My debut publishing as a journalist in 2005 for The Citizen in Tanzania .

1. &
THE CITIZEN Wednesdoy, 5 Jonuoly' 2005
BY MARGARET MUIGAI
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he fact that she is currently
busy with her A levels at Mzi7.-
ima Secondary School in Dar
s Salaam h6n't stopped ter
from.doing whatever she wants to do.
And what Happiness Chilima liks to
do is fashion.
"l like to design ready to wear
cloths, cmual outfits and street wear
geaed at youtrg PeoPle. I wmt to help
them express themselves. I wmt to
pursue lashion md design profession-
allv as a creer upon completion of
mv A levels in Milch this Year alrd
there alter t want to develop f6hion
in Tanzania and especially make
young people mdre fashion con-
scious." she savs without missing a
beat.
Much €asier said than done, but
Chilima is clearly alreddy on her way
up. She seems to know iust what she
wilts to do next mA has already
planed how she will do it;
"l can onlY do this bY m6tering
the skill and creativity tbis indutry
hm to offer. The rest is uP to me. MY
weekends ad holidaYs are mostly
occupied by my creations "
This is not ffictly what other
teenagers are doing with their spare
time, but then again the hanille she
has on her time is obviously exactly
what makes Chilinia look like the nst
big thing to hit E6t African catwalks.
If you think that sounds a bit far
fetched then maybe You don't Imow
that mongst other things, she ws
one of l2 finalists for the most promis-
ing young Edt Alricm designers at
the Student F6hion Design awilds
last year. Her subsequent victory'
mnouced at the oPening show of the
Kenva Fuhion Week 2004, ws a bi8
moment for the 19 Year old whose
first dabble in the industry was not
half as succesful.
"l wc first drawn to fdhion
design in 2003, when I entered an
international lashion dsign cbmpeti-
tion, which I heard about on Channel
l0 Television in Dar s Salm. Pdtic-
ipmts were required to send sketchs
of their bst design, which is what I
did. My design was based on the Tan-
zania lifestyle, which I later realized
did not $ve me a big chilce to win
since judgment was being Pssed in
Itdy."
Chtlima think! she would have
done much better if her designs had
more western appeal, which she could
perhaps have dram from ber Russim
side. Chilima was born of a Tanzanian
Iather md a Russian mother but she
hm a fiery love for all things Tmzani-
m,
"My inspiration is dram from vz!r-
ious things about TaManim culture
like the different tribes md I like to
represent these in mY desiSns, of
course integrating a modern or con'
temporary twist to them, " says Chili
ma
It is quite lucky for Tanzania that
Italy didn't grab her first and even
luckier still that her miss at one big
international prize failed to knock her
down. Since that first competition,
Chilima has been getting a lot o{
recognition in local f6hion circls.
"l was invited to dsign for Miss
Tourism Tmzmia in 2003. From then
on, I realized I enjoyed dsigning more
than mlthing."
Chilima may love fmhion dsign
more than anything else, but it is still
not the only thing on her plate. Quite
accidentally, I stumble on the fact that
she h6 done one or two things that I
would never have figured her lor.
One w6 getting her blue belt in
Karate, which quite Puzzls me since
it is something other than tie usual
brown or black belt. She quickly
miures me that she did not Pursue
martiai ilis mY lufder due to lack of
time rather than mything else. I qgite
emily believe her becase so ldr Chili-
ma sems to be the l6t Person to will-
ingly do anything in half measues.
The other thing, climbing Mount
Kilimaniaro, was literally no walk in
the park. Though Chilirda has a certifi-
cate to prove that she made lt all the
way to the highest.peak, she says that
looking back, this,w6 the cruiest
thing that shb has ever done.
"On the last day belore we nade it
to the hiShst Peah we had to wake
up at llpm and walk untll nine a.m.
the n€xt morning. We wse slspy and
shausted and had to gaths all our
energy to keep moving along the
rftlry ild slippery tenain. All that
ws visible was the thin bem lrom a
torch that lit our way'"
I m not getting the impression
that she wouldn't do it all the same
way again. given the same set of cir-
cumstmces. Chilima tuns out to be
one ol those people who literally flirts
with challen$ng situations and often
comes out on top, smiling tilumphant-
ly. Despite. her Prot6tatiom, I cm
actually imagine her standing on that
mountain, with a grin fixed on her face
md a look that says 'l knev I would do
this.'
'Would' and not'could' because
her biggest challenge seems to be
findins the time raths thil the ability
or det"emination to do something. For
one thing, she lets on that she was
quite confident about winningthe stu-
dent design awards in 2004.
"lt ws because I had Previous
experience tn designing. Personality
ws a big thing in this comPetition
along with your presentation of your
sketchs. The tinishing also mattered.
I had put so much energy and imagina-
tion into this proiect that i felt sure my
designs stood for this. Bsid6' I also
had a lot of support from my parents'
mv sister and the then Reds brmd
m-anaqer, Sauda Kilmanga and the
designer Mustala Hssilali. The rest. I
left to God.'
Don't lorget, Chilima is not even
20 years old yet and already it hs
bes quite a long jouney. Not surpris-
ingly, that victory set the tone for 2004
for her, equipping her with more than
a title.
"l leilnt a lot about Iashion md I
w6 able to met imPortant People in
the fashion industry. Pilt of the 2004
award oflered me a trip to the CaPe
Town fshion week at the end of
September. While there, I discovered
that fashion is not so much m art 6 a
businessi it is very Practical."
She goes on to splain that the
Iashion industry is very dynamic; to
stay on top you have got to go out and
milket yourself.
"ln South Alrica, lashion goes
hmd in hand wiih'milketing, selling
ild advertising. There I realized that I
wanted to take uP fshion md dsign
seriouslll as a carer.
Thus far, everYthing she did was
as an amateur and while still in
school. It someums memt that she
had to miss her extra tuition and even
a few clmsc. As far 6 she's con-
cemed though the work Paid off and
she is tiappy. But, there !s more to
come.
"I m cunently working on a fash-
ion project, which twill not disclose at
this time but as soon 6 it's matwe'
it's going to bring out more ol the HaP
py Chilima you have not Yet seen nor
heard'
As we leave the interview I cannot
help but wonder what proiect she has
up her sleeve. Whatever it is, chances
de it will be succssful.
I
I
i
Hoppiness Chilimo

2. K
15
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u
Cqn't help but
fqll in love qt work?
While success slories ore not hqrd to come by, there ore o number of issues to be foced
by people who qre romonticolly linked to someone else of their workploce
By Morgolet Mulgqi ( t
f me, a deeJay at a local radlo sta- j
I tion is involved with mothert
I a*iuy, . cdlleague at the sta-E
t l tion.
'The
two liie together and
E
though they work at the same station,
they have different show slots and
hardly met dudng the day. They
have been together for five years and
are dppdrently still going strong.
ln Tauani4 in the sixties ild sev-
enties, more often thin not people got
involved with and manied other peG
ple from familis theylived close to or
had linown for a while. Today society
is chmging with most long-tem rela-
tiolships beginning at work where
people spend most of their time.
According to research, four out of ten
employea meet their future mate at
work. Bill Gates, ihe cEo.of Microsoft,
Iirst met his tuture wife Melinda
French when she was a Microsoft
employee.
While succss stories de not hard
to come by, there are a number ol
issu6 to be laced by pmple who ae
rommtically linked to someone el$
at their workplace. Firstly, is there a
'right' way to go about this kind of
thing? Surely even if you don't bring
all your domestic issues to work with
you in the morning, it is impossible
not to be unlazed by what he/she did
or didn't say.
. Surprisingly, a cross-sectioR o{
local organisations approached about
whether or not they have my policies
concerning relationships between
their employees didn't. In fact, most
of them encouraged their employees
to be very cordial in their relation-
ships with their co-workers. What
they all seemed to be against was the
pdsionate, whirlwind rommces that
had the potential to effect dev6tating
consequences on the efficiency of the
involved parties. This kind of thing,
they agreed, could clearly cost tbem.
In such cass, the company repre
sbntatives spoken to deemed it neces-
sary (and iustifiable) to take some
rathar radical action in the interGts
of protecting their organizations.
Thing is, without a cleartut set of
guidelines, things can turn ugly.
In the US where sexual harrs-
ment suits are I common as the flu, a
famously controversial incident in
Calilomia in 1984 iilvolved one Vir-
ginia Rullon Miller who while in a
management position with IBM was
fired due to her relationship.with an
account milager of an IBM competi-
tor Her dismissal, according to IBM,
was on the grounds that it constituted
a conflict of interest. She brought the
c6e against IBM and won. Wheres
most people would argue that there
was indeed a conflict of interest in
this c6e, IBM's employee code of
conduct was somewhat vague in
defining where the conflict of interest
lies.
All things considered, there seems
to be no winning for the person who
finds him or herself irresistibly draw
into a ceworker or worse still, superi-
or or someone who reports to you. Do
you act like you feel nothing when the
object of your affection receives a
putdom for a iob badly done? What
i[ ybu de the one who htr to deliver
the reprimand?
Given that almost every oflice is
equipped with a rumour mill. one
thing is for certain: try I you might
to stay mum about your budding
romance, it is bound to draw some
attention to itself somehow. A lot of
that attention will probably be nega-
tive, so it is always wise to tread care
fully in order to avoid all manner of
complications that may arise from
love affairs at the workplace:
In the end, if it causes you too
much stress - as in Susan's story -
some say it may not be worth it.
Susan worked a job she loved in
the media, and there she.met her
'Prince Chaming.' For a while, the
two worked together in the produc-
tion department but with their daily
interaction it became near impossible
for them to hide their involvement.
Memwhile, the office gossip machine
was churning out delectable bits of
information on the two even mong
those in lower positions.
According to Susan, it became
standard practice whenever she made
any mistake for her admonishers to
bring in the matter of her relationship
and things were thu always bloM
out of proportion. lt became for her a
daily headache and affected her work
so much that sh€ had to choose
between her job and her boy'Iriend.
She chose the.latter.
"While there may be many chal-
lengc when dating your coworker,
the best thing is to be 6 discreet
about things tr possible by setting up
relationship ruls between the two ol
you for the period that you are at
work; like, don't flirt too much," says
Michael who runs a private company.
He met his current love interest when
he first started worhng.
With more and more peopte today
dating .their co-workers, a list ,ol
employee dating guidelins will no
doubt be a useful read (or anyone:
Develop a professional relation-
ship before you develop a romantic
one. Take the time to learn as much as
you cm about the coworker whom
you are considering dating.
Is he or she related to the boss? Is
he or she already in a relationship? Is
the coworker prone to gossip md
tells his/her personal life to ilyone
who will listen? These seemingly
unimportant and no doubt unroman-
ttc littl€ details will definitely come to
matter later on, especially if you want
to take things a little bit further than a
few dat6.
Be prepared for anything in your
relationship. Apat from all the usual
things, if your dating ends on a sour
note, you will (unless you decide to
quit) still have to work with the cG
worker or under the sme person.
This is bound to be quite difficult at
first and might even continue to be
that way. For this re6on, it is impor-
tant to stilt any relationship out as
slow r possibl6.
Develop what is called 'open com-
munication.' When you ile dating a
coworker you have what is called a
'dual relationship.' This means that
you have two different typs of rela-
tionships.(business and romantic)
with the same person. Balmcing this
dual relationship is the keyto keeping
it (and your career) on solid ground.
lf you are a milager or have a
high-ranking position within the com-
pany, you will probably need to
inform your. employer that you are
dating a ccworker If the employee
you are dating reports directly to you
or you are responsible for his or her
performance reviews, promotions,
work ssignments, or pay raises, you
will need to trilsfer those responsi-
bilities to a different parry
On the.other hand, iI you are se
ing a cGworker, there is no reason for
you to inform your employer in most
occupations and circumstances but of
course it all really depends on your
company's employee dating policies.
One more thing, even if the guide
lines at your company are not scream-
ing out'no', it's importmt that you
speak to your. employer md assure
him or her that you plan to keep your
relationship profssional at work and
will not participate in tasks where a
conflict of interst iniy develop.

3. THE CITIZEN FRIDAY. J8 MARCH- 2OO5
n3
THE 'MISSES'STRUGGLE
TO MAKE THEIR MARK IN
A VERY SCEPTICAL WORLD
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Is
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By tlorgorel Muigoi 1 ..,
I t is almost too easy to pull a face and grum-
I ble against the sense (or nonsense) of beau-
I ty pagmts like Miss Tanzania, calling on all
I the usual arguments: why on earth do we
I have them? Why is it always women md not
I men? Who ruyjtt" luag"i de right itr their
seltrtion a]ryays? Why the swimsuit pilade
and why do so mairy of us tolerate, nay, cheer
Ior the ultimate triumph of the physical stimu-
lation that the competition feeqs on? .
While it is probably important to seek
answers to these questions and addrss the
fact that nobodJ that is actually involved in
organising the pageant seems willing to open
up and answer most of them, there is no way of
ignoring the country's barage o{ 'misses'. The
{act is that organising committees tre often
times too busy satisfying the shows' growing
audierices,
Unfortunately, it is society that has to
mswer for the presence of beauty pageants
because some of us secretly enjoy the superfi
cial, perhaps even cruder ptrt of the events -
the smalled search {or beaut;r. And we are will
ing to pilt with lilge sums of money to witness
. Still, while mmy of us are not quite con-
vinced that there is a legitimate re6on lor 'con-
tests' tike tliis to exist, the ilgument is that iI
the'right'person wears that Miss Tanzania
crom for a year, not only does she have the
opportunity to improve her om life but a lot of
other people also stmd the chance to benefit.
In other words, don't be too quick to die
miss as morally worthlss the Miss Tanzmia
pageant md indeed all other beauty pagemts
without looking beyond the obvious.
The title ol Miss Tmzmia coms with social
dury Every year, each beauty queen under-
takes to play a role in the country's community
development either by working in HIV-Aids cen-
trs, orpheages md homes for the disabled or
visiting ordinay schools that require material
$sistance for their pupils. This is with the aim
of improving things in whatever area she
chooses to focus on - to sort of make her mark
on the big picture.
But change cannot be achieved in a vacu-
um. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the winner had
the support she is bound to ne€d to get these
things done?
That is, what have you done for your com
munity lately beause maybe, just maybe, the
winner of this mnual competition is regulaly
doing more than you?
According to Hashim Ludenga, the Manag:
ing Dirctor ol Lino lntemational Agency, the
compily that h6 been orgmising Miss Tilza
nia since 2001, despite acquiring a number of
sponsors each year, the winner faces limita-
tions in the budget allocated toweds communi
ty work
"We normally schedule progrms for scial
work but a limited budget restricts the number
of centrs which the beauty queens cil help
through theircheity work," says Ludenga.
Still, this hasn't stopped them doing what
they need to do. And in previous years this h6
involved visiting centres srich as tht!
Kurasini home for orphans, the
Kiwohede Centre for rehabilitation
of child prostitut6 and the Bugu-
runi School for the Deaf, offering
assistance in the form of cash or the
donation of foodstuffs, medicines,
books, detergents, mosquito'nets
md so on, i
For Hoyce Temu, who wro Miss
Tanzania 2000 and is currently
studying Public Health last year, the
responsibility she took on was that
of trsisting Amma government hos-
pital with a supply of medicines.
Angela Damas, Miss Tanzania
2002 says the experience she had of
social responsibility during her
reign inspired her to-take a deeper
interst in the study of social issus
that is part of the course she is pu-
suing in Sociology. With the funds
she had, which she says were not
much at all, she did work in
Dodom4 fuusha and Kilimanjilo.
Filata Kotta, the reigning Miss
Tmzania, eillier this year visited
Kiwohede md contributed books to
Kisutu Girls' Secondary School. Nor
hm her work been limlted to Dar es
Salaam. She wtr rsently in MorG.
goro where she donated football jerseys to
Bawai Scondary Schml.
While in Dodoma, she visited the general
hospital and donated medicine for the children.
She also extended her encouragement and
asistance to the 'Kiiiii cha Matumaini' a centre
lor HIV positive children.
But most people simply won't be convinced
that the wearing of the crom is ultimately
about seruing md not... well, strutting your
stulf ild winning a few cool prize for this.
In fact, it is usually the sole rsponsibility of
the beauty queens to make sure that they ile
relevant to the society that criticises them and
thereby ensuring that the pageat's community
development quota is fullilled. No one, it
seems, makes sure they have the amount of
funding they need and nobody really makes
sure they do the activiti$ they ile required to
do.
"Each year, every queen's contribution to
soclety varies, depoding on how ambitious
one is, what you would like to do md how
much eI il impact you would like to have on
striety using your position," says Kotta.
It also depends on how much help you get.
To date, she has successlully used her m
initiative to win sponsors for her causes - she
wants I much as possible to ffsist centers
that promote the positive $owth of young
women - such ro Youth Net, TIOT md Preso
Multimedia Company. She also says private
contributors have also been of help.
"l believe in doing something.which tan
have a long term impact, which is why
I contributed shoulder and elbov
clutchs to Chawata, instead of lood,"
says Kotta.
According to her, Miss Tanzmia
must not only over come budgetary
limitations but at the sme time she
must also be some kind of role modei.
In doing all this she facs ilother chal-
lenge: she must always deal 8racefully
with criticism lrom society, which
often dismisses her as ineffective if sh€
buckles under the pressure in th€
same way as anyone else would.
"l think society hffi a role to play in
ssisting us to assist others," she says.
'But this is not at always forth<oming.
Often psple place conditions on their
assistilce whm we approach them,
which is wong. There ee mmy aed
which cm all be covered if smiety
adds their contribution genuinely,
instead of sitting back md blaming us.'
So what sactly is society waiung
for anyhow?
Mani say they ile waiting to se€
the competition become a little lss
h'?ocritical md ne protesting against
the offer o{ a house, cash and a car
mongst other things to the pagemt's
winnqs.
And they have a point.
That is m awful lot of money to
-
spend on prizs, while you make a lot
of fuss ibout not having enough sponsors for
you causes. But then again, until som@ne
coms up witl mother way to get il individual
to accept belng called ail hnds of nmes whilca
they carry tonnes of social responsibility, these
young women ae probably all that tiose, like
the children ol Kurasinl, have to shine a bit ol
spotlight on their plight. Annually, though it
may be.
*At the end ol this month, Feaja Kottd is
expqted to visit Makete district, which hd a
vely high prevalence of HIV and Aids, courtesy
of fnrsgonsors Youth Net. She hopes to moti
vath as many 6 1,000 youth in the area to fol
lOw her umple and get tested. So fa, only 500
youth have volunteered to be tested with her.

4. THE CITIZEN Tuesday,22 March, 2005
ffi gP$KTlMargaret Muigai
DEBT-SHACI(LED
hree years ago, Bhoke
Ntanokwe started out as
a loan shark with about
30 clients in Mwenge,
Tabata Mawenzi, and
Segerea suburbs of Dar es Salaam.
Today, she is a registered lender
with a clientele of over 80 and has
expanded her seMces to other
regions like Arusha, Mwanza, Zanz-
iba( Tarime, Musoma ard Mtwara.
Bhoke o{fers loans to anyone
who can afford her interest rate of
44 percent, which may seem quite
high to most people but for Bhoke,
business has never been better. On
some days, she is barely able to
sustaln the overwhalmlng number
of clients and is forced to borrow
extra cash to loan to her cus-
tomers,
If Ntanokwe's fortune should
tell us anythlng, it is that many
Tanzanians are indebted. A good
and bad thing. That ls; it's good if
these borrowed moneys are being
put to good use. Bad if... well,
some people have simply discov-
ered debt to be the answer to their
financial crises.
[ }now some people who quick-
ly point to the fact that lf a govern-
ment borrows to sustain its PeoPle
then things generally are not good:
They too have to borrow to feed
their own families. And what would
vou have us do if there are more
days left at the end ol a month thm
salary? Statve? fue you kidding?
Over ?5 percent ot PeoPle ln
Tanzania today are said to acquire
loans lrom different sources each
year with the loan sharks who offer
the so-called'emergency' loans
being ihe most common source.
The repayment of such loans is
another matter. By the time one
goes to the often unregistered mon-
eylender, they have reached the
end of the road as far as thoir
options go. II they are holding good
jobs, they are also probablY run-
ning another loan with one of the
mainstream finmcial lnstitutions,
which are guaranteed by their
employers. But they still desperate
ly need the mone.y. So what next?
Fred? No pal, lend me some if You
get luclry.
Enter the loan shark. And their
interest rates pinch, but given that
they emphmise brief (if Painful)
schedules of one to three months
at the most, unlike the regular
banks that go ttp to five years for
personal loans, they offer an often
irresistible option.
However, when one has sPoken
to a lew of those in the business of
lending money, one can't helP the
conclusion that perhaPs there's
more to debt than we want to
accept.
The more days left than salary
at the end of each month, the more
one is forced to boruow. The more
debts carried forward into the ngxt
month, the less likely one is to
clear them. A vicious cycle quickly
begins: Borrow to pay, pay and bor-
row.
Granted. There are some emer-
gencies - a death, serlous illness -
that throw us o(f{!ard. But really,
all you need is one ambitious debt
tg begin a dangerous cycle.
A phone conversation with a
shark on the other side of town
rbveals that having been bitten bY
one too many desperate borrowers,
they are leaving nothing to chance:
they really want their money back.
And they mean lt.
On the phone, the moneylender
quickly Iists hls conditions before
giving me a bookng for il aPpoint-
ment with him. He levies 22 percent
interest on his loms, he says.
Which I consider quite reasonable
qompared to Ntanokwe. Then
domes the catch. He only lends to
People who are in possession of
properties in Mikocheni, Oysterbay,
Msumi or Masaki - all upmarket
areas,
i For a desperate individual, it
may seem like running into a wall
lust when you thought your prob-
lems might be over. But, Moses
Kilindo, 36, a working prolessional
and a frequent user of these ser-
vices tells me that a bit of negotia-
tion and some good referees could
get you the loan, with or without a
Masaki property.
But the existence of these loan
sharks also points to something
else. That they are quick and Pro-
vide hasslefree deals (no payslips
please, and no appointhent let-
tersD for those looking for small
emergency loans, which bigger
finance institutions and banks wlll
not give, is what b increa5ingly
drawing more indMduals into
loans that they would othetrise
not have taken.
Well, if you look closely, closer
than anyone looklng for a quick
solution to thelr money blues is
.wont to look, such loans often tale
advantage ol borrowers, most of
whom lack financial awareness;
who don't know how to properly
budget for their money. At least
that is according to Moses Maira, a
lawyer who has handled a lot of
deht cases. Oftentimes, he says, .
borrowers are hardly advised on
how to invst their loans, the cost
of value or interest rates systems.
"ln Tanzania there are very few
financial brokers and they are com-
mlssioned agents so the possibility
of carrying out deep investment
analysis for their clients as they
should is rare. On the other hand,
there are equally few lawyers spe
cialising in this field," he says
The loan shark who has whatev-
er form of security you offered will
not go against the contract if you
do not make your pa)ments on
time. One mm who preferred
anonymity remembers one of his
clients who came close to losing
the house he was living in though
he hadn't consulted with his wife
when he went to borrow the mon-
ey. But apart from obvious emer-
gencies, it is believed that some
people are wont to take loans iust
because a) they have heard from
friends - most likely - that such
loans are available; or b) they are
trying to move with the crowd: "lf
Peter is buying land in Tegeta, I
guess it means I should be buYing
land too." Never mind that Peter
probably has planned his thing for
a while and is in a different (even
healthier) financial standing than
them. In such cases, the borrower
has no clue how they will pay the
moneys back - the olten-quoted
reason many peofe fail to pay
back.
Ald sltuations like these
abound.
Maira, the lawyer, linows anoth-
er type of people. He calls them
'automatic defaulters' - they invest
their moneJ in all the wrong places,
instead ol the tried-and-trusted bet;
that is financial institutions where
it is expected to earn interest wlth-
in a period ol tlme. They maY, for
example, buy tall shares and end
up accruing more losses than
expected. And their troubles start.
So... beiore you prick your ears
for the ne)$ loan belng offered, askl
yourself if you can pay back. Or at
least ask someone else; a linancial
lawyer preferably. Because you will
ultimately need hlm when you run
into trouble with Ms Bhokg Ntanok:
we,

5. work.
i, is orobablv not just lhe strikingly candid
,.un* Jf etti.- wili animals and olher such
.,tui*tt tf,ut won l he Tingatinga movement its
i;;':il';';i ;;;l;.i'',q'i i'uJ ur*uvs Ioved a
Jit oi'itue"av una to 'it is sai4, vhm the father
.iinit*6**"nt oied a premaure and dramat-
It is reflected in the tilt that sculpture has
taker in Tanzania today, with many artists
O"tiU"t"t"ty choosing to adopt the Makonde
.wi.
"f
*i The lisg includes Anagangola and
Himedl ,cthumarii; ;ho: both pioduce artwork
in in" irn.tunl' siyts ind, of cpurse, the late
NyeJi. Nyeai weni on to move away from the
', ,t ' .' ''li'ii.rr^rti;".' ' "'4r
a{
Rombo Rashid, the
head of this grouP says
that they have been work-
ing at the SliPwaY {or 18
vears now and, according
io him, what most PeoPle
don't know is that JaPan is
one ol the biggest markets
for this kind of art Jaffery
Ausi, a renowned Tanzan!
an Tingatinga artist can
testify to this - he has sold
most of his work to buyers
from Japan.
Japan is als" the
biggest market for another
popular local art move
ment - the Makonde scuLP
ture movement, which is
also internationally recog-
nised as being originally
Tanzanian. The Makonde
CIub in Osaka, JaPan, is
said to have the Iargest
Makonde sculPture collec-
tion in the world, The
Makonde People live on
the border between Tanza-
nia and Mozambique.
Porollel
bockgrounds
Like Tingatinga, Makonde
sculpture stYIe is often
traced to Just one figure:
Robert Yakobo Sangwani
who attributed its birth to
Uiamaa (family life). One
of his creations, the'{ami-
' -"-':,. . Continued on Pg l 4
r,'gi':r { - -
. lrrs,G- .
WI-IY TINGATINGA
RULES IN TANZANIA
How this stYle of ort orrived - :
;';i't;;[ ;i"t the qrt ond culturol
identity of Tonzonicr
ir.tlliiffti
By Mqrgoret
Muigoi
Wffi":t'tvlsual art movement in
Tanzania is going to be,
you only need to look
around to see what is
really selling at the
moment: Tingatlnga.
Tbe loud and colour-
iul style is to be seen
reoroduced on T-shirts
and even on crockerY. lt
is certainly not hard to
find out whete the Tin'
gatinga craze began, if
vou are interested' but it
iakes a little bit more dig-
ging and scratching to
get the bigger Picture on
art in Tanzania. This ls
not just because'visual
arts'defines a rather
large category - it
includes drawing' Paint-
ing, design, sculPture
and various other forms
- it's also because if You
are really talking art' it
goes 40,000 Yeus back in
time as far as Tanzania is
concetned.
'! | it:irlitlilllli :
But il You are not
lhat interested in read-
lng about the original
source of all Tanzanian
art (we de talking the
rock art that laid the
i"unaution for the growth of the visual arts in
the country today), then let's talk Tingatinga'
This earlv and extremely commercially suc-
cessful art movement in Tanzania has its hum-
ii" t.ot. in tn" early 1970's and the sjmple life
of a {ruit and vegetable Peddler
A side business
When Eduardo Saidi Tingatinga moved to Tan-
runiu t-t Mozambique, all he was looking ior
was a better life Aiter his first lew attempts at
earnrne a tivine didn't work out' he bought him-
i"it iii.v.t. una went arorlnd selling fruit
*trif" aoittg tot" urtisan painting on the side'
'
Soon eiough, he began to do a bit oi'artis-
,'. *in,inn. ti is tnougtrt that he struck gold
rn"'n u,o'iittwho fell in love with his lively
canvas creations began to promote his art-
IY tree' is stlll being
admired. This sculPture was meant to show
fo*", ot strength known, in Kimakonde as
'Dimoongo'.-
nut h]ere the similarity with Tingatinga dis-
.otu"i us Makonde sculPture boasts several
nr"ui nut". like Samaki Linkakoa and his
-nlofrew.
Outtunl Nyedi who recently passed
awav. Nvedi in particular is remembered for his
'sheiani sculpiures which have enjoyed great
oooutaritv over the years and which have also
orouoked a number of interesting theories as to
ihe meaning of his'shetani creations
The woiks of the sculpture movement's ear-
lv inventors are now held in a big collection at
the Karibu Art Gallery located on Bagamoyo
roaa. Tne gallery's proprietor says the collec-
iion it u Ui-g attracti'on for art enthusiasts who
u*
"tp..iitty
drawo to the Makonde style of
art and its historv,
ifl
it sells-sa welt:t5el nlany an arlrst
''. ra"FiL*::
iease of lii€ a.nd grew
still malfts a Iiving off Tingatingas original the movement has been steadilv growing wilh
slvle. You onlv have to
"''"
tn'Ji"rJ'o"gotl nt*i ttvr* like the cartoons and zimbab-
srores ar;a in Oysterbay tu
'"u
*nut i'et i"ik- we (descrlprion ) being recent 4dAitibns to
ins about. Thore you will iind the otgg"ti g*p what s colleclively known as Tingatinga
of Tinqatinga artists who ttuu" toiit"a"u t6' Tingatinga himself used to sell his art in
-mdtsative 6beietv'anditogett"t"ptoa'*t tni -OVtottEuV"UW'"breakawaygroupof+ingtiti{tgt '
biishtevecarchinganimalatrdttoiataesigns
arlrsts can now be {ound at the gipway in
lyou'wirl also liscover that likl'J"t :;ig
-
Ms'asqni whrcb utjtltt? ? l,ot.?f ':TiP'."
. -r j'-.a ...
. F.- - .' - _