Letter from Butiama: Name change operation

During my student days in Canada, I shared an apartment with an ethnic Chinese student from Malaysia who had a Christian name.

I told him I found it strange that a Chinese should have a Christian name. I was expecting to hear something like Lee Kuan Yew. He was also surprised to meet an African called Godfrey, my Christian name, although I know from experience he would have had great difficulty pronouncing "Mwita Chacha Marwa."

A Zambian I know says he will campaign for reversion to the original name of Victoria Falls, which to the Kalolo-Lozi people near the falls is known as Mosi-o-Tunya, meaning "the smoke that thunders." For a location that attracts many tourists there is a risk that such a name change could reduce the number of visitors. I imagine a potential tourist to the falls struggling for several minutes with a travel agent who has not heard of the new name and gives up in frustration and decides to travel to another destination.

Sometimes it is best to use indigenous names for people, places, and businesses. At other times it is better to swallow some local pride and stick to the old names to avoid some confusion, although the confusion could be temporary.*

The gradual acceptance of Pin-Yin, the Chinese phonetic alphabet, especially after 1979 when the Chinese Government prescribed its use in all translated diplomatic and foreign language publications, as the official record used in the People's Republic of China signalled a commitment to promote the use of the Peking dialect as the national standard. As a result Peking became Beijing and Chou En-Lai became Zhou Enlai.

Peking was used outside China for so long that it took a while to get used to pronouncing Beijing. Beijing used to sound "foreign"; today Peking sounds "foreign." The more than a billion Chinese probably don't need to campaign to anyone to make themselves heard. They decided Peking should revert to Beijing and the world towed the line. More likely than not, with the passage of time, people will forget the old names. Fewer Tanzanians today remember that Mozambique's capital Maputo used to be Lourenco Marques.

If East Africans decide that Lake Victoria should become Nyanza again, one wonders what would become of UK-East African relations. When the British explorer John Hanning Speke saw a big lake in the interior of East Africa in 1858, he named it in honour of his sovereign, Queen Victoria. That fact of history may be more apparent to the foreign visitor, to the tourist, and to the primary school student who has to pass an exam. I believe that to many of the estimated 30 million people living around Lake Victoria, that historic link with England is unknown. When you mention Victoria to someone in Mwanza, what is likely to come to mind is MV Victoria, the ship, not the Queen.

I would lean towards adoption of indigenous or local names rather than adopt foreign names. A friend called me recently to tell me that her brother had finally found a job "in Scandinavia". I was pleased, having known the trouble she had gone through to find employment for his brother. I asked her which of the Scandinavian countries her brother will be moving to.

She said, "The company! The bus company!" She had been referring to the Scandinavian Express Services Limited, the bus company, with headquarters at Gerezani, Dar es Salaam. I had almost landed in Helsinki, Finland.

*It is also possible for the confusion to persist indefinitely. I recently met someone from Tasmania who says letters for Tanzania frequently end up in Tasmania. Although the context is slightly different, it underscores the difficulty of distunguishing names when we have been subjected to a longer period of using a particular name.

Visitors to Butiama

Some of last year's visitors to Butiama included the contestants of the Miss Vodacom Tanzania pageant.

Their visit in July included a visit to the Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere Museum, and Mwalimu Nyerere's Mausoleum at Mwitongo. The visitors were entertained by a traditional dance group called Egumba Ngoma Group which performed various traditional dances of Mara region. In the past, Egumba performed at an arts festival in South Korea.

The amazing effect of visitors anywhere in Tanzania is they make the hosts put on some of their best clothes and appearance. I have seen individuals who normally dress casually, but as soon as the arrival of guests is announced they change into their best clothes. The beauty contestants' visit elicited similar reactions.

Likewise, I cannot adequately describe with words the excitement across all age groups that accompanied this visit. And the interest was not confined to boys and men only; the girls and women were equally excited.

Outgoing Miss Vodacom Tanzania Richa Adhia was also in the entourage. In the photo (above), I pose with her with Mt. Mtuzu in the background. Mt. Mtuzu is also known as "Vodacom". That's where mobile phone operator Vodacom has its cell site.

Related post:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/05/redds-miss-kibaha-contestants-preparing.html

Velvet Monkeys

I apologize to those who might be offended by the explicit nature of this image, but I felt obliged, after my post on a female monkey, to introduce some gender balance on my blog, specifically on monkeys.

The institution at Usa River near Arusha where I attended a short course a few years ago was frequently visited by a group of monkeys from the surrounding forest.

At the end of lectures one afternoon, I witnessed some of the course participants, intrigued by the presence of the monkeys, cautiously attempting to approach the primates but each time they got close the monkeys moved away to a safe distance.

In contrast, when one of the resident tutors passed near the monkeys, the monkeys did not move away. A Zambian in my course predicted the monkey's reaction as the tutor, a white European, approached and walked past the monkeys.

Having some experience with monkeys at Butiama, I argued that monkeys appear to recognize familiar faces and attach some character - hostile or friendly - to those faces. When I took regular walks, I came across groups of monkeys that were not particularly alarmed by my appearance but maintained large distances with other human beings.

I believe they kept the distance for a good reason. Monkeys are notorious for stealing crops and many people around Butiama have to chase away monkeys trying to steal farm produce. I have not chased a monkey save for that rare occasion when someone left the door open and one of the monkeys got too close to my breakfast.

If it is not obvious, this specimen is a male velvet monkey. I think I now understand where the 'velvet' originated from.

Related posts:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2012/08/my-version-of-year-2011-in-review-25_22.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2012/07/my-version-of-year-2011-in-review-4-may.html

The receeding snows of Kilimanjaro

This photograph, below, of Mt. Kilimanjaro, which I took a few days ago while on a flight from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam shows very little snow on the eastern side of the mountain's highest peak, Kibo. Older photographs of Kilimanjaro show snow cover reaching almost half way down Kibo's slopes.

We are approaching the height of the warmer months in Tanzania and it is expected that some snow cover should be lost because of higher temperatures. However, the trend shows that global warming or - as others say, deforestation - continues to erode the snows of Mt. Kilimanjaro much faster than fresh snowfalls from the colder months can regenerate.

A few hours after taking this photograph, I was on another flight from Dar es Salaam to Mwanza and I noticed the mountain had far greater snow cover on the western side.

The photo, below, shows Mawenzi peak on the left, Kibo on the right, and farther in the distance, Mt. Meru. I have heard that moments before the sun rises, Kibo's shadow covers Mt. Meru, and those who have seen the sun rise over Kibo from Mt. Meru believe it is the most spectacular sight in this galaxy.
I am inclined to agree. During my Kilimanjaro climb in August I took the photo below from Barafu Camp on the slopes of Kibo showing Mawenzi just before sunrise.

Related posts:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/06/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-9-june.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2012/10/clash-of-cultures-on-mt-kilimanjaro.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2012/09/my-version-of-year-2012-in-review-12.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2008/11/climber-shares-his-observations-on-mt.html

The old road to Mwanza

This photograph (above) shows part of the village of Butiama, approached from the north on the old Musoma – Mwanza road. This used to be quite a busy road before the bitumen surfaced road (photos, below) was built between 1977 and 1983 and traffic moved to the better road. It used to take the entire day to drive from Mwanza to Musoma.


The old road to Mwanza

Italian contractors Lanari Sogesca Estero built the 93-kilometre stretch from Musoma to Nyanguge. After completion, the part between Nyanguge and Mwanza still had some tarmac left over from past works. However, it deteriorated considerably in the 1990s and was resurfaced again a few years ago and has since contributed to several fatal accidents. Today, it takes about 3 hours by bus between Mwanza and Musoma.

The Mwanza - Musoma road near the village of Sabasaba

It is amazing how roads can transform the activities of an area. A few years ago the government resurfaced the 11-kilometre road linking the village of Butiama with the main Mwanza – Musoma road at Kiabakari and most of the motorists who were using the old Butiama to Musoma road changed routes and began driving to Musoma through Kiabakari. Now the old road has only a few passenger vehicles (daladala) plying through between the village of Nyamuswa and Musoma.

A bus on the Mwanza - Musoma road. The contractors widened the old road, but forgot to widen this bridge. Trucks and buses normally yield to allow oncoming traffic to avoid a possible collision.

The Butiama to Kiabakari road has become extremely busy and has even produced some small-scale mining activity at a particular spot which has been named "machimbo" (mines). Construction of houses has also stepped up along the way.

Related posts:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-road-to-musoma-is-excellent.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2012/07/my-version-of-year-2011-in-review-8.html