange information as was it habitual commodities. As if they are the only ones in the room. They use irony, and joke with the facts that their children are not dying this time, that it is not that serious.

The talk goes on.

Aimlessly to the indifferent.

Woman A: How are you spending the coming holidays?

Woman B: Oh, I tried calling the X, but everything is booked. One really needs to get away sometimes.

Woman A (nods convincingly, expressing her sincere agreement): We really should get together one of these days. Go somewhere. Bring the children.

I start shrinking.

Not only by the thought of bringing a lot of children to one place, but about the whole idea of being caught in the midst of a flock of female wazungu slowly running out of commodities to exchange. Females, whose men's choice of careers have turned their families into modern versions of hunters and gatherers.

Not that I wouldn't envy - on occasion - the benefits of a man providing, but when I do, I do so for a wide range of obscure reasons. Not that I put all the female wazungu spouses in one box - far from - but when I meet them in flock in Masaki, I imagine the diluted conversations pending.

All in spite, I admit, I am a female wazungu myself - one who does know the directions to the Yacht Club; the best kanga designer/tailor in town; where to buy the best German homebaked bread; where to go for sushi; and a lot of other supposedly valuable commodities for a classic Dar es Salaam female, wazungu exchange of information.

Here a female mzungu can not only afford the international clinic, lakini, also the irony and the jokes which distances us to the majority of the people. When I lived in northern Uganda it was not unusual that I had to give someone a lift to a clinic, and that morning in the Dar es Salaam clinic it struck me that in Uganda I lived and worked closer to the Ugandans to ever joke about the fact that a child wouldn’t be dying today.

The female wazungu operating in flock make me feel like I'm 16 years old again and back in high school spending too much time figuring out why I am not part of what appears to be the group of girls the boys are interested in. 22 years later, I know that that was a waste of time, and that I definitely don't belong among the wazungu females who

isolate themselves with a bourgois life far off the kelele.

Getting emotional: The Tanzanian state of education

2009-11-11T18:37:25+03:00

Working with development, we all have our favourites, something which is closer to our hearts than other areas.

In my case it is education - but as in human potential, creativity, personal drive, eagerness and motivation. So far, I have only found the word 'education' enlisted among the buzz words in the development support bible.

However, it all boils down to utilised and appreciated human potential, creativity, personal drive, eagerness and motivation, which will be the only forces change is made of.

Of course, this is my opinion. I used to be a teacher, and I have absolutely no objective approach to this. I have written about it before from northern Uganda and South Sudan - countries which in my opinion easilier can explain why they haven't got their education system in place. Tanzania has not gone through the same conflicts and problems, and have moreover received non-stop development support since the 1960ties

That makes me rather emotional. Not just the state of education in Tanzania, but the fact that this vast human potential, creativity, personal drive, eagerness and motivation 365 days a year in a large range of Tanzanian villages just isn't utilised, but ignored.There are lots of explanations for this. Education is merely the only thing neglected in the rural areas. Access to water, health services, decent infrastructure and information are other absent, basic necessities for development. The distance between the people who have and the ones who don't, is rather tangible in Tanzania.

In many cases, the schools are there - as in hardware. Buildings are constructed all over the country, but often they don't provide enough space for the pupils enrolled or they are in miserable states. Other problems are obviously also that some teachers don't show up; don't teach; don't speak the tribal language of the children in that area; that they take bribes or demand other services. But teachers are also directed by the government where to work, paid an absolutely ridiculously little salary considering their role and tasks. According to the teachers I spoke to last week, a Tanzanian teacher makes about 75 - 300 USD monthly, that is if they are paid at all - recently teachers have announced that they may go on a 'go slow strike', demanding amongst others their salaries.

And while researching for this blog post, I read this article, which presents a rather interesting variety of view points in terms of the modern Tanzanian teachers, most of them offending, like this one:

Many modern day teachers may have come up short in being role models. Take the female unmarried pregnant teacher or with own children. Single parenthood may be the trend in urban Tanzania, but single mom teacher is setting the example that it is OK to disobey the commandments of the Holy Bible, Quran or other beliefs of one’s community.

The list is long, however, what is fundamental is, that Tanzania has an educational system which simply doesn't meet the need for the vast majority of the watanzania.

Last week I visited two schools in Monduli District - each a primary school in the villages of Moirowa and Kiserian. Both are populated by the Maasai, though Moirowa over time has had a Somali influence which has integrated with the Maasai. They are both situated about 35 km from the main road going between Arusha and Namanga at the border to Kenya, turning in Longido towards Lake Natron. Both villages are situated about 100 km from Arusha, in an area where you on clear days can see you can see the mountains of Kilimanjaro, Meru, Longido and Ol Doinyo Lengai.In the school in Kiserian there was no water and no kitchen facilities for cooking food for the children. Some of the children walk up to 15 km to and from school every day. Enrollment is highly influenced by the present draught in the area, as families shift according to access to water.

In the school in Moirowa there was water, and food was prepared for the pupils - a thin maize soup with beans. Here the children did not walk as far as in Kiserian, and a much higher percentage of girls were enrolled.

The visitors coming with me had brought paper and crayons, and the pupils sat down and drew. Using their human potential, creativity, personal drive, eagerness and motivation. The teachers went along; The children concentrated and produced. As long as there is this ability, everything is possible. Africans have made it big, coming from everywhere. However, a lot of potential is not utilised in Tanzania.

About 50% of Tanzania’s population is under 18 years: How can Tanzania ignore the importance of education?

If in doubt: Scroll back and take another look at the first photo of the child concentrating to draw!

Adaptation: It is easier summing up what Africa has changed in me, than what I have changed in Africa

2009-11-10T09:27:27+03:00

The logo on my car refuses to stay white.

Gradually it has taken colour after the red dust, and it won't go off, even after lots of rain.

Metaphorically speaking: Not too sure if it symbolises the rest of the NGO I work for.

Lakini, personally I do feel that it is more difficult getting the dust off than getting dusty. It is easier coming to Africa, than returning. It is easier summing up what Africa has changed in me, than what I have changed in Africa.

I know some of you will laugh, but months ago I collected a little bag of red soil from the Kilimanjaro region, where the soil is blindingly red. They have my favourite colour soil in that area, and Kilimanjaro is one of the most astounding places in Africa. To take with me home and stare at when I am going to blend in with the Danish landscape.

Does red African soil fade over time if you move it out of its original environment?

Back in Dar es Salaam

2009-11-09T14:44:03+03:00

I got back to Dar es Salaam yesterday after 10 days on th road. I love driving, getting out there, but sometimes driving back home is a real mission. Within a month I have driven 2763 kilometres. I am exhausted. Being back in Dar es Salaam just feels fantastic.

Now sorting photos and editing. More to come.

Nothing like instant 'Africafe' (before 200 km on dusty roads)

2009-11-05T23:58:00+03:00

Today I woke up in Namanga on the border to Kenya. The morning rain wet the dust, and messed up the front screen of the car, which was covered in a fine layer of red dust from the night before. Soon me, too. When you take off from Namanga, you have a great landscape ahead: Kilimanjaro, Meru and Longido. Later, when we drove into the bush, again the peak of Ol Doinyo Lengai.Quite a few of the people interested in 'my' job as communication adviser ask me;

How much do you travel and how much time do you spend outside the office every month?

I answer: as much as possible.

Probably not a very useful answer (if you like the idea of staying a lot in the office), lakini, true. In general in Africa, I see an increasing tendency to cluster expats in the bigger cities and tie them to desks. This is certainly the case of the NGO I work for, which in my opinion now is putting a greater focus on its programme and overall objectives in favour of the smaller civil society organisations we work in partnership with (and which often reside at the end of a dust road in rural Tanzania).

Moreover, it is a fact, that it is difficult to place European expats in rural areas because of the lack of amenities. It is also a common joke between local organisations that sooner or later one of their donors will be ask them to arrange to fly them in to places where there are no airstrips. We laugh when we imagine how the wazungu think they can get from Dar es Salaam to Kiteto to Arusha in only 5 days. Even me, I once had someone requesting me to pick someone up at the border between Tanzania and Uganda, and then take them to Iringa. (I told them I liked to drive, but doubted the visitors would like it as much as me, when they eventually got to look at a map of East Africa).

However, in times with wide network coverage, mobile Internet modems, Nissan Hardbodies and the majority of the African population living in the rural areas, the only thing which makes sense, is to get out there.

I love having my base in Dar es Salaam, but I am not a writer of fiction.

Besides, this is what Africa is made of.

I love my job: Kilimanjaro, Meru, Longido and Ol Doinyo Lengai in ONE day

2009-11-04T23:26:26+03:00

I have been happily cruising Tanzania this week – from Dar es Salaam to Tanga to Moshi to Arusha.

This morning I set off from Usa River at the foot of Mount Meru, drove towards Longido (photo above) about 75 km from Arusha and 30 km from the border to Kenya, then off into the bush towards Kiserian Village.

At a certain point during this drive, and on clear days, you can see the mountains of Kilimanjaro, Meru, Longido and Ol Doinyo Lengai.

All the sacred mountains in one go.

I went to Kiserian with two guests from MS ActionAid Denmark and our partner organisation CORDS to visit places where MS ActionAid Denmark supports work on land rights. The guests won their trip to Tanzania in a campaign competition, and this week I am the tour guide. So far, a rather pleasant task. Mainly because I get to go out and meet the wamaasai, and because I get to go through the most magic landscapes of Africa, while I do my job.

Obviously everything got delayed, political heated discussions in the morning in the office over the land issue in Ngorongoro (more about that in a seperate post); people needed lifti, and I ended up driving the last half hour to Namanga cloaked in black, African darkness, blinded by truck headlights, making me inhale 3 kg of African dust which I have now washed down the drains of the Lion Guesthouse on the border to Kenya.

Lakini. This kind of work makes me feel alive.

Personally, I think selected Scandinavian women should have a prize for not freaking out under these circumstances. Or it should be evident what it means when I put the achievement on my CV.

Apropos, jobs:

'My' job is now posted. I do hope who ever gets it, will appreciate getting out of the office working with the wamaasai as much as I do (while I get my head adjusted for leaving it). On days like this it feels like the hardest decision I am making - to return home to Copenhagen.

Lakini. There is a first & last for everything as the hotel on the border between Tanzania and Kenya so rightly puts it.

Red African soil. Close up.

2009-11-03T23:05:23+03:00

Pernille Bærendtsen

Another juwala ball

2009-11-02T18:24:38+03:00

Pernille Bærendtsen

Angalia, angalia! Mimi, hata ninacheza kama mwafrika

2009-11-01T23:18:13+03:00

Look, look. Even me I'm dancing like an African.

Time stood still in Tanga; A tourist poster from (I assume) the 1970ties is hanging in a window of a tourist tour service in downtown Tanga.

Our stomach hurt with laughter. The rest of the day we asked ourselves:

But did you see the guy with the skirt?

Were LSD really so easily available in Tanga in the 1970ties?

Were they tourists or development workers?

Is this what happens when you take Ujamaa too seriously?

Is it too much pamoja?

Is it time to go home when you end up on a beach dancing in a skirt?

Where is that guy now (and does he know that he is hanging in a window in Tanga?)

Tanga: It's Kili Time. Make the most it!

2009-11-01T20:51:46+03:00

Another lazy afternoon in Tanga. When Tanzania is good, it is exceptionally good.

Here's your gateway to the UN! Work your way up!

2009-11-01T12:53:50+03:00

Interesting job advert from the UN in Afghanistan.

Lazy afternoon. 10 kilometres south of Tanga

2009-10-31T20:47:04+03:00

Pernille Bærendtsen

Sweet Africa

2009-10-31T13:20:45+03:00

Back on the road again. This weekend in Tanga. Next week in Arusha.

ActionAid Climate Debt Agents Dressing up in Brussel

2009-10-29T23:05:31+03:00

From MS ActionAid Denmark's action today in Brussel.

Cool guys!

Fashion Tradition

2009-10-29T09:24:39+03:00

Pernille Bærendtsen

Sauti za Busara versus Mafia Dance Festival

2009-10-28T21:02:59+03:00

I have taken the first photo at this year's Sauti za Busara in Stone Town, Zanzibar. a

The second is from Mafia Dance Festival announcing dates for a coming festival in August.

Seems like the wazungu go to Mafia, and that people wear clothes on Sauti za Busara.

Kweli...(?)!

So much more reason to go to Sauti za Busara 11-16 February 2010.

Photography: Kawawa Road, Dar es Salaam

2009-10-28T20:26:50+03:00

Pernille Bærendtsen

Dar es Salaam: HIPHOP NITE / MUSIC & DANCE / TANZANIA & FRANCE

2009-10-28T14:27:56+03:00

ALLIANCE FRANCAISE, THE FRENCH EMBASSY and VISA2DANCE PRESENT:

HIPHOP NITE / MUSIC & DANCE / TANZANIA & FRANCE with:

ZAHRBAT DANCE COMPAGNIE

(Contemporary / hip hop dance from France)

THE BEST FRIENDS

(Winners of DSM street dance competition)

TMK WANAUME HALISI

PROFESSOR JAY

MRISHO MPOTO

FID-Q

Venue: Diamond Jubilee-Main Hall.

Date: Saturday 31 October 2009.

Time: 8pm - 12pm

Entrance fees: TSH 6000

TSH 2000 (students & under 26 years)

A brilliant mix of Tanzanian & French music and dance, hip hop style. For both hip hop fans and contemporary dance lovers.

The opening act will be a presentation by selected Tanzanian dancers as the result of a two days workshop conducted by Zahrbat French dancers and choreographers.

Zahrbat performance will start by a 30mn danced lecture on the history of hiphop dance. It will be followed by “El Firak” a 30mn dance duo about separation and dealing with the issue of the wall built between Israel and the West Bank and the families torn apart by the conflict. The night will continue with live performances of TMK WANAUME HALISI, PROFESSOR JAY, MRISHO MPOTO, FID-Q and BEST FRIENDS dance show.

African Street Football: How to make the juwala ball?

2009-10-28T11:49:10+03:00

‘Juwala’ means 'waste plastic' in Kiswahili. The juwala ball went public in Europe last month when Ban Ki Moon held it up during his keynote address at the opening of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Congress in Copenhagen.

I believe the idea was to remind the Olympic Committee to connect sports with development. And the juwala ball truly is representative for how most football matches are played on the continent.

Streetfootballworld has produced a give-away postcard with easy-to-follow instructions (below).

Photo above from Dar es Salaam.

Drink beer. Donate blood. Save life. All in one go?

2009-10-28T10:15:24+03:00

Bar sign in Sinza - a suburb in Dar es Salaam.

+ list over things which are good about returning to Denmark #01

2009-10-28T09:42:36+03:00

I'm gathering points on my + list over things which are good about returning to Denmark.

My Icelandic nephew Baltasar and his new born second cousin, Scottish/Danish Maja Siri, are high on the list. Beautifull children, both of them by the way. I'm sure it pays off to stirr up the Danish gene pool.

Africa and its control freaks

2009-10-27T16:27:45+03:00

I quite enjoy to look at Africa from a psychological point of view. To just boil it down to people, desires and emotional behaviour.

One of my favorites is when an mzungu arrives to the continent, and turns out to be a control freak.

According to th Wikipedia, in psychology-related slang, a control freak is a derogatory term for a person who attempts to dictate how everything around them is done. It can also refer to someone with a limited number of things that they want done a specific way.

Control Freaks are people who care more than you do about something and won't stop at being pushy to get their way.

In some cases, the control freak sees their constant intervention as beneficial or even necessary; this can be caused by feelings of superiority, believing that others are incapable of handling matters properly, or the fear that things will go wrong if they don't attend to every detail. In other cases, they may simply enjoy the feeling of power it gives them so much that they automatically try to gain control of everything around them.

We all are to different degrees, us, the wazungu, control freaks (me too. I, for instance, still like to believe that traffic rules should apply; and I insist that people wear safety belts when I drive).

No doubt that the first wazungu on the continent were control freaks: the explorers, the missionaries, the voortrekkers and the colonisers all bear the characteristics of a classic control freak. Stanley might be among the most infamous, while the Afrikaans later turned it into a collective, political concept which was legal till 1994.

And what else can explain the idea behind the Great Trek?

However, the string thrives vibrantly among the modern wazungu, too. Development workers, NGO management, ambassadors, lodge owners, safari companies, volunteers, diplomats and spouses - many fit the control freak profile, too. I can't help noticing that the modern control freaks carry with them different ideas of why they are here to sort it out. Some, ironically, having no prior management or Africa experience. They react differently when realising the challenge, that real Africa doesn't fit the theory.

In my experience, these are the most interesting cases. A majority of the Tanzanians I have met are brought up to choose peace over justice, and will during a potential conflict rather keep quiet than speaking up loud. It is almost too easy for a control freak to abuse this, as an mzungu can set him/herself outside the cultural rules, especially if he/she arrives with an appointed authority to lead; to make decisions; to guide and supervise others.

Chief Mkwawa is an interesting example of a Tanzanian who tried to resist the German control freaks back in the 1890ties. However, I have realised that modern Tanzanians frequently prefer a variety of more silent and sophisticated revenges over the control freak mzungu.

For instance, no mzungu beats a Tanzanian's ability to wait.

Some would claim that some of Africas worst dictators were control freaks, too. That present presidents might be. But when it comes to classifying Jacob Zuma (photo) as one, I'm in doubt, and it somehow fascinates me immensely.

The wazungu control freaks, I know, would never let loose the way Zuma does. Somehow I prefer freaks in favour of control.

Illustration from here.

Swahili Fashion Week in Dar es Salaam

2009-10-27T12:30:11+03:00

For the second time in a row Swahili Fashion Week (SFW) will take place in Dar es Salaam to give the local fashion is an exciting three days full of fashion fanfare; and galore.

Swahili Fashion week which brings forth an eclectic mix of Swahili culture ensconced with chic style also brings together talented designers from across the Swahili speaking countries and beyond, under one roof to showcase their unique and truly African creations which include clothes, shoes, jewellery, and handbags.

November 4 to 6 at Karimjee Hall in Dar Es Salaam.

More here.

* The bag is made by Doreen Mashika.

Please i want you to write me back Because i will like to have a relationship with you,so that we will know each other very well. so will you write me back in my email address

2009-10-26T21:58:32+03:00

This e-mail I also don't get:

Hello,
How are you hope fine, I Want to introduce my self to you before i go further, My Name is Sofia Umar from southern part of sudan.Please i want you to write me back Because i will like to have a relationship with you,so that we will know each other very well. so will you write me back in my email address (miss_sofia_umar_y@yahoo.com) i have an important discussion that i will like to discuss with you urgently, so I am look forward to hear from you soon!
Thanks and God bless you,
Miss Sofia Umar.

Not a single clear reason included for writing back: Sorry!

Today's Quote: William Burroughs, My Education: A Book of Dreams

2009-10-26T20:10:49+03:00

Airport sounds from a distance, blurred, incomprehensible, then suddenly loud and clear. "Flight sixty-nine has been..." Static ... fades into the distance ... "Flight..." Standing to one side of the desk are three men, grinning with joy at their prospective destinations. When I present myself at the desk, the woman says: "You haven't had your education yet."

William Burroughs, My Education: A Book of Dreams

Photography: Tracing the shadow of our own car

2009-10-25T21:22:26+03:00

Pernille Bærendtsen

Looking for crocodiles. We know you are there.

2009-10-25T21:17:24+03:00

Pernille Bærendtsen

Photography: Drought. Mikumi National Park waiting for the rains

2009-10-25T21:10:36+03:00

Pernille Bærendtsen

Game drive in Mikumi: Find your own way!

2009-10-25T21:00:12+03:00

Just returned from a day in Mikumi National Park. It wasn't the plan to go to Mikumi, but it rained too much in the Uluguru Mountains where Plan A should have taken us, if only we were not worried about spending a weekend in deep red mud sliding down the slopes.

At Mikumi we bought a map at the entrance, and tried to follow the land marks. I can get lost anywhere, especially if it all looks the same. It is only a matter of time. Besides I am not really into safaris where tourists dress up in khaki with many pockets, wear hats which say 'mzungu', wear oversize binoculars and camera lenses around the neck - and sulk if they don't get their expectations met.

But hey, sometimes it is fun in an odd way. Like last time.

Saturday, some game rangers had tried to make it a bit more of a challenge. I'm sure they must have had fun this week while renovating the land marks, and then tossed the road signs around the places.

Then a game drive really turns into a game.

Very few animals by the way. The place is hard hit by drought, and when it rains in other places, the animals are off for water.

Photography: Quick snaps from Morogoro

2009-10-25T20:33:25+03:00

Pernille Bærendtsen

Photography: One love. One heart.

2009-10-23T10:20:00+03:00

This one is from Stone Town on Unguja.

The grafitti puzzles me a bit.

Is it rooted in Islam, as in religious love?

Is it the rasta way of dedicating their appreciation of Bob Marley?

Or is it a Zanzibari off the track making a statement against the legal polygamy allowing men to marry more than one woman? (I have seen a few men walking around the Swahili Coast who would make me produce statements like this all over the place if I had to be their first wife or nyumba ndogo.)

Breaking (mainly other people's) illusions in Q Bar, Dar es Salaam

2009-10-23T10:12:39+03:00

Two friends and I went to Q Bar some Friday nights ago.

In my opinion, Q Bar in Dar Es Salaam serves as one of the most wide-ranging and profound introductions to Africa, mainly because it includes all the stuff you would like to repress the existence of. Go sit upstairs on a Friday night and you have an excellent panoramic view of some of the most characteristic personalities acting out under the black sky.

First of all, it is real. Hard to believe; but real.

Some of the most vibrant personalities on the floor are the Tanzanian ladies on duty, the malaya, and the brassy selection of males who come in all colours, sizes and ages. Other bars have a tendency to favour certain - more trendy - looks, but here you can be an old, fat, bald, sweaty, sundried and overtly horny bastard, and still leave with a teethy smile.

(Pole sana for leaving that image with you).

This Friday three guys next to our table hit instant luck when three malaya dedicated themselves to sit on their laps, and shift between so-called fuck-me movements and allowing them to touch their breasts.

Q Bar certainly is 10 times more interesting than a Danish television prime time programme.

First time I found myself in the middle of a situation like this in Kapalagala in Uganda, I thought it cannot be right; I couldn’t believe that average male wazungu from my own tribe could take such pleasure in regressing to a variation of primal phases, and do things I had never seen them done back in Europe. At least not in public.

After some time I realised that this is probably closer to whom we all are if we were free of all conventions. It was also about that time I started looking at all men from a new perspective. Africa will never not fascinate me: It is the perfect place to get an idea of your own or other people's illusions.

This Friday two bosbefok Australians embarked on a conversation with me and my friends. One ended up at the same corner of the table as me, insisting to share his visions on Africa. He and his mate had just got back to town from four months in the bush at Lake Tanganyika where they had been looking for nickel. In other places and at other times they would be looking for gold for an Australian mining company.

As a true bosbefok he was in severe need for sharing his genuine impressions from the bush, and a conversation spun over the fragments below gradually developed:

- Before they threw stones after us. Now they wave

- They didn't like us at first, now they do

- We go and have beers with them, we give them money, we go to their funerals in the village

- We make people happy

He was referring to the villagers on the site, which they went to research for nickel. He kept going about the fact that he and his mate contributed to change, how rewarding that was and what good this would bring on to Africa.

I quickly noted that his selection of ‘indicators’ went from ‘stones’ to ‘waving’: Less stones + more waving = happy people, equals change.

As much as I enjoy the diversity of the company you can come across in Q Bar; – from the Saffricans in two-tone shades; assecorized tourists; loud, alpamale Chinese; Scandinavian volunteers with red faces; Libyan gemstone dealers; the Tanzanian Indian living with his family on top of their shop in Zanaki Street; the mzungu mzee trying to get two ladies with him home at once, - I simply cannot stand listening to crap like this.

And it is at moments like these where I know for sure that Africa hasn’t made me less of a socialist.

You don’t really need a degree in rocket science to know that if a foreign mining company ever finds nickel, gold or tanzanite, the primary outcome isn’t meant for the villagers. The same goes for timber, oil, gas and a lot of other natural resources. The list is long. What is likely to happen, is, that it will mess their village up big time, and the profit ends up in other people’s pockets. Usually outside of the country.

The Aussie called me rough, indicating between the lines that he liked that, and besides; ‘This is my last night in Africa, before I go and look for gold in the Solomon Islands.’ Then he went on blaming me for not openly expressing the change I make for Africa. I told him that I find it hard to believe that my pure presence (just because I happen to be white) on the continent offers vital change. That things are more complex. That I believe I'm one little brick, who occasionally gets things done which then might stirr things off in a good direction. But I have absolutely no illusion that my contribution are bigger than that; and men who have a need for making me confirm their illusion that they contribute to change in Africa (especially when they boil it down to waving African villagers), makes me outright unresponsive.

In an ideal world, yes. But at the moment Tanzania doesn't live up to its own legislation. Its natural resources are being taken out of the country, leaving almost no visible difference to the average villager. (Gado on Arabs, land grabbing, silly Africans and their leaders here).

Even me, working for a Danish NGO, do not live in an illusion like this. And sometimes, I simply cannot grasp how little some people know of the vastness of Africa and their own part in it; how huge differences there are from the ones who have, to the ones who haven't; and how much is build on illusions in our heads.

On the other hand, Africa also makes you spacious, you open up for the fact that the world is not fair, that is has to comprise people you don't agree with, and you learn to find a way to cope with it. And as well as I now accept the buzz on the floor in Q-bar, the loud inequalities of the relations being established here on many Friday nights, I have no problem telling the Aussie:

'Leave me alone. Go find some other women to play with. Safari njema.'

Twitter: Check out the 'FAKE Official Spokesman Of the Jovernment Of Kenya'

2009-10-23T08:42:09+03:00

Check out the tweets of the 'FAKE Official Spokesman Of the Jovernment Of Kenya' @alfredmutua.

This is hilariously funny. Fantastic humour:

Government urges all Kenyans to report to the nearest police post if they are being followed on twitter for their safety
Government is sending a 50 man delegation to the LA Galaxy to watch Victoria Beckham play
Government has in fact scored 134% on reforms but modesty compelled me to say 90% in my advertisement
This state house chef is a hoax! Bean stew CANNOT be made with coffee beans!
Govt would like to assure Kenyans that Aaron Ringera is the best KACC director that money can buy
I would like to assure Kenyans that they have the best government that money can buy
I've not received SMSes from anyone that died of hunger. I hereby declare famine a figment of imagination
If you are dying, or recently died of hunger, send me a SMS
Government does not understand Kenyans complaining about no maize. Why not eat ugali instead?
Can't understand what all the rationing fuss is. Half the night Kenyans sleep in the dark anyway!
To save water, government is encouraging Kenyans to shower together.

and go on yourself here @alfredmutua

Kitenge from Kariakoo

2009-10-22T11:01:11+03:00

Pernille Bærendtsen

Kariakoo: Over 1 million enter to trade daily

2009-10-22T08:11:41+03:00

I have previously written about Kariakoo with fascination, i.e. here.

Now the Guardian brings an interesting article with facts about Kariakoo; One problem is that it is congested.

The Kariakoo business area in Dar es Salaam, which has of recent opened doors to larger volumes of trade, particularly from the oriental, is most likely going to malfunction due to lack of enough space to accommodate more incoming merchandise and services, a survey by ‘The Guardian’ has established.

The article points out some of the reasons behind which are rather interesting, as I find them significant for Tanzania in general:

One woman says: “It is true that Kariakoo is overcrowded, and we can’t escape that due to the fact that, in the country there is an increased number of people without jobs. This has made many to get into business so as to easy life, here you will find professional businessmen and women as well as those who just do business.”

Another: “The business boom in Kariakoo has been caused by globalization; it is not only Tanzanians who conduct their businesses in the area, but also other nationals such as people Congolese, Zambian, Malawians and Chinese.”

And a third one: “The problem is that most Tanzanians just do business in their own. They do business individually that is why you see most of them openning shops in Kariakoo”.

Life-time bans for Tanzanian football referees

2009-10-22T07:44:43+03:00

According to the BBC the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) has imposed life bans on four premier league referees and fined a club US$10,000 after it found them guilty of corruption.

It all boils down to commodities: transportation, food and drinks: And who actually did what, and who forgot to report it.

The Twitterkids of Tanzania

2009-10-21T23:49:20+03:00

Check out the Twitter kids of Tanzania here.

VERY curious to see how that works out.

Who made us, here, and why...

2009-10-21T23:47:24+03:00

On days like this, I crank up this song, and when I have a decent Internet connection I watch the video. As I noted here, I do know that Scatterlings of Africa is old fashion in present South Africa, but it means something special to me. It is no secret to the frequent reader of this blog that I have a crush on Johnny Clegg. His son is cool, too, not to forget his wife (which still is one of the most frequent searches leading to my blog).

Also, I'll argue anytime that the amount of times Johnny Clegg's music is now going to be used for the World Cup soundtracks only understates the fact that his work goes beyond the mainstream.

Many videos have been made to illustrate Scatterlings of Africa, however, this one is my favorite. Shot in the streets of Harare, Zimbabwe. Johnny Clegg was brought up by his Zimbabwean mother, in his mother’s native land of Zimbabwe. She later married a South African journalist and immigrated to South Africa when Johnny was seven years old.

My first trip South of Sahara went to Johannesburg in 2003, then off 14 hours overland in a car to Harare. I went with my then boyfriend, who was born in Zimbabwe, and who later moved to South Africa, then Denmark. When we went to Harare he brought a guitar, CDs, flipflops, boxes of food, diesel and absolutely no suitable clothes for the wedding we were invited to. It didn't matter. The guitar did. Making stops, people would ask for a song, out the guitar came. After a few drinks the zulu dance moves, too. The people in Denmark didn't really get it, here it made perfect sense.

I heard Johnny Clegg for the first time then. Everybody jumped around like mad. I didn't know what it was, didn't feel the song belonged to me.

It does now.

I arrived to Africa in a complex mode of feeling innocent and open - but also intimidated and worried if I could take it. I was invited by friends, and welcomed into their families and culture. All the other times I came to Africa, I came due to the fact that I work for an NGO. That completely changed my perspective, that and the experience you gather from living 26 months along and across the Ugandan border to Sudan, or the 26 months I have now lived at the Swahili Coast.

It is no secret that I feel that my NGO contract obliges me in certain ways: My presence has a very specified work purpose, I'm a resident, not a tourist. I drive a car with a logo. I work, I get per diem and travel reimbursement. I often end up argueing politically corrrect, defending my presence, though I feel like letting go for the simpler way. NGO workers are serious people, we like to be taken seriously. Sometimes I just wanna be me.

Fortunately, I started in the real way. I know exactly what I love about this continent, I got that under my skin the first time around. Scatterlings of Africa sparks that feeling.

Finally, as a curiosity; I doubt many people know that Johnny Clegg made a reference to Tanzania in his most popular song: Olduvai (or Oldupai) is in Tanzania.

Full lyrics here.

Tanzania: One-UN calls for earlier start of general election monitoring

2009-10-21T09:33:21+03:00

The One-UN system Representative in Tanzania, Alberic Kacou, has underscored the need for general election monitoring process to start much earlier than just a day or so to the elections day.

Source: The Guardian

Sounds completely sane!

2010 South Africa FIFA World Cup Advert: Start imagining

2009-10-21T07:17:55+03:00

Pernille Bærendtsen

Local election in Tanzania: Watch the 'Mr. Politician' video by Nakaaya

2009-10-20T18:32:09+03:00

I really like this song, and today I used some of the lines for a Danish article about the local elections coming up this Sunday, 25 October. I'll write more about it later, but this video says it all.

The video is - in my opinion - not perfect to the end, compositionally or technically, but it has a real great vibe, energy and some curious little features (like the young people reading Nkrumah and Nyerere). The guy acting the 'Mr. Politician' is perfect.

Enjoy!

Sweet Easy as in Sweet Easy

2009-10-20T17:45:33+03:00

Some say go there on Thursdays (it's great).

Some say don't (it's horrible, too loud, too expensive).

Some say that it's a wazungu thing (with too many malaya).

Some say the name refers to the food.

Some say it refers to the malaya.

Dar es Salaam really depends on what angle you see it from and from what you need.

Kenyan Condom Ad: As big as an umbrella (makes you smile long after)...

2009-10-20T13:05:47+03:00

Kudus to Kenya for making a man take up a condom in the street and do..., well, see for yourself what he does...but I like it.

Agency Lowe Scanad, Kenya
Copywriter/Creative Director: Andrew White
Art Director: Pat Richer
Account Director: Eve Onduru
Music: Blue, with the song "One Love"

Maisha iko sawa na trust means 'life is good with trust'.

And the Africa Leadership Award Goes to … No One

2009-10-20T09:17:13+03:00

It's not a good sign when your leadership prize runs out of eligible candidates to honor after a whopping two years. Welcome to the Mo Ibrahim Foundation's Prize for Achievement in African Leadership, whose winner was meant to be announced in London yesterday:

This year the Prize Committee has considered some credible candidates. However, after in-depth review, the Prize Committee could not select a winner."

Danish author, Ejersbo, publishes outstanding novels centred in Tanzania

2009-10-19T11:15:20+03:00

Unfortunately not (yet) in English. But if you read Danish, please read about my admiration for his work here.

Jacob Ejersbo died last summer of cancer at the age of 40. Much too early. He grew up in Moshi at Kilimanjaro where his father worked for Danida over two periods of time, and he went to ISM, International School of Moshi. Before he died he wrote three books centred in Tanzania.

Literature which is already now proclaimed to be a milestone in Danish literature on Africa. Personally, it has made me look differently at what I see in Tanzania.

This is what Klaus Rothstein writes about Ejersbo for a Danish Literary Magazine: 'Seldom has anyone written anything so insistent and impassioned, so glowing hot and ice-cold, so heartfelt and so cynical'.

I'll keep you posted when the books are translated into English.

Tanzania: Interesting statistics on mobilephone users (and use)

2009-10-19T08:13:52+03:00

With the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) putting the total number of mobile phone subscribers at 14million by this June, the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) surged to Sh66,000 during the second quarter of this year-a figure that means that subscribers spend Sh22,000($16) per month.
Taking this figure as the basis for revenue measurement for this year, the mobile phone industry may earn an estimated $2.684billion(Sh3.6trillion) per year - that’s double what the mining sector earns yearly — making telecommunications now the country’s leading industry, The Guardian on Sunday has learnt.
According to official statistics from the TCRA, Tanzanian subscribers spend the second most on mobile phone use in the region, behind Kenya where ARPU is currently pegged at around $18. In Uganda, ARPU stands at $10 with about 10million users estimated in the country.
Still, the largely weak consumer purchasing power in the country - where half of the population still lives on less than a dollar a day - puts a looming ceiling over how high telecom executives can expect profits to climb.
By comparison, for example, in South Africa where the country’s GDP stands at $280billion per year, the ARPU is $40 per month.
According to a survey conducted by Tele World, across Africa, Latin America and Asia, the number of people who do not have a bank account but do have a mobile phone is set to grow from 1 billion today to 1.7 billion by 2012. These ‘unbanked mobile’ individuals represent a compelling market opportunity for operators.

Read the full article from the Guardian on Sunday here.

Editor: Tanzanians need power, not cheap politicking

2009-10-19T08:03:57+03:00

The Guardian on Sunday reminded Tanzania's leaders, especially politicians that, cheap politicking fuelled mainly by egoism and the quest for cheap popularity won’t solve the current power crisis:

For the past two weeks Tanzanians have been facing another power rationing, reminding us of the worse situation in 2006 when the country nearly faced total blackout. State-owned company announced a countrywide power rationing exactly six months after the Tanesco MD had sounded the alarm bells on the looming crisis in March, during the debate on whether the nation should acquire Dowans plants or not.

Angered by the tough stance taken by the Parliamentary Committee on Energy and Minerals, the outgoing Tanesco Managing Director Dr Idriss Rashidi, said Tanzania has two choices- acquire an emergency power generating plant or face a total blackout in the next 180 days.

On Thursday, Kigoma North MP Zitto Kabwe held a press conference whereby apart from urging the government to confiscate controversial Dowans plants, he also defended the earlier move by Tanesco to buy the emergency power generating plants. We all know who is who in the Dowans deal and would like to state clearly that, as a nation, let us not be dragged again into the debate that was ended seven months ago.

With dilapidated infrastructure built mainly during the 1970s, the company’s power supply capacity is estimated at 595 megawatts. This year, the actual demand is 787 megawatts - creating a deficit of 192 megawatts.

Read the full article here.

My favorite kikoys

2009-10-18T11:09:25+03:00

Pernille Bærendtsen

Days like this

2009-10-18T00:54:00+03:00

Friday I managed to stirr my head well with all vital, practical things related to my own (small) role in Danish development aid, electricity, Internet, water, traffic, corruption - to the music pouring out loud from the container bar next door run by the self-acclaimed peaceful rasta (who once told me that he sold drugs for the Nigerians in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, which means I don’t complain when a bar customer cranks up his car stereo outside my gate.);

to the ufisadi I read about in the paper;
the big potatoes in the fat land cruiser not giving me space on Ali Hassan Mwinyi Road;
my Internet provider who has been hassling me to prepay my Internet subscription (though there hasn't been any connection for the past two months and they have no intention of telling me that his company really has been bought up by another...);
that my water bill suddenly tripled, and DAWASCO interpretates 'Customer Care' very differently than I.
the young female students who pay with sex to get through university or to get jobs;
the fact that you have to know someone to get somewhere (but that you owe that person the rest of your life);
the young guy with limps in stead of legs;
to the hungry street child on Morogoro Road whom I passed when I returned from Zanaki Street, and who wanted to wash my (clean) front screen so that he could fill his stomach later.

And that's where I had had it:

He mimicked ‘chakula’. Food.

I got a lump in my throat, and I then went for notes in stead of coins, though it is against all principles (which ones exactly, I’ve luckily forgotten). I thought; World Food Day, my ass. I just blogged about it, and here I face my own limitations one hour later a kilometer away from the office. It made me feel like I was paying a monthly subscription for a lighter conscience in return for representing a nation which have prioritized Tanzania in their development support budget, but not the boy in the street ‘because he is outside the strategy which is focusing on another district, cluster, group or theme.’

Some days it just doesn't stop.

When I finally got home to my neighborhood, all traffic had come to a halt. Two cars had crashed, one driver still stuck in the front seat behind the wheel, people gathering like flies on sugar, hovering like hyenas. Just up front Kikwete's house in the crossing between Ursino and Migombani Street, which got tarmac last year so that people now can drive as if no one else exists.

There is only so much you can deal with in one day.

Your friends at home think you’ve finally lost it, and that Africa has beaten you. They tell you, they told you. That Africa wears you out. That it is time to return home.

So, you stop telling them what's really going on.

Or you insist that this is normal. That Danish psychological interpretations appear absurd in Tanzania. That this is what most people in Africa go through, and you are not excempted just because you are white.

If so, that is because you close your eyes and have lost touch with your feelings and conscience.

Photography: Late afternoon in Libya and Zanaki Street. Kisutu. Dar Es Salaam

2009-10-17T08:32:57+03:00

Pernille Bærendtsen