FYI, this column from the Tanzanian paper, Daily News, was seen via a Google alert... DZO
Tanzania Standard - Daily News http://www.dailynews-tsn.com/news.php?id=1916 Columns "The day I met His Excellency" Source:: Daily News Saturday Story by: Kiangiosekazi wa Nyoka, Windhoek Date: 01.07.2006 LAST Tuesday, June 20, 2006, is my unforgettable day. I was informed at short notice that I was required at the State House at 15 hrs to meet the president. The president? I asked myself. Yes, I answered myself. The first time I went to state house was when Mzee Rashidi Mfaume Kawawa visited Namibia as a personal guest of the retired President Sam Nujoma in late nineties. Then I accompanied Kimara Lutheran Choir, on the Heroes Day last year, to the state house for a presidential dinner. President Pohamba and Madame Pohamba stood by the table and served us one by one until the last person. The many times I have been to the state house I was there as one of the guests. But this time I was invited by the president. I rushed for my best suit in the wardrobe, my best necktie and you name it. I was there IN TIME! The president wanted to see me in two different capacities; in (kofia mbili): as the Chairperson of the Tanzanian community living in Namibia and as a correspondent of the government paper, the 'Daily News'. President Pohamba is soft spoken and speaks good Kiswahili by Namibian standards. Namibian leaders speak Kiswahili when they talk to Tanzanians. The language makes you feel you are talking to a friendly big person and you feel at home all the time. That is what happened. Of course they use the Kiswahili of their days, in the 1960s, when Buguruni was Alabama and Magomeni was another Oysterbay. Kiswahili has undergone a serious metamorphosis. Even a person like me, a Mbondei --- of all the people --- I have to struggle to remain abreast of what it taking place in the world of Kiswahili to know the meaning of words like mshiko, tafu, kutonya, mnoko, dingi, dent... The president was the first to greet me in Kiswahili but in the reverse way. He said: ''Shikamoo Mzee Nyoka". You can guess. The man had sent me on tottering feet. But I quickly gained my ground and told him: "Shikamoo Mheshimiwa Rais, wewe ndiye Mzee." 'Oh samahani bwana," he apologized. His Private Assistant does not know Kiswahili. He switched to official language, English. I was wearing 'kofia mbili'. I can only discuss for your weekend reading, mostly what the president told me as a reporter of the 'Daily News'. My head was twice its normal size when the president thanked and praised me for this and that, especially for the role Tanzanians living in Namibia played when JK visited us here. Example: He was happy SWAPO veterans were invited at Safari Hotel when JK addressed Tanzanians. I thanked the president for his personal efforts and blessing on the ideas we float and initiatives we take; I expressed gratitude to the efforts of Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Ms (read Comrade) Netumbo Nandi-Ndeitwa in pushing for very and meaningful relations between Tanzanians and Namibians. Her efforts towards creating a focused Tanzania-Namibia Friendship Association that would bring together grassroots people of the two countries. The push is to have, especially, organised groups of women and youth in the two countries working together to raise their socio-economic status and give meaning to the independence of the two countries. It is an effort to use resources of the two countries to end the exclusion of too many Africans from what retired President Benjamin Mkapa called "benefits of national prosperity". I was double-happy to learn how supportive President Pohamba was of the idea. "That is very good, you should speed that up," he told me. Then, as I reported, the president conveyed his message on Kiswahili, and on a serious note. "We want people here to sharpen their rusty Kiswahili. They do not speak it. I would like to see Kiswahili being taught here..." He said the French want to see French mastered in the world. "Why can't we (Africans) do what the French are doing?" I neither believed my ears nor my eyes. I kept gazing at the old man. Every sentence was loaded. Through a simple reporter, the president addressed individual African patriots who care about the future of this continent; he addressed patriotic linguists; academicians; politicians and Africa's business community. Whether people want it or not, Kiswahili is Africa's language of tomorrow, the president told me with all honesty and prophetically. He is right. Which other African language, besides Kiswahili, is being formulised and codified into gadgets you call computers? And I am told Microsoft have advanced in making Kiswahili a computer language of the future. I gazed at the president speechlessly. Internally I toured his profile: a pan-Africanist since last century, an experienced freedom fighter, a president --- a person who knows why Africa does not have a voice in the world; a person who knows from experience why and how Africa is unduly marginalised and treated with contempt; a person who wants Africa to have at least a semblance of dignity before the world. He told me, as if asking me: Who own Kiswahili? He then answered the question himself. I reported that the other day. I told myself: 'This is perhaps (or probably?) Africa's last cultural prophet'. After that rare, unexpected and beautiful lecture, I told the old man: Mr President, nobody owns Kiswahili. It is owned by the Waswahili. And today 'Waswahili' are people who speak Kiswahili on every continent! In no time 40 minutes were gone. They looked like four minutes. The President had to meet the Farmers Association to discuss on the land issues. He bid me 'kwa heri', and I was ushered out of the state house to give room for others. The prophecy had ended. Kiswahili opened the doors of the state house for me. Individuals, groups and African nations that will take Kiswahili seriously --- and now --- will not regret. They will have door opened for them! Enjoy your Otjesomething. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AfricanLanguages/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
