Monday, October 18, 2004
October 18, Sunday
With Thursday (Nyerere Day, a National Holiday) and Friday (I don’t teach on Fridays) free, this has been a delightful, long weekend. So Ryan, Kathleen and I took the opportunity to go to Butiama, home of Julius Nyerere where there is now a National Museum in his honor as the first President and the Founder of Tanzanian Independence.
For this expedition we took a northbound Bunda Bus headed for Musoma to the intersection where a dirt road leads back to Butiama. We thought the dirt road would was about 8 km long, a reasonable hike if there was no daladala. But the sign there informed us that the road was 18 km – a bit more daunting.
Still, we began walking and after about fifteen minutes we were able to flag down a passing Tanesco electric company truck and climb on the back along with a dozen or so Tanesco workers. It was a great ride, hanging onto the ladder and looking at the countryside as we bounced and rocked along, wind blowing in our faces. We managed to speak a few words with the workers – where are you from, where are you going, what is your name, where is the Museum.
They left us off about 2 km short of the town – I think they were not anxious to be seen giving us the ride. We had a little trouble finding the museum – it is a short distance off on a side road and and then a short distance off that road, and not well marked at all. We did find it, finally. It consisted of one large, round room full of pictures of Nyerere from his boyhood through his retirement, some of his uniforms, some history of the Zenaki tribe that he belonged to and tribal artifacts. Lots of certificates and gifts given to him in celebration of his leadership in the war with Idi Amin’s Uganda in the late 80s. Interesting, sort of, but nothing to get too excited about.
There were pictures of Nyerere with several popes, world leaders, Jimmy Carter. We thought there might be a picture of him with JFKennedy since JFK was a strong supporter and friend of Nyerere, but no sign of him.
We had hoped that since October 14 was Nyerere Day, there might be some special events or exhibits going on. No such thing. There was just one other visitor during the two hours that we were there, a Tanzanian school teacher. Our guide showed all of us around the room, and basically read the titles of the plaques to us as we read them ourselves.
Nyerere’s home is very near the museum, and the grounds contain his mausoleum as well as the graves of his parents. There were lots of artificial bouquets and flowers at his mausoleum. His house looks very attractive – European and modern. But it is not open to the public.
And that was that.
We had a soda, fries and watermelon at a little cafe, then began to hoof it back along the dirt road. We walked for a couple of hours before a daladala happened along to pick us up to take us to the main road. Lots of time to tell stories about our past histories, share war stories about our teaching experiences, and enjoy the beautiful empty vistas. Homes along the road were the typical round wattle and mud construction with thatch roofs for the most part, occasionally fired brick buildings with corrugated metal roofs.
At the main road we flagged down another Bunda Bus after about half an hour, and it brought us back home without incident. It was a good break – good to get out of Dodge City again for a change.
With Thursday (Nyerere Day, a National Holiday) and Friday (I don’t teach on Fridays) free, this has been a delightful, long weekend. So Ryan, Kathleen and I took the opportunity to go to Butiama, home of Julius Nyerere where there is now a National Museum in his honor as the first President and the Founder of Tanzanian Independence.
For this expedition we took a northbound Bunda Bus headed for Musoma to the intersection where a dirt road leads back to Butiama. We thought the dirt road would was about 8 km long, a reasonable hike if there was no daladala. But the sign there informed us that the road was 18 km – a bit more daunting.
Still, we began walking and after about fifteen minutes we were able to flag down a passing Tanesco electric company truck and climb on the back along with a dozen or so Tanesco workers. It was a great ride, hanging onto the ladder and looking at the countryside as we bounced and rocked along, wind blowing in our faces. We managed to speak a few words with the workers – where are you from, where are you going, what is your name, where is the Museum.
They left us off about 2 km short of the town – I think they were not anxious to be seen giving us the ride. We had a little trouble finding the museum – it is a short distance off on a side road and and then a short distance off that road, and not well marked at all. We did find it, finally. It consisted of one large, round room full of pictures of Nyerere from his boyhood through his retirement, some of his uniforms, some history of the Zenaki tribe that he belonged to and tribal artifacts. Lots of certificates and gifts given to him in celebration of his leadership in the war with Idi Amin’s Uganda in the late 80s. Interesting, sort of, but nothing to get too excited about.
There were pictures of Nyerere with several popes, world leaders, Jimmy Carter. We thought there might be a picture of him with JFKennedy since JFK was a strong supporter and friend of Nyerere, but no sign of him.
We had hoped that since October 14 was Nyerere Day, there might be some special events or exhibits going on. No such thing. There was just one other visitor during the two hours that we were there, a Tanzanian school teacher. Our guide showed all of us around the room, and basically read the titles of the plaques to us as we read them ourselves.
Nyerere’s home is very near the museum, and the grounds contain his mausoleum as well as the graves of his parents. There were lots of artificial bouquets and flowers at his mausoleum. His house looks very attractive – European and modern. But it is not open to the public.
And that was that.
We had a soda, fries and watermelon at a little cafe, then began to hoof it back along the dirt road. We walked for a couple of hours before a daladala happened along to pick us up to take us to the main road. Lots of time to tell stories about our past histories, share war stories about our teaching experiences, and enjoy the beautiful empty vistas. Homes along the road were the typical round wattle and mud construction with thatch roofs for the most part, occasionally fired brick buildings with corrugated metal roofs.
At the main road we flagged down another Bunda Bus after about half an hour, and it brought us back home without incident. It was a good break – good to get out of Dodge City again for a change.
