Geza Ulole
JF-Expert Member
- Oct 31, 2009
- 59,552
- 80,372
I am increasingly feel uneasy with plenty of sentiments towards minority groups, the culture our country is fast embracing nowadays through our media that is specifically left unguided and has all the freedom to decide on who to victimize even if is to instigate hate! to be specific here i talk on a Chagga tribe that is mainly the recipient of the now used attacks, Here is a reply of a well distinguished columinist Karl Lyimo to an individual who for some reasons has chosen to execute his constitutional rights on pen to define Chagga people under triblets! Apart from this article from Mwananchi, the likes of Rai and his sister tabloids i.e. Mtanzania, The African under the New Habari Corporation and the significant number of private media houses are practicing a nearly hatred journalism! Is Tanzania going the anti-semitism way Europe had early on 1900 to the mid 1950s that led to massive repatriation of Jews to the Middle east that was culminated with genocide at its peak that the history wont forget? Should we not open our eyes to see there is more than the normal jokes our over 120 tribes tof Tanzania hat lived in harmony for nearly 50 years are accustomed for? Why the media has specifically chosen a one dimension approach knowing there are over 120 tribes in Tanzania and Chagga is even not in the top 3 in numberwise? why balkanizing the country now? suprizingly this is tribe that is party of Tanzania society and has never been party and parcel of any decisions that affects the wellbeing of a common Tanzania, i.e. politically! who doesnt know that these buddies are either in private sector or specialists on various fields that are far away from daily governing that is our misery? why don't we see articles on other tribes lets say Ziguas, Sukumas or Waha on the same magnitude on those papers? What benefits do we get from a columinist using his time to describe certain people, a minority group! for whose benefits are we serving we the people of Wadanganyika land by vindicating a certain minority group that is Tanzanian? why branding those individuals to be nephotic while we practice the same on implicating them and we know that it is impossible under the sun to have institution like parties without roots from a certain place and the institutions guiding the institutions are fairly to any Tanzanian individual whether politically or economically institutions! Please fellow Wadanganyikas be adviced to weigh out this nephotism syndrome that is catching up on our social wellbeing before we get burned to ashes
Good week people
Of Chagga tribes and triblets, the myths and the legends…
By Karl Lyimo
Last week, the Chagga tribal fraternity – known to amateur anthroposophysts as the ‘Jews of Tanzania' – were nailed to the rafters by an unnamed columnist in a weekend Kiswahili publication. (Page 5 of the ‘Johari' Section, ‘Mwananchi:' May 16, 2010).
The pen-pusher painted in fairly lurid terms some segments ('triblets') of 'wa-Chagga,' a people whom – compliments of Mother Nature and Father Time – has geodesic links with the world's highest stand-alone mountain, the Kilimanjaro.
For instance, the writer claimed that the wa-Machame (for some reason known as ‘Palestinians' in certain quarters) are obsessed with refrigerators (Kabati-ya-Mbeho). However, he forgot to mention that, if they can help it, their womenfolk won't marry a man who doesn't own a fridge... And a pick-up truck for dealing with the exigencies of zero-grazing!
The writer also complimented the wa-Uru as God-fearing bookworms who attach undue importance to book-learning and church bells. When the latter ring – even if only to 'tell' the time of day – Uru folk ('Men and Women of Kishumundu') will instantly drop whatever they're doing, offer a silent prayer and cross themselves in genuine or feigned supplication to their personal deity!
Then he went completely off the beam, painting the wa-Kiwoso (often referred to in awe by their enemies, real and imagined, as ‘Russians') in blasphemous colours. He described them as former pickpockets who elevated themselves to incorrigible ‘specialised bandits!' The writer couldn't have been ‘wronger' on these God-fearing fellows...
‘Kaiboshos' are infamous for insisting in a sharply practical way upon timely repayment of moneys borrowed from them. This is on pain of having a knife melodramatically stuck in one's buttock on first default… A sort of First Reminder within High Street banking circles!
There're rarely Third Time Defaults on repayment, as a Second Default will almost certainly attract the rather irreversible and final penalty of having the knife plunged in somewhere around the solar plexus. Death from this is slow and agonizing.... And, more often than not, this has proved a formidable deterrent against loan defaulting the way the 'Kaibosho Russians' know it!
On the other hand, the 'Mwananchi' writer was slavishly generous when describing Old Moshians. These are the medians between the True Chaggas – the wa-Vunjo, who're spread from Kirua to Mwika – and the ‘Others' to the Far East (wa-Rombo), the West (a motley of 'triblets' including the wa-Machame, wa-Old Moshi, wa-Uru, wa-Kibong'oto, etc).
And then you have the wa-Pare to the South-East. These were perforce assimilated into Kilimanjaro by a sentimental stroke of the presidential pen during the Mwalimu Nyerere Regime (1961-85).
Someone powerful in Government – whose identity shall remain under wraps here – felt that the Pare Tribe would fare better in Kilimanjaro rather than in Tanga Region – and so be it! But that's a story for another day...
According to 'Mwananchi,' Old Moshians are hard-working artisans/technicians in such areas as motor mechanics, masonry, carpentry etc. But they are by far not the most morphologically attractive or photogenic... Nor are they as a community drunk all the time on 'gongo/chang'aa/moshi/machozi-ya-simba/Cristapen/bush gin...' Or whacking away, fornicatingly-speaking!
But, no matter...
For some unstated reason, the writer omitted one of the most powerful triblets in the Chagga spectrum today: the wa-Rombo. Up to the 1950s, Rombians were mere hobos, the minions of Kilimanjaro, working as farmhands and domestic servants for the other triblets. Then they struck out hard and fast – much like the Vietnamese, the Singaporeans, etc – and are today perhaps the richest folk in Kilimanjaro. Why were they omitted from the treatise? Cheers!
Of Chagga tribes and triblets, the myths and the legends…
digg
By Karl Lyimo
Last week, the Chagga tribal fraternity – known to amateur anthroposophysts as the ‘Jews of Tanzania' – were nailed to the rafters by an unnamed columnist in a weekend Kiswahili publication. (Page 5 of the ‘Johari' Section, ‘Mwananchi:' May 16, 2010).
The pen-pusher painted in fairly lurid terms some segments ('triblets') of 'wa-Chagga,' a people whom – compliments of Mother Nature and Father Time – has geodesic links with the world's highest stand-alone mountain, the Kilimanjaro.
For instance, the writer claimed that the wa-Machame (for some reason known as ‘Palestinians' in certain quarters) are obsessed with refrigerators (Kabati-ya-Mbeho). However, he forgot to mention that, if they can help it, their womenfolk won't marry a man who doesn't own a fridge... And a pick-up truck for dealing with the exigencies of zero-grazing!
The writer also complimented the wa-Uru as God-fearing bookworms who attach undue importance to book-learning and church bells. When the latter ring – even if only to 'tell' the time of day – Uru folk ('Men and Women of Kishumundu') will instantly drop whatever they're doing, offer a silent prayer and cross themselves in genuine or feigned supplication to their personal deity!
Then he went completely off the beam, painting the wa-Kiwoso (often referred to in awe by their enemies, real and imagined, as ‘Russians') in blasphemous colours. He described them as former pickpockets who elevated themselves to incorrigible ‘specialised bandits!' The writer couldn't have been ‘wronger' on these God-fearing fellows...
‘Kaiboshos' are infamous for insisting in a sharply practical way upon timely repayment of moneys borrowed from them. This is on pain of having a knife melodramatically stuck in one's buttock on first default… A sort of First Reminder within High Street banking circles!
There're rarely Third Time Defaults on repayment, as a Second Default will almost certainly attract the rather irreversible and final penalty of having the knife plunged in somewhere around the solar plexus. Death from this is slow and agonizing.... And, more often than not, this has proved a formidable deterrent against loan defaulting the way the 'Kaibosho Russians' know it!
On the other hand, the 'Mwananchi' writer was slavishly generous when describing Old Moshians. These are the medians between the True Chaggas – the wa-Vunjo, who're spread from Kirua to Mwika – and the ‘Others' to the Far East (wa-Rombo), the West (a motley of 'triblets' including the wa-Machame, wa-Old Moshi, wa-Uru, wa-Kibong'oto, etc).
And then you have the wa-Pare to the South-East. These were perforce assimilated into Kilimanjaro by a sentimental stroke of the presidential pen during the Mwalimu Nyerere Regime (1961-85).
Someone powerful in Government – whose identity shall remain under wraps here – felt that the Pare Tribe would fare better in Kilimanjaro rather than in Tanga Region – and so be it! But that's a story for another day...
According to 'Mwananchi,' Old Moshians are hard-working artisans/technicians in such areas as motor mechanics, masonry, carpentry etc. But they are by far not the most morphologically attractive or photogenic... Nor are they as a community drunk all the time on 'gongo/chang'aa/moshi/machozi-ya-simba/Cristapen/bush gin...' Or whacking away, fornicatingly-speaking!
But, no matter...
For some unstated reason, the writer omitted one of the most powerful triblets in the Chagga spectrum today: the wa-Rombo. Up to the 1950s, Rombians were mere hobos, the minions of Kilimanjaro, working as farmhands and domestic servants for the other triblets. Then they struck out hard and fast – much like the Vietnamese, the Singaporeans, etc – and are today perhaps the richest folk in Kilimanjaro. Why were they omitted from the treatise? Cheers!
Of Chagga tribes and triblets, the myths and the legends
Good week people
Of Chagga tribes and triblets, the myths and the legends…
By Karl Lyimo
Last week, the Chagga tribal fraternity – known to amateur anthroposophysts as the ‘Jews of Tanzania' – were nailed to the rafters by an unnamed columnist in a weekend Kiswahili publication. (Page 5 of the ‘Johari' Section, ‘Mwananchi:' May 16, 2010).
The pen-pusher painted in fairly lurid terms some segments ('triblets') of 'wa-Chagga,' a people whom – compliments of Mother Nature and Father Time – has geodesic links with the world's highest stand-alone mountain, the Kilimanjaro.
For instance, the writer claimed that the wa-Machame (for some reason known as ‘Palestinians' in certain quarters) are obsessed with refrigerators (Kabati-ya-Mbeho). However, he forgot to mention that, if they can help it, their womenfolk won't marry a man who doesn't own a fridge... And a pick-up truck for dealing with the exigencies of zero-grazing!
The writer also complimented the wa-Uru as God-fearing bookworms who attach undue importance to book-learning and church bells. When the latter ring – even if only to 'tell' the time of day – Uru folk ('Men and Women of Kishumundu') will instantly drop whatever they're doing, offer a silent prayer and cross themselves in genuine or feigned supplication to their personal deity!
Then he went completely off the beam, painting the wa-Kiwoso (often referred to in awe by their enemies, real and imagined, as ‘Russians') in blasphemous colours. He described them as former pickpockets who elevated themselves to incorrigible ‘specialised bandits!' The writer couldn't have been ‘wronger' on these God-fearing fellows...
‘Kaiboshos' are infamous for insisting in a sharply practical way upon timely repayment of moneys borrowed from them. This is on pain of having a knife melodramatically stuck in one's buttock on first default… A sort of First Reminder within High Street banking circles!
There're rarely Third Time Defaults on repayment, as a Second Default will almost certainly attract the rather irreversible and final penalty of having the knife plunged in somewhere around the solar plexus. Death from this is slow and agonizing.... And, more often than not, this has proved a formidable deterrent against loan defaulting the way the 'Kaibosho Russians' know it!
On the other hand, the 'Mwananchi' writer was slavishly generous when describing Old Moshians. These are the medians between the True Chaggas – the wa-Vunjo, who're spread from Kirua to Mwika – and the ‘Others' to the Far East (wa-Rombo), the West (a motley of 'triblets' including the wa-Machame, wa-Old Moshi, wa-Uru, wa-Kibong'oto, etc).
And then you have the wa-Pare to the South-East. These were perforce assimilated into Kilimanjaro by a sentimental stroke of the presidential pen during the Mwalimu Nyerere Regime (1961-85).
Someone powerful in Government – whose identity shall remain under wraps here – felt that the Pare Tribe would fare better in Kilimanjaro rather than in Tanga Region – and so be it! But that's a story for another day...
According to 'Mwananchi,' Old Moshians are hard-working artisans/technicians in such areas as motor mechanics, masonry, carpentry etc. But they are by far not the most morphologically attractive or photogenic... Nor are they as a community drunk all the time on 'gongo/chang'aa/moshi/machozi-ya-simba/Cristapen/bush gin...' Or whacking away, fornicatingly-speaking!
But, no matter...
For some unstated reason, the writer omitted one of the most powerful triblets in the Chagga spectrum today: the wa-Rombo. Up to the 1950s, Rombians were mere hobos, the minions of Kilimanjaro, working as farmhands and domestic servants for the other triblets. Then they struck out hard and fast – much like the Vietnamese, the Singaporeans, etc – and are today perhaps the richest folk in Kilimanjaro. Why were they omitted from the treatise? Cheers!
Of Chagga tribes and triblets, the myths and the legends…
digg
By Karl Lyimo
Last week, the Chagga tribal fraternity – known to amateur anthroposophysts as the ‘Jews of Tanzania' – were nailed to the rafters by an unnamed columnist in a weekend Kiswahili publication. (Page 5 of the ‘Johari' Section, ‘Mwananchi:' May 16, 2010).
The pen-pusher painted in fairly lurid terms some segments ('triblets') of 'wa-Chagga,' a people whom – compliments of Mother Nature and Father Time – has geodesic links with the world's highest stand-alone mountain, the Kilimanjaro.
For instance, the writer claimed that the wa-Machame (for some reason known as ‘Palestinians' in certain quarters) are obsessed with refrigerators (Kabati-ya-Mbeho). However, he forgot to mention that, if they can help it, their womenfolk won't marry a man who doesn't own a fridge... And a pick-up truck for dealing with the exigencies of zero-grazing!
The writer also complimented the wa-Uru as God-fearing bookworms who attach undue importance to book-learning and church bells. When the latter ring – even if only to 'tell' the time of day – Uru folk ('Men and Women of Kishumundu') will instantly drop whatever they're doing, offer a silent prayer and cross themselves in genuine or feigned supplication to their personal deity!
Then he went completely off the beam, painting the wa-Kiwoso (often referred to in awe by their enemies, real and imagined, as ‘Russians') in blasphemous colours. He described them as former pickpockets who elevated themselves to incorrigible ‘specialised bandits!' The writer couldn't have been ‘wronger' on these God-fearing fellows...
‘Kaiboshos' are infamous for insisting in a sharply practical way upon timely repayment of moneys borrowed from them. This is on pain of having a knife melodramatically stuck in one's buttock on first default… A sort of First Reminder within High Street banking circles!
There're rarely Third Time Defaults on repayment, as a Second Default will almost certainly attract the rather irreversible and final penalty of having the knife plunged in somewhere around the solar plexus. Death from this is slow and agonizing.... And, more often than not, this has proved a formidable deterrent against loan defaulting the way the 'Kaibosho Russians' know it!
On the other hand, the 'Mwananchi' writer was slavishly generous when describing Old Moshians. These are the medians between the True Chaggas – the wa-Vunjo, who're spread from Kirua to Mwika – and the ‘Others' to the Far East (wa-Rombo), the West (a motley of 'triblets' including the wa-Machame, wa-Old Moshi, wa-Uru, wa-Kibong'oto, etc).
And then you have the wa-Pare to the South-East. These were perforce assimilated into Kilimanjaro by a sentimental stroke of the presidential pen during the Mwalimu Nyerere Regime (1961-85).
Someone powerful in Government – whose identity shall remain under wraps here – felt that the Pare Tribe would fare better in Kilimanjaro rather than in Tanga Region – and so be it! But that's a story for another day...
According to 'Mwananchi,' Old Moshians are hard-working artisans/technicians in such areas as motor mechanics, masonry, carpentry etc. But they are by far not the most morphologically attractive or photogenic... Nor are they as a community drunk all the time on 'gongo/chang'aa/moshi/machozi-ya-simba/Cristapen/bush gin...' Or whacking away, fornicatingly-speaking!
But, no matter...
For some unstated reason, the writer omitted one of the most powerful triblets in the Chagga spectrum today: the wa-Rombo. Up to the 1950s, Rombians were mere hobos, the minions of Kilimanjaro, working as farmhands and domestic servants for the other triblets. Then they struck out hard and fast – much like the Vietnamese, the Singaporeans, etc – and are today perhaps the richest folk in Kilimanjaro. Why were they omitted from the treatise? Cheers!
Of Chagga tribes and triblets, the myths and the legends
