The Swahili Language

I found an interesting site with facts about the Swahili language. It's everything that we heard of growing up in Tanzania. http://www.glcom.com/hassan/swahili_history.html

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Origin

The Swahili language, is basically of Bantu (African) origin. It has borrowed words from other languages such as Arabic probably as a result of the Swahili people using the Quran written in Arabic for spiritual guidance as Muslims.

As regards the formation of the Swahili culture and language, some scholars attribute these phenomena to the intercourse of African and Asiatic people on the coast of East Africa. The word "Swahili" was used by early Arab visitors to the coast and it means "the coast". Ultimately it came to be applied to the people and the language.

Regarding the history of the Swahili language, the older view linked to the colonial time asserts that the Swahili language originates from Arabs and Persians who moved to the East African coast. Given the fact that only the vocabulary can be associated with these groups but the syntax or grammar of the language is Bantu, this argument has been almost forgotten. It is well known that any language that has to grow and expand its territories ought to absorb some vocabulary from other languages in its way.

A suggestion has been made that Swahili is an old language. The earliest known document recounting the past situation on the East African coast written in the 2nd century AD (in Greek language by anonymous author at Alexandria in Egypt and it is called the Periplus of Erythrean Sea) says that merchants visiting the East African coast at that time from Southern Arabia, used to speak with the natives in their local language and they intermarried with them. Those that suggest that Swahili is an old language point to this early source for the possible antiquity of the Swahili language.

Words from Other Languages

It is an undeniable truth that Arab and Persian cultures had the greatest influence on the Swahili culture and the Swahili language. To demonstrate the contribution of each culture into the Swahili language, take an example of the numbers as they are spoken in Swahili. "moja" = one, "mbili" = two, "tatu" = three, "nne" = four, "tano" = five, "nane" = eight, "kumi" = ten, are all of Bantu origin. On the other hand there is "sita" = six, "saba" = seven and "tisa" = nine, that are borrowed from Arabic. The Arabic word "tisa" actually replaced the Bantu word "kenda" for "nine". In some cases the word "kenda" is still used. The Swahili words, "chai" = tea, "achari" = pickle, "serikali" = government, "diwani" = councillor, "sheha" = village councillor, are some of the words borrowed from Persian bearing testimony to the older connections with Persian merchants.

The Swahili language also absorbed words from the Portuguese who controlled the Swahili coastal towns (c. 1500-1700AD). Some of the words that the Swahili language absorbed from the Portuguese include "leso" (handkerchief), "meza" (table), "gereza" (prison), "pesa" ('peso', money), etc. Swahili bull-fighting, still popular on the Pemba island, is also a Portuguese legacy from that period. The Swahili language also borrowed some words from languages of the later colonial powers on the East African coast - English (British) and German. Swahilized English words include "baiskeli" (bicycle), "basi" (bus), "penseli" (pencil), "mashine" (machine), "koti" (coat), etc. The Swahilized German words include "shule" for school and "hela" for a German coin.


Spread into the Hinterland

For centuries, Swahili remained as the language for the people of the East African coast. Long-time interactions with other people bordering the Indian Ocean spread the Swahili language to distant places such as on the islands of Comoro and Madagascar and even far beyond to South Africa, Oman and United Arab Emirates. Trade and migration from the Swahili coast during the nineteenth-century helped spread the language to the interior of particularly Tanzania. It also reached Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Central African Rebublic, and Mozambique.

Christian missionaries learnt Swahili as the language of communication to spread the Gospel in Eastern Africa. So, the missionaries also helped to spread the language. As a matter of fact the first Swahili-English dictionary was prepared by a missionary. During the colonial time, Swahili was used for communication with the local inhabitants. Hence the colonial administrators pioneered the effort of standardizing the Swahili language. Zanzibar was the epicenter of culture and commerce, therefore colonial administrators selected the dialect of the Zanzibar (Unguja) town as the standard Swahili. The Unguja dialect (Kiunguja) was then used for all formal communication such as in schools, in mass media (newspapers and radio), in books and other publications.

Now Swahili is spoken in many countries of Eastern Africa. For Tanzania, deliberate efforts were made by the independent nation to promote the language (thanks to the efforts of the former head of state, Julius K. Nyerere). Tanzania's special relations with countries of southern Africa was the chief reason behind the spread of Swahili to Zambia, Malawi, South Africa, and other neighbouring countries to the south. Swahili is the national as well as the official language in Tanzania - almost all Tanzanians speak Swahili proficiently and are unified by it. In Kenya, it is the national language, but official correspondence is still conducted in English. In Uganda, the national language is English but Swahili enjoys a large number of speakers especially in the military. As a matter of fact, during the Iddi Amin's rule Swahili was declared the national language of Uganda. However, the declaration has never been seriously observed nor repealed by the successive governments.

International Presence

Thus, Swahili is the most widely spoken language of eastern Africa and many world institutions have responded to its diaspora. It is one of the languages that feature in some world radio stations such as, the BBC, Radio Cairo (Egypt), the Voice of America (U.S.A.), Radio Deutschewelle (Germany), Radio Moscow International (Russia), Radio Japan International, Radio China International, Radio Sudan, and Radio South Africa. The Swahili language is also making its presence in the art world - in songs, theatres, movies and television programs. For example, the lyrics for the song titled "Liberian girl" by Michael Jackson has Swahili phrases: "Nakupenda pia, nakutaka pia, mpenzi we!" (I love you, and I want you, my dear!). The well-celebrated Disney movie, "The Lion King" features several Swahili words, for example "simba" (lion), "rafiki" (friend), as the names of the characters. The Swahili phrase "hakuna matata" (No troubles or no problems) was also used in that movie.

The promotion of the Swahili language is not only in its use but also deliberate efforts are made throughout the world to include it in education curriculum for higher institutions of learning. It is taught in many parts of the world.

Authors: Hassan O. Ali; revised by; Abdurahman Juma

For MORE ON THE SWAHILI LANGUAGE PLEASE VISIT:

http://www.glcom.com/hassan/swahili_history.html

Canadian Diplomat Spits on Tanzanian Policeman

Having just come back from Tanzania and seeing the high standard or living that 'wazungu' expatriates live, I'm really offended at this matter. Okay, the guy has diplomatic immunity so they can't charge him. But, I am offended that whites go and live so luxuriously in the land of the black man and then have the nerve to feel superior and do degrading things to blacks. Some wazungu have forced even black women to have sex with dogs, or rape African children. I also blame black Tanzanians for worshipping wazungu! Like I said on Michuzi Blog, come to the USA and you will see poor white folks even begging in the streets. They aren't all rich and commit crimes too. Wazungu are humans not mini Gods.

It will be interesting to see what Canada does about it's spitting diplomat.

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Canadian diplomat arrested in Tanzania

High commission staffer allegedly spat at police officer and TV journalist

Last Updated: Friday, December 11, 2009

Tanzanian police arrested a Canadian diplomat Wednesday on accusations he spat at a police officer and a TV journalist.

Jean Touchette, first secretary at the Canadian High Commission in the African country, was arrested by police in Dar es Salaam, the country's largest city and commercial capital, after he allegedly spat at a senior police officer during an argument over a traffic jam on the outskirts of the city, according to Tanzanian newspaper the Daily News.

Touchette is also alleged to have spat in the face of Jerry Muro, a TV journalist with the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation, when Muro went to the police station to interview and film the diplomat.

"And I asked him why was he doing it to me," Muro told CBC News. "And he said, 'I'm doing it because you are taking my pictures … and it's my privacy.' "

Muro said the diplomat insulted him, calling him "stupid" and "an idiot."

Touchette has diplomatic immunity and was not charged.

However, Touchette's case has been handed over to the country's director of criminal investigation for further action, the Daily News reported.

The Tanzanian government is reportedly considering whether to expel Touchette.

Robert Orr, Canada's high commissioner in Dar es Salaam, said members of his staff are investigating the case.

"I think we want to make sure we have all the facts before we reach conclusions about what exactly occurred and the full nature of the incident," Orr said.

"I think it's important to ensure that people understand that Canada holds its public servants and its diplomats to a very high standard of behaviour."

Foreign Affairs spokesperson Dana Cryderman said the department is aware of the situation and is gathering further information

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From a Tanzanian newspaper:

Katibu muhtasi wa ubalozi wa Canada mbaroni kwa kumtemea mate trafiki

Polisi jijini Dar wamemtia mbaroni Katibu Muhtasi wa Ubalozi wa Canada, Jean Touchatte(48) kwa tuhuma za kuwatemea mate askari wa Usalama barabarani na Mwandishi wa Habari wa Shirika la Utangazaji Tanzania (TBC)

Touchatte anatuhumiwa kumshambulia askari wa usalama barabarani aliyekuwa akiongoza magari katika eneo la Banana wilaya ya Ilala.

Kaimu kamanda wa kanda hiyo, Charles Kenyela, amesema, mtumishi huyo wa ubalozi anadaiwa kufanya makosa hayo Desemba 9 saa 8.45 mchana wakati askari huyo namba E 1653, Koplo Samson akiwa kazini maeneo hayo.

Kwa mujibu wa Kenyela, wakati akiendelea kuyaruhusu magari yanayotokea Ukonga kwenda Uwanja wa Ndege wa Kimataifa wa Julius Nyerere, Touchatte alifika eneo hilo akiwa anaendesha gari lenye namba za usajili T 17 CD 178 Toyota Land Cruiser Prado mali ya Ubalozi wa Canada.

Amesema, mtuhumiwa huyo alikuwa anatoka Ukonga kwenda uwanja wa ndege, ghafla alipunguza mwendo, akafungua kioo cha gari lake na kumtemea mate askari huyo.

Kenyela amedai kuwa,kitendo hicho kiliwashangaza wengi walioshuhudia,na kwamba sababu ya kufanya hivyo haikufahamika, hivyo polisi wa doria walipewa taarifa ili kulifuatilia gari hilo.

“Askari wetu walianza kufuatilia kwa nyuma gari hilo na walipofika barabara ya Nyerere karibu na Kamata gari hilo lilikamatwa na kupelekwa moja kwa moja hadi makao makuu ya polisi Trafic Kanda Maalum ya Dar es Salaam na kuwekwa chini ya ulinzi” amesema.

Kwa mujibu wa Kenyela, wakati mtuhumiwa anaendelea kuhojiwa,waandishi wa habari akiwemo Jerry Muro(29) wa TBC walifika kituoni hapo, wakitaka kufahamu nini kilichotokea ndipo mtuhumiwa huyo akamtemea mate sehemu ya chini ya kidevu chake na kusambaa katika flana aliyokuwa amevaa.

Muro alifungua jalada la shambulio CD/IR/4818/2009, na kwa mujibu wa Kenyela, mtuhumiw alipohojiwa hakuwa tayari kujibu wala kutoa maelezo yake kwa madai kwamba mpaka balozi wake awepo.

Vielelezo vya tukio hilo vimehifadhiwa polisi Kati na kwamba maelezo mengine zaidi juuu ya tukio hilo yatatolewa na Inspekta Jenerali wa Polisi.

Tanzania's Radar Scandal

The money eaten in this scandal could have used to improve Tanzania's School, Hospitals and Water Supply! SAD!

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BAE: The Tanzanian connection
Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Europe's biggest defence company, manufactures the Typhoon fighter By Andrew Hosken The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) says it will begin what promises to be the biggest corporate corruption prosecution in British legal history.

It is asking the Attorney General for the go-ahead to prosecute BAE for bribery under the 2001 Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act.

One of the four countries involved in the alleged corrupt deals is Tanzania. Though far from the largest deal, it looks certain to cause the biggest heartache in Downing Street.

In 2001, Tanzania, one of the world's poorest countries, decided to purchase a military air traffic control system from BAE.

Clare Short, then secretary of state for international development, says she was horrified by the move and was convinced it was a corrupt deal. "I was really shocked by the behaviour of British Aerospace and the collusion of all these government departments in such a gross and disgraceful project," she told me.

"Even when I got all the information and took it to the highest levels of the government, I still couldn't stop it."
'Grubby'Ms Short says that a number of factors convinced her that this was a corrupt deal. She says that the deal had been proposed 10 years earlier but had been blocked by intervention by the World Bank and the UK's Overseas Development Administration, the precursor to the Department for International Development.

"Then it came back as half a project. The thing was so grubby from beginning to end and, of course, it was so old that the technology was overtaken. Tanzania didn't have military aircraft. It needed civil air traffic control improvement in order to improve its tourist industry."
But Clare Short was far from alone in expressing deep concern about the BAE-Tanzania deal. In October 2001, a report by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, a part of the United Nations, said:

"The system as contracted is primarily a military system and can provide limited support to civil air traffic control purposes. The purchase of additional equipment… would be required to render it useful for civil air traffic control.

However, if it is to be used primarily for civil air traffic control purposes, the proposed system is not adequate and too expensive."
Clare Short says tha Tanzanian deal was "a disgraceful project" At the same time in 2001, Clare Short had agreed a £35m aid package for Tanzania to help provide more children with education but saw virtually the whole sum being effectively gobbled up in the air traffic control system deal.

She opposed the deal in cabinet, a row which soon became public, but claims that in December 2001 one person above all insisted the necessary export licence be given: Tony Blair. "Tony was absolutely dedicated to all arms sales proposals," she says.

"Whenever British Aerospace wanted anything, he supported them 100%. He didn't seem to understand that there are matters of principle concerned. He had also been duped and bought the argument that it's always good for the British economy, which is absolutely not so."
In 2006 Tony Blair made one of the most controversial decisions of his premiership, helping to force the closure of an inquiry by the Serious Fraud Office into allegations that British Aerospace had paid bribes to win a lucrative arms contract with Saudi Arabia.

"I stick by that," he said six months later, "and the idea frankly that such an investigation could be conducted without doing damage to our relationship is cloud cuckoo land."

Cow on a Motorcycle

Cow riding motorcyles! Now I've seen everything. This photo was taken in Tanzania, East Africa.

Balancing Act

This lady is balancing a heavy load of bananas and talking on a cellphone at the same time. What a balancing act! The photo was taken my by good friend Michuzi in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania today.

Elephant Meat Barbecue

Mr. John Mnamba was visiting a village in Tanzania where he stumbled upon some elephant meat being smoked. Some tourists shot the elephant and donated the meat to the local villagers.
Mr. Mnamba took the photos with his cell phone.

Tanzanian Groom

photo from Michuzi Blog

Why spend money on an expensive limosine ride when you can get their more cheaply via Tricycle. This Tanzanian groom (with Arab headdress) decided he'd rather spend his money on his wife than on fancy frills.

Tecnology in Africa

Yes, nowadays even mud houses in Africa have the internet and television! This photo was taken recently in Lushoto District, Tanzania. Photo by John Kusaga.

Zanzibar International Film Festival 2008

ZIFF ALIVE!

Zanzibar Catches Festival FeverFestival Centre Buzzes with Top Talent and the Best local and International Films of 2008 Zanzibar, July 11-20, 2008:

The Eleventh edition of the Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF) is in full swing, with both industry delegates and cinema lovers riding a wave of excitement following the coming ten days’ activities, and looking forward to another 8 days of local and international discussion panels, workshops, Ten days of screenings of the best local and international cinema and evenings of musical concerts including a Gala each evening.

The festival is an all-arts affair, with all its programs culminated of realising the capacity of film to fuse together the best of each art-form, offering a wide range of Entertainment, Educating, Shopping, and Networking options for world audiences.

The festival centre is located in the beautiful stone town area in Zanzibar. The main location of the festival is an atmospheric Amphitheatre located inside an Old Fort. Other venues are Mambo Club, House of Wonders, Old Customs House, Palace Museum, Aecrotanal, Chake Chake and Wete Cinema in Pemba.

Each festival evening begins with the Festival of Festivals, welcomes festivals, TV stations and different programmers to showcase their works and discuss them with audiences. Cocktails in the sunset splendour of the House of Wonders. It leads on to the presentation of the main films of the day at the Amphitheatre in the Old Fort.

Screening 50 films from an impressive collection of studio and independent features that enthral and top notch documentaries that captivate and inform audiences. This year festival has created space for four of the newest offerings to world cinema- 4 World Premieres. showcasing African Premieres, including the most talked about films coming out of Africa recently Namibia: The Struggle for Liberation (2007) and Ezra (2006) the winner of the Etalon Yenenga at FESPACO 2007.

The FESPACO 2007 package, composed of all winning films at that Premier Film festival of Africa also presented.

The11th ZIFF is the Festival as you’ve never seen it before! ZIFF ALIVE!

Check us out@ http://www.ziff.or.tz/Let your friends, neighbors know that YOU WANT TO ATTEND THE 11th Ziff Festival from 11th to 20th July 2008!

Experience the festival difference!

African Ambulance

This photo was taken recently in Mtwara, Tanzania by John Mnamba. An ill person is being carried to a local hospital. The person is obviously poor and cannot afford a ride in a taxi. Plus ambulance service as we know it in the USA is not available.

Photo from Mzee wa Sumo blog

In Tanzania, most children don't have the luxury of playing in fancy playgrounds, or with nice toys from Toys R Us. They play with empty bottles, lids, things you might consider trash. Here some Tanzanian children turn a cocunut tree trunk into a jungle jim. It looks its on the edge of a cemetary.

A very interesting history of Tanzanians slave

Exodus of the Zigula (“Somali Bantu”) Max Dashu, Suppressed Histories Archives

Many scholars think that the ancestral Bantu cultures were matrilineal. Even today some cultures retain mother-right traditions, in the “matrilineal Bantu belt" of south-central Africa. (The term Bantu means, loosely "the people," like so many aboriginal names, putting a humanizing prefix before the being-radical Ntu; it long predates the racist usage of the apartheid government in South Africa.)

A little-known historical pocket from this cultural line was forcibly transported into northeastern Africa. Omani slave-traders based in the Sultanate of Zanzibar carried off people from Tanzania, Mozambique, and Malawi, and shipped many of them for sale in the slave markets of Somalia. Tens of thousands of these southern Africans ended up laboring on plantations in south Somalia.

The major groups are the Zigula (or Zigua) and Shanbara. Zigula oral history says they escaped slavery as a group and thus preserved their language. They scorn the Shanbara who no longer speak a Bantu language, only accented Somali.

This group claims descent from “five original brothers who belonged to east African groups such as the Yao, Makua, Nyasa, Nyamwesi and others.” [Declich: online] They became farmers of the Juba and Shebeli rivers in Somalia: Shabelle, Shidle, Makanne, Eyle, Elay Baydabo.

The great hero of Zigula oral history is Wanankhucha, a mganga diviner and prophetess. She organized the escape of large numbers of Zigula people from slavery and led them to freedom in the mid-1800s. They say that her visions and power as a diviner enabled her to guide her fleeing people out of danger. She is also credited with building unity of the emancipated people by “organising repeated performances of traditional Zigula songs.”

Their goal was to return to Tanzania, but Wanankhucha's group of refugees faced great dangers in their migration, including the possibility of being reenslaved on their way through Kenya. So they settled in the lower Juba valley in southern Somalia, after Wanankhucha decided that an earthquake there was a sign.

The so-called Bantu Somali were conquered by the Oromo and later by Somali pastoralists. Some Zigula farmers adopted pastoral people who intruded on their country, after a period of clashes. There were also foragers called Bon, and various low-caste groups, either despised professions or descendants of slaves. The slaves often lost their original family names, and were left with slaveholder’s names. The pattern was pastoralists styled as nobles, and farmers as slaves or ex-slaves, so that all farmers came to be considered “freed slaves.”

All the non-elite groups got lumped together as Bantu. Italian colonialists reinforced this categorization and deepened it by forced labor conscription to their plantations, such as the Bertello farming contract. They refused to accept ethnic distinctions, outside of “pure Somalis.” “You are all Mushunguli Mayasid (Bantu).” (from a word meaning Zigula person) The Italians enlisted Somali pastoralists to round up people from farming groups to perform forced labor.

Colonization was heaped upon colonization, because the Italians also used gender divisions to defuse “Bantu” men’s resistance to their own exploitation as members of oppressed ethnic groups. “Men to be conscripted into forced labor were given the right to choose any woman they wanted as a wife, without her consent or that of her relatives.”

These men were freed from the obligation to pay bridewealth for the non-consensual wives, and fathers were threatened with conscription, for themselves or their sons, unless they surrendered their daughters. This strategy seems to have been effective, since, as people from the Juba region told Francesca Declich, “without the company of a woman most young men would have run away from conscription.

Photo from Michuzi Blog

This is a common scene in Tanzania... a python crossing the road! Yes, I have seen several in the neighborhood that used to live in on the University of Dar es Salaam campus. One would come out of the bush eat a chicken then go back in the bush! Urg!

This rock formation can be seen from the city of Mwanza in Tanzania. It is in Lake Victoria, which is Africa's largest lake.

Photo from MichuziJr. Blog

Above is a photo of tourists admiring a baboon eating popcorn in Ngorongoro National park in Tanzania, East Africa.

The tourists look amazed but for us who grew up in Tanzania seeing monkeys was a normal thing. In fact they moved in packs and were a nusiance. A few times my kitchen was invaded by monkeys looking for food.

Well, I used to head down the road everyday to catch a bus to work. There was a pack of monkey baboons that used to hang out in trees and make a lot of noise. Their leader was a huge baboon with a big blue butt. So my dog Savimbi, used to escort me down the road and would bark at those noisy monkeys to try and scare them away. Most of the time it worked but blue butt would bark back at him from the tree. I guess blue butt finally got annoyed with Savimbi. Savimbi was under the tree barking at blue butt and blue butt jumped down on Savimbi and rode him a bit like a cowboy riding a horse, all the time Savimbi was crying in fear. Well Savimbi never bothered those monkeys again.