*Baobab Story* Mervyn..don’t worry …you asked me a very legitimate question…Overseas Food Corporation (OFC ) came immediately after World War II. Spme fellows were very concerned that the British Population would be starved for fat. …so they decided to come to Tanganyika Territory…the emblem was the Twiga who the English called the Giraffe,
I visited Dodoma in 1944..we visited a Goan Family in the railway quarters, All I can remember was that there was snooty girl of about 8 who played the Piano. What my infant mind did not realize at all was that there was a famine raging inb Dodoma. I was to discover this only when I was at UCLA, as a teaching Assistant and started on two research projects, one was plotting all famines and food shortages in all the Provinces…of Tanzania…there were 7 Provinces and each had several districts. At UCLA while conducting book research I also found that the same OFC had another scheme inn Gambia to raise chickens so that the British could have a breakfast of beacon and eggs!! You raised a Pandora’s Box because the OFC headquarters were not far from the original Goan Institute built way back during the German period. The site of the OFC offices were of a temporary nature. There was a Makonda watchman, he was..quite scarified. I distinctly recollect talking to this fellow and during our conservation told him that one day man would go to the Moon ! This shocked and upset the watchman. He told me that it was sheer blasphemy !! The site of those temporary buildings is today the Hdq of AIR TANZANIA *OK back to the Baobab Trees* …Yes they are massive, really massive ….when you come to think of it they can last as many as 2500 years or more. In Zambia there are trees so large that a regular car could pass through the hollowed trunk. Yes near St Peters Church in Oyster Bay the Ali Hassan Road is slightly curved. It was a plea to the Japanese Contractor under JICA Aid not to cut down the tree !! One of the Witch Doctors…has put a cardboard advert with his mobile agreeing to correct erectile problems, infertility and even HIV AIDS There is another one near the brand new Tanzanite Bridge (parallel to the old Salender Bridge) which cost millions of US dollars and built by none other than the late Prez JPM (RIP) At that site I have seen people cme and worship and burn incense ! Men wore Muslim caps, women in black buibui . I will consult my friend Dr Simeon Mesaki, a world renowned expert about the persistence of superstition related to the Mbuyu Back to Dodoma: When the Brits started their Scheme in Kongwa they did not have any tractors. So they modified the old tanks, perhaps even used German tanks. Anyway the tanks were so heavy that they compacted the soils. There is a myth that the spirits dwelling in the Baobab trees were so strong that when the tanks bit a baobab tree the ripper, blade just broke No sensible Mugogo from Dodoma would dare cut a Mbuyu tree Yes, although the baobab tree is found in arid to Semi arid Dodoma and in many parts of Northern Kenya ..they can store and enormous amount of water. Yes as many as 10,000 litres of water..Ask any Sudanese they will tell you. The Baobab of Madagascar are different ….they are found in a regime which is wetter but periodically are hit by droughts or hurricanes !! I cannot resist this. The British after World War II feared a serious beef shortage ...Hip Hip Hooray the solution was CORNED BEEF. So cattle were hauled all the way by train from Dodoma and Mwanza and brought to the Pugu about 40 kms from DSM ....You did not want to pollute DSM ...so the cattle were dropped in unceremoniously dropped Pugu station. From there they were trekked to Kawe (Kiswahili for COWWAY !!!) There were at least two Goan Families working in Kawe ....( One was the Demello ...Blanche the daughter worked in PWD as a telephone Operator) I was temporary there in 1958 keeping trek of files .....this was before the days of computers and mobiles Must call it a day …Next episode later Grandolfo Makongo Juu without consulting his Uncle on Mars