Thursday 5 March 2015

To my fellow Tanzanians (anyone can read it)



It has been sometime since I wrote something from the vaults of my mind. I can now say it wasn’t writers block or lack of passion but it was the fact that the more I learnt, the more confused I got and the more questions I had. Sounds weird I know but at some point during what we call “tertiary” education, my mind hit a deadlock that seemed at the time to be the boundaries of my capacity to create or to be honest, I thought I had saturated my mind. For those who know me also know I am not one to talk about certain things mostly politics and such since I had believed my lack of knowledge on the matter made me ill equip to do so. Over time however I have started to notice that it isn’t I am ill equip but I look at things differently (consistent discussion with my peers has shed light on this). As such a small crack formed in the wall in my head and not until today and this moment has an idea been able to flow through.
I warn those who are faint of heart or a bit touchy to either not read this or get their tissues ready and if you don’t like what I say then by all means discuss it with me like a learned adult and not some drunk belligerent monkey.

I commend my fellow TANZANIANS (kwa uzalendo wenu, upendo na ubinaadamu) for the huge and I mean HUGE movement in regards to Albinism initiative that has been take. I am not in any way trying to diminish those efforts and leaps made but sadly I also see how it is being used as the shiny object to distract us. How our gaze is being made to look in one direction so we are “blinded” from seeing things as a whole.

Ask yourself, why is it that the cases of these killings rise during election time? Why is it the campaigns, talks and all these things being done by our government when they will soon be asking for your votes? They play with our emotions and our minds so that we may pick them. They distract us from all the failings, lies, thievery, killings and deaths (due to lack of basic facilities). I ask as well as this campaign is being spear headed, has anyone bothered to notice a few articles pop up here and there saying that the president has gone back on his word and that Maasai land has been sold and they are being moved? Substantiated or not, why isn’t it being discussed and talked about? Newspapers put full page articles about so called “celebrities” and something important, gets put in some obscure section with a few words and it ends there.

WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? 

I heard once on the news how a man who stole a chicken so as he could eat and live was imprisoned for life and yet someone in our government shot and killed an unarmed dala dala (bus) driver and nothing happen to him. We were covered with news of the miracle cure in Loliondo it was plastered everywhere I then ask you this, what else was going on in the country. Can anyone remember anything about Tanzania (within or outside the country) during that time? All our focus was on that as other things were happening just in our peripheral.
It is easy to feel empathy for another human being that has been hurt (especially in gruesome ways) and been discriminated against. When a survivor of such atrocities speaks to others it touches our souls. We imagine if that was our kin, our child, sibling or parent and it is these same emotions that is used against us. We are also swayed by our media, musicians, poets, writers, socialites and so on and one can only ask that they do not fall under the spell as well but try not to be blinded.

One small good thing can be taken and used against us to hide the darker things. At times it is difficult to separate our emotions from our decision, but if we only follow these feelings then our mind dwindles and we can no longer objectively look at something. And this is what we need to do. As an individual and as a people. To think more, to question more and oppossed to feeling awe from the "rabbit out of the hat" we need to start looking where we are being distracted from.

Jah Bless


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