tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27923821393018724632024-03-06T02:19:38.149+03:00From Butiama and beyond...I blog what I observe around me, and I end up writing on a wide range of subjects including cultural tourism, customs and traditions, travel, and mountaineering. Specifically, what happens in and around the village of Butiama, the birthplace and final resting place of Tanzania's founding president, Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere.Madarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14266253025401128699noreply@blogger.comBlogger624125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792382139301872463.post-68140910543359100622018-02-28T05:57:00.000+03:002018-02-28T05:59:22.314+03:0032 years ago today Swedish premier Olof Palme was assassinated32 years ago today Swedish Premier Olof Palme was assassinated. His murder remains unsolved.
Palme was walking back from a cinema to ride a subway home after watching a film with his wife and was attacked by a lone gunman who immediately fled the scene.
Numerous investigations have failed to solve the murder after an initial conviction of manslaughter of Christer Pettersson was Madarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14266253025401128699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792382139301872463.post-11121762300928572862017-12-27T18:06:00.000+03:002017-12-27T18:06:06.806+03:00Former soccer player George Weah has won Liberian electionsFormer soccer player George Weah has won Liberia's elections, held on 26th December 2017.
When I wrote about his possible political ambitions in 2008 it appeared to me that he placed a higher priority on his soccer career.
George Tawlon Manneh Opong Ousman Weah is 51 years old and was FIFA Footballer of the Year in 1995. He also won the Ballon d'Or and was the first African to win these two Madarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14266253025401128699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792382139301872463.post-35322716031281498282017-11-15T11:29:00.002+03:002017-11-15T11:29:39.131+03:00The League of Nations sought a world peace that remains elusiveAt the end of World War I the allied victors formed the League of Nations, later to become the United Nations, as part of the outcome of the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. The first session of the League of Nations was held in Geneva on this day, 97 years ago.
The principal objective of the League of Nations was to maintain world peace, a quest that has remained elusive throughout.
The Madarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14266253025401128699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792382139301872463.post-810480191524516872017-11-12T13:56:00.001+03:002017-11-12T14:06:07.894+03:00it is the 37th anniversary of Voyager I's Saturn approachThis day, 37 years ago, NASA's Voyager I spacecraft approached Saturn and sent back images of the outer planet.
Saturn from Voyager I. Photo: NASA
The spacecrafts' statistics are mind-boggling:
it has travelled through space for forty years and two months - and counting
it's the spacecraft that has covered the farthest distance from Earth
it became the first craft to enter interstellar space,Madarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14266253025401128699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792382139301872463.post-32625192431516484682017-10-11T01:10:00.000+03:002017-10-11T01:10:05.013+03:00Today is International Day of the Girl ChildIt's United Nations' International Day of the Girl Child today.
It has been commemorated since 2011 through resolution 66/170 of the UN of 9th December 2011 and has been observed since October 2012.
It is a day for reflecting on the plight faced by adolescent girls worldwide and the challenges that constrain their empowerment and human rights.
**********************************************Madarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14266253025401128699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792382139301872463.post-64397619608707796592017-08-16T01:13:00.000+03:002017-08-16T01:13:00.175+03:00Reasons for Mwalimu Nyerere's choice of two governments for TanzaniaEver since Zanzibar merged with Tanganyika to form the United Republic Tanzania, there have been continuous discussions on the ideal structure of government.
A two-government structure has remained in place since the union's inception on 26th April 1964 with a government for Zanzibar and a union government. Tanganyika's affairs were absolved into the union government machinery.
Although SheikhMadarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14266253025401128699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792382139301872463.post-51563218053107157772017-08-09T05:11:00.000+03:002017-08-09T09:18:15.098+03:00Esperanto is a language you probably haven't heard aboutNot until early this year did I learn of the existence of this language. Esperanto is a language you probably haven't heard about.
I always thought of myself of being capable of identifying many of the world's most-spoken languages, but when a group of visitors showed up at Mwitongo in January I realized I had overestimated my capabilities.
Through their own introductions I learnt that the Madarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14266253025401128699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792382139301872463.post-3445487333056633962017-08-02T01:54:00.000+03:002017-08-02T01:54:06.153+03:00Butiama's image of the day
During rare moments a few times every year weather patterns over Butiama produce colourful images. It begins in the late afternoon with a dark rain cloud that hovers and moves slowly from a northerly direction towards the south. The cloud covers the sun, and a period of light rainfall begins, seen on the right edge of the photo.
At a certain point, just before sunset, the sun drops below Madarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14266253025401128699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792382139301872463.post-61728851327982313062017-07-26T01:02:00.000+03:002017-07-26T01:02:05.346+03:00When and how to say "sorry"This is one of numerous articles I wrote for the Sunday News (Tanzania) column "Letter from Butiama" between 2005 and 2011. Publication date: 2 July 2006.
I posted it in this blog in 2013, but I felt it warranted being dug up from this blog's archives for readers who have not read it.
Madarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14266253025401128699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792382139301872463.post-91438806727711212462017-07-19T16:21:00.000+03:002017-07-19T16:21:41.764+03:00The benefits of rising up earlyNot quite a long time ago, I would have failed to list the benefits of rising up early. Now, having tried it for a while, I find there are distinctive benefits to beginning the day when almost everyone else is asleep.
My timeless Utopia was a world where the day extends to 30 hours, and the year to 16 months, enough to accomplish all my tasks. If a day on Earth was similar to a day on Pluto, my Madarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14266253025401128699noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792382139301872463.post-74626230475241123882017-07-08T12:23:00.000+03:002017-07-08T12:23:13.086+03:00"Only a fool would take 1.2 billion shillings to a village" Only a fool would take 1.2 billion shillings to a village. These are words quoted from an interview with Kenya's Deputy President, William Ruto.
For some of us who have chosen to move back to the village, they are words that are, at the very least, disappointing, and at worst, offensive.
Deputy President of Kenya, William Ruto (Photo: World Trade Organization)
I normally avoid commenting on Madarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14266253025401128699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792382139301872463.post-82441700843484829992017-03-20T12:29:00.000+03:002017-03-20T12:29:37.680+03:00This is my greatest fear of travelingThis is my greatest fear of traveling. To sit next to someone who talks endlessly.
I am not anti-social; I just lack the ability to constantly come up with topics of conversation.
And when I have exhausted what I have to say, which rarely takes long, I find the quite moments, referred to in the Swahili language by the expression: shetani kapita (the devil has just passed by), rather Madarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14266253025401128699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792382139301872463.post-88323571445667233622016-12-29T15:31:00.000+03:002016-12-29T15:31:06.684+03:00The roof is upThe roof is up today for one of the grain silos at Mwitongo, Butiama.
Tilting the roof provides access to the finger millet stored in the silo. The finger millet flour is mixed with cassava or maize flour to cook ugali (hard porridge), a favorite meal among members of the Zanaki ethnic group.
Occasionally, as is the case in this occasion, the roof of the silo is tilted to permit visitors to Madarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14266253025401128699noreply@blogger.com0Butiama, Tanzania-1.7680031998251502 33.959255218505859-1.7838741998251502 33.939085218505859 -1.7521321998251502 33.97942521850586tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792382139301872463.post-13413488991439420562016-12-17T18:15:00.000+03:002016-12-22T00:09:01.595+03:00I am not a mzungu! (re-posted with the Afro)I am not a mzungu is something I have to keep on repeating at least once a month to children.
I am baffled why children should call me "mzungu" a Swahili word for Caucasian. And there is no confusing me with a white man; I am unmistakably black. There is at least one other meaning of the word, but in general Tanzanians understand "mzungu" to mean a white person.
But I have had to consider Madarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14266253025401128699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792382139301872463.post-90722392187529695572016-12-01T10:30:00.000+03:002016-12-01T10:30:09.241+03:00Le travels to the Great Barrier ReefI climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro with Le Huynh in August 2008. He travels the world, and shares images and experiences of the places he visits. He shares the following stunning photos and a poem from his recent visit to the Great Barrier Reef off Australia.
He writes of his experience:
Dear friends
We come from the sea
we bleed salty blood
we cry salty tears
we're humbleMadarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14266253025401128699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792382139301872463.post-7799484438258166732016-11-17T21:52:00.000+03:002016-11-17T21:52:15.734+03:00Here are some money laundering techniques that you can tryI had the occasion to launder some US currency this year. As I saw
it then I had no choice and I did not think there would be consequences.
The saga began when I traveled to Harare, Zimbabwe for a
workshop and after the organizers refunded me some of the meeting expenses,
including an old US dollar 100 banknote. I didn’t think much of it until I tried
to change the money in Tanzania.
The Madarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14266253025401128699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792382139301872463.post-50829743551154328532016-11-16T15:59:00.000+03:002016-11-16T15:59:11.609+03:00How they wish they had voted for Hillary Clinton!I noted some interesting reactions after Donald Trump won the elections.
There is a group of voters who had preferred that neither Hillary Clinton nor Trump were on the ballot box and these voters spent a lot of time telling anyone who listened how unfortunate for Americans that they were forced to select one of two rather bad choices.
They went further. In airing this disappointment Madarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14266253025401128699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792382139301872463.post-45806198149744595432016-11-03T19:56:00.000+03:002016-11-03T19:58:27.335+03:00Tanzanian politics: stooping too low?When Tanzania's ruling party, Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) gradually abandoned its socialist policies and moved towards capitalism those members who defended the shift said: "we have to change with the times."
Consequently, successive CCM-led administrations presided over an unbridled form of capitalism that opened up the country to economic rape and plunder.
The business community monitors and Madarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14266253025401128699noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792382139301872463.post-62904429328583339922016-08-21T19:58:00.001+03:002016-08-21T19:58:34.823+03:00Nyerere's Butiama straggles with district statusHow we remember the good old times when Butiama retained the character of a village! The new reality struck home recently after I strained my ankle, having fallen off my bicycle.
Remember the good old days when, if hurt, you could receive medical attention in hospital by obtaining the Police Form 3 (PF3) and then proceeding to hospital for treatment? The law has apparently received a minor, Madarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14266253025401128699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792382139301872463.post-35655976457744338432016-08-14T13:15:00.000+03:002016-08-14T13:15:05.472+03:00Here's the ultimate in old school syncingI have had enough hard disk crashes, and lost enough mobile phones to know that traditional methods of storing information are more reliable than the latest computer based backup systems,
Nothing beats pen and paper when it comes to preserving your data. And nothing beats backing up your information written on paper than a backup system that is based on pen and paper.
So, for a while, I have Madarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14266253025401128699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792382139301872463.post-25394391746430025022016-04-15T19:52:00.001+03:002016-04-15T19:52:58.192+03:00Letter from Butiama: the temptations of leadershipI recently opened my Christmas present (Yes, because I have been traveling rather frequently and only had the chance to get to the post office in late March), and it contained contents of a coveted brand of biscuits. The biscuits reminded me of the following article I wrote.The article, from my column "Letter from Butiama", was published in the Sundays News of 1 November 2009.
............Madarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14266253025401128699noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792382139301872463.post-74652449250725581142016-03-31T18:41:00.000+03:002016-04-08T06:46:10.253+03:0036 hours in Butiama: what to doIf you have 36 hours in Butiama here's what I suggest you should do. Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere, Tanzania's founding president was born in Butiama in April 1922 and was buried here in October 1999.
The village of Butiama is located south east of Lake Victoria in north-eastern Tanzania. There are two principal ways of traveling to Butiama. By road, Butiama is 40 kilometres (35 minutes) Madarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14266253025401128699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792382139301872463.post-61978483568841138532015-12-06T15:16:00.002+03:002015-12-06T15:16:12.101+03:00Visitors to ButiamaPart of my work as coordinator for the Butiama Cultural Tourism Enterprise is to receive visitors and respond to questions on Butiama's historical and cultural heritage.
Recently I had another privilege of receiving visiting students and teachers from Kowak Girls' Secondary School. The students did not have a lot of questions to ask, but we posed for several photographs, including the one Madarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14266253025401128699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792382139301872463.post-87755259354601351242015-12-02T20:58:00.000+03:002015-12-02T20:58:50.974+03:00A visit to an elderly woman, and revelations on a traditional brewing venture
For more than ten years I have paid school fees and other
related expenses for two orphaned students who have recently completed
secondary education. Today, I visited their grandmother at the neigbouring
village of Muryaza.
A few days ago she asked to see me and I told her to remain at
home and that I would visit her instead. Over the years she has been walking
all the way from her house to Madarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14266253025401128699noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2792382139301872463.post-56581911683130509782015-11-10T18:38:00.000+03:002015-11-10T18:38:56.772+03:00Letter from Butiama: Everything is newAs Tanzanians wait eagerly for newly-elected President John Magufuli to unveil his new cabinet in the next few days, I share an old article I wrote over ten years ago when Tanzanians, in quite similar circumstances, were attempting to make sense of newly-elected President Jakaya Kikwete's campaign slogan.
The article, from my column "Letter from Butiama", was published in the Sundays News of 15 Madarakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14266253025401128699noreply@blogger.com0