Thank you Mervyn I’m slowly working my way thru Gurnah’s books. A great writer, his language is so nuanced and lovely to read.
I happened to have gone with summer fieldwork from Makerere in 1962, working for the Tanzania Geological Survey, mostly in the Handeni-Korogwe-Lushoto area. Camping in tents with the African field staff, I made lots of friends with the locals. The Englishmen in the teams had their separate camps, posher and nicer. You must know Lushoto and Usambara Mountains were a favorite place for the German settlers due to the cold climate; and they grew tea in these mountains, sisal rope at lower altitudes. So there were a few old men who had served the Germans as laborers and soldiers before 1918. So many stories about the old days over chai, beer and cigarettes!! And bao, of course, till the Mwalimu made bao illegal during work hours. It was always very sad to come across little iron fenced graveyards for the young whites who died in the WWI. They were German, Belgian and English. Walking thru the bush mapping and prospecting, one came across these cemeteries. The same applied in the /Bukoba area later in 1964. There were no similar gravesites for the dead African and Indian soldiers who participated in these battles On Fri, Mar 1, 2024 at 7:35 PM 'Mervyn Lobo' via Tanzanite 2020 < tgo...@googlegroups.com> wrote: > Doc, > Abdulrazak Gurnah takes a look at the brutality of the German officers in > Tanganyika prior to and during WWI - in his novel, "After Lives." > > It is good reading and especially so when you remember Swahili as the > novel is peppered with Swahili names and descriptions. > > Abdulrazak won the Nobel Price for his consistent description of the abuse > natives had to bear during colonialism. > > > Mervyn > > > > > > On Thursday, February 29, 2024 at 05:18:22 p.m. CST, Mel de Quadros < > ymirconsult...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > Read about the naval hi-jinks on lake Tanganyika which left Tanganyika > with an iron ship that still serves today between Tanzania (Kigoma) and the > Congo : > E > https://youtu.be/i5cp-QFzfxU > > A great story that may have partially inspired that great movie The > African Queen!!’ > > On Tue, Feb 20, 2024 serves at 8:53 AM Mel de Quadros < > ymirconsult...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Those of us who lived in Tanganyika in the 1950s or earlier will remember > of the vestiges of the German rule in East Africa. Some Germsin remained in > the common language, Swahili. For example, Germans were referred to as > Wadachi, and German coinage found its way into change at shops. The locals > commonly used ‘hella tanu’ (five hellers) for ten cents. This memory seems > to have disappeared from > The common language in the 1960s. > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Tanzanite 2020" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to tgoans+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tgoans/268805633.1776331.1709339743924%40mail.yahoo.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tgoans/268805633.1776331.1709339743924%40mail.yahoo.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . >
