BIBI TITI
I was saddened to read of the death of Bibi Titi Mohamed (Tanzanian Affairs No 68). I recall a visit she made to Mbeya in 1958 or ’59. Several thousand Wasafwa/Wanyakusa greeted her ecstatically with the ritual roar : “Bibi Titi, Mwenye Kiti; Bibi Titi Mwenye Kiti … ” while she hoisted her imposing figure on to the platform. Dressed in what seemed to be a large, black tent, she acknowledged the acclamation. Then she went into her act, her vocal chords big as her stomach, she had no need of loud hailers. “The white Queenie over the seas” she proclaimed, “robs us through her underlings here, arse-lickers who send our money back to the Queenie. Who are these mobsters ?” she asked; then answered her question by pointing a podgy finger straight at me, the solitary Mzungu standing on the edge of the crowd “He’s one of them”. Several thousand black heads turned to focus on me. Whereupon Bibi Titi’s indictment seemed so absurd that the great throng, Bibi Titi and myself as well, fell about laughing and dancing. A formidable lady indeed.
Tim Hardy

SCHOOL FEES
I much enjoyed the recent issue of Tanzanian Affairs, one of the best I remember. It was good to get your first -hand comments on the elections, specially relevant in the light of the recent unrest. Could I please be sent an extra copy of this issue for my son in Zanzibar? I was also heartened to read the pages about the ‘economic miracle’ – initially at least, until continuing contacts with Tanzanians made me ask again the question I asked on my visit last summer: ‘What is there for ordinary Tanzanians in this economic revival?’

One of those ordinary Tanzanians, an old friend of ours now living in Morogoro, tells me her son has just gained entry to Secondary School in Mbeya. The first term fees are Shs. 120,000 plus uniform and various other items amounting to a further Shs 50,000. She tells me she is going back to her home area (Ugogo) to grow groundnuts and sell them at the roadside. She knows how crucial her son’s education is for the family’s future. So we were glad to help – but it is still not enough. He needs a further Shs 53,500 for textbooks plus Shs 110,400 for more clothing, a mattress and bus fares. The total is about £300 for just the first term. My friend can manage it through us, but there are thousands that can’t. How relevant in the context of real life are the ‘internet cafes … surfers learning about the outside world, chatting with relatives in Europe or hawking curios to Hong Kong’ (Economist)? Frankly, I’d rather have the Economist’s old criticisms than its new praises for amenities which make sense only in terms of Western lifestyles. It has still never recognised the enormous achievements of literacy, Universal Primary Education and free education at secondary and tertiary level. To assess Tanzania by Western criteria always was a futile exercise. There are a number of questions that come to mind:

– We know Jubilee 2000’s magnificent campaign has reduced Tanzania’s debt burden somewhat, but these funds are supposed to be spent on health and education for the poor. Can we expect IMF and World Bank to demand free education, as Mwalimu did on principle, for those who are too poor to take advantage of their academic success? I fear that at worst they will just want to foster trade and at best will just pay school teachers more (fully deserved but of little help to poor families).

– What long-term future can Tanzania have if the creation of educational opportunities for all is not a top priority? The present level of school fees is suicidal for the nation, not just for poor families. What are the prospects of reverting to Mwalimu’s vision for education?

– Building up hopes for those who work hard and then frustrating them is a sure recipe for future unrest (hitherto absent from Tanzania) and will open the door to graft and corruption. I am told by other Tanzanians that my friend’s plight is normal today. Could you please give some publicity to this reality and to the facts of education in your next issue, so that readers realise that these glowing international assessments (which initially make us Tanzaniophiles so proud) relate more to cloud cuckoo land than to the lives of typical Tanzanians?
Roger Bowen

SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION
Thank you for the latest issue of Tanzanian Affairs …. I have a distant Tanzania connection. I was two years at the Kongwa School; my sisters were at Mbeya and Iringa schools while I was at school in England. My parents worked in Tanganyika/Tanzania from 1951 to 1960. I would be interested in appealing to your readers for accounts of work in soil or water conservation in the country focusing on techniques used, successes, failures and reasons.
Fiona Armstrong (please send responses to the Editor)

Dr Andrew Burton, Assistant Director of the British Institute in Eastern Africa has written to say that he has noted with horror that in his review of the book on Peri-Urban Development in Dar es Salaam (TA No. 67) he had referred to the authors of the book as Davis and Mwamfupe (instead of Biggs and Mwamjupe). Apologies – Editor.

In response to the letter from Catherine Lee (TA No 67) Peter White has sent us a list he has compiled of some 120 organisations (with addresses in the UK or Ireland) which are involved in Tanzania. He says that he would welcome information about omissions or correction. Copies are available (please enclose a 50p stamp) from him – Editor.

COFFEE
I am trying to work out a history of the spread of coffee culture around the tropics and I am wondering whether any of your readers could shed some light on when and from where C. arabica cultivars came to East Africa.

In your article on Kilimanjaro Agriculture in Tanganyika Notes and Records No.64 you stated that the first coffee planting was made at Kilema Mission ‘over 60 years ago’ i.e around the beginning of the century. Monseigneur Le Roy of the Holy Ghost Fathers based in Zanzibar negotiated for the site of the mission at Kilema in August 1890. German plantations around Kilimanjaro appear to have started around 1895 when a Land Commission was set up to give out concessions and a Colonial Economic Committee of 1896 investigated suitable crops, of which coffee and rubber were the most important, so presumably coffee was already available by then. On the other hand robusta coffee had been in use around Bukoba and traded locally in pre-colonial times and the Germans certainly exported this and may well have used it in their plantations initially.

I wonder if the Holy Ghost Fathers were responsible for the importation into Kenya and Uganda from Reunion and then passed stock on to the other countries? Being a French mission, they might well have had contacts with Reunion and their headquarters in Zanzibar could have been used as a port of entry. Furthermore, the White Fathers sent out to the Lake Region and Uganda in 1878 were also French. I wonder if you have any more information or know where I could find some?
Mike Bigger
(The writer is updating the standard work ‘Insect Pests of Coffee’ -Longmans -and has increased the world list of such insects from 890 to some 1,400. Anyone able to help in his research can contact him at Tel: 01568708319 -Editor)

HONEST EVALUATION
Thank you for producing a very good magazine, with lots of interesting information in it. You asked for suggestions about how to improve it, so below I have described my idea.
I lived in Tanzania for a total of 7 years, which means that family and friends, and often friends of friends, regard me as someone who ought to know about things Tanzanian. Obviously I do not feel like an authority in any sense of the word. But increasingly I receive letters and e-mails from people who have been given my address by friends or family, asking for my advice. Typically they say that their 18-year old daughter wants to take a year off before university and has applied to go to Tanzania with an organization for a ‘short-term experience’. They want to know what my opinion is of this organization. Is it a rip-off? Is it reliable? Do I recommend it? Or the letter will say that they wish to give money to a charity that works in Tanzania. Can I recommend one? Will that charity use their money wisely?

I wonder if there is a place in Tanzanian Affairs for a series of articles about organizations that work in Tanzania. I’m not really looking for the facts and figures; they are easily obtainable from the organization itself. I’m looking for an honest report from people who can advise, recommend or even condemn a particular organization. Would this be possible? 1 know that there are many other people in my situation because we ask each other for advice, but frequently we are stuck, and don’t know who to turn to for the answer.
Catherine Lee.

As regards organizations that really work in Tanzania would readers who are able to help please get in touch with Catherine Lee at St. James Episcopal Church, 23 Wu-chuan West Road, Taichung, Taiwan. Concerning charities which work and use their money Wisely I think you should be aware of the Tanzania Development Trust’ which is part of the Britain-Tanzania Society and helps development projects in various part of the country. Its Project Officer is Peter Park, 45 Highsett, Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 1NZ -Editor

TANGANYIKA NOTES AND RECORDS
I have copies of 11 of Tanganyika/Tanzania Notes and Records (1960-65) -plus the index for Nos. 1-55 -which I would be happy to pass on to anyone who has an interest in them.
V Evans (Tel: 01323 733 966)

PLANE CRASH
You have recently reviewed Randal Sadleir’s book -‘Tanzania ­Journey to a Republic’ in which he describes the events following a plane crash in Handeni in 1952. My uncle was killed in this crash and the local authorities in Tanga (presumably including Mr Sadleir) were kind enough to arrange a Jewish burial and gravestone. Could you let me have Mr Sadleir’s address.
John Rudkin

Randal has spoken to Professor Yudkin and disclaimed any credit for the Jewish burial which he believes was perhaps arranged by the then Provincial Commissioner Mr J C Clarke or his staff as Tanga is 150 miles from the site of the crash -Editor.

A CONTENTS PAGE
A quick thought on the really excellent Tanzanian Affairs. Being quite a substantial publication now it would benefit from a contents page. This would include (as on the cover now) regular sections and, of course, page numbers.
Nick Mc William

Thank you for this suggestion with which I am sure many readers would agree. The trouble is that this would slightly reduce the space for the main text so much good material has to be rejected each time TA is published that I am reluctant to make any reduction in this space. The problem might be eased if we could publish say a separate annual or five­yearly index. Any volunteers to make one? -Editor

NYERERE’S ECONOMIC POLICIES
The letter on Nyerere’s Economic Policies (January-April, 2000) argues that they failed not because they were wrong but because they were poorly implemented.

Nationalization and putting the economy into the hands of parastatals failed, the letter says, because of “lack of attention,” “management inefficiencies,” an unfortunate need for imported inputs to production, “a severe lack of trained personnel,” and an excess of trnst in self-serving foreign sellers of technology and know-how.

The ujamaa villages were a good strategy for rural development, according to the letter, but failed because of “lack of attention” (again), elitist politicians who lacked respect for the rural people, and the failure of the central government to raise the prices for rural produce in line with inflation.

Anyone who has lived through the last decade should have learned that centrally planned and centrally run economies have failed everywhere. Perhaps it is because there can never be enough trained managers or because management inefficiencies creep into all governmental operations or because politicians are always elitist and disrespect the people being governed. Or perhaps there are other reasons.

I was present on the field in Dar es Salaam, heard Nyerere deliver the Arusha Declaration and had a certain amount of enthusiasm for the policies and great hope for the country. However, the lesson of this century has been that the economic policies that Nyerere chose have failed wherever they have been tried. They did not fail in Tanzania because of special circumstances or bad luck or bad timing. It would have been very hard to know it in the 1960s and 1970s, but they were just policies that don’t work.
Paul Sack, San Francisco

WILDLIFE
Can any readers of Tanzanian Affairs please tell me whether the Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania is still functioning? I have been a member for the last ten years sending subscriptions and donations to their London bank account but have received no copies of their twice-yearly newsletter ‘Miombo’ since April 1998 and letters to the Society at P 0 Box 70919, Dar es Salaam have produced no reply. If you have any information please ring me on 01434 3445810r write to Primrose House, Bardon Mill, Hexham, Northumberland NE477HF.
M. H. Dorey

NYERERE’S ECONOMIC POLICIES

I happened to see the interview you gave on CNN on the day that Julius Nyerere died. On the whole, I would like to congratulate you on your success in fielding the questions thrown at you.

However, there was one particular answer that you gave which troubled me. It was on the question of Tanzania’s economic policies under Nyerere when you appeared to agree with the interviewer that they were mistaken, and more or less the cause of Tanzania’s economic difficulties. Using Nyerere as a scapegoat for Tanzania’s economic problems has become something of a conventional wisdom which, to say the least, is quite unfair.

First, it needs to be pointed out that people in most other underdeveloped countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, are not noticeably better off, if not much worse off, than in Tanzania, without, presumably, having been ‘subjected’ to Nyerere’s economic policies.

But, more important, what were those economic policies and their background? For the first few years of independence, government policy was that being promoted (and still is being promoted) by the IMF, the World Bank, etc. -namely to make the country as attractive as possible for foreign investors, offering tax breaks or other subsidies financed by foreign loans and the like. The result? It became more or less a satellite economy of Kenya. Because of the latter’s more developed infrastructure, and the larger number of people wealthy enough to provide a market, Kenya received the lion’s share of foreign investment in East Africa.

Meanwhile, the few significant industries that Tanzania did have were subsidiaries of foreign companies, the profits of which were mainly transferred abroad (either directly or indirectly through the device of transfer pricing), and were therefore not available for reinvestment in Tanzania. Furthermore, during the first few years of independence, the international prices of Tanzania’s major export crops began to decline sharply. Something had to change. Hence the Arusha Declaration.

The nationalisation of those few foreign-owned enterprises, and the subsequent establishment of a number of new parastatal enterprises, did have the desired effect of stimulating economic development, and put in place the means by which profits generated by workers in Tanzania could be recycled within the Tanzanian economy rather than disappear abroad. Unfortunately, that initial success could not be sustained. Partly, this was due to the lack of attention given to strategy -all was very ad hoc. In particular many parastatals were heavily dependent on imports. Thus, when there was a squeeze on foreign exchange, many could not function or only at very low capacity. Much more emphasis should have been placed on developing industries utilising Tanzania’s own natural resources

Other types of creeping inefficiencies can be attributed to the fact that many were local monopolies which led to various types of management inefficiencies. However, the problem here was that the Tanzanian economy in the early 1970s, related to its extreme state of underdevelopment, simply was not big enough in most cases to accommodate more than one major enterprise in anyone sector. This would have applied equally had these enterprises been privately owned, which, in any case, at the time, would hardly have been possible since there were few individuals or institutions wealthy enough (apart from the government) that could afford such investments.

In other words, managers of Tanzania’s new parastatal enterprises needed to be particularly self-disciplined and experienced, and considering the severe lack of trained personnel immediately after independence, it is hardly surprising that mistakes were made. A further issue, with hindsight, is that the government and Tanzanian managers of parastatals should have been more distrustful of the foreign collaborators supplying technology and technical know-how, because many of the deals struck turned out to be highly exploitative and became a drain on foreign exchange.

The proposals for rural development following the Arusha Declaration also made sense. In essence, the policy was to create a system to pool local resources -especially labour -to develop the rural economy rather than wait around for years for the government to provide finance (which it simply did not have) or for outside investors to come along (which would have created new foreign debts and all the implications of that). The policy got off to a bad start for three major reasons. First, again, was the lack of attention given to strategy. Second, practically all the politicians entrusted with the process failed to emulate Nyerere in that they had become elitist, and, lacked respect for rural people and their immense knowledge of their local environment. In many areas, notoriously, people were moved against their will. In other words, it was not the policy as such, but the way it was implemented that was more of the problem. Rural people were further alienated by the failure of the government -which controlled prices for rural produce -to raise prices in line with inflation.

It is possible that in different economic circumstances, all these various teething troubles and practical difficulties would have been less intense or could have been addressed. But soon after the new industrial policy had been launched, and even before the new rural policy was under way, the international economy was lurching into deep crisis, triggered by the United States government decision to print dollars to finance its war with Vietnam and its welfare programme. This led to worldwide inflation, and extreme economic instability everywhere -and ultimately to the global debt crisis of the 1980s, which severely affected all countries, not just Tanzania -and from which, despite much wishful thinking, the world has yet to recover.

More important, the problems Nyerere was seeking to address in the 1960s are still with us. Nobody has come up with any real alternative for rapid and sustainable development. Indeed, the policies being pushed on to developing countries by advanced industrial country governments and the international banks that serve their interests -such as measures to encourage foreign direct investment, removal of import controls and the free movement of capital in and out of the country -are likely to make matters worse. They are a recipe for the giant transnational corporations to get rich at everybody else’s expense, thus, in effect, holding back development. Moreover, it is a matter of historical fact that no country in the world has ever achieved an advanced state of development by that route. Thus, there is a strong argument for all underdeveloped countries, not to reject, but to revisit Nyerere’s ideas adapting them to their circumstances.
Jerry Jones

FREE INTERNET SERVICE

I think that your readers may be interested to know that there is a new free internet service. It is at http://newafrica.com and has lots of information about Tanzania on it.
Cuthbert Kimambo

IMPROVING KISA YA KISASA
I congratulate you on the decision to include in ‘Tanzanian Affairs’ articles on Swahili with new words and contemporary meanings of old and familiar ones. However, perhaps Kisa ya Kisasa -3 could have been improved in its structure. The first three sentences are impeccable. In the 4th extract, the second sentence would be better translated by ‘I had been around in different parts of Tanzania for some time but my Swahili was far from up to date’. Last sentence: I don’t think anybody now or then, would say na wewe; nawe is the idiomatic term. In the penultimate sentence in the English version “I thus learnt … ‘ does not appear in the Swahili (although it fits the context). The last sentence is of course true but it is an editor’s gloss and not a translation of anything. I suspect that the greatest interest for people with former fluency in archaic Swahili is to have a literal translation followed, where appropriate, by the idiomatic, contemporary one.

In the 8th entry the phrase ‘striking out’ is in no way a translation of kugoma kuondoka (perfectly correct in the 6th entry).
The English omits any reference to the complainant, the main reason for the trouble and alipofunguliwa shitaka is sloppy : it should be lilipo …
But the articles are great fun. Please let us have more.
PC Duff

SAFARI BY STEAM
I attach a note about a UK tour operator’s 17-day’ Safari by steam’. It begins at a remote beach camp in the Sadani Game Reserve. After sailing down the Wami river and driving to Tanga the group boards the train at Mombo for the Ngorongoro Crater. Details: 01420 541007. I wonder if any reader has raised his/her eyebrows at this! Has anybody been on the tour?
Dick Waller

A CHRIST-LIKE FIGURE
Re the reference (in the last issue’s review by Christine Lawrence of the book Heroes of the Faith’) to Neil Russell who became Bishop of Zanzibar in 1961, I remember in about 1950 seeing him in the distance approaching our camp at Kongwa. As he got nearer I recognised the ‘Kanzu’ type gown he was wearing, slip-slops on his feet and a long staff in his hand. My friend Steven Faithfull, who was responsible for accommodation of our visitors, offered him a fully-furnished tent with bed, blankets and all the trimmings plus a servant but he refused and asked if he could have an empty tent as he preferred to sleep on the ground … after two nights with us communing with his Wazigua friends, he walked out of our camp, as he came in, to visit the next camp, about eight miles away – he was the nearest to a Christ-like figure I have ever seen.
Ronald W Munns. Adelaide, Australia

I am currently working on a research project looking at the role of medical missionaries in colonial Tanganyika. I am attempting to write a history of the medical missionaries -how and why they joined, their interaction with both Tanzanians and the colonial government and experiences of ‘indigenous medicine’ amongst other things. I would love to hear from any ex-missionaries who had any experiences of working in the medical field and any other medical workers who had dealings with medical missionaries. If you feel that you may be able to help me in my research please get in touch with me.
Dr. Michael Jennings, TheWellcome Unit for the History of Medicine,
45-47 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6PE

PUBLISHING
I was pleased to see the review of ‘East African Expressions of Christianity’ in the last issue of Tanzanian Affairs but very disappointed that you failed to include the fact that it is published in Dar es Salaam by ‘Mkuki wa Nyota’. Could you please note in the next issue that, thanks to the University of Wisconsin, the price in Tanzanian shillings will be surprisingly accessible.
James Currey

JAMBO
I was most interested to read Ben Rawlence (TA No 63) saying hujambo is a contraction of huna jambo; I always thought it was the 2nd person singular, negative verb prefix, or is huna another form of it? Hence, having said Hujambo?, the other replies Sijambo!, or, if replying (also on behalf of others, Hatujambo!. If you are greeting more than one person you say Hamjambo? The 3rd person greetings would be Hajambo? (sing.) and Hawajambo? (plural), with the same answers, but these forms I have found to be rare in conversation, with people more likely to say Habari ya Mzee Saidi? or whatever, rather than Mama Ngina, hajambo?

I suppose all the above could be styled in the plural, ego Humambo?, though I’ve never heard the plural form used, except on its own -Mambo?

I was glad Rawlence gave the correct translation of the word jambo. It has gone down in history as meaning “hello”. I wonder how many magazines and such-like around the globe, given the title or part-title Jambo, would have been so-named had the producers realised the word’s true meaning.
A D H Leishman, Westdene, South Africa.

ANY SUBSCRIBERS IN TAIWAN?
I believe my subscription for Tanzanian Affairs needs renewing. Please send the magazines to my new Taiwan address. Should there be any other subscribers to Tanzanian Affairs living in Taiwan I’d love to know. We could get together and brush up our Kiswahili!

Catherine Lee
St. James’ Episcopal Church, 23 Wu-chuan West
Road, 403 Taichung, Taiwan, ROC.
Sorry. I don’t think there are any others yet. Your subscription means that we now have subscribers in 37 countries around the world -Editor.

SPOILT FOR CHOICE
……Am just back from Dar and Dodoma. Hotels in central Dar are becoming a rare breed -apart from those two millionaires hideouts. Motel Agip has now closed down, to add to the Twiga, Mawenzi and Skyway. And as for the Kilimanjaro ……I am hoping to join a Tony Janes tour this year-probably the coast safari, so that I can stay on in Zanzibar for an extra day or so. We really are spoilt for choice by Tony. I want to do all of his tours!
I have just read Ben Rawlence’s piece in Tanzanian Affairs No. 62. Even greetings are changing in Tanzania. It’s now streetwise to say “Mambo” or “Vipi”. To which the reply is “Poa”. Gone are “Habari” and “Mzuri!”
David Leishman, Westdene, South Africa

(For the benefit of readers like me whose Swahili is out-dated I asked our contributor on Swahili, Ben Rawlence, to elaborate on your last paragraph. He responded as follows: The greetings quoted are commonly used but informal. A common greeting is ‘Hujambo’ -a contraction of ‘huna jambo ‘ (do you not have a problem? Of you don’t have any problem?). You are using a double negative to confirm that you don’t have any problems. ‘Mambo’ is the plural of ‘Jambo’ and is a short way of saying ­’problems?’ The questioning is determined by a rising intonation. You can say ‘Mambo’, or ‘Vipi Mambo’ (how are the problems?) or ‘Mambo vipi?’ The reply is ‘Poa’, which is that highly popular (amongst the young) English word ‘cool ‘. Or you can reply ‘Safi’ meaning ‘clean of problems’ ­Editor}.

THE SEXUAL OFFENCES ACT OF 1998

With reference to the report in Tanzanian Affairs No. 62 on the Sexual Offences Act, according to the report of the General Police Commander, Mr Omar Mahita, raping cases increased from 1,181 in 1997 to 1,542 in 1998 (23.4%), sex with under age girls cases increased by 26% and sodomy cases by 13.6%. There may be many other cases which were not reported. The reasons for this are said to be the introduction of foreign culture, poor child bringing up, more broken marriages, children brought up without proper parental care, women wearing short dresses and the influence of drugs and alcohol.
While these reasons may have played a part it seems that the real cause of the problem has not been explained. Many people have been talking about a recent case where a person who held high positions in the government and the parastatals and was involved in church matters was caught in the bedroom with his own daughter. Psychologists may have something to say about it but I agree to the view that the culture and norms of Tanzanians are no longer observed. People used to fear society and government laws but both these have now lost power. What do your readers think about the new Sexual Act?
John Orasa, Dar es Salaam

Many thanks for the great response to the questionnaires sent out with our last issue of TA. Readers were asked to express their interest in or lack of interest in the various sections of ‘Tanzanian Affairs ‘. Well over 100 readers responded and almost all the comments were flattering. Political news came out as easily the most interesting part of the journal. 99% of readers found this section ‘very interesting’ and no one found it ‘uninteresting’. The section on ‘Readers letters’ came second – I hope we shall be receiving many more of these now that we know that 98% of our readers will read other reader’s letters! The next most popular group of subjects included economic news, book and other reviews, and ‘Tanzania in the Media’. Other subjects which came slightly lower in popularity included stories of personal experiences in Tanzania, news about Zanzibar, obituaries, ‘Business News’ and ’50 Years Ago’ (12% of readers were not at all interested in this section). There were fewer readers interested in the arts (21% said they were not interested) and music, especially modern Tanzanian music, was even less popular. 28% of readers described news about sport as ‘not of interest to me’. Perhaps if Tanzania had qualified for the World Cup finals! The percentages reflect a very high rate of interest in virtually every aspect of Tanzanian life. Many readers said that they read TA from cover to cover and passed it on to others to read.

Many thanks again. All comments have been noted but please remember that we have only 48 pages three times a year and an awful lot happens in Tanzania all the time! – Editor.

Your obituary of the late Edmund Capper does him less than justice. As Provost of St Albans in Dar es Salaam and subsequently as Chaplain of St Nicholas, Ilala, he steered the Anglican Church with great tact and skill through the tumultuous period of the coming of independence and the birth of Tanzania. The pressure on those in public positions at that time was intense and he was an important figure-head of the old Establishment who set an example of integrity, tolerance and good humour. He was widely respected by the members of his church – and indeed far beyond it. The Provost always spoke sound common sense and proffered good counsel to the highest in the land and to the lowest. To those of us in the expatriate community during this time of transition, he was a rock – of principle and faith, as well as a genial and wise companion.
R F Eberlie

I am sure other people who have received the last issue will have contacted you regarding the obituaries. As far as I am aware Edmund Capper joined the UMCA in 1936 as a priest in Masasi. He was appointed Archdeacon of Lindi and in 1954 Archdeacon of Dar es Salaam and Rector of St Albans and later the Provost. It was after he left Tanganyika that he finally became a bishop. Most of the report refers to Leslie Stradling who was consecrated bishop on July 25 1945 and arrived in Moshi on December 4. That delay was due to lack of a passage to East Africa because of the war. He became the first bishop of South West Tanganyika in 1952. Certainly the last anecdote – re the goat – is from Bishop Leslie and possibly the confirmation one too.
Peter Stringer UMCA 1954-63

(You and other readers who have pointed out the serious errors in the obituaries section are quite right. The obituary did the Rt. Rev Edmund Capper less than justice because his obituary became mixed up with that of the Rt. Rev Leslie Stradling who died a short while earlier. The confusion can be partially explained only by reference to the fact that both apparently died at the same age, both served several years in Masasi, both were members of the UMCA and they left Tanganyika within a year of each other. But this is no excuse. Apologies to all concerned – Editor).

In TA No. 60 it says that Mark Cotton had discovered the remains of an underground mosque believed to date back to the 6th Century AD. Did not Islam begin in the 7th Century AD? So how come we find a 6th Century mosque in Pemba?
Trevor Jagger

We spotted in the last issue a reproduction of part of Ann McFerran’s article in the Telegraph a few weeks ago. I enclose a copy of an article from the Sunday Times Magazine written by Patrick Wilson. (I like the article but sorry, no more space in this issue. Perhaps next time – Editor). ‘Health Projects Abroad’ (HPA) now offers 120 young people a year the chance to spend three months in Tanzania seeing what it is like to live and work in rural villages there.
Cath Rowlatt. HPA Volunteer Programme Manager

Another reader has written as follows: ‘You did not mention the cholera outbreak in Zanzibar in your last issue. Many people (perhaps 200) died in December 1997. My husband was one of them’ – Apologies and our sympathy on your loss – Editor.

WHY IN THE WORLD DAR ES SALAAM?

Greetings from Tanzania. I enclose a translation I have done of an article about the closure of the Goethe Institute in Dar es Salaam written by Bartholomaus Grill in Die Zeit on December 5 1997 which might be of interest to some of your readers. Extracts from the article:

In four months it will be all over. A movie in December symbolises this final act: Der Totmacher (the Dead-Maker); and there can be no doubt whom Tanzanians identify it with: the Minister of Finance in wealthy Germany. His money saving measures put an end to this episode which began in 1962 when the grandchildren of German colonialists founded a branch of the Goethe Institute in Tanzania, not far from the military cemetery where for 100 years their heroic grandfathers had found their rest. It was not meant as an apology as Germany was then busy enough forgetting her most recent past. With the passage of 35 years, however, the project became some kind of compensation. At least, that’s the way many Tanzanians see it. “Through this cross-cultural exchange programme, Germany has shed her colonial reputation” says painter Robino Ntila….. “With the closure of the Institute, the finest period of German-Tanzanian cross-cultural communication ends” palaeanthropologist Charles Saanane complains…. “If you were seeking to meet with Tanzania’s artists, writers and intellectuals, just sit in the institute’s foyer and wait.” Situated at Dar’s most popular spot, the city’s geographical centre, it had been integrated into the host country, unlike other Goethe branches. By comparison the Institute in Johannesburg, placed in the sterile white shopping quarter of Rosebank, looks like an alien spaceship landed by accident in the new South Africa. ….” Why in the world Dar es Salaam?” asks Shafi Adam Shafi, author of that mysterious story from Zanzibar ‘The Slavery of Spices’ who gave his very first lecture at the institute.. . . “in Munich, where the decision was taken, it’s a mere movement of the pen. For us in Tanzania it’s a catastrophe’ remarks Shafi…… Germany’s financial and technical aid for community development in Tanzania for one year would suffice to finance the Goethe Institute for 184 years.”

Oliver Stegen, Box 21, Kondoa

A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE

I served as Park Warden Tourism in the Serengeti from 1965 to 1967 and was able to return about once a year for some time but have not seen it for 12 years. I have some 6,000 slides of the Serengeti, many of which have been published.

After school in 1955 I went to Tanzania to stay with a school friend, Jonathan Kingdon, now an established and internationally acclaimed wildlife artist/cientist. Jonathan’s father was Provincial Commissioner, Central Province, so I stayed with the Kingdon family at Dodoma and photographed several bird of prey nests on the Dodoma Golf Course! This trip was extensively photographed, sadly only in black and white. I am wondering now about making the entire trip again, covering exactly the same ground, (Arusha -Dodoma -Mbeya). I am keen to ascertain whether anyone can advise me on the safety and otherwise of making this trip, probably driving alone, with photographic equipment aboard.

I have just learned of the death of former Minister of Wildlife Soloman
ole Saibul. I shall greatly miss his smiles, his wit and his help -but above all his friendship. I would like to contact his family; can anyone help me with the address?

Grahame Dangerfield,
The Grahame Dangerfield Wildlife Trust, Bowers Heath,
Harpenden. Herts, AL5 5EE.
Telephone and Fax: xxxxx

SEED TREATMENT

I started travelling to East Africa as a consultant to UNIDO, developing seed treatment technology suitable for rural farmers. When the project finished we had shown that yields of maize and beans can be substantially increased by treating the seeds before planting and that the low cost machines we developed worked well. We found a general awareness among villagers that treated seed grew better than untreated. However, we did not disseminate, so our prototypes were in line to join the many other workable ideas abandoned because their dissemination was not properly tackled.

I therefore decided to spend a few years in Tanzania to try and luck start a seed treatment system for rural farmers but I have faced a number of problems. There is now no legal and available seed treatment available in Tanzania. The registration authority, TPRI in Arusha, charges $5,500 for registration which is beyond my means and is also too high to be justified by any agro-chemical company. The market is quite small and speculative. The recently re-vamped pesticide formulation plant at Moshi is now developing a formulation using some active ingredients imported by UNIDO at the end of their project but they are devoid of funds. I also have problems with a resident’s permit.

The reason I am writing to you is because I believe the matter may be of interest to the Britain Tanzania Society and also to ask if you have any ideas regarding my problems.

J E Elsworth. E-Mail: xxxxx

EARLY DAR ES SALAAM
I am in the process of conducting PhD research Into the social history of
Dar es Salaam in the colonial and post-colonial periods and am keen to contact people who lived and/or worked in the city between 1920 and 1980. I am especially interested in the administration and policing in the town, urban growth and attempts to control it; the housing sector, the development of an urban economy and workforce, and the growth of crime and petty crime, particularly activities which might be described as ‘informal sector’ ones such as illegal street trading, the manufacture and sale of alcohol, prostitution, and begging. Anyone who feels they could be of assistance please contact me on XXXX
Andrew Burton, London

THE GRUNDYS OF PANGANI
In about 1963 visits to Pangani were made special by meeting the Grundys, to enjoy their hospitality in the remarkable house they were building and to see boat building, spinning of coconut fibre, metal work and furniture making in the workshop. Major Grundy was the first registered citizen of Tanganyika and he meant to stay. Unfortunately, the business was a victim of blanket nationalisation and the Grundys left. However, when the Britain- Tanzania Study Tour visited Pangani in August 1997 several people told us of the debt the town still owes to them. Major Grundy is remembered with great affection and respect. The Independence memorial is acknowledged as his work. The workshop has been extended and is in reasonable condition although the business seems to be at a standstill. It would be good if ‘Tanzanian Affairs’ could carry a tribute to the Grundys. To that end, I am asking anyone who has information about their lives before or after Pangani to send it to me. Peter Yeo Loughborough

THE GIANT TORTOISES OF ZANZIBAR
Further to your earlier news Item (TA No 57) about the giant tortoises (Geochelone gigantea) of Zanzibar, my wife and I were there in August 1997 and can now give you an update. We found that only seven adults now remain on Changuu island but they are under close surveillance and 16 new young ones have been successfully hatched. On Zanzibar itself a holding facility has been established for tortoises moved from Changuu in 1996 and other tortoises that have been seized after they were stolen from the island.

The translocation of confiscated tortoises could result in the introduction of diseases and parasites not previously present on Changuu. One of the purposes of our visit therefore was to draw up a health monitoring programme. Fortunately, professional veterinary assistance is available there from various sources but funds are needed to save the tortoises and to keep them free of disease. Those wishing to help are invited to send cheques made payable to the ‘Changuu Tortoise Account XXXX and sent to Barclays Bank, P0 Box 8, 13 Library Place, St Heller, Jersey John E Cooper, Wiltshire