News Around Arusha - Part #1

I have been reading the news around Arusha, and wanted to share an annotated list (in 2 parts) of the articles that demonstrated trends and interests in Arusha and Tanzania.  I won’t claim to be an expert on any of these topics, but I’ll use other sources to help support what I do know. 

Ex-Knicks coach to lead clinic in Arusha

http://thecitizen.co.tz/sport/-/22950-ex-knicks-coach-to-lead-clinic-in-arusha - This article is about a basketball clinic sponsored by the US embassy that was held in the stadium in Arusha.  In a very soccer (football) oriented culture, I thought it was cool to see another sport promoted here.  I’m not sure how popular basketball is here – it sounds like the US is just starting to heavily promote the sport.  I wonder whether the clinics leave basketball nets here after they leave, as these can be costly to set up.  Soccer only really needs a soccer ball (or a large avocado nut, small round ball, anything that can be kicked that’s round, etc), which is good for areas that can’t afford to set up infrastructure for other sports.  I don’t really know anything else about basketball in Tanzania, but I do know that Hasheem Thabeet is a Tanzanian player from Dar es Salaam and plays for the Portland Trail Blazers.  J

 

Brilliant music show thrills Arusha fans (http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/index.php?l=41866) – This article is about two Tanzanian Bongo Flava artists, AY and Mwana FA, who gave a free concert at the soccer stadium in Arusha as part of Coca Cola’s Billion Reasons to Believe in Africa campaign.  Bongo Flava is Tanzanian hip-hop started in the 90’s by a couple of Tanzanian DJs.  It has now spread to surrounding countries and we even have a station in Chicago!  Bongo Flava is played on the radio, in shops, and around the streets a lot here.  This music is extremely popular with students, especially those in secondary school.  See the Wikipedia on Bongo Flava for more on how it was developed http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bongo_Flava. 

For anyone interested in Coke’s “A billion reasons to believe in Africa” campaign, here’s a news article from Tanzania from a few months ago http://www.dailynews.co.tz/index.php/biz/4507-coca-cola-launches-youth-campaign and a Coke’s youtube video commercial as well http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ownqxq32bSo.

Decomposed body of person with albinism found in village (http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/index.php?l=42544) – This is a sad article about an albino Tanzanian that was killed in one of the Arusha neighborhoods.  I wanted to share this article because it explains an old witchcraft belief in Tanzania (and neighboring countries) that albinos (and specifically their private parts) are lucky or have magic associated with them.  Thus, witch doctors will hunt albinos and remove a limb or private body part to keep.  It is definitely a gruesome and twisted belief, and now is considered an out of date practice. 

In 2009, I had heard of albino killings occurring in more rural areas of Northern Tanzania (where witch doctors are still prevalent).  Thus, this killing in the city of Arusha is very uncharacteristic and shocking for people here.   In the past 5-10 years the Tanzanian government has been more vocal about condemning this practice and anyone caught for an albino killing can receive a death sentence here in Tanzania. 

A positive side is that schoolchildren in primary and secondary schools here specifically learn about discrimination of albinos as a negative influence on society and that it is an outdated custom.  For more on this custom and why it still occurs, see the Wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_people_with_albinism and an interesting Telegraph article http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/tanzania/7687951/Seven-new-albino-killings-in-Tanzania-and-Burundi.html.

Word of the day: Habari - news