Tanzanians' Gripe

The other day I was in Tanzania on a a business mission. I travelled to the coast of the country and found myself in Bongo(this is swahili for brain.This is the name given to Dar es Salaam, the country's business hub, implying that you've got to use your brains to survive here).

This particular day was exceptionally hot(but I was made to understand that this was the 'normal' weather of the place). To avoid an 'involuntary' sun tan(what am I saying? My dark complexion beggars description!) I decided to spend some two or three hours in a certain restaurant before going about what had taken me to Dar es Salaam in the first place.

I took a table at a corner, ordered a drink and a local English daily. I nursed the drink as the contents of the daily paper gave my eyes something to look at.

My peace and quiet was 'forcefully' intruded upon by the voices of some three young men who sat at a table a few metres from mine. I folded the newspaper and furtively cast them a glance.

The threesome were well groomed and the subject of their engrossed conversation forced me to pay even more attention. One of them was saying: "There are so many Ugandans, Kenyans and Congolese in our country. They are taking up every opportunity that would have helped us Tanzanians." One of the other two interjected, "They are surely a pain in the ****!" We Tanzanians are like tourists in our own country." The last one quipped, rather rhetorically, "Most employers want to employ these guys. If it is school, we've gone to school and have an education. Maybe even a better education than most of those who come here. What do they have that we don't, anyway!"

By this time I was wide-eyed and straining my ears to get every word, fullstop, exclamation, all. I was to learn later that many a Tanzanian thinks on the same lines as these three guys. Their discussion of foreigners in their country is, most of the time, negative.

They see them(guys from other countries especially neighbouring ones) as people who've come to 'steal their opportunities'. This is highly unlikely. one can never steal an opportunity. An opportunity is taken advantage of. Simply 'lapped up'. opportunities are quite evasive 'creatures'. When they are not taken up the moment they present themselves, then the next thing is you realise they've done the disappearing act.

My word of advice to Tanzanians: If people from other countries do see the innumerable opportunities that your country has to offer, open your eyes and see them too! The more you continue complaining, the more you close your eyes to the opportunities.

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Ghana's game nearly outsmarted the Brazilians but...

Watching Ghana playing Brazil last week in their Round of 16 match made me so proud of being an African. Their game was inundated with expertise, vim, vivacity and a host of good pointers that really spoke well of them. Of course, I don’t want to overlook the fact that they had a flaw in their finishing style. Yes, they got a number of very good chances of scoring but they wasted them due to their lack of finishing tricks. Does this speak to the whole of Africa and in essence tell us that we have so much to tighten if we are ever to do better than most of these so-called ‘world class’ teams? The answer is, of course, a big YES! No doubt about that.
Ghana’s newness to the world cup scenario also was a good pointer that this team has firm ‘guts’ to take on a team as good as Brazil.
After the tug-of-war of a match, some guy who was in the same room as I shouted, rather harshly, that Africa’s dreams had been dashed and that Ghana had let us down. I cast him a rather icy look and, unlike me, felt like slapping him right across his meaty face.
I was just about to open my mouth and try to put one or two points clear to him but decided against it. It would have been a waste of my breath.

Africans, Ghana did not let us down but rather elated our spirits that there are at least some teams in Africa that can do something good in Africa and for Africa.
Their strikers, goalie and defenders kept us at edge of our seats as we moved and swayed with the ball as it ‘fled’ from one corner of our screens to the other.
It was quite a match to watch; and a spectacle to behold.
As we prepare for World Cup 2010 in South Africa, the following are politic thoughts to ponder about:
• African teams need proper training in order to compete effectively in these games.
• African teams need exposure to occidental and oriental football in order to deal effectively with situations that present themselves at these games.
• Our coaches should be ‘state-of-the-art’ and with enough experience and know-how.
• We should not dwell too long in antediluvian ways of playing football. We should modernize our approach to the whole shooting match.
• Allocations for serious strategies should feature in our annual budgets: the stadiums and facilities should be up-to- date. What is happening now is that when African teams go for matches outside the continent they are overly mesmerized by the standards they find in their host countries. So, in essence, instead of playing they are left to rolling their eyes round and about trying to take in the whole scenery and bring it back to Africa! So they end up losing their matches!! {The only logical outcome given the situation}.

I am not a pessimist; neither do I enjoy pessimistic sermons. But I love the truth because it liberates and sets free. Truth be told, Africa has a long way to go as far as good football is concerned but that should not discourage us. We just need to be resilient, tenacious and ready to learn.

Africa 2010 will be a whole new experience. This is my ultimate dream. But a pessimist would say, “That would only happen if the sky opened and a miracle ‘dropped’ from heaven!” But I would quip, “Miracles are very much with us. Miracles do happen and are bound to happen to Africa, in Africa and for Africa!”

See you in the 2010 World Cup matches in South Africa.
Do you think Africa has a chance to show its ribs, brawn and form in the matches?
I need to hear from you…