Tanzania: In Search of the Talented Tenth - Kuwatafuta Moja ya Kumi Wenye Talanta

[Companero]

Kama Mmasai sio modern creature basi asingetumia modern things kama simu, mikanda na vifaa mbali mbali kama matairi ya magari alivyovitohoa vikatengeneza katambuga. Ndio maana nasema Mmasai is the most complete traditional-cum-modern Tanzania. Wengi wetu tunaiga tu bila ku-contextualize alafu tunajiona ndio tumeendelea. Kasumba si maendeleo!

Siku Tanzania itakopomuelewa na kujifunza kutoka kwa Mmasai huyu tunayemsakama daima ndipo hakika itaendelea:

The formulation and implementation of the Tanzanian Livestock Development Policy illustrates how various developmentalist notions of culture coalesced to enforce cultural paternalism. It is reported that prior to the promulgation of this policy Nyerere claimed that Tanzanians could not continue with unscientific ‘nomadic’ cattle rearing methods in his 1981’s call for “a national policy on the improvement of ranches and dairy farms” (Mustafa 1990: 102). The policy, which was premised on the modern theory of development known as modernization theory, was formally promulgated in 1983 and it sought to transform the ‘traditional’ pastoralists such as the Maasai from living what was perceived as a simple subsistence life void of surplus into a ‘modern’ life premised on capitalist accumulation.

It should be noted that this policy was preceded by the 1962 nationalisation of land policy in Tanzania – which expropriated grazing land - and the above cited 1967 national policy on socialist rural development that sought to modernize Tanzania by moving people to cooperative villages which were meant to be provided with modern social and economic services. This move to control livestock development, which was in line with the interest of modern capitalist accumulation and World Bank export-led development strategy, overlooked the Maasai’s elaborate pattern of transhumant land-use and what Mustafa (1990) refers to as the fact that pre-capitalist pastoralists primarily considered cattle as means of production for producing values such as milk, meat and hides. The Tanzanian quasi-socialist state, in its push for state capitalist developmentalism at the expense of Maasai indigenous modes of development, was therefore impoverishing, marginalizing and even dissolving the very people it sought to develop as the following lamentation underscores:

They came to drive us out and take us to a bad place. And as you know, people are being squeezed together to villages. But how can cattle manage village life? Now we want to be saved. I mean, we have already seen how the state ranches and cultivators come and drive us out of a place if they find us there. Now where will we end up? They are continually driving us into the bad places. Perhaps it is the intention of the Government to finish off all these cattle of the Parakuyo? Look at how on the state ranches the numbers of cattle are not being reduced but instead are being increased in order to fully stock the ranches…Just look now at the children who don’t have any milk because of these people who are driving us into the bush. Does this benefit anyone? Do you think we like this kind of thing? We are very angry. Look at how thin I am. It is because I no longer get milk like I used to. Look at those steers of mine which used to be fat. They have been bitten by tsetse flies until they have become really thin. These are our problems. Tell the Government to look at the state we are in and tell them not to come again and force us to live in a place which is no good for cattle… If someone is living in an area which is good for cattle, then he should be left to stay there without being bothered again” (Parakuyo Maasai quoted in Mustafa 1990: 108-109)

No matter how good the state’s intentions were, the above descriptions affirms Schneider’s (1979) assertion that the East African governments, in viewing pastoralism as essentially irrelevant to development, did not understand the economic of the pastoralists and even if they understood it, they did not know how to effect changes in the pastoral economies in a way that will bring them in line with ‘national development’. This was due to the misinterpretations of cultural constraints on development and as a result most of the development projects ended up as the one Dorothy L. Hodgson (2001) has rightly dubbed ‘Devastating Development. ’ This was the last of post-colonial mega development project in Maasailand. According to Hodgson (2001), it was a series of projects over a ten-year period (1969-1979) that was funded by USAID even though Tanzania also paid the US dearly for the project. It was known as the Masai Livestock Development and Range Management Project. It failed in part because many of the thirty eight important assumptions on which the project objectives were based assumed willingness on the part of the Maasai to voluntarily change fundamental aspects of their lives when shown the advantage of alternative modes. For example the USAID “‘experts’ assumed that Maasai raised cattle for beef rather than milk” (Hodgson 2001: 218).

Interestingly, Hodgson correctly concurs with an analysis which locates this patriarchal stereotype within the gendered assumption that milking could not be that important economically to the maintenance of the household since it is the women who are primarily involved in milking. This marginalization of women in development and nation building is a historical outcome of what Susan Geiger (1997) refers to as a typical gendered tendency to ignore women whose actions and culture of politics in fact constructed, performed and maintained nationalism or, as Nsekela (1984) puts it, are the bulwark of our culture. Ironically, these gendered development experts only realized at the end of the project that Maasai’s pastoralist strategies were designed to increase milk, not beef, production. Nevertheless, this knowledge didn’t trickle down to the national discourse on development as the above case of villagized Parakuyo Maasai illustrates.

 

[Companero]

Baada ya kumbishia sana Zakumi kuhusu dhana ya William E. B. Du Bois kuhusu Moja ya Kumi wenye Talanta sasa nimeongoka. Nimeitafakari sana. Nimeijadili sana. Nimeihoji sana. Sasa nakubali kabisa kuwa ili Tanzania iendelee inahitaji asilimia 10 ya watu wake ambao ndio watakuwa injini ya kuiendeleza na sisi wengine (90%) tutafuatia. Tayari sehemu hii ya 10 imeshaanza kazi hiyo ila kinachohitajika ni kuwatambua na kuunganisha nguvu zao kwa pamoja ili zilete haraka mabadiliko makubwa ya kiuchumi, kisiasa kijamii, kiutamaduni, kisayansi na kiteknolojia hapa Tanzania.

Nimeamua kuanza jukumu hilo na naamini Zakumi na wadau wengine mtashirikiana nami. Ikumbukwe kuwa Tanzania ina watu takribani milioni 40, yaani 40,000,000. Hivyo kwa mahesabu ya haraka haraka asilimia 10 ya watu hao ni watu 4,000,000 yaani watu milioni 4.

Postcript to the Post: Je, Tanzania ina 1 ya 10 stahiki inayofikia 4,000,000 au kuna hitaji la kuwafunda wananchi zaidi ili kupata hii 'critical leading mass'?

Clue for the Question: Je, kuna competent Tanzanians wa ku-replace all the leading scientists, economists and politicians in the government/civil service leo?

 

[Companero]

Kwa kuongezea tu nimejaribu kufuatilia vyakula ambavyo ni muhimu katika jamii zetu za sasa za Tanzania na asili yake.

Mahindi asili yake ni south America, yaliletwa na waReno.
Mihogo asili yake ni south America, yaliletwa na waReno.
Mpunga asili yake ni South East Asia
Ndizi asili yake Papua New Guinea
Mtama asili yake East Asia
Viazi mbatata asili yake South America
Viazi vitamu South America

Kwa mtaji wa mazao haya na asili yake, ina maana zaidi ya miaka 600 iliyopita jamii zetu nyingi zilikuwa sio za wakulima. Hivyo inawezekana walitegemea ufugaji, uwindaji, ukusanyaji wa mboga mboga na matunda ya porini. Pamoja na kutokuwepo na mazao ambayo sasa hivi ni vyakula muhimu, jumuia zetu zili-survival.

Kwa mfano kwenye chronicle moja ya waarabu waliotembelea Africa Mashariki (Azania au Zenj). Wanasema wazawa walikuwa walikuwa wanawinda tembo bila kutumia silaha zozote. Walichofanya ni kukoroga majani fulani kwenye madimbwi ya maji. Tembo walipokunywa maji kwenye madimbwi haya walilewa na kuanguka.

Hivyo yanayofanywa na wamasai sio kwamba hayakufanyika na jamii zingine. Yalifanyika. Lakini vinapotekea vitu effiency zaidi au maarifa yatakayotoa ufanisi zaidi basi ni lazima jamii ibadilike ama sivyo jamii zingine zenye kupata mabadiliko zitawameza.

You have a point here. The premise in red is sound. But the conclusion in blue is questionable!

Wenzetu hizo knowledge zao wamezi-preserve, wanazi-respect na wamezi-modernize. They build from what they have. And add - by finding out - from what they don't have!

Sisi zetu hatuziheshimu. Tunadharau dawa za Mmasai kama hizo ulizozitaja hapo juu japo tunazitumia kisirisiri. Huo ni ulimbukeni wa hali ya juu!

Si unawapenda sana mamodeli wako Wachina. Tafakari walichofanya na hiyo Ginseng hapo chini. Alafu jiulize sisi tumefanya nini na Mwarobaini.

Asian ginseng is native to China and Korea and has been used in various systems of medicine for many centuries.

[...]


Treatment claims for Asian ginseng are numerous and include the use of the herb to support overall health and boost the immune system. Traditional and modern uses of ginseng include:

• Improving the health of people recovering from illness
• Increasing a sense of well-being and stamina, and improving both mental and physical performance
• Treating erectile dysfunction, hepatitis C, and symptoms related to menopause
• Lowering blood glucose and controlling blood pressure

[...]

The root of Asian ginseng contains active chemical components called ginsenosides (or panaxosides) that are thought to be responsible for the herb's medicinal properties. The root is dried and used to make tablets or capsules, extracts, and teas, as well as creams or other preparations for external use.

[...]

Some studies have shown that Asian ginseng may lower blood glucose. Other studies indicate possible beneficial effects on immune function.
To date, research results on Asian ginseng are not conclusive enough to prove health claims associated with the herb. Only a handful of large clinical trials on Asian ginseng have been conducted. Most studies have been small or have had flaws in design and reporting. Some claims for health benefits have been based only on studies conducted in animals.
NCCAM supports studies to better understand the use of Asian ginseng. Areas of recent NCCAM-funded research include Asian ginseng's interactions with other herbs and drugs and the herb's potential to treat chronic lung infection, impaired glucose tolerance, and Alzheimer's disease.

 

[Eric Cartman]

JC:

Hii posti ni master piece. Kwa kuongezea tu nimejaribu kufuatilia vyakula ambavyo ni muhimu katika jamii zetu za sasa za Tanzania na asili yake.

Mahindi asili yake ni south America, yaliletwa na waReno.
Mihogo asili yake ni south America, yaliletwa na waReno.
Mpunga asili yake ni South East Asia
Ndizi asili yake Papua New Guinea
Mtama asili yake East Asia
Viazi mbatata asili yake South America
Viazi vitamu South America

Kwa mtaji wa mazao haya na asili yake, ina maana zaidi ya miaka 600 iliyopita jamii zetu nyingi zilikuwa sio za wakulima. Hivyo inawezekana walitegemea ufugaji, uwindaji, ukusanyaji wa mboga mboga na matunda ya porini. Pamoja na kutokuwepo na mazao ambayo sasa hivi ni vyakula muhimu, jumuia zetu zili-survival.

Kwa mfano kwenye chronicle moja ya waarabu waliotembelea Africa Mashariki (Azania au Zenj). Wanasema wazawa walikuwa walikuwa wanawinda tembo bila kutumia silaha zozote. Walichofanya ni kukoroga majani fulani kwenye madimbwi ya maji. Tembo walipokunywa maji kwenye madimbwi haya walilewa na kuanguka.

Hivyo yanayofanywa na wamasai sio kwamba hayakufanyika na jamii zingine. Yalifanyika. Lakini vinapotekea vitu effiency zaidi au maarifa yatakayotoa ufanisi zaidi basi ni lazima jamii ibadilike ama sivyo jamii zingine zenye kupata mabadiliko zitawameza.


Vilevile Northen Europeans walikwenda Ulaya kama normad na mifugo yao. Lakini walipopata sehemu ambazo zilitoa malisho mwaka mzima waliacha u-normad.

Na neno capital asili yake ni cattle. Hivyo mtu aliye na cattle wengi alihesabika kama tajiri.

Vilevile waTusti na Wamasai wanatoka Kaskazini ya Afrika. Lakini katika unormad wao waTusti walifika katika maeneo ya sasa ambayo majani yanapatikana mwaka mzima. Hivyo wameacha unormad. Lakini binamu zao wa karibu bado wanaendeleza.

Zakumi amna lolote la ajabu nililolisema its only easy kueleweshana kama tunakuja na open mind, wengine hata utoe facts gani ni kuishia kugeuza maneno tu kwa msingi ya maoni yao.

Tatizo ni tayari wana namna zao ya jinsi mambo yanavyotakiwa kuwa, hivyo there's no room for other options typical Nyerere's views inabidi iwe hivi na tu achieve kwa namna ya hivi sasa hapo theres no room for negotiations.

Either that au only they've got historical perspective of world events rather than scientific analysis of the events. I mean how can someone suggest an almost band society should model our nation, is he for real? alafu ana ji-contadict na kusema ya kwamba hawa watu wanatumia vitu ambavyo maendeleo ya leo yanaleta so who needs who the most hapo.

Mmasai ni kabila tu na wana namna zao za kuishi ambazo kwa kweli inabidi zibadilike especially kama umesoma post ya bwana mkubwa ya mwisho ubishi wao wa kusaidiwa kumbe serikali ishatoa na hela za kuwafundisha namna ya kutunza mifugo bila ya kuangaika ni wenyewe wamasai wakakataa ni kweli hawa jamaa useless.

Huko right kwenye investigation zako na analysis zako especially the last paragraph, na ushahidi wa kisayansi umejaa tele. Hila kuna jamaa anaitwa 'Robert B Lee' ambae kafanya investigation kubwa ya band society, particularly the 'Ju hoansi'. Hawa watu wanaishi kalahari walikua 'hunters and gatheres' still are but the numbers have declined.

Mwanzoni walipogundulika during the times of 'boar wars' wazungu walidhani kweli kuna waafrica civilization bado aija wafikia, kwani civilization ni settlement na kuona sababu za kutulia.

Hii ikaleta interest kubwa sana kwao kuwasoma kundi la watu hawa. Kwani close prediction ilikuwa before man settled hivyo ndivyo tulivyokua tunaishi that is over 10000-12000yrs.

Lakini the early analysis of the group was based on racist thinking and conclusions; that a white man was better than an african and it was a needed proven fact provided by these group. Huko waliwakuta bado wanatumia visu vya mawe na no evidence of any modern equipment.

This was the thinking that we where slow thinkers. Hii ilikuwa hivi mpaka Jamaa amabae ni hero wangu wa mawazo 'Bronislow Malinowski' alipo maliza studies zake za jamii ya watu huko Papua New Guinea ambayo ilikuwa ni primitive kwa wazungu akarudi na kuwapa somo jipya. Kuwa ya kwamba kwanza inabidi huelewe maisha ya watu kwa namna ya fikra zao wao si kwa fikra zenu nyie, what may seem primitive has meaning to them sasa hapa ndipo ulipoanza usomi wa kuzielewa society kwa kuzisoma maisha yao.

By the time 'Lee' went back kuwasoma hawa watu kuanzia wapo kwenye hali halisi aliowakuta nayo mpaka miaka ya sabini baadhi kuamua kuanza kuse-settle.

Ilitoa interest kubwa sana kwenye jamii ya anthropology, kwani hawakua wao tu kulikuwa na makundi kama saba kwingine duniani nje ya africa na hayajuani ambayo yalikua yanaishi kama hunters and gathers na with almost ninety percent similar life style kwa hivyo hiyo ni evidence ya kwamba life ime-evolve mpaka tulipo. Na with similar patterns, sasa mtu kweli una-suggest turudi hata sielewi mawazo ya watu wengine.

Hivyo wakati mzungu kaja kuchukua watumwa katukuta bado tupo kwenye vita vya vijiji na tunatekana, kwani mipaka yetu pia wameichora wao kwa hiyo pia ni evidence ya kwamba jamma walikua advanced already more on that, research on feudal societies.

Sasa hii ni kusema we have all the relevant evidences of our pasts not just in africa but the world. Why do we need theories, that have proven impractical already yet we have so many succesfull examples already to imitate.

Hii si ku-ape bali ni kuwa realistic what needs to be done has to be done in way that has proven to bring results.

If anything we have tracks to follow which we know will lead us to a better future, also we do not need a certain percent to guide us; what we need is a good governance and respect of the laws something masanja explained too well.

And obviously we need the four economic factors to succeed each being as crucial as the other without limitation and let market guide it self with a watchfull eye of the government from afar, intervene only when needed to. And no to Ujamaa mambo leo wala kesho.

 

[Companero]

Zakumi amna lolote la ajabu nililolisema its only easy kueleweshana kama tunakuja na open mind, wengine hata utoe facts gani ni kuishia kugeuza maneno tu kwa msingi ya maoni yao.

Tatizo ni tayari wana namna zao ya jinsi mambo yanavyotakiwa kuwa, hivyo there's no room for other options typical Nyerere's views inabidi iwe hivi na tu achieve kwa namna ya hivi sasa hapo theres no room for negotiations...

Ilitoa interest kubwa sana kwenye jamii ya anthropology, kwani hawakua wao tu kulikuwa na makundi kama saba kwingine duniani nje ya africa na hayajuani ambayo yalikua yanaishi kama hunters and gathers na with almost ninety percent similar life style kwa hivyo hiyo ni evidence ya kwamba life ime-evolve mpaka tulipo. Na with similar patterns, sasa mtu kweli una-suggest turudi hata sielewi mawazo ya watu wengine...

Sasa hii ni kusema we have all the relevant evidences of our pasts not just in africa but the world. Why do we need theories, that have proven impractical already yet we have so many succesfull examples already to imitate.

Brother don't get ('that') personal. Also don't do the same thing you are accusing of others of doing i.e. contradicting yourself. Read all the underlined words of your above and see the inconsistency therein. Surely a scientific and open-mindedness person cannot close an argument that way, with one-sided evidence.

Panga hoja.'Organize don't agonize' . Pinga hoja kwa hoja. Argue. Convince. Zingatia mazungumzo haya ya Ki-holywood kwenye The Last King of Scotland yatakusaidia katika hizo lobbying na advocacy zako za kutetea kutupa the baby of indigenous knowledge and the bathwater of 'primitive backwardness':

Idi Amin: Yes, you are my advisor. You are the only one I can trust in here. You should have told me not to throw the Asians out, in the first place.
Nicholas Garrigan: I DID!
Idi Amin: But you did not persuade me, Nicholas. You did not persuade me!

Either that au only they've got historical perspective of world events rather than scientific analysis of the events. I mean how can someone suggest an almost band society should model our nation, is he for real? alafu ana ji-contadict na kusema ya kwamba hawa watu wanatumia vitu ambavyo maendeleo ya leo yanaleta so who needs who the most hapo.

Hivyo ndivyo Mwalimu wako na wa Jomo Kenyatta alivyokufundisha, kuwa historical analysis sio scientific analysis? Ila racist Anthropological analysis ndio scientific sio? Do you think we have forgotten the complicity of Malinowski's psuedo-science in furthering colonialism and racism?

Mmasai ni kabila tu na wana namna zao za kuishi ambazo kwa kweli inabidi zibadilike especially kama umesoma post ya bwana mkubwa ya mwisho ubishi wao wa kusaidiwa kumbe serikali ishatoa na hela za kuwafundisha namna ya kutunza mifugo bila ya kuangaika ni wenyewe wamasai wakakataa ni kweli hawa jamaa useless...

This was the thinking that we where slow thinkers. Hii ilikuwa hivi mpaka Jamaa amabae ni hero wangu wa mawazo 'Bronislow Malinowski' alipo maliza studies zake za jamii ya watu huko Papua New Guinea ambayo ilikuwa ni primitive kwa wazungu akarudi na kuwapa somo jipya. Kuwa ya kwamba kwanza inabidi huelewe maisha ya watu kwa namna ya fikra zao wao si kwa fikra zenu nyie, what may seem primitive has meaning to them sasa hapa ndipo ulipoanza usomi wa kuzielewa society kwa kuzisoma maisha yao.

Hilo hitimisho lako kuhusu Wamasai linatokana na hiyo 'scientific' approach ya 'functionalism' aliyokufundisha huyo hero wako Malinowski? Hiyo post ya unayemuita 'bwana mkubwa' haijakuonesha kuwa hao watu wa USAID na Serikali ya Mwalimu ambayo unadai ni Haambiliki hawakuilewa vizuri jamii ya Kimaasai? Wewe unawaelewa kiasi gani Wamaasai maana inaonekana hata ulikuwa huijui hiyo historia yao dhidi ya Serikali na Wafadhili ya kutoa misaada eti ili eti 'iwafundishe' eti 'kutunza mifugo' eti bila 'kuhangaika'? Waliwaambia wanahangaika?

Sasa kama uko open-minded na scientifically analytical kama unavyodai, hebu chambua hii 'The Myth of People's Ignorance' kuhusu Wamaasai kwa kutumia huo U-Malinowski wako/wenu:

A central theme in this article by Andreus Fuglesang is the idea that the conventional economistic approach to development prevailing in the North has had devastating effects by suppressing local knowledge and technology and by equating physical poverty with mental ignorance all over the Third World. In arguing his case, Fuglesang presents a series of examples illustrating that contrary to 'being ignorant' different peoples in Africa have often developed much more subtle solutions to their basic survival problems,based on detailed and intimate knowledge of their environment, than those brought in by many development 'experts' from the outside. He maintains that the ethnocentricity of the North, reinforced by material progress and affluence, 'reveals an aspect of our culture inferior to many other cultures. Insensitivity to others has led us again and again to make the grossest misrepresentations of the nature and aspirations of the peoples of traditional societies. This defective trait is a product of our individualism. It is time to redress such imbalances.'
...

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Meishaa elukanya nalso engeno

One head cannot hold all wisdom

Maasai proverb​

A young European veterinarian was on his way with an interpreter to his first assignment in Africa. The task: to discuss cattle-dipping with a group of Maasai elders. It was the end of the rainy season. The grass was high and the two men had difficulty in seeing the homestead in the open, rolling land. They walked and walked. At long last they saw the homestead on a gentle slope on the other side of a small river. The two men rushed straight towards the goal of their endeavour. splashed across the river. ran up the slope and landed wet and out of breath in front of the elders. The veterinarian introduced himself, gave an explanation of his mission and finally asked, 'Do you have any questions?' The elders stared silently at the horizon for a long while, as is customary. At last, one of them ventured, 'Yes, ol-malimui (teacher). Why did you not use the bridge'?'


...One head cannot hold all the wisdom in this world. And our efforts to communicate often fail to find the bridges...

Our friend the wet veterinarian later concluded that a programme for artificial insemination of Maasai cows could not work without an army of skilled veterinary technicians. His reasoning: a Maasai herdsman would not know exactly when a cow was in heat!


The Maasai kept cattle successfully for thousands of years before there were any veterinary technicians. Presumably they know information critical to a herd's survival.

European-trained professionals, foreign experts and national development personnel working in any area of development in the South should recognize that each culture has generated its own viable store of knowledge.

Those entrusted with the pretentious task of 'educating the people and uplifting the masses' ought to know precisely what they mean when they lament people's ignorance...

Source: http://www.dhf.uu.se/pdffiler/84_1-2.pdf​

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[FairPlayer]

tanzania sio USA. Hakuna database na watu sio well informed. Hizo list zenu utakuta mie simjui hata mmoja na pia nina list yangu ambayo nyie hammjui hata mmoja.

Acheni umarekani hapa, sio kila kitu lazima u copy na paste!

 

[Companero]

Tatizo ni tayari wana namna zao ya jinsi mambo yanavyotakiwa kuwa, hivyo there's no room for other options typical Nyerere's views inabidi iwe hivi na tu achieve kwa namna ya hivi sasa hapo theres no room for negotiations...

Mmasai ni kabila tu na wana namna zao za kuishi ambazo kwa kweli inabidi zibadilike especially kama umesoma post ya bwana mkubwa ya mwisho ubishi wao wa kusaidiwa kumbe serikali ishatoa na hela za kuwafundisha namna ya kutunza mifugo bila ya kuangaika ni wenyewe wamasai wakakataa ni kweli hawa jamaa useless.

Alafu kwa taarifa yako Nyerere alikuwa kigeugeu na haambiliki dhidi ya Wamaasai kama dondoo hizi zinavyodhihirisha:

As Chachage (1986) notes, in 1956 Nyerere even confided to a Marknoll father that the British had romanticized the Maasai but they would have to develop like anybody else. He stressed that they have to fall in line and thus asserted that we had to build a strong presidency into the constitution of our country and yet somehow protect the individual...

As the following quote from a policy booklet on rural development indicates, this is what our first president seems to have in mind before he allowed his bureaucratic developmental state to use, misuse and abuse its monopoly of political power to enforce development as modernity at any cultural cost:

The social customs of the people also vary to some extent. The Masai are traditionally a nomadic cattle people; their family structure, their religious beliefs, and other things, have been shaped by this fact. They are therefore somewhat different from the social beliefs and organization of, for example, the traditional agricultural Wanyakyusa. The steps which will be necessary to combine increased output with social equality may therefore vary; the important thing is that the methods adopted should not be incompatible with each other, and should each be appropriate for the attainment of the single goal in the particular circumstances (Nyerere 1967: 14)

That was Nyerere at his best. Our departure from this fairly balanced application of universal/global and particular/local approaches to culture and development is what still hinders sustainable development in Tanzania...

The formulation and implementation of the Tanzanian Livestock Development Policy illustrates how various developmentalist notions of culture coalesced to enforce cultural paternalism. It is reported that prior to the promulgation of this policy Nyerere claimed that Tanzanians could not continue with unscientific ‘nomadic' cattle rearing methods in his 1981's call for "a national policy on the improvement of ranches and dairy farms" (Mustafa 1990: 102). The policy, which was premised on the modern theory of development known as modernization theory, was formally promulgated in 1983 and it sought to transform the ‘traditional' pastoralists such as the Maasai from living what was perceived as a simple subsistence life void of surplus into a ‘modern' life premised on capitalist accumulation...

 

[Companero]

Tanzania...Hakuna database na watu sio well informed. Hizo list zenu utakuta mie simjui hata mmoja na pia nina list yangu ambayo nyie hammjui hata mmoja...

Ndio maana tumeamua kutengeneza database ili tuwe well-informed. Lete hiyo listi yako hapa tu-synchronize na listi zetu. Kwa mwendo huo tutafika the 4,000,000 mark. Hatuwezi kuendelea bila kuwa well-informed about our potential, capacity, expertise and so forth.

 

[Companero]

Sasa hii ni kusema we have all the relevant evidences of our pasts not just in africa but the world. Why do we need theories, that have proven impractical already yet we have so many succesfull examples already to imitate.

Hii si ku-ape bali ni kuwa realistic what needs to be done has to be done in way that has proven to bring results.

Imitating. Aping. Copying. Pasting.

Thats what we have been doing religiously since Africa's 'Uhuru'!

-SAPs was aping Euro-America
-PRSP was aping Euro-America
-IPI was aping Latin America
-Vision 2005 is aping Euro-America
-Mkukuta is aping Euro-America
-Mkurabita is aping De Soto's Peru
-Mini-Tiger 2020 is aping ASEAN

Ujamaa Mambojana was the only genuine attempt at not aping!

But instead of implementing it fully we aped China, Finland etc!

"We, in Africa, have no more need of being "converted" to socialism than we have of being "taught" democracy. Both are rooted in our own past--in the traditional society which produced us. Modern African socialism can draw from its traditional heritage the recognition of "society" as an extension of the basic family unit." - Mwalimu Nyerere on Ujamaa - The Basis of African Socialism, 1962

BUT​

"We must take our traditional, correct it shortcomings, and adapt to its service the things we can learn from the technologically developed of other continents" - Mwalimu Nyerere on Socialism and Rural Development, 1967

Sasa tunahitaji Ujamaa Mamboleo!

 

[Companero]

"The national bourgeoisie of under-developed countries is not engaged in production, nor in invention, nor building, nor labour; it is completely canalized into activities of the intermediary type. Its innermost vocation seems to be running and to be part of the [ufisadi] racket. The psychology of the national bourgeoisie is that of the businessman [u-vijisenti], not that of a captain [sehemu ya 1 ya 10 wenye talanta] of the industry...In an underdeveloped country an authentic national middle class [1 ya 10 wenye talanta] ought to consider as its bounded duty to betray the calling fate has marked out for it, and to put itself to school with the people: in other words to put at the people's disposal the intellectual and technical capital that it has snatched when going through colonial universities." - Frantz Fanon on 'The Wretched of the Earth'

 

[Zakumi]

You have a point here. The premise in red is sound. But the conclusion in blue is questionable!

Wenzetu hizo knowledge zao wamezi-preserve, wanazi-respect na wamezi-modernize. They build from what they have. And add - by finding out - from what they don't have!

Sisi zetu hatuziheshimu. Tunadharau dawa za Mmasai kama hizo ulizozitaja hapo juu japo tunazitumia kisirisiri. Huo ni ulimbukeni wa hali ya juu!

Si unawapenda sana mamodeli wako Wachina. Tafakari walichofanya na hiyo Ginseng hapo chini. Alafu jiulize sisi tumefanya nini na Mwarobaini.

Asian ginseng is native to China and Korea and has been used in various systems of medicine for many centuries.

[...]




Treatment claims for Asian ginseng are numerous and include the use of the herb to support overall health and boost the immune system. Traditional and modern uses of ginseng include:

• Improving the health of people recovering from illness
• Increasing a sense of well-being and stamina, and improving both mental and physical performance
• Treating erectile dysfunction, hepatitis C, and symptoms related to menopause
• Lowering blood glucose and controlling blood pressure

[...]

The root of Asian ginseng contains active chemical components called ginsenosides (or panaxosides) that are thought to be responsible for the herb's medicinal properties. The root is dried and used to make tablets or capsules, extracts, and teas, as well as creams or other preparations for external use.

[...]

Some studies have shown that Asian ginseng may lower blood glucose. Other studies indicate possible beneficial effects on immune function.
To date, research results on Asian ginseng are not conclusive enough to prove health claims associated with the herb. Only a handful of large clinical trials on Asian ginseng have been conducted. Most studies have been small or have had flaws in design and reporting. Some claims for health benefits have been based only on studies conducted in animals.
NCCAM supports studies to better understand the use of Asian ginseng. Areas of recent NCCAM-funded research include Asian ginseng's interactions with other herbs and drugs and the herb's potential to treat chronic lung infection, impaired glucose tolerance, and Alzheimer's disease.

Companero:

Je unajua ni process gani binadamu alitumia kugundua kuwa GinSeng ni mti unaotibu magonjwa?

Hapa alitafuna majani mengi na baadaye kugundua kuwa GinSeng inafaa. Leo hii maendeleo katika masomo kama ya chemistry na Biochemistry, yanagundua siri ya ginseng kutoa tiba. Na ukigundua hiyo siri, kuna uwezekano mkubwa wa kutengeneza hiyo dawa kwenye lab kwa mass production and consumption.

Na vilevile katika matibabu siri kubwa ni diagnostics. Ukiweza kugundua mgonjwa anaumwa nini, basi unaweza kumsaidia vizuri kutibu ugonjwa wake.

Hivyo basi huwezi kusema GinSeng au Mwarobaini unatibu vizuri wakati waganga wanatumia miti hiyo wanafanya diagnostics za kubahatisha tu.

Kwa mfano Mwarobaini utatibu Malaria. Lakini symptoms za Malaria ni sawa na magonjwa mengine (High fever). Hivyo mtu anaweza kuwa na typhoid, lakini ukampa mwarobaini. Na jamii zetu zimepoteza watu wengi kwa kufanya vitu kwa kubahatisha.

 

[Zakumi]

Zakumi amna lolote la ajabu nililolisema its only easy kueleweshana kama tunakuja na open mind, wengine hata utoe facts gani ni kuishia kugeuza maneno tu kwa msingi ya maoni yao.

Tatizo ni tayari wana namna zao ya jinsi mambo yanavyotakiwa kuwa, hivyo there's no room for other options typical Nyerere's views inabidi iwe hivi na tu achieve kwa namna ya hivi sasa hapo theres no room for negotiations.

Either that au only they've got historical perspective of world events rather than scientific analysis of the events. I mean how can someone suggest an almost band society should model our nation, is he for real? alafu ana ji-contadict na kusema ya kwamba hawa watu wanatumia vitu ambavyo maendeleo ya leo yanaleta so who needs who the most hapo.

Mmasai ni kabila tu na wana namna zao za kuishi ambazo kwa kweli inabidi zibadilike especially kama umesoma post ya bwana mkubwa ya mwisho ubishi wao wa kusaidiwa kumbe serikali ishatoa na hela za kuwafundisha namna ya kutunza mifugo bila ya kuangaika ni wenyewe wamasai wakakataa ni kweli hawa jamaa useless.

Huko right kwenye investigation zako na analysis zako especially the last paragraph, na ushahidi wa kisayansi umejaa tele. Hila kuna jamaa anaitwa 'Robert B Lee' ambae kafanya investigation kubwa ya band society, particularly the 'Ju hoansi'. Hawa watu wanaishi kalahari walikua 'hunters and gatheres' still are but the numbers have declined.

Mwanzoni walipogundulika during the times of 'boar wars' wazungu walidhani kweli kuna waafrica civilization bado aija wafikia, kwani civilization ni settlement na kuona sababu za kutulia.

Hii ikaleta interest kubwa sana kwao kuwasoma kundi la watu hawa. Kwani close prediction ilikuwa before man settled hivyo ndivyo tulivyokua tunaishi that is over 10000-12000yrs.

Lakini the early analysis of the group was based on racist thinking and conclusions; that a white man was better than an african and it was a needed proven fact provided by these group. Huko waliwakuta bado wanatumia visu vya mawe na no evidence of any modern equipment.

This was the thinking that we where slow thinkers. Hii ilikuwa hivi mpaka Jamaa amabae ni hero wangu wa mawazo 'Bronislow Malinowski' alipo maliza studies zake za jamii ya watu huko Papua New Guinea ambayo ilikuwa ni primitive kwa wazungu akarudi na kuwapa somo jipya. Kuwa ya kwamba kwanza inabidi huelewe maisha ya watu kwa namna ya fikra zao wao si kwa fikra zenu nyie, what may seem primitive has meaning to them sasa hapa ndipo ulipoanza usomi wa kuzielewa society kwa kuzisoma maisha yao.

By the time 'Lee' went back kuwasoma hawa watu kuanzia wapo kwenye hali halisi aliowakuta nayo mpaka miaka ya sabini baadhi kuamua kuanza kuse-settle.

Ilitoa interest kubwa sana kwenye jamii ya anthropology, kwani hawakua wao tu kulikuwa na makundi kama saba kwingine duniani nje ya africa na hayajuani ambayo yalikua yanaishi kama hunters and gathers na with almost ninety percent similar life style kwa hivyo hiyo ni evidence ya kwamba life ime-evolve mpaka tulipo. Na with similar patterns, sasa mtu kweli una-suggest turudi hata sielewi mawazo ya watu wengine.

Hivyo wakati mzungu kaja kuchukua watumwa katukuta bado tupo kwenye vita vya vijiji na tunatekana, kwani mipaka yetu pia wameichora wao kwa hiyo pia ni evidence ya kwamba jamma walikua advanced already more on that, research on feudal societies.

Sasa hii ni kusema we have all the relevant evidences of our pasts not just in africa but the world. Why do we need theories, that have proven impractical already yet we have so many succesfull examples already to imitate.

Hii si ku-ape bali ni kuwa realistic what needs to be done has to be done in way that has proven to bring results.

If anything we have tracks to follow which we know will lead us to a better future, also we do not need a certain percent to guide us; what we need is a good governance and respect of the laws something masanja explained too well.

And obviously we need the four economic factors to succeed each being as crucial as the other without limitation and let market guide it self with a watchfull eye of the government from afar, intervene only when needed to. And no to Ujamaa mambo leo wala kesho.

JC:

Ni vigumu sana kuwa open-minded wakati tuna visingizio vingi vya kujitetea.

Ndugu yangu Companero amechagua nini cha kutuelezea kuhusu waMasai. Lakini kuna mambo mengi amehamua kuyaacha.

Wakati wale wazungu wa mwanzo wanakuja kupeleleza makoloni, walitembelea sehemu mbalimbali. Mmoja wao alipita Dodoma. Na pale alikutana na waMasai.

Na katika maandishi yake anasema kulikuwa na ukame mkubwa na watu walikuwa wanakufa sana kwa njaa. Na aliendelea kusema kuwa wanawake wakiMasai walikuwa wanakwenda kwenye hema lake na kuacha watoto wao na wao kukimbia.

Ukisoma maandishi ya Companero, unaona kuwa anadai waMasai walisha-master mazingira yao. Na mfumo wao ulikuwa self sufficient kuendesha maisha yao kwa miaka mingi. Na vilevile anataka kuonyesha kuwa sera za Nyerere ndio chanzo cha predicaments cha matatizo ya jamii za kiMasaai.

Data zilizopo sasa zinaonyesha kuwa, katika kila kipindi cha miaka kumi Tanzania uwa ina ukame mkubwa. Na madhara ya ukame wa Mwaka mmoja, unatosha kurudisha maendeleo yaliopatikana katika kipindi cha miaka kumi.

Mpaka sasa hivi Companero ajaeleza, je waMasaai walifidia vipi ng'ombe wao, pale ukame ulipotokea. Nina uhakika theory yake ya Trans-human alikuwa haiwezi kufidia ng'ombe wanaopotea kutokana na matatizo ya ukame.

 

[Companero]

Intellectuals and change in East Africa
Prof. Ali A. Mazrui

Academics and intellectuals have been major agents of political change but relatively minor agents of economic change in post-colonial Africa. Phase one of decolonisation was from the 1930s to the 1970s. African academics with a wider pool of African intellectuals helped to mobilise the masses against the colonial order.

Perhaps this is why African liberation was much faster than most people realise. Kenya became a British colony after Jomo Kenyatta was born. Kenyatta lived right through it and came to rule Kenya for 15 years after the British left.

Uganda’s earliest anti-colonial manifestations took the form of defending Uganda from white settler-dominated Kenya. Many Ugandans recoiled when Britain tried to unite Kenya, Tanganyika and Uganda into a greater union. When Kabaka Mutesa II articulated fierce opposition to such East African union, he was resisting the encroachment of white settlers from Kenya into
Uganda.

The Kabaka was exiled by the British. Many of his male subjects vowed not to shave their beards until the British returned their king. When Kabaka returned in the 1950s, many of these subjects celebrated shaving their beards. Some of those beards were stuffed into pillows as souvenirs. The momentum of Buganda’s defiance quickly extended to other parts of Uganda. The country became independent in 1962.

Makerere’s contribution to the anti-colonial struggle included the early graduates who sometimes defied the British for ethno-cultural reasons and sometimes for Pan-Uganda patriotic reasons. Among the Pan-Ugandan nationalists was Apollo Obote, who adopted the additional name of “Milton” out of admiration for John Milton, the author of Paradise Lost. Obote was inspired by Satan’s indelible line in Milton’s poem: “Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.”

Another immortal product of Makerere was Julius K. Nyerere who, in the struggle against colonialism, created the Tanganyika African National Union in the 1950s. Although Tanganyika was the least developed of the three British East African colonies, Tanganyika was the first to win independence in 1961. And although Kenya was the most economically developed of the three colonies, it was the last to win independence in December 1963. Uganda won
its independence in 1962. The real achievement in all the three East African countries was the speed of political decolonisation.

If Phase I of East Africa’s basic decolonisation was impressively triumphant, the second phase of nation-building was truly in fits and starts. Because African intellectuals and academics could not come to grips with viable strategies of economic development, nation-building was extremely difficult to sustain in the post-colonial era.

Intellectuals and academics thought that they could be effective agents of economic change by the ideology that they adopted. In the 1960s and 1970s socialism, and even Marxism, were popular on many campuses in East Africa.

Marxism offered to play three roles: as ideology of development, as an ethic of distribution and as a methodology of analysis. It became the opium of the post-colonial intelligentsia. Addiction to Marxism and socialism was at its height on the campuses of the universities of Dar es Salaam, Haile Selassie I (Addis Ababa.), Nairobi was next in leftist orientation, with prominent figures like Ngugi wa Thiong’o as the vanguard.

The Makerere campus was the least intoxicated by socialism and Marxism. In Kenya, the political intellectuals, like Tom Mboya and Mwai Kibaki, were at variance with the academic intellectuals, like Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Michere Mugo. The campus intellectuals were to the left of the political intelligentsia.

Uganda also witnessed an ideological divergence between the political intellectuals who were pushing for Obote’s move to the Left and the campus intellectuals who were skeptical of leftist rhetoric, such as Mat Kiwanuka in the History Department, Apolo Nsibambi in Political Science and George Kanyeihamba in Law. Apart from a minority of political scientists on campus, like Yash Tandon, Ahmed Mohiddin and young Okello Oculi, academic intellectuals in Uganda were to the right of the political intellectuals under Obote I, while in Kenya, campus intellectuals were to the left of political intellectuals under Kenyatta and early Moi.

Prof. Mazrui teaches political science and African studies at State University, New York
amazrui@binghamton.edu

 

[Companero]

Ndugu yangu Companero amechagua nini cha kutuelezea kuhusu waMasai. Lakini kuna mambo mengi amehamua kuyaacha.

Wakati wale wazungu wa mwanzo wanakuja kupeleleza makoloni, walitembelea sehemu mbalimbali. Mmoja wao alipita Dodoma. Na pale alikutana na waMasai.

Na katika maandishi yake anasema kulikuwa na ukame mkubwa na watu walikuwa wanakufa sana kwa njaa. Na aliendelea kusema kuwa wanawake wakiMasai walikuwa wanakwenda kwenye hema lake na kuacha watoto wao na wao kukimbia.

Ukisoma maandishi ya Companero, unaona kuwa anadai waMasai walisha-master mazingira yao. Na mfumo wao ulikuwa self sufficient kuendesha maisha yao kwa miaka mingi. Na vilevile anataka kuonyesha kuwa sera za Nyerere ndio chanzo cha predicaments cha matatizo ya jamii za kiMasaai.

Data zilizopo sasa zinaonyesha kuwa, katika kila kipindi cha miaka kumi Tanzania uwa ina ukame mkubwa. Na madhara ya ukame wa Mwaka mmoja, unatosha kurudisha maendeleo yaliopatikana katika kipindi cha miaka kumi.

Mpaka sasa hivi Companero ajaeleza, je waMasaai walifidia vipi ng'ombe wao, pale ukame ulipotokea. Nina uhakika theory yake ya Trans-human alikuwa haiwezi kufidia ng'ombe wanaopotea kutokana na matatizo ya ukame.

Evolue/Assimilado/Civilado Zakumi trans-humance sio nadharia/theory yangu. Mimi ni Mjamaa Mamboleo, ni mwiko kwangu kuwafisadi Wamaasai kile kilicho chao. Hiyo ni Weltanschauung yao.

Hizi historia mlizoandikiwa na wakoloni ndio mnaziona haziko selective? Unaamini hizo 'travelogues' za Mzungu kuliko 'historiography' za Wamaasai wenyewe? Lini mtaacha kasumba na kuandika historia yenu wenyewe?

[THE MAASAI IN THE MODERN ERA: MYTH AND REALITY]​

“Everyone ‘knows’ the Maasai” is the skeptical opening salvo in Spear’s (1993) introduction to Being Maasai. He goes on to introduce the popular image of the Maasai that pervade this universal knowledge about the Maasai: “ Men wearing red capes while balancing on one leg and a long spear, gazing out over the semi-arid plains stretching endlessly to the horizon, or women heavily bedecked in beads, stare out at us from countless coffee-table books and tourists’ snapshots. Uncowed by their neighbours, colonial conquest, or modernization, they stand in proud mute testimony to a vanishing African world” (Spear, 1993, p. 1). And finally he confirms his skepticism about this universalized knowledge and ‘global image’ of the Maasai by stating what coincide with the aim of my research paper: “ Or so we think, Reality is of course, different…We must re-examine carefully the myths surrounding Maasai identity and, in so doing, question our thinking regarding ethnicity in general” (Spear, 1993, p. 3)...

In 1884, when Chancellor Otto von Bismarck was convening that famous/infamous Berlin Conference that partitioned Africa among the European colonial powers, Lord Delamere was only a boy of 14 growing up in the royal forest in Britain and the Maasai, it is alleged, were roaming “from the deserts north of Mount Kenya to the plains south of Mount Kilimanjaro, and from the shores of Lake Victoria to the beaches of the Indian Ocean, as if this vast expanse were their private domain” (Salvadori & Fedders, 1973, p. 8). It is also alleged that it was not until one year before, that is 1883, “when the young Scotsman Joseph Thomson penetrated Masailand and returned to describe in some details the country beyond, that the extent and fertility of the highlands was realized”(Huxley, 1935, p. 3). This Maasai land, as well as other African lands, was to be the object of the highest interest to Lord Delamere and his fellow European settlers in Kenya. But in order to penetrate, subjugate and harness it at the expense of the natives, some legitimizing myths and images were needed. One of the legitimizing myths was that of the Maasailand as part of a “no-man’s-land.” This myth also made use of the image of the Maasai as a “savage” so as to create the myths of “the white man country” i.e. a land that white settler could take over as if it did not belong to the Maasai. These, in essence, are the myths that preceded the colonization of East Africa in general and the Maasailand in particular.

So in 1891 we find Lord Delamere, at the age of 21 and having read a number of travelogues, making his first trip to Africa. The following excerpts illustrate how he, as a product and producer of the above-mentioned myths and images, paved the way for colonialism: “They [Lord Delamere and his group] had travelled a thousand miles from Lugh without sight or sound civilization. The stretch [low-lying plain separating the highlands of Kenya colony form those of Abyssinia] through which they had come [in 1897] lay still unclaimed, unwanted, practically unknown. Nomadic tribesmen [Maasai, Samburu, Galla etc.] roamed and raided just as they have done a thousand, many thousand, years ago. No treaty-makers and surveyors had attempted to check the natural ebb flow of tribes; that part of Africa was still in its immemorial state of racial flux. A few years later surveyors were to plant their beacons and European governments to start imposing the rigidity of maps upon the flexibility of savages. Their task was to freeze the fluid into the static, to cry halt to that gradual surging from north to south of primitive African tribes….” (Huxley, 1935, pp.49-50);“We shall make our start due south…I have enquired much of those who know, if anyone does; but really very little is known…The 1st Political here, who is more than civil to me, admits this in writing when he says we can be of great service if we can show routes, directions, compass bearings and distances, with the names of the tribes through whom we pass…” (Lord Delamere quoted in Huxley, 1935, pp. 12-13).Here we see Lord Delamere being requested to work hand in hand with the Imperial polity in making the unknown known. It seems that Lord Delamere was effective in this task, since according to Huxley (1935), his experiences were highly valued enough to be published in the Badminton Magazine.

While all these were happening near and around Kenya, the German explorer, Karl Peters was busy signing differend treaties with local chiefs and othering the natives for the sake of partitioning that part of East Africa that was to become German East Africa (Tanganyika). The term differend is defined/explained here and in subsequent sections as “the inaccessibility of, or untranslatability from, one mode of discourse in dispute to another’” (Spivak quoted in Garuba, 2002, p. 100). Moreover, the term othering is understood here and in subsequent sections as a process or a discursive practice that “generates the force to make the [colonized’ native see himself as other” (Spivak quoted in Huggan, 1989, p. 118). This discursive practice operates on exclusivist binary positioning by making the otherer a thesis while it renders the othered his/her antithesis. Moreover, it tends to ensure that the people to be othered are homogenized into a collective “they” whereby the portrayal of their “manners and customs is a normalizing discourse, whose work is to codify difference, to fix the Other in a timeless present where all “his” action and reactions are repetitions of “his” normal habits” (Pratt, 1986, p139). This discursive practice is evident in the following excerpt that draws heavily from the pioneering mapping work of Karl Peters: “ There were occasions on which they [“The Maasai warriors”] carried out wholesale massacres in daylight attacks on caravans; these exceptional feats were probably performed in the manner described by Karl Peters” (Wilson, 1952, p. 41). It is interesting to note that many historians today, as Zeleza (1994) asserts, believe, contrary to these old myths, that the Maasai were not really so fierce...

In 1901 Sir Charles Elliot, another architect of white settlement in Eastern Africa, arrived in Kenya and thus ushered the end of above-described period, which one author has referred to as the period Prelude to Settlement (See Sorrenson, 1968). Utilizing and building on the earlier legitimizing myths, Sir Elliot went on to build the settler economy of Kenya by proclaiming policies that enforced the marginalization of the Maasai. These myths were so entrenched in Sir Elliot’s psyche as the following 1904’s “damaging confession” of his illustrates – a confession which fit into the above definition of othering: “No doubt on platforms and in reports we declare we have no intention of depriving natives of the land, but this has not prevented us from taking whatever land we want…. Your Lordship has opened this Protectorate to white…. colonization, and I think it is well that, in confidential correspondence at least, we should face the undoubted issue –viz., that white mates black in very few moves…. There are no doubts that the Masai and many other tribes go under. It is a prospect which I view with equanimity and a clear conscience…. I have no desire to protect Masaidom. It is a beastly, bloody system, founded on raiding and immorality, disastrous to both the Masai and their neighbours. The sooner it disappears and is unknown, except in books of anthropology, the better”(quoted in Sorrenson, 1968, p. 76 Emphasis supplied).

Thus, the Maasailand was partitioned among the white settlers and the colonial subject was contained with the aid of these legitimizing myths and the western image of the Maasai, which persisted in the white imaginary even up to 1935 when Huxley penned down the following white settler’s legitimizing sentiments: “Pastoral tribes moved not only from district to district but from latitude to latitude. They had no country of their own. They possessed no landmarks. The Masai are said to have migrated to their present lands from north of Lake Rudolph, for example, only within the last hundred or hundred and fifty years” (Huxley, 1935, p.72); “Nomadic tribes had no special claim to any section of a continent, no affection (as the European has) for one corner of it. The population of the Masai reserve to-day is only three to the square mile, so that every Masai family averages over a thousand acres to itself” (Huxley, 1935, p.72). This partitioning is well documented by Tignor (1976) who describe how the Maasai lost land in two moves. The first move was in 1904 when Sir Elliot removed the Maasai from the area in the Rift Valley for the sake of Lord Delamere (who applied for 100, 000 acres), the East African Syndicate and other settlers. The second move was successful achieved in 1912-1913 after the Maasai were asked to negotiate and sign what appears to be a differend treaty (in 1911) since, as Tignor (1976) insist, the treaty signed under considerable duress.


In the wake of the Mau Mau war of liberation in Kenya the above-mentioned kind of legitimizing sentiments, heavily laden with discourse of othering, were to be repeated as the following quotes indicate: “ The early records [of Africa’s “dark and terrible past”] were written before there was any political complication about occupation or ownership of land. These writers [“missionary, explorer or adventurer”] recorded what they saw, objectively…. This true picture shows up the falsity of some statements now being made about conditions in the past. In particular, statements are being made in support of territorial claims to land outside the boundaries of existing Native land units…. A fictitious history is being invented and repeated….” (Wilson, 1952, p. 3); “The effect of the [“bloody-minded murderers”] Masai on the land of Kenya during the last century…. may be summarized in a few words. They monopolized a vast area of good land from which they had driven the previous occupants and over which they wandered with their great herds of cattle. All that area was rendered economically useless and might have been left to the zebra and buffalo for all the good it was to the rest of the world. A great part of the remainder of Kenya was kept in a state of unrest and terror, where life was so uncertain that any attempt at cultivation was futile, and thousands of its inhabitants were senselessly destroyed” (Wilson, 1952, p. 44).

Since Tanganyika, unlike Kenya, was not predominantly a settler economy, the effect on the Maasai was not as severe as in Kenya. This was also due to the fact that the German who initially colonized the country had been defeated in the World War I and forced to leave East Africa before they had effectively consolidated themselves in the Masailand. However, the Masai were more or less marginalization during the British colonial project of wildlife conservation. According to Shivji & Kapinga (1998), the Ngorongoro Conservation Area is home to 42, 000 Maasai pastoralists and these Maasai constitute approximately 60% of the total population of the Ngorongoro district. These Maasai are said to have lived in this area for some two centuries. In 1940 the British colonial Government created the Serengeti National Park, which then included the Area, and the Maasai’s rights to use and occupy its land were preserved even though they were more or less regulated. Later on the Maasai’s right, just like the above case of Laikipia in Kenya, were severely curtailed in what appear to be a differend treaty whereby in “consultation with the Maasai and the Trustees of the Park, the boundaries of the Serengeti National Park were redrawn, leaving out of the purview the current Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The Maasai agreed to relinquish all the claims in the reconstituted” (Shivji & Kapinga, 1998, p. 9).

As I conclude this section it is imperative to make it clear that the Maasai were not passive victims of these containments. While some did appropriate these subjections, Tignor (1976) documents how others transgressed by asserting that they would rather die fighting than move. Some went as far as opposing it in the Colonial offices in Kenya as in the case of Ole Gelishu who was forced to sign the 1911 treaty under the threat of deportation. The following quote indicate how seriously the Maasai’s opposition to the western image and the civilization mission of the colonialist as well as how brutal the colonial suppression could become: “In early 1922 because of murders and thefts carried out by moran [Maasai warriors] the government imposed an enormous fine of 10, 000 cattle…. The government dealt severely with the Maasai following this second outburst…. It also arrested 210 moran, of which 167 were convicted and sent to prison. Seven were executed” (Tignor, 1976, pp. 81-82)...

Source: Comrade Companero

 

[Mkandara]

Zakumi,
Mkuu wangu nimesoma sana maelezo yenu lakini kitu kimoja tu nitaongezea. Na natanguliza samahani zangu kwani pengine yaweza onekana nimetoka nje ya hatua mlofikia... hivyo kuwakwaza kidogo ktk huu mjadala mzito mnaoendelea nao.
Yangu machache ni kwamba kuna sehemu nakubaliana nawe lakini sii ktk mtazamo wako na sehemu kubwa nakubaliana na Compareno kwa uwezo wake wa kutanguliza UWEZO wa Binadamu mbele ya Taaluma zote za Elimu dunia..Hiki ni kipande muhimu sana inabidi mkizingatie.. (kwa mtazamo wangu)

Nakubaliana na mjumbe mmoja aliyesema kwamba Binadamu tumetunukiwa na Mwenyezi Mungu ambaye katujaalia kitu kimoja Kikubwa sana - AKILI... na kusema kweli hadi leo hii mimi sifahamu tafsiri halisi, bora ya neno hili kwa lugha ya kiingereza zadi ya kusema reasonable mind ambayo bado haina uzito sawa na thamani ya tuzo hili la Muumba kwetu sisi binadamu.. na ndio maana tupo hapa JF na ndipo tunapoonyesha nguvu ya tuzo hili bila kujali wewe una Phd ya Havard au umesoma madrasa ya Kitengule kule Mwibara kama Mkandara hapa.

Sasa kwanza ni lazima tutambue kwamba AKILI ndio chanzo cha fahari ya binadamu kama kiumbe bora na mwenye uwezo mkubwa tofauti na viumbe wengineo wote ktk kufikiri (fikra) kabla ya kufanya jambo lolote. Bongo zetu hucheza kwa kasi ya ajabu ktk maamuzi na kuchukua choices evry time unapofanya jambo lolote au movement yoyote ile, sekunde kwa sekunde ya maisha yako ni about what choices U make hata kubonyesha keyboard tu kuandika..kwani kila picha inayokuja ktk bongo za binadamu huwa kama sarafu yenye sura mbili. Ndio maana tunasema kila shilingi ina sura mbili.

Mkuu wangu ni katika kutambua Uwezo wa binadamu ndipo tunapata hizi ELIMU yaani kila elimu iliyopo hapa duniani imevumbuliwa, imetungwa au kuchongwa na binadamu ambaye chanzo chake hutokana na tanzu ilotaka kutanzuliwa. wakati huo huo vitu vyote tayari mwenyezi Mungu kisha viweka hapa duniani yaani sisi tunachofanya ni kuhakikisha kuwa kila maradhi yana dawa na kila tatizo lina solution kutokana na msingi aloujenga Mwenyezi Mungu mbele ya maisha ya viombe wote..
kwa maana kwamba Huwezi kufikiria Muarobaini kuwa dawa ya Malaria ikiwa hakuna mti huo na Huwezi kufahamu uwezo wa dawa hiyo ikiwa hakuna mtu aliyewahi kuumwa Malaria..
Hutuwezi kufahamu kuwa Muarobaini au mti gani unaweza kutibu cancer bila kuwepo mgonjwa wa cancer, Ni kuwepo kwa madhara kama cancer au malaria ndipo tunapoanza utafiti wa kutaka kujua virusi vyake na jinsi ya kuvipatia tiba kinyume cha Lugha ambayo naiona hapa ambayo imekaa kimchongo mchongo vile.

Yaani mnataka tuamini kwamba taaluma inatangulia matatizo na kwamba elimu ipo na sisi tunachotakiwa ni kuifuata ili tuweze kutanzua matatizo yetu..jambo ambalo linanifanya nijiulize tena hii mada haswa inahusu vitu gani maanake kama tunazungumzia - Talented tenth basi hatupaswi kuzunguzia matumizi ya elimu ilokwisha vumbuliwa, gunduliwa na kuwekwa ktk misingi ya matumizi yake kuwa ni sifa inayotakiwa kutambuliwa..
As a fact, mnachotaka ni kuwazawadia watu ktk kazi ambazo wamekabidhiwa kuzifanya jambo ambalo binafsi naliona kuwa ni chini ya kiwango cha kufikiri kwani sidhani kama kuna kipimo cha sifa kwa mtu anayetumikia wajibu wake.

Pili, mara nyingi sifa za namna hutokana na biashara..huwafuata watu ambao wanataka kuthaminiwa kutokana na uwezo wao ktk maamuzi au utendaji kazi na sii elimu yao..Ni rahisi kwa wakili kuzawadiwa na kupewa tuzo kibao kutokana na kesi alizoshinda..lakini sii rahisi kwa sifa hizo hizo kumfuata daktari aliyeweza kuponya wagonjwa au mwalimu aliyewafundisha mawakili hao hao..

Hivyo nitawaacheni muendelee ila tu mkumbuke kwamba hoja mnazozizungumzia kuhusu masai ni finyu sana kwani ujanja wa survival hauna elimu kwani hata wanyama, ndege na viumbe wengine wanaweza kabisa kujikinga na balaa hizo.. Uwezo wa kutambua njaa, hifadhi ya chakula na kuhama nchi kutokana na hali mbaya inayokuja ni moja ya hisia ambazo viumbe wote tunavyo..

Haina darasa wala haihitaji elimu ya Phd au sayansi kwani wale Nyumbu wa Masai Mara..Wanapokimbia Ukame wa Kenya ui immigrate Tanzania kwa mabillioni hawakuenda darasa hata moja kupewa elimu hiyo.. Pamoja na misukosuko yote ya Mamba ktk kuvuka mto Mara.. Wanyama hawa hufahamu they have to cross.. hakuna kurudi nyuma na hakika inashangaza jinsi wanavyoweza kuvuka ktk hali kaile.

Kitu pekee ambacho nilitegemea kukiona hapa tofauti ni maleezo ambayo yangeonyesha binadamu angefanya tofauti na wanyama hao yaani badala ya kuvamia mto angejenga daraja la kuvukia.. Tofauti na wanyama, Wamasai wa Kenya waliweza vipi kuendelea kuishi Kenya yenye Ukame wakati wanyama wengi kaa sii wote wamehamia Tanzania..Waliweza vipi kuwalisha ngombe wao wa Kenya na kadhalika lakini haya maswala ya kuzungumzia sijui Wazungu walisema nini ktk matukio fulani na mkaweza kuwanukuu jamani hapa mnapotosha kabisa..

Hawa wazungu wanapokuja Afrika na kuandika vitabu vyao ni part ya study au elimu yao.. Mzungu anaweza kumuona Chatu akimnyemelea mtoto wa Msukuma huko shambani akaona fahari kuchukua picha au sinema ya video jinsi Chatu anavyommeza binadamu. Ati akijifunza jinsi Chatu anavyoweza kuwinda na jinsi binadamu iwe mtoto huyo au wazazi wake wanavyoweza vipi kutokea kumwokoa mtoto huyo.. Kama mnakumbuka yule Mpiga picha wa Ki Swedish aliyemchukua mtoto wa Kiithiopia akiliwa na wale ndege Vultures niliwahi kuiweka hapa ikawachukiza wengiu wenu..Ndio wazungu walivyo jamani wao shida yako au matatizo yetu ndio part ya elimu wanayo tufundisha.. He could have saved that boy, lakini badala yake alikaa na kuchukua picha kuonyesha athari za njaa na Ukame..Mtoto yule akawa Cusualties wa Elimu ya viumbe.

Hii ndio part ya elimu ya Binadamu yaani maafa ndiyo somo linapoanza..Kwa hiyo huyo aliyeona Wamasai wakifa kwa njaa sijui wakiwaletea watoto wao kutokana na njaa iliyotokea, huyo mzungu kashindwa kuelewa kwamba kuja kwake au kwao wao wazungu ndiko kunaweza kuwa sababu kubwa ya mabadiliko yote yaliyofuata..Kulifukuza wanyama ili kujenga makazi yao, wao ndio waliokata miti, wakajenga miji yao sehemu ambazo Mmasai asingefanya hivyo..wao ndio walisababisha ukame ambao Mmasai for Centuries aliweza kuishi bila msaada wa mzungu na sii kwamba ukame ulitokea wakati huo tuu toka taifa la WaMasai liwepo sehemu hizo waliweza vipi ku survive! lakini haikuandikwa kwa sababu mzungu hakuwepo wala hataki kumuuliza Mmasai kwa sababu Mmaasai hana elimu au ndio unajua tena -Primitive..

Hawa wazungu wameandika yote haya kama part ya study yao..Kutesema kwa Masai ni ktk kutazama kipimo na uwezo wa masai ku survive ktk hali kaa ile ya Ukame.. Ndio mimi husema hakuna kiumbe destructive wa nature na vilivyomo kama Binadamu anayetafuta ELIMU, kwani elimu bila kutanguliwa na maafa na misukosuko haiwezi kuwa elimu..

 

[Companero]

Shabash! Mkandara naomba upeleke uchambuzi huo kwenye Baraza la Mawaziri. Na Bungeni.

 

[Companero]

1. Prof. Keto Mshigeni - Scientist/Botanist
2. Hon. Zitto Kabwe(MP) - Economist-cum-Politician
3. Hasheem Thabeet - Basketball Superstar/Philanthropist/Role Model
4. Prof. Benno Ndulu - Economist/Bank Governor
5. Issa Michuzi - Photographer/Journalist/Blogger
6. Dr. Asha-Rose Migiro - Lawyer/Diplomant
7. Erasto Mpemba - Discoverer/Physicist
8. Dr. Thomas Neligwa -Computer Scientist/Mathematician
9. Liberata Mulamula - Administrator/Diplomat
10. Hon. Stella Manyanya (MP) - Electrical Engineer-cum-Politician

11. Kabula Zengo - Mtengenezaji wa Mvua
12. Prof. Ninatubu Lema - Mhandisi wa Wahandisi

 

[Eric Cartman]

JC:

Ni vigumu sana kuwa open-minded wakati tuna visingizio vingi vya kujitetea.

Ndugu yangu Companero amechagua nini cha kutuelezea kuhusu waMasai. Lakini kuna mambo mengi amehamua kuyaacha.

Wakati wale wazungu wa mwanzo wanakuja kupeleleza makoloni, walitembelea sehemu mbalimbali. Mmoja wao alipita Dodoma. Na pale alikutana na waMasai.

Na katika maandishi yake anasema kulikuwa na ukame mkubwa na watu walikuwa wanakufa sana kwa njaa. Na aliendelea kusema kuwa wanawake wakiMasai walikuwa wanakwenda kwenye hema lake na kuacha watoto wao na wao kukimbia.

Ukisoma maandishi ya Companero, unaona kuwa anadai waMasai walisha-master mazingira yao. Na mfumo wao ulikuwa self sufficient kuendesha maisha yao kwa miaka mingi. Na vilevile anataka kuonyesha kuwa sera za Nyerere ndio chanzo cha predicaments cha matatizo ya jamii za kiMasaai.

Data zilizopo sasa zinaonyesha kuwa, katika kila kipindi cha miaka kumi Tanzania uwa ina ukame mkubwa. Na madhara ya ukame wa Mwaka mmoja, unatosha kurudisha maendeleo yaliopatikana katika kipindi cha miaka kumi.

Mpaka sasa hivi Companero ajaeleza, je waMasaai walifidia vipi ng'ombe wao, pale ukame ulipotokea. Nina uhakika theory yake ya Trans-human alikuwa haiwezi kufidia ng'ombe wanaopotea kutokana na matatizo ya ukame.

Zakumi

Hizi zote ni fact ambazo wamasai ni wabishi kwa kutetea mila na jadi zao na athari zinazo wakabili ila wapo tuu stuck with their past and cultures.

Hila kwa jinsi vijana wakimasai wanavyomiminika mjini ni evidence ya kwamba baadhi washaona umuhimu wa kuishi kwa namna nyingine ni muda tuu hao wa mjini wataanza kuvaa mavazi ya kawaida ili ku-fit in society.

Mfano wale wanaoenda ma-boarding school wanavyovaa kawaida na mara nyingi uishia mjini na kulea watoto wao kama wengine kwenye jamii, kama Lowassa anavyo vaa suti kuingia kazini na kutuibia kama mafisadi wengine huyu mila katupa long time avai lubega ata akienda kwenye campaign za uchaguzi Monduli.

Tatizo wale kule vijijini na ubishi wao, wa kutotaka elimu ya kutulia na maafa yote uliyoyataja lakini wapi.

Tena umenikumbusha na hoja ya mjumbe mmoja wacha niziunganishe tu mkuu ila samahani kumjibu mwingine kupitia kwako.


After all wao (wamasai) ni reasonable beings, na si Nyumbu ambao uwezi wapa somo jamani mto una mamba msivuke, Nyumbu wao ufuata nature na migration yao kwa hivyo ingawa wanajua athari zake lakini nature ndio inayo waambie waende, kama mchangiaji mmoja alivyosema baadhi uishia kuwa chakula cha mamba, lakini angekua binadamu mara nyingi hutafuta mbinu ya kukwepa, kwani kesha reason mamba adui, na jibu akalitoa hapohapo daraja. au kama skills za daraja ana basi wangezunguka mto au akivuka wengine tukisikia yaliyo mkuta wengi tutasema kajitakia kwa kuwa ana fikra.

Vilevile na Mamba akai sehemu moja mwaka mzima kusubiri nyumbu apite huwa anajua ni msimu gani wa nyumbu na ndio maana nyumbu wakifika tu wanakuta jamaa wameshajipanga hiyo tena ndio tuseme kazi ya mungu au nature inachukua mkondo wake, lakini binadamu awe (mchina, mwafrica, Mzungu, Muindi, Mwarabu) akifika hapo na hana jinsi ya kuvuka bila ya kumkwepa mamba ujue safari yenyewe ndio imeishia hapo.

Sasa basi mmsai ni binadamu Mwafrica ila kachagua mila zake kwa reason zake na choice zake yeye lakini ana tofauti na mtanzania wa kawaida.Labda mpaka ajivalishe mavazi yake au jiiimbe mi-masai masai bwana kama yule kijana.

Hivyo basi kujadili desturi za kimasai zina faida gani si vibaya? Na yote haya kayaleta Bwana Mkubwa ya kusema wanamengi ya kutufunza hawa jamaa watanzania kwenye hiyo akichanganya, talented tenth, ujamaa mambo leo na ku-model maisha ya kimasai kwenye hiyo utopian yake.

Hivyo changamoto ya muda ni kwamba mmasai mbona ana matatizo kibao tu na ataturudisha nyuma ni yeye wakusaidiwa na si- sisi na vielelezo ambavyo mkuu Zakumi anavitoa kuhusu matatizo ya hawa wamasai, lakini amna anae m-disrespect Mmasai wala amna anae mkumbatia mzungu kwa mabaya ila ni facts zilizopo sio kwa perspective ya mzungu bali kwa ukweli wa mambo yaliyochunguzwa kuhusu maisha ya Mmasai.

huyu bwana mkubwa mwingine nita mjibu asubuhi usingizi tena

 

[Zakumi]

Zakumi,
Mkuu wangu nimesoma sana maelezo yenu lakini kitu kimoja tu nitaongezea. Na natanguliza samahani zangu kwani pengine yaweza onekana nimetoka nje ya hatua mlofikia... hivyo kuwakwaza kidogo ktk huu mjadala mzito mnaoendelea nao.
Yangu machache ni kwamba kuna sehemu nakubaliana nawe lakini sii ktk mtazamo wako na sehemu kubwa nakubaliana na Compareno kwa uwezo wake wa kutanguliza UWEZO wa Binadamu mbele ya Taaluma zote za Elimu dunia..Hiki ni kipande muhimu sana inabidi mkizingatie.. (kwa mtazamo wangu)

Nakubaliana na mjumbe mmoja aliyesema kwamba Binadamu tumetunukiwa na Mwenyezi Mungu ambaye katujaalia kitu kimoja Kikubwa sana - AKILI... na kusema kweli hadi leo hii mimi sifahamu tafsiri halisi, bora ya neno hili kwa lugha ya kiingereza zadi ya kusema reasonable mind ambayo bado haina uzito sawa na thamani ya tuzo hili la Muumba kwetu sisi binadamu.. na ndio maana tupo hapa JF na ndipo tunapoonyesha nguvu ya tuzo hili bila kujali wewe una Phd ya Havard au umesoma madrasa ya Kitengule kule Mwibara kama Mkandara hapa.

Sasa kwanza ni lazima tutambue kwamba AKILI ndio chanzo cha fahari ya binadamu kama kiumbe bora na mwenye uwezo mkubwa tofauti na viumbe wengineo wote ktk kufikiri (fikra) kabla ya kufanya jambo lolote. Bongo zetu hucheza kwa kasi ya ajabu ktk maamuzi na kuchukua choices evry time unapofanya jambo lolote au movement yoyote ile, sekunde kwa sekunde ya maisha yako ni about what choices U make hata kubonyesha keyboard tu kuandika..kwani kila picha inayokuja ktk bongo za binadamu huwa kama sarafu yenye sura mbili. Ndio maana tunasema kila shilingi ina sura mbili.

Mkuu wangu ni katika kutambua Uwezo wa binadamu ndipo tunapata hizi ELIMU yaani kila elimu iliyopo hapa duniani imevumbuliwa, imetungwa au kuchongwa na binadamu ambaye chanzo chake hutokana na tanzu ilotaka kutanzuliwa. wakati huo huo vitu vyote tayari mwenyezi Mungu kisha viweka hapa duniani yaani sisi tunachofanya ni kuhakikisha kuwa kila maradhi yana dawa na kila tatizo lina solution kutokana na msingi aloujenga Mwenyezi Mungu mbele ya maisha ya viombe wote..
kwa maana kwamba Huwezi kufikiria Muarobaini kuwa dawa ya Malaria ikiwa hakuna mti huo na Huwezi kufahamu uwezo wa dawa hiyo ikiwa hakuna mtu aliyewahi kuumwa Malaria..
Hutuwezi kufahamu kuwa Muarobaini au mti gani unaweza kutibu cancer bila kuwepo mgonjwa wa cancer, Ni kuwepo kwa madhara kama cancer au malaria ndipo tunapoanza utafiti wa kutaka kujua virusi vyake na jinsi ya kuvipatia tiba kinyume cha Lugha ambayo naiona hapa ambayo imekaa kimchongo mchongo vile.

Yaani mnataka tuamini kwamba taaluma inatangulia matatizo na kwamba elimu ipo na sisi tunachotakiwa ni kuifuata ili tuweze kutanzua matatizo yetu..jambo ambalo linanifanya nijiulize tena hii mada haswa inahusu vitu gani maanake kama tunazungumzia - Talented tenth basi hatupaswi kuzunguzia matumizi ya elimu ilokwisha vumbuliwa, gunduliwa na kuwekwa ktk misingi ya matumizi yake kuwa ni sifa inayotakiwa kutambuliwa..
As a fact, mnachotaka ni kuwazawadia watu ktk kazi ambazo wamekabidhiwa kuzifanya jambo ambalo binafsi naliona kuwa ni chini ya kiwango cha kufikiri kwani sidhani kama kuna kipimo cha sifa kwa mtu anayetumikia wajibu wake.

Pili, mara nyingi sifa za namna hutokana na biashara..huwafuata watu ambao wanataka kuthaminiwa kutokana na uwezo wao ktk maamuzi au utendaji kazi na sii elimu yao..Ni rahisi kwa wakili kuzawadiwa na kupewa tuzo kibao kutokana na kesi alizoshinda..lakini sii rahisi kwa sifa hizo hizo kumfuata daktari aliyeweza kuponya wagonjwa au mwalimu aliyewafundisha mawakili hao hao..

Hivyo nitawaacheni muendelee ila tu mkumbuke kwamba hoja mnazozizungumzia kuhusu masai ni finyu sana kwani ujanja wa survival hauna elimu kwani hata wanyama, ndege na viumbe wengine wanaweza kabisa kujikinga na balaa hizo.. Uwezo wa kutambua njaa, hifadhi ya chakula na kuhama nchi kutokana na hali mbaya inayokuja ni moja ya hisia ambazo viumbe wote tunavyo..

Haina darasa wala haihitaji elimu ya Phd au sayansi kwani wale Nyumbu wa Masai Mara..Wanapokimbia Ukame wa Kenya ui immigrate Tanzania kwa mabillioni hawakuenda darasa hata moja kupewa elimu hiyo.. Pamoja na misukosuko yote ya Mamba ktk kuvuka mto Mara.. Wanyama hawa hufahamu they have to cross.. hakuna kurudi nyuma na hakika inashangaza jinsi wanavyoweza kuvuka ktk hali kaile.

Kitu pekee ambacho nilitegemea kukiona hapa tofauti ni maleezo ambayo yangeonyesha binadamu angefanya tofauti na wanyama hao yaani badala ya kuvamia mto angejenga daraja la kuvukia.. Tofauti na wanyama, Wamasai wa Kenya waliweza vipi kuendelea kuishi Kenya yenye Ukame wakati wanyama wengi kaa sii wote wamehamia Tanzania..Waliweza vipi kuwalisha ngombe wao wa Kenya na kadhalika lakini haya maswala ya kuzungumzia sijui Wazungu walisema nini ktk matukio fulani na mkaweza kuwanukuu jamani hapa mnapotosha kabisa..

Hawa wazungu wanapokuja Afrika na kuandika vitabu vyao ni part ya study au elimu yao.. Mzungu anaweza kumuona Chatu akimnyemelea mtoto wa Msukuma huko shambani akaona fahari kuchukua picha au sinema ya video jinsi Chatu anavyommeza binadamu. Ati akijifunza jinsi Chatu anavyoweza kuwinda na jinsi binadamu iwe mtoto huyo au wazazi wake wanavyoweza vipi kutokea kumwokoa mtoto huyo.. Kama mnakumbuka yule Mpiga picha wa Ki Swedish aliyemchukua mtoto wa Kiithiopia akiliwa na wale ndege Vultures niliwahi kuiweka hapa ikawachukiza wengiu wenu..Ndio wazungu walivyo jamani wao shida yako au matatizo yetu ndio part ya elimu wanayo tufundisha.. He could have saved that boy, lakini badala yake alikaa na kuchukua picha kuonyesha athari za njaa na Ukame..Mtoto yule akawa Cusualties wa Elimu ya viumbe.

Hii ndio part ya elimu ya Binadamu yaani maafa ndiyo somo linapoanza..Kwa hiyo huyo aliyeona Wamasai wakifa kwa njaa sijui wakiwaletea watoto wao kutokana na njaa iliyotokea, huyo mzungu kashindwa kuelewa kwamba kuja kwake au kwao wao wazungu ndiko kunaweza kuwa sababu kubwa ya mabadiliko yote yaliyofuata..Kulifukuza wanyama ili kujenga makazi yao, wao ndio waliokata miti, wakajenga miji yao sehemu ambazo Mmasai asingefanya hivyo..wao ndio walisababisha ukame ambao Mmasai for Centuries aliweza kuishi bila msaada wa mzungu na sii kwamba ukame ulitokea wakati huo tuu toka taifa la WaMasai liwepo sehemu hizo waliweza vipi ku survive! lakini haikuandikwa kwa sababu mzungu hakuwepo wala hataki kumuuliza Mmasai kwa sababu Mmaasai hana elimu au ndio unajua tena -Primitive..

Hawa wazungu wameandika yote haya kama part ya study yao..Kutesema kwa Masai ni ktk kutazama kipimo na uwezo wa masai ku survive ktk hali kaa ile ya Ukame.. Ndio mimi husema hakuna kiumbe destructive wa nature na vilivyomo kama Binadamu anayetafuta ELIMU, kwani elimu bila kutanguliwa na maafa na misukosuko haiwezi kuwa elimu..

Mkandara:

Nimesoma posti yako. Na ngoja niwe defiant katika majibu yangu. Kukubali hoja za Companero ni kukubali utumbo.

Ni kweli kuwa binadamu ana akili na uwezo wake wa kutumia akili ni mkubwa kuliko wa wanyama wengine.

Lakini vilevile binadamu ni social creature. Hivyo matumizi yake ya akili katika maendeleo yatategemea sana muundo wa social settings zake.

Kwa mfano, Sir Isaack Newton akiwa mtoto mdogo alirithi mali za marehemu baba yake. Mali hizi zilijumlisha mifugo. Na alipokuwa anakuwa alitegemewa awe mchungaji wa kondoo kama watoto wengine kijijini. Yeye akawa fascinated na kujitengenezea toys. Akawa anashindwa kuchunga mifugo yake. Mama yake akasononeka. Na wanakijiji wengine wakamuona kuwa ni looser tu.

Kwa bahati nzuri mjomba wake alikuwa ni kasisi na akampeleka kwenye shule ya kusomea ukasisi. na huo ndio ukawa mwanzo wa maisha ya great genius Sir Isack Newton.


Tukirudi kwenye mada. Mategemeo ya wazazi wengi wa Jamii za kiMasaai ni sawa na metegemeo ya wazazi wengi walioishi katika kijiji cha Sir Isack Newton. Wanategemea mtoto wao afuate mila na desturi zao. Kama hafuati basi anaonekana amepotea.

Hivyo basi sio vijana wote wa kiMasaai wanaotaka kufuata Transhumane. Kuna vijana wengine wana dreams za kuwa madaktari, madereva kama watu wa jumuia nyingine. Lakini nafasi zinakuwa adimu kwao.

Kwa mtaji huu hili akili ya biandamu iweze kufikia full potential kuna mambo mengine ya lazima na ya ziada yafikiwe katika jamii husika. Hama sivyo jamii husika itaendelea kutumia na kurudirudia routines zake.

Moja ya kitu kinachochochea matumizi makubwa ya akili ya binadamu ni settlements. Kwa mfano katika kijiji cha Sir Isack Newton, mifugo ilikuwa inachungwa kwenye mazizi. Hii ilimpa nafasi Newton kwenda shule. Kwa upande mwingine, kijana wa kimasaai anaweza kuwa sawa na Newton kiakili. Lakini yeye na kuangalia wanyama ni kazi ya 24/7. Hivyo akili zake zinaendelea kufanya vile vilivyofanywa mababu zake.

Kwa kutilia mkazo tu. Wamasaai wanatumika hapa kama metaphor. Lakini vikwazo vya maendeleo yao vinapatikana katika jamii zingine pia.

 

[Zakumi]

Zakumi

Hizi zote ni fact ambazo wamasai ni wabishi kwa kutetea mila na jadi zao na athari zinazo wakabili ila wapo tuu stuck with their past and cultures.

Hila kwa jinsi vijana wakimasai wanavyomiminika mjini ni evidence ya kwamba baadhi washaona umuhimu wa kuishi kwa namna nyingine ni muda tuu hao wa mjini wataanza kuvaa mavazi ya kawaida ili ku-fit in society.

Mfano wale wanaoenda ma-boarding school wanavyovaa kawaida na mara nyingi uishia mjini na kulea watoto wao kama wengine kwenye jamii, kama Lowassa anavyo vaa suti kuingia kazini na kutuibia kama mafisadi wengine huyu mila katupa long time avai lubega ata akienda kwenye campaign za uchaguzi Monduli.

Tatizo wale kule vijijini na ubishi wao, wa kutotaka elimu ya kutulia na maafa yote uliyoyataja lakini wapi.

Tena umenikumbusha na hoja ya mjumbe mmoja wacha niziunganishe tu mkuu ila samahani kumjibu mwingine kupitia kwako.


After all wao (wamasai) ni reasonable beings, na si Nyumbu ambao uwezi wapa somo jamani mto una mamba msivuke, Nyumbu wao ufuata nature na migration yao kwa hivyo ingawa wanajua athari zake lakini nature ndio inayo waambie waende, kama mchangiaji mmoja alivyosema baadhi uishia kuwa chakula cha mamba, lakini angekua binadamu mara nyingi hutafuta mbinu ya kukwepa, kwani kesha reason mamba adui, na jibu akalitoa hapohapo daraja. au kama skills za daraja ana basi wangezunguka mto au akivuka wengine tukisikia yaliyo mkuta wengi tutasema kajitakia kwa kuwa ana fikra.

Vilevile na Mamba akai sehemu moja mwaka mzima kusubiri nyumbu apite huwa anajua ni msimu gani wa nyumbu na ndio maana nyumbu wakifika tu wanakuta jamaa wameshajipanga hiyo tena ndio tuseme kazi ya mungu au nature inachukua mkondo wake, lakini binadamu awe (mchina, mwafrica, Mzungu, Muindi, Mwarabu) akifika hapo na hana jinsi ya kuvuka bila ya kumkwepa mamba ujue safari yenyewe ndio imeishia hapo.

Sasa basi mmsai ni binadamu Mwafrica ila kachagua mila zake kwa reason zake na choice zake yeye lakini ana tofauti na mtanzania wa kawaida.Labda mpaka ajivalishe mavazi yake au jiiimbe mi-masai masai bwana kama yule kijana.

Hivyo basi kujadili desturi za kimasai zina faida gani si vibaya? Na yote haya kayaleta Bwana Mkubwa ya kusema wanamengi ya kutufunza hawa jamaa watanzania kwenye hiyo akichanganya, talented tenth, ujamaa mambo leo na ku-model maisha ya kimasai kwenye hiyo utopian yake.

Hivyo changamoto ya muda ni kwamba mmasai mbona ana matatizo kibao tu na ataturudisha nyuma ni yeye wakusaidiwa na si- sisi na vielelezo ambavyo mkuu Zakumi anavitoa kuhusu matatizo ya hawa wamasai, lakini amna anae m-disrespect Mmasai wala amna anae mkumbatia mzungu kwa mabaya ila ni facts zilizopo sio kwa perspective ya mzungu bali kwa ukweli wa mambo yaliyochunguzwa kuhusu maisha ya Mmasai.

huyu bwana mkubwa mwingine nita mjibu asubuhi usingizi tena

JC:

Nakuelewa sana. Niliondoka Tanzania mwaka 1992. Wakati naondoka, ndugu wa kiMakonde ndio waliokuwa walinzi. Nimerudi Tanzania 1999, waMasaai ndio walinzi.

Nilipoondoka Tanzania kulikuwa hakuna mtu anaitwa Mmachinga. Nimerudi 1999, vijana wamekuja kutoka mikoa ya kusini na wanaitwa waMachinga.

Sasa hivi DSM ina wakazi 4Millioni. Na wengi ni wahamiaji. Na sababu kubwa ya hii explosive ya uhamiaji ni kuwa na watu wenye fikra kama za Companero za kugawa watu kwenye makundi ya wakulima, wafugaji na wafanyakazi na kushindwa kuona kuwa modernity ya nchi ni lazima ije na transformation .