To all Tanzanians Dear friends, please read do not discard Why are we and the media so negative? Why are we in Tanzania/Zanzibar so embarras...
To all Tanzanians
Dear friends, please read do not discard
Why are we and the media so negative? Why are we in Tanzania/Zanzibar so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths and achievements? We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why? We have so many resources including gold and natural gas. We were once in (Zanzibar) the world's largest producer of cloves.
We are the third largest producer of gold in Africa after South Africa and Ghana, We are known for Tanzanite Gemstones in the world. We have beautiful national parks, the world famous Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Conservation area. We are the land of Kilimanjaro.
From Zanzibar, we export spices and seaweed, making us one of the largest fishing canoe production. There are millions of such achievements but we and our media are only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters. In Tanzania/Zanzibar, we only read about sicknesses, poverty, corruption and so on so forth.. Why are we so NEGATIVE?
Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? We want foreign Televisions, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology. Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance? Why do we need foreign aid?
Nyerere from his book “Uhuru na Maendeleo "[A] man is developing himself when he grows, or earns, enough to provide decent conditions for himself and his family; he is not being developed if someone gives him these things."
I was in L.A. sometime two years ago walking by Laguna beach, I had my African attire (kitenge) and a blouse made by a local Tanzanian (Fundi charahani) when a 19 year old college student asked me if she could take a picture of my outfit. She wanted to display it for her final project. She didn't think that Africans could make fashion clothing worthy to be displayed on runways in Milan, New York or Paris. So I asked her what her goal in life is and she said she wants to make clothes from Vitenge and Kanga and market it all over the globe.
You must proclaim, Tanzania is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation. Can't we all spare at least 20 minutes for our country? WE say that our government is inefficient, and corrupted. WE say that our laws favor the rich. WE say that the municipality do not pick up the garbage.WE say that we go for a whole month without electricity, The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination. WE say that Zanzibar is sold to the highest bidder for peanuts. WE say, say and say.
What do WE do about it?
Nyerere from his book “Uhuru na Maendeleo” "If real development is to take place, the people have to be involved."
Take a person on his way to Botswana. Let’s say (YOU)... YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. YOU are as proud of their airport as they are. In New York,You pay $5 (approx.6500 shillings) to drive through midtown tunnel (equivalent of kigamboni or maybe, bwawani hotel mpaka markiti) throughout the day.
YOU come back to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity yet, you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai.
YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah. YOU would not dare to buy an employee in the US to see to it that your Luku, phone, bills are billed to someone else.
YOU would not dare to speed beyond 65 mph in New York thruway and then tell the patrol officer, Unanijua mie nani (Do you know who I am?). or chukua chochote basi... Take your two bucks and get lost. Why don't YOU spit on the streets of Muscat ?
Why don't YOU buy fake school certificates in Boston? It is the same YOU, who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will dispose maganda ya machungwa, ya ndizi and cigarettes butts on the road in public the moment you touch Tanzanian/Zanzibar ground.
If you can be an obedient, involved and appreciative citizen in a foreign country, why can’t you demonstrate the same obedient in your own country? .We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibilities. We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative.
We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop disposing garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick up piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect public toilets to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of them. When it comes to social issues like those related to women, matrimonial responsibilities, FGM, education, empowering women, we make loud protests and continue to do the reverse at home.
And what’s our excuse 'It's the whole system, it’s the culture which has to change, how will it matter if I stand alone? And who's going to change the system? What does a system consist of? Very convenient for us, it consists of our neighbors, other communities and the government but definitely, not ME and YOU. To us making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away.
Hounded by our fears we run to AMERICA, bask in their glory and praise their system. And when the atmosphere is no longer conducive we shift gear to the UK, and when they experience high rate of unemployment we board emirates to the Gulf and of course when the Gulf is war struck and there is no other place for our destitute, fragile souls, we demand to be rescued and brought home by our government. We are all out to abuse and rape the country, we don’t think of feeding the system because our conscience is mortgaged to MONEY….
In the words of John F. Kennedy He said “Ask what we can do and do what has to be done?” in this sense YOU ask what we can do for Tanzania/Zanzibar and do what has to be done to make Tanzania/Zanzibar what America and other western countries are today
…….and I will end with Nyerere’s words "...intellectuals have a special contribution to make to the development of our nation, and to Africa. And I am asking that their knowledge, and the greater understanding that they should possess, should be used for the benefit of the society of which we are all members." From his book “Uhuru na Maendeleo” (Freedom and Development)…..
-- Telly Yussuf
64-39B 186th Lane
#3AFresh Meadows,
NY11365516 312 0034
Dear friends, please read do not discard
Why are we and the media so negative? Why are we in Tanzania/Zanzibar so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths and achievements? We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why? We have so many resources including gold and natural gas. We were once in (Zanzibar) the world's largest producer of cloves.
We are the third largest producer of gold in Africa after South Africa and Ghana, We are known for Tanzanite Gemstones in the world. We have beautiful national parks, the world famous Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Conservation area. We are the land of Kilimanjaro.
From Zanzibar, we export spices and seaweed, making us one of the largest fishing canoe production. There are millions of such achievements but we and our media are only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters. In Tanzania/Zanzibar, we only read about sicknesses, poverty, corruption and so on so forth.. Why are we so NEGATIVE?
Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? We want foreign Televisions, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology. Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance? Why do we need foreign aid?
Nyerere from his book “Uhuru na Maendeleo "[A] man is developing himself when he grows, or earns, enough to provide decent conditions for himself and his family; he is not being developed if someone gives him these things."
I was in L.A. sometime two years ago walking by Laguna beach, I had my African attire (kitenge) and a blouse made by a local Tanzanian (Fundi charahani) when a 19 year old college student asked me if she could take a picture of my outfit. She wanted to display it for her final project. She didn't think that Africans could make fashion clothing worthy to be displayed on runways in Milan, New York or Paris. So I asked her what her goal in life is and she said she wants to make clothes from Vitenge and Kanga and market it all over the globe.
You must proclaim, Tanzania is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation. Can't we all spare at least 20 minutes for our country? WE say that our government is inefficient, and corrupted. WE say that our laws favor the rich. WE say that the municipality do not pick up the garbage.WE say that we go for a whole month without electricity, The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination. WE say that Zanzibar is sold to the highest bidder for peanuts. WE say, say and say.
What do WE do about it?
Nyerere from his book “Uhuru na Maendeleo” "If real development is to take place, the people have to be involved."
Take a person on his way to Botswana. Let’s say (YOU)... YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. YOU are as proud of their airport as they are. In New York,You pay $5 (approx.6500 shillings) to drive through midtown tunnel (equivalent of kigamboni or maybe, bwawani hotel mpaka markiti) throughout the day.
YOU come back to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity yet, you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai.
YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah. YOU would not dare to buy an employee in the US to see to it that your Luku, phone, bills are billed to someone else.
YOU would not dare to speed beyond 65 mph in New York thruway and then tell the patrol officer, Unanijua mie nani (Do you know who I am?). or chukua chochote basi... Take your two bucks and get lost. Why don't YOU spit on the streets of Muscat ?
Why don't YOU buy fake school certificates in Boston? It is the same YOU, who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will dispose maganda ya machungwa, ya ndizi and cigarettes butts on the road in public the moment you touch Tanzanian/Zanzibar ground.
If you can be an obedient, involved and appreciative citizen in a foreign country, why can’t you demonstrate the same obedient in your own country? .We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibilities. We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative.
We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop disposing garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick up piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect public toilets to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of them. When it comes to social issues like those related to women, matrimonial responsibilities, FGM, education, empowering women, we make loud protests and continue to do the reverse at home.
And what’s our excuse 'It's the whole system, it’s the culture which has to change, how will it matter if I stand alone? And who's going to change the system? What does a system consist of? Very convenient for us, it consists of our neighbors, other communities and the government but definitely, not ME and YOU. To us making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away.
Hounded by our fears we run to AMERICA, bask in their glory and praise their system. And when the atmosphere is no longer conducive we shift gear to the UK, and when they experience high rate of unemployment we board emirates to the Gulf and of course when the Gulf is war struck and there is no other place for our destitute, fragile souls, we demand to be rescued and brought home by our government. We are all out to abuse and rape the country, we don’t think of feeding the system because our conscience is mortgaged to MONEY….
In the words of John F. Kennedy He said “Ask what we can do and do what has to be done?” in this sense YOU ask what we can do for Tanzania/Zanzibar and do what has to be done to make Tanzania/Zanzibar what America and other western countries are today
…….and I will end with Nyerere’s words "...intellectuals have a special contribution to make to the development of our nation, and to Africa. And I am asking that their knowledge, and the greater understanding that they should possess, should be used for the benefit of the society of which we are all members." From his book “Uhuru na Maendeleo” (Freedom and Development)…..
-- Telly Yussuf
64-39B 186th Lane
#3AFresh Meadows,
NY11365516 312 0034
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