LCCT Visit to the University of Dar es Salaam

On July 26 and 27, 2010, I was part of a four member delegation from the Lutheran Colleges Consortium for Tanzania that visited the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM). We discussed with UDSM officials the current state and the future of the cooperation between LCCT and UDSM, a program that has lasted over twenty years. Under this program, many American students have studied at UDSM, and dozens of Tanzanians have visited LCCT institutions, advancing their graduate studies or enhancing their administrative skills and experience. Some of these Tanzanians are now prominent figures in government, education, and other sectors.

During our two days at UDSM, we met various officials. We had detailed discussions about key aspects of the LCCT program, such Swahili courses, the academic calender, student orientation, dormitory life, travel opportunities, safety, interaction between American and Tanzanian students, and the visiting scholar program.

We affirmed the value of the program and expressed the desire and determination to continue it, even in the face of challenges posed by the current world economic environment.

For me, this was another opportunity to reconnect with former colleagues, since I taught at the UDSM before going to St. Olaf College. Indeed, as we moved around the UDSM campus, we met a number of people who had been to the USA on the LCCT program.

People who have visited or studied at the UDSM will recognize the buildings on the left. The Arts and Social Sciences Tower is on the far left, and the Administration building is in the forefront, next to the parking lot. This is a main stop for "dala dala" minibuses going to Mwenge and Ubungo.



Here is the library, whose East Africana section contains the world's largest collection of Swahili manuscripts. This library also hold the Hans Cory collection, well known to anthropologists studying East Africa.






Here are two of the student halls of residence. On the left is Hall Two and on the right is Hall Five. As an undergraduate at UDSM, 1973-76, I stayed in Hall Five, on the seventh floor. I don't remember the room number, though. Visiting UDSM brings back fond memories of those days.




The UDSM has changed much since the days I studied there. A number of academic units and departments have grown and become faculties. The Faculty of Engineering has become the College of Engineering and Technology. The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences has become the College of Arts and Social Sciences. The Faculty of Science is now the College of Natural and Applied Sciences. The Faculty of Education has become the Dar es Salaam University College of Education, a constituent college of UDSM, located miles away, in the city of Dar es Salaam. The UDSM has also established another constituent college, the Mkwawa University College of Education, several hundred miles up-country. The faculty of Medicine in down town Dar es Salaam has become the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences. The list goes on.

On the left is the University of Dar es Salaam Business School (UDBS). During my undergraduate days, it used to be the Department of Commerce and Management, housed in the Arts and Social Sciences Tower, not in its present location, which was a vast parking lot for University vehicles.

Looking Back on "A Grain of Wheat"

My African Literature and Politics course concluded with a study of Ngugi wa Thiong'o's A Grain of Wheat as I had noted in a previous blog post. After ranging across the African literary landscape, discussing A Grain of Wheat was, for me, a veritable return home to East Africa, to the lives of peasants similar to what I experienced in my childhood and the sounds of Swahili.

At the same time, A Grain of Wheat brought up themes we had encountered in previous texts. In A Wreath for Udomo we read about Africans in Europe, where they interacted with Europeans in the years before African independence. In A Grain of Wheat, we read the story of Mr. Thompson, an Englishman who got to know Africans in England, an encounter that inspired him to take up a career in the colonial service, ending up in Kenya.

Both A Wreath for Udomo and A Grain of Wheat recount the sadness and frustration of colonial officials about to depart the colonies on the eve of Independence. A source of joy for the Africans, Independence is a painful experience for these functionaries of the colonial system.

There are parallels, as well, between God's Bits of Wood and A Grain of Wheat. The theme of a strike, central in God's Bits of Wood, appears also in A Grain of Wheat. The strike by detainees at Lira is one of the most painful episodes in the novel as a graphic testimony of the inhumanity of the colonial system. The railway, a central feature and symbol of economic exploitation in God's Bit's of Wood, features in A Grain of Wheat as well.

One of the key themes in God's Bits of Wood is, of course, the heroic role women play in the strike. As I noted in a previous blog post, this harks back to the ancient epic traditions. A Grain of Wheat presents women of great courage as they participate in the Mau Mau uprising. In both texts, these women challenge the men to show their mettle, even putting them to shame.

In both God's Bits of Wood and A Grain of Wheat, the people struggling against oppression find themselves contending with others they consider traitors. In both novels, there are dramatic, suspenseful trials, which end in unexpected, anti-climactic ways. In God's Bits of Wood, an old man diffuses the fury of those who would put the traitors to humiliating punishment, while in A Grain of Wheat, Mugo, the person the community believed to be one of their greatest heroes, steps forward and confesses, to everyone's disbelief and shock, that he is the person who betrayed Kihika, the hero the colonizers hanged.

This outcome is as surprising to the people in the novel as it is to us readers. Ngugi succeeds in weaving a suspenseful tale with a truly unexpected ending. In the process, he deftly describes the intricacies of interpersonal relationships as they get tested by the hardships and agonizing dilemmas brought about by the state of Emergency and long periods in detention camps. While he infuses a realism in his description of events which is sometimes graphic, Ngugi's warm affection for the people and the land is unmistakable. He evokes very well the spirit of the people on the eve of independence, their hopes as well as anxieties.

Reading my students' answers to my final examination questions, I felt that they had gained a credible understanding and deep appreciation of the challenges Kenyans faced in the struggle for independence. In conjunction with the other texts, the students seem to have gained a good understanding of the social and political realities Africa faced in the twentieth century, especially in the fifties and sixties.

Blogging in Two Languages

I started blogging in 2008, prompted by my two friends, Freddy Macha and Jeff Msangi. I run a blog in Swahili and another in English.

I did not quite know what I was getting into, when I started. Now I know. I have been learning a great deal through blogging, not only about blogging, but also about myself. Along the way, I have benefitted from the wisdom of more experienced bloggers, such as Subi Nukta and Michuzi.

I realize, for example, that blogging in two languages means dealing with two audiences. When I write in Swahili, I feel I am addressing fellow Tanzanians. I am comfortable writing about Tanzanian issues, often in a polemical style, because I am passionate about the issues.

When I write in English, I feel I am addressing the world. I don't even know what that means, but something tells me I am writing for the world, not just for Tanzanians. Still I want my blog to be as personal as possible, reflecting my interests, and accessible to a broad, global audience.

I will be thinking more about all this, and will write more reflections, as I do on my Swahili blog. I wonder, however, how things would be if I could blog in Matengo, my mother tongue. Alas, like most languages, Matengo is not a written language.

Multicultural Marketing

As the world rapidly becomes a global village, with people of different cultures interacting in complex ways, it presents many challenges and opportunities.

For businesses, such challenges and opportunities lie in the field of multicultural marketing. I have been learning about this over the last several years, starting with a conference I attended on March 13, 2008, in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Multicultural marketing deals with a practical question: How does a business connect with people of different cultures to successfully market products and services? What is acceptable or appealing to one culture might not be to another culture. This can be as simple as the colour of a product or the sounds and images used in advertizing a product or a service. I remember how Tanzanians reacted to yellow maize flour from the USA, when it first arrived in their country. Being used to white maize flour, they did not like the yellow flour.

As a cultural consultant, I consider multicultural marketing an exciting topic, and I incorporate it in my workshops on culture and globalization.

My African American Readers

Writing Africans and Americans: Embracing Cultural Differences, I faced many challenges. After publishing it, I wondered how readers would respond.

I was anxious, for example, about African Americans, because I talk and warn about differences between them and Africans. I even claim that African Americans are not African but American.

In due course, Shannon Gibney, a gifted African American journalist, called, seeking to interview me about my book. We did a phone interview, and she had sharp questions. Her review appeared in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder. I was touched by Shannon's honesty when she disagreed with me, and both relieved and gratified by her endorsement of the book.

Another high-profile African American response came from the Minnesota Black Pages, whose 2009/10 edition featured a colourful, full-page endorsement of "this ground-breaking book that addresses the sometimes frustrating disconnects between African Americans and African Immigrants," noting that the book's "concise and easy style will provide the reader--no matter their heritage--the knowledge to overcome a great deal of miscommunication and embarrassment" (page 47).

Needless to say, these responses have lessened my anxieties, and I thank these African Americans for sharing their opinions so generously.

Writing as Hard Labour

I want to talk about writing, considering how easy it is to string together words on an empty page and form a sentence or sentences, a paragraph or an essay. We do that all the time and call it writing.

I am thinking about writing as Hemingway defined it, again and again, as hard work, "something that you can never do as well as it can be done."(1)

I could cite Hemingway's many other statements on writing, but here is one I find most memorable: "There's no rule on how it is to write. Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly. Sometimes it is like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges."(2)

That is what I mean by writing, often painful and frustrating. From searching for the right word--and often there is no right word--to getting the sentence right, writing can be an excruciating ordeal, sheer Purgatory.

My most recent experience of Purgatory was writing on Litembo. For a long time, I have wanted to write about Litembo, the place where I was born and raised. I remember the place well: its mountains and valleys, its villages and footpaths, and its people.

I have always wanted to put these images in words. Writing that blog post was one way to test and exercise my faculties. I wrestled with words, trying to describe the landscape, the weather at the top of those mountains, the grass, and the ancient little trees clinging to rocks, defying the cold winds.

As I revise my work, over and over, I see it getting better and better. Eventually I publish it, feeling quite good about it. I return to Hemingway's views on writing: "It is a perpetual challenge and it is more difficult than anything else that I have ever done--so I do it. And it makes me happy when I do it well." (3)

As time goes, however, I discover weaknesses in my published work, and I wonder why I did not see them earlier. Such is my feeling, for example, about my little article on accents.

How I wish I could follow Hemingway's words: "All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know." (4)


Notes

1) Larry W. Phillips, ed. Ernest Hemingway on Writing (New York: Scribner, 2004), 15.
2) Phillips, 18.
3) Phillips, 15.
4) Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast: Restored Edition, ed. Sean Hemingway (New York: Scribner, 2009), 22.

Litembo, A Memorable Place

Litembo is a lovely place. I was born here. As a young boy, I walked its paths countless times, visiting homes, going to school and, on Sundays, to church. No matter where I am in the world, my heart is here.

Litembo made me who I am: the way I talk, feel and see the world.

Litembo is well known, in Southern Tanzania and beyond, because of its church and its hospital. For decades, people from far and near have flocked to Litembo Hospital, where the legendary Doctor Weyer worked, from 1961 to 1996, when she retired and returned to her native Germany. A model of devotion to serving others, she was loved by all and will always be remembered.

Several years ago, people of Litembo built a monument on a nearby mountain side, in remembrance of their ancestors killed there during an uprising against German rule. With this bit of history as an added attraction, Litembo beckons visitors, even those traveling the road between Mbinga and Mbamba Bay.

Litembo harbours cultural treasures, such as traditional Matengo ceremonies, dances, songs, games, and artifacts.

This is where, in the seventies, I recorded Matengo Folktales, an open window into the soul of the people who live here.

These tales express the experiences of the Matengo, their sentiments and outlook on life, revealing their thoughts, speculations, and questions about their environment, about themselves, about their relationships, and about the human condition in general. These tales are an important index and repertory of the Matengo artistic heritage.




Several miles from Litembo mission, as we call it, there is the awe-inspiring Mmbuji Rock, the subject of legends and other folklore. Ibuuta, Matengo fairies, live on this rock. People who live nearby report seeing unusual sights on the rock at night. The Matengo behold this rock with awe and reverence.




I recommend a hike up the surrounding mountains. The trails wind through coffee farms, fields of maize, wheat, and beans. Along the way, there are brick houses with corrugated iron roofs. As one pushes higher and higher, the houses vanish, to be replaced by both fields and uncultivated patches, the abode of colourful butterflies and birds of various kinds. Isolated trees and rocks of different shapes and sizes define the landscape.

It is cold up there, and windy. On the rocks, ancient little trees with stunted trunks and gnarled branches defy the cold winds, their roots wedged deep into the rock crevices. From that height, you can see distant places, where the horizon merges with the sky. This is not a place to spend the day, however, because of the cold winds, but it is a great place to enjoy a panoramic view of this beautiful region in Southern Tanzania.

(Litembo photo at the top of the page is from Peramiho Abbey).