Hand-hoeing with the late Mwalimu Nyerere at Butiama

By lute wa lutengano

I slowly settled down to life at the Buhemba National Service camp in Musoma rural district. Naturally it was a tough life though it had its light moments.

Special highlights were the Sunday visits to the nearby Ikoma road village. From our meager 20/- monthly allowance we could afford to spoil ourselves with sugar canes, chapatis and some strong local brew at the village every Sunday.

Actually, we so much got used to this Sunday routine that after a few weeks at the camp it became an unwritten ‘order’ that there was to be no lunch at the camp. The highlight of the day was the special ‘disco’ music session at one of the local joints.

Most of us ‘soldiers’ would assemble at this joint which had the singular privilege of owning a worn out record player. Here they specialized in ‘Jaluo’ strong beat music. At a fee of 50 cents the owner would not only play three numbers for you but also allow you to choose those who would dance to the music.

Being salaried ‘soldiers’ – remember the 20/- monthly stipend – we literally monopolized the music scene. We paid the 50 cents in turn and in so doing dictated who would dance to the music every Sunday evening and this in turn made us monopolise the village belles. Naturally we ended up not being very popular with the village boys.

Other highlights were the daily strategies we formulated to steal chunks of boiling meat from the huge pots in the kitchen camp. This involved sharpening a piece of stick at one end and literally spearing the chunks of meat out of the pot and through the open window. Whoever was in charge of the kitchen would suddenly find the particular piece of meat rise from the big pot and disappear through the window.

Otherwise life at the camp, which some years back was a gold mine, was very boring. No wonder therefore we were very excited one morning to be invited to join the late Mwalimu Nyerere, then President of Tanzania at his Butiama village, some 50 or kilometers from the camp where he was on holiday. We were asked to join him in his farming activities.

We jostled for this golden chance. First we felt it would be a great honour to meet the President and secondly we envisaged a good treat at mealtime. So about 100 of us boarded our long-base open lorries and headed to Butiama.

We arrived at about 9 am, and Mwalimu Nyerere was already in the field using a hand hoe to dig his farm. We immediately joined him and his few staff. Two hours later Mwalimu was still in the field and showing no signs of tiring. Noon came and went, one o’clock, two…three o’clock, Mwalimu was still in the field. It was around 3.30 pm when Mwalimu asked his staff "What? You want to kill these young boys and girls? Give them some food!"

We were dog tired when we drove back to our Buhemba camp. All that time we were in the field, Mwalimu had not taken a break even for a cup of tea. Actually we left him in the field as we departed for our camp.

Naturally the next morning our ‘Afandes’ had to forcibly select those who were going to join Mwalimu Nyerere as his Butiama village. Nobody wanted to re-live the previous day’s experience. Surprise! Surprise! Not only was the group which went the next day have a shorter stint in the farm, but Mwalimu Nyerere ordered a cow to be slaughtered after which they had a feast. I was not in that group.

lutengano@hotmail.com

Last modified: October 10, 2003.
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