It’s 11 am and people say that I will easily find a daladala (minibus) going to Kimbiji -a fishing village I knew from 40 years ago. And so I did, as the buses all competed for custom at Kigomboni by the ferry. One conductor seized me and thrust me into a minibus meant for 25 and already holding 40. I am pushed up into the centre isle and soon establish myself on smiling terms with those around me -you could never do that in England. The only thing is to hang on and keep standing.

Years ago I knew this road south from Dar es Salaam and that it might take me an hour to reach Kimbiji. “Of course you’ll get there” said the taxi driver in town “Roads are much better than when you lived here.” We passed Njimwema, Vikindu, and lots of village names now forgotten.

Eventually I got a sort of seat balancing on the hump of the transmission with my feet either side of the gear lever. Later I got a real seat and found that I was next to a young lobster and crab merchant who lived in Kimbiji and kindly agreed to be my guide in case things had changed. His name he said was ‘Julius Nyerere’ and as he looked nothing like the original I asked how this was, surprised that Mwalimu should be a model for the young in 1998.

JN seemed rather spivvy for the unspoilt village I remembered, so I left this topic and concentrated on the ‘road’ which had degenerated into a series of unplumbed pools. The bus plunged into these valiantly and its sort of bonnet often disappeared, to the accompaniment of clouds of steam rising within the cabin. Eventually we came to a worse pool than usual and upon a bus coming the other way which had foundered, blocking the way. The ‘conductor’ announced he was going no further.

How far still left to walk to Kimbiji? Perhaps half an hour I was told.

There was no going back, having endured 90 minutes of rough travel So, trousers rolled, Alfred Prufrock style, and in bare feet I stepped out with a few others, grumbling about the hidden coral obstacles that struck our feet as we went. Of my guide JN there was no sign But, as we neared the village a heavy road grader overtook us and there perched high up was JN with a slightly mocking look.

He hadn’t expected me to come to his remote village and had thought that, as a European, I would be making for Ras Kutani or some such tourist spot nearby. But from that moment this young man of 22 assumed responsibility for me and took me to meet Mwinyimadi Amor, father of the village chairman and various notables.

I had only brought a small rucksack with camera and swimming trunks and began to realise that no daladala would be going back to Dar es Salaam that day as it was now 4pm, and the road was still blocked.
But the village I had known -a compact village, a dafu’s throw from the beach -had disappeared. In the 1970’s I was told it had been ordered to move -was it Ujamaa or some illusory threat from the sea? And it had settled half a mile inland. A dark tangle of mango and cashew nut trees showed where the old village had been. A maritime Dunsinane!

JN and a band of young followers recognised my desire for a swim by shouting ‘beachi’ or more likely Bichi (raw, inexperienced) and I hope that didn’t reflect my state. We all plunged in.

Back to the village. Various gatherings outside shops or ‘soda’ bars waylaid me as the light faded. Soon over 100 people had gathered round as we sat on the ground and listened to the talk of 40 years ago. Not many, sadly, are still alive to remember it. “What colour was your Landrover?” Its number? And where did you find us meeting?” and so on.

I had been 25 then – the first District Officer Mzizima, as the peri- urban area around Dar es Salaam was known. One day I travelled out to Kimbiji as part of my work and found a TANU political meeting in progress for which no permit had been issued. A ‘meeting’ was more than six people and this had 50 or more. Retreating to get advice, I was told to return to the village, close the meeting and take details of the leaders. In due course they appeared before the Resident Magistrate and I had, reluctantly, to give evidence and the leaders were duly convicted and fined. The authority of the administering government had been challenged and had to be upheld.

Periodically after that I had to return to Kimbiji and I was able to help the people in various ways and so I was forgiven. One of my last acts, with their consent, was to excise two elegant blue and white cups, possibly 18’~ century, from the ancient chimney-like graves hidden in a close thicket near the sea and present them on the village’s behalf to the National Museum. Where are they now?

All these things were mulled over and when we talked about these hidden graves they knew I knew the place and loved it, even though this time I had arrived on foot, shabby and alone.

“Chakula vipi” called JN and I was invited to select my supper in the family house – very tasty rice and beef – and then adjourn to the unlit verandah in front of his father’s house. Old Fadhili seemed to be blind and had one distorted polio leg which had never been walked on. “He is an Mchawi” said JN but this was meant to be a joke – not a withdoctor, but a dabbler in medicine, as well as being a teacher.

The village was in darkness but I could hear noise from a generator powering a large TV in the village hall. It was CNN bringing us international football from West Africa. What wonderful propaganda opportunities CNN has on a virgin audience in rural Tanzania as TV spreads and silences traditional evening conversation.

Amazing! JN has given me his room complete with large bed and mosquito net. JN said he had his sister’s room as she was away. I will never know.

In the morning I would have liked another swim but JN wanted to be off with his lobsters and crabs to sell at the ferry as he did every day and didn’t want to miss the trade. Eventually the faded blue bus – of a type that operated in Dar es Salaam many decades ago – got started with a push from all of us and back we set out on the bumpy ride to the ferry. I felt that I knew almost every pool and corner by the time we had gradually filled up with passengers. This time, sitting close behind the driver, it was my job to hold and tip up the can of diesel being gradually sucked into the engine by plastic tube. Twice we ran out and had to fill up from assignments known only to the driver.

Time to reflect on my journey. JN told me that the whole unspoilt beach on which we had bathed had been sold to ‘Europeans’ for the further development of the Ras Kutani resort. Well, at least, I thought, that sale would have brought money and benefits to the village. But no, it seemed that the land had been sold by individuals for their own benefit. Strange ways the modern socialism of Tanzania have taken.

JN was not JN at all. All young men assume these soubriqets and so I said goodbye to Mansur Fadhili who had so naturally and unaffectedly assumed responsibility for me and left me to recross the ferry and return to his village.

And Kiinbiji? Perhaps in another 40 years it will be just a by-water village like Kunduchi, cut off from and ignored by the tourist trade surrounding it, with just a few yards of shore left for fishermen to beach their outrigger ngalawas and canoes and ply their own centuries-old livelihood.

Simon Hardwick

The UN’s Annual Development Cooperation Report for 1996 revealed that the total aid received by Tanzania in 1996 was $906.4 million (65% in the form of grants) l 1.4% higher than in the previous year and equivalent to $3 1.16 per person compared with $28.8 the previous year. Japan was the leading bilateral donor followed by Denmark, Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands. Bilateral donors provided 53.% of the aid, multilateral agencies led by the World Bank provided 44.4%. Transport (14.7%) and public administration (12.3%) were the sectors which benefited most.

Recent aid includes: UNDP -$66 million for equipment to be used in the fight against ALDS in Zanzibar. The WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME (for nine months starting in December 1997) -$33 million for relief food in 48 districts. DENMARK -Shs 30 billion for rehabilitation of the Dar es Salaam-Chalinze Road and improvements to the Wami Bridge. NORWAY -Shs 2.67 billion for a 33/11 Kilovolt sub-station at Changombe to alleviate low voltage problems and Shs 355 million for research work at the Sokoine University of Agriculture JAPAN -$181,000 for improvements to the Dodoma water supply and rehabilitation of the Malangali Secondary School and $80,000 to ESAURP for a programme of education in democracy. GERMANY -S11s 3.5 million for medicine to fight cholera in Zanzibar. BRITAIN -a patrol boat (Shs 10 million) to be used against drug trafficking and dynamite fishing. SOUTH AFRICA -two tons of construction equipment and four tons of medical supplies to alleviate damaged caused by the floods in January. The EU -Shs 22 billion for rehabilitation of 2,700 kms of roads in Rungwe and Iringa regions. FINLAND -Shs 296 million for local govemnent reform. BELGIUM -Shs 5 1 billion to repair damage on the Central railway and Shs 16 billion for banana and water projects in the Kagera Region. FRANCE -Shs 10 million to help combat cholera in Kagera, Maswa and Zanzibar. The WORLD BANK/IDA -$21.8 million for agricultural research. AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK -Shs 2.55 billion for health rehabilitation projects.

In the late sixties I travelled on the so called ‘hell run’ from Lusaka to Dar es Salaam in an empty truck with copper bars slung underneath. Once we had passed Mbeya the roadside was littered with crashed trucks, especially where it wound through the hills.

Later, I was full of admiration as the Chinese constructed the TAZARA (Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority) railway as an alternative. It was an amazing engineering feat and it was therefore with a sense of long deferred pleasure that I boarded the night train from Dar es Salaam to Mbeya in January this year.

Buying a ticket was a typical Tanzanian experience. With only five people ahead of me in the queue, I assumed that it would be a matter of minutes. However, the ticket clerk had to deal with the next customer, two telephones and colleagues who constantly interrupted him. The queue was also typically Tanzanian. Everyone tries to get as near to the action as possible so that you get a ‘flat’ queue with everyone leaning on the front counter. After 50 minutes I reached the centre of the ‘queue’ and managed to purchase a first class single to Mbeya for Shs 19,400 – about £20. This placed me in a compartment with three other passengers – they have to be of the same sex -with four ample sized bunk beds. It was very comfortable and far more spacious than my recollection of British Rail’s cramped sleepers.

The day after I bought my ticket I reported one hour before, as requested, but there was much hanging about drinking sodas and observing fellow passengers before we left. We were due to depart at 5.30 and in fact left at 6 pm which seemed pretty good. The organisation at the station was impressive and each carriage had a smartly uniformed attendant waiting to guide passengers to their seats. All the first and second class attendants were young and attractive women who were polite and efficient. I later heard a complaint for an older male attendant from the third class coaches who said that these young women had been selected for their looks alone and didn’t carry out their full range of duties.

There seemed to be a disadvantage in being an internal (Tanzanian) passenger. Three new carriages reserved for passengers going to Zambia had showers. They made our carriages, with squatting type toilets, seem very scruffy.
Leaving at 6 pm meant that we passed through the Selous Game Reserve in the dark but darkness had its compensations. Excellent meals were served for Shs 2,000 (£2); beer was Shs 600 and sodas Shs 250. The most popular meal was chicken and chips but there was also fish and rice, all served with a cabbage and tomato salad with a banana on the side.

A comfortable night’s sleep was interrupted by a sudden halt at Mlimba station, at the foot of the escarpment some 300 kms from Mbeya. This was 3.30 am. I peered out of the window and went back to sleep again. Two hours later I awoke to find that we were still at Mlimba. Obviously something was up. However, as on our own railways, no information was given out. We learnt later that a single wagon carrying track ballast on the train ahead had come off the track on a steep bend. We were to stay there until 3 pm that afternoon! Mlimba station (1930’s Chinese style) was set in a pleasant landscape on the edge of the town. There were birds and butterflies and there ought to have been monkeys but I didn’t see any. During the day a distinct feeling of comradeship developed amongst the passengers, rather like being on a long cruise on board slip.

Eventually we pulled out of the station, this time with two diesel engines, and there was now the opportunity to appreciate the superb engineering feat of the Chinese. The single line track was bordered by well constructed drainage channels, the cuttings were lined with stone blocks: some sloping up to 50 feet in height. The most impressive thing was the excellent state of the track maintenance some 25 years after construction.
Once we reached the top of the escarpment, the train picked up speed and lived up to its ‘express’ tag. We reached Mbeya at lam, some 31 hours after leaving Dar es Salaam.

The final event in this mini-saga seems to bear out my experience in Tanzania – that things often turn out alright in the end. I arrived at the Holiday Inn -a basic hotel recommended by the ‘Lonely Planet Guide’ -at 1.30 am. I hadn’t booked but the security guard quickly came to the door and was soon joined by his mate. I was made most welcome, given a room and asked if I would like some tea and food. I settled for the tea and sat quietly reflecting on the equivalent scenario had this been a British hotel in the middle of the night.

Tony Janes

Lucretia Gaurwa writing in the Daily News (January 28) described what happened at the famous Benaco (Ngara) camp for 700,000 Rwandan refugees when they all suddenly went home last year. First, a month after they had gone, there was what was called the ‘Green harvest’ when people came from all sides to enjoy a free harvest of thousands of tons of beans, maize, potatoes, sorghum and millet the refugees had been cultivating.

The refugees had originally arrived in April 1994. Some small traders made a fortune by acquiring (often illegally) low-priced handouts like corn oil, flow, blankets and cement which had been received from donor agencies and then selling them to markets in distant districts at high prices. Local citizens benefited from the establishment of clean water supplies, health centres and other improved infrastructure.

But when they all left, the writer of the article said that Oxfam removed water installations and the price of clean water quickly jumped from Shs30 for a 20 litre can to Shs 700. The German-aided hospital was removed to new Burundi/Zaire refugee camps in Kigoma regon, leaving residents of Benaco to travel 32 kms to the hospital in Ngara town. A large number of people had been employed during the residence of the refugees but when the refugees left some of these people became criminals. On July 25 1996 the authorities decided to expel all them; all temporary structures covered by UN sheetings suspected to be harbouring bandits were demolished; unlicensed kiosks were closed; mud houses without doors were demolished; and Benaco returned to its condition before the refugees came. But now many of these people have come back again. Some are putting up permanent houses.

Mwalimu Nyerere (at a press conference on January 22) “We must get rid of ridiculous issues like poverty, hunger and disease. We behave like a bunch of parasites in the world. I want to see Africa unite to get rid of these problems.”

Extract from the British New Year Honours List 1998: ‘ORDER OF ST. MICHAEL AND ST GEORGE. KCMG. Huddleston, The Most Reverend Archbishop Ernest Urban Trevor, for services to UK-South African Relations.’

Fears that the killing on June 30 1996 of former Director of Intelligence General Imran Kombe (Ta No. 57) might have had political motives were put to rest during the trial of the five policemen charged with his murder. His wife said in court that when she heard news about a Nissan vehicle which had been stolen (and for which apparently a substantial reward was being offered) and noted that this vehicle was very similar to the Nissan owned by the Kombes, she went to Oyster Bay Police Station in Dar es Salaam to get a certificate stating that it was not the stolen vehicle. She feared hassle on the way to Moshi. On arrival in Moshi they went off to a village to talk to some potential workers for their farm when they came up against a vehicle, moving slowly as if on a surveillance mission, and then they heard a gunshot from the rear. Mrs Kombe fled to a nearby house thinking that they were being attacked by bandits. General Kombe was shot dead. Two of the five policemen on trial admitted that they had fired 16 shots at the tyres to stop the vehicle but claimed that, because of the rough terrain and the 25 m distance, it was not easy to hit the target. They had killed General Kombe by accident. They had mistaken him for a dangerous suspect, Ernest Mushi (alias White), who was suspected of having stolen the vehicle they were looking for. They said that they had been told by the driver of the Nissan stolen in Dar es Salaam, who was with them as a guide, that the Kombe vehicle was the one stolen in Dar es Salaam. The driver died subsequently in police custody. Two of the five policemen were sentenced to death by hanging. The other three were released for lack of evidence; the judge said that he believed that they were innocent as they never left their vehicle and the senior one had instructed the other two to stay in the car but they did not.

Archbishop Polycarp Pengo of Dar es Salaam has been consecrated the new Cardinal of Tanzania at a ceremony in Rome. On his return to Tanzania on March 1st he was given a tumultuous reception from thousands of people lining the streets from the airport to St Joseph’s Cathedral. And Bishop Donald Mtetemela has been elected to be the 4th Archbishop of the Anglican Church of the Province of Tanzania (Thank you Roger Bowen, for sending the latter news item -Editor).

A controversial proposed new ‘Sexual Offences Special Provisions Act (1998)’ now before parliament, provides for anyone found guilty of rape to be liable to life imprisonment, corporal punishment, a fine and compensation to the victim, ‘as may be decided by the court’. Procuring for prostitution and sexual harassment could mean from 5 to 30 years in prison.

The Daily News has published figures of the number of government sponsored students studying abroad following an exercise by the Ministry of Education to remove the names of ‘ghost’ students who had been abusing the system. There are 744 such students overseas including 113 in the UK, 252 in Russia, 78 in India, 98 in the USA, 40 in Poland, 38 in Bulgaria, 24 in Cuba, 24 in China, 12 in Canada, 17 in Hungary, 1 in Germany, 4 in Australia, 5 in Belgium and one in Sweden.

The British Council is supporting the ‘Amani Arts Environment Education’, a new foundation promoting community participation in the ethics of the care of the earth and its inhabitants. “The Amani Ensemble” last year launched the ‘Roho za Watoto’ project, a musical collaboration between British and Tanzanian musicians, primary schools and street children in Dar es Salaam and Bagamoyo. A link is being established with the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London – Action Africa, a British Council Africa Newsletter.

The government has temporarily suspended the issue or renewal of hunting permits pending the establishment of new, fair and transparent processing procedures. Future permits will be charged according to the importance of an area and the type and number of animals to be found there -Daily News.

Animal lovers have been expressing outrage following the news in the Swahili newspaper Majira that a primary court magistrate in Sumbawanga had sentenced the owner of a dog which he had named ‘immigration’ to a six months suspended sentence and had also ordered the dog to be destroyed. Animal lovers pointed out that the dog had no say in the choice of its name. Apparently the owner had named the dog out of spite and had been parading it outside the immigration office on a daily basis boasting about its name. The story received international publicity when the Dar es Salaam ‘Daily Mail’ reported that the dog had been expecting puppies and had been bludgeoned to death because the police could not spare a bullet to shoot it. Defending his decision Magistrate Onesmo Zunda said that he had done what he did in order to avoid a breach of the peace in the village. He was unable to cite the law which allowed him to pass this death sentence! Government officials ordered an enquiry. A reader in the ‘Business Times’ recalled another case where an animal was deprived of justice. In 1974 a cow which escaped the ‘slaughter machine’ at the Tanganyika Packers meat factory in Kawe ran off to seek justice in the garden of Judge Manning nearby. ‘Regrettably’, the reader’s letter went, on ‘it was barbarically shot dead in the compound of that custodian of justice’.

The British archaeologist Mark Cotton has discovered the remains of an underground mosque built with poles and timber near Chake Chake in Pemba which is believed to date back to the 6th century AD. Until recently historians believed that the Kizimkazi Mosque, 60 kms south of Zanzibar town, built 1,000 years ago, was the oldest mosque in East Africa -Business Times.

President Mandela has donated $608,000 to the Mwalimu Nyerere Foundation which was launched in August 1996 to promote peace and development through unity. The Anglo-American Corporation of South Africa has donated $50,000 -Daily News.