Culture in Dar
es Salaam Part 2
By Mary Wright
This week we continue our series of cultural riches in Dar es Salaam with a look
at the British Council and the Village Museum.
It’s always pleasant to stroll along Samora Avenue, and if you stroll far enough
along the right-hand side or harbour side, soon after the Askari monument you’ll
find a pleasant building set back from the road, with security guards at the
entrance. These guards were not there in the past, and in the past when you
entered the building you’d find a library full of books with a quiet, almost
somnolent atmosphere. Not at all these days! Now you’ll see the literature
relegated to one corner; everywhere else has an ultramodern appearance and is
lined with works on management, plus CDs, videos, DVDs and computers.
Very pleasant and competent members of personnel guided me round this, explained
what the centre offers in tailor-made English classes to suit the customer, plus
the library facilities which you have to be a member to use, and to be able to
borrow books, CDs etc. I was given a tour of the classrooms and computer room
too, all this is bright, airy and completely modern. The centre conducts
examinations provided by UK examining bodies in addition to the IELTS – the
English language testing system.
Al-Amin Yusuph, manager of the library and information services, was kind enough
to give me an explanation of what the British Council offers. When I commented
on the changes in the centre, where you used to be able to find all sorts of
literary works, poetry and such, Yusuph said that they are now trying to project
the image of contemporary Britain, give people what they need to access it. In
particular this is the English classes, which can be oriented towards business
management, IT skills and professional development. There is also the library,
especially well-equipped with resources on Management, with a Management Forum
held once a month on a Friday evening.
The British Council has certain cultural activities in association with the
National Museum, and would like to hold reading groups – I’m tempted to join
this!
For more information visit the website www.britishcouncil.org/tanzania/.
As for all life’s great experiences I went to this place by mistake, whilst
looking for Mwalimu Nyerere’s artisanal museum. It was the bus that put me off
at the Village Museum, and I soon realized that there was some mistake, but went
into the Reception to ask. This room proved to be an attractive place, circular
and constructed of split bamboo, full of bright paintings, good sculptures,
books (tatterered, but you could buy a new copy), Swahili cloths, a canework
chair and other furniture, traditional musical instruments, some guess-what
things labeled “mystery objects”, and that wonderful game called Bao, where you
have to move stones around in hollows on a board: apparently it’s frightfully
difficult.
Through the doorway I could see an area that was not prepossessing, muddy ground
with weeds and hut-like shapes here and there, but by the time the receptionist
had kindly rung up my office and found out where I should have been, I’d decided
to give it a go.
Obviously the grounds were suffering from lack of care, and had litter dropped
here, there and everywhere. No groundsmen were ever in sight, until at the end
of the tour I came upon a row of these “workers” drinking tea. Soon all
organizations will reconcile themselves to hiring women, who at least know what
work is. Men imagine that all they have to do is look beautiful. I told the
reception about the litter, which people from Europe would find horrific.
Nevertheless, this place is absolutely fascinating, and space limits me to
giving just the highlights. Firstly the Wagogo’s spot with their kiln, large
pots drying off in a shed, clay stoves with holes in for cooking on charcoal,
potter’s wheel (turned by hand) and pile of clay under plastic to keep it damp.
Then, two artists were working in a house where they had a wealth of colourful
paintings, handmade jewellery, postcards and particularly interesting sculptures
of which they explained the fabrication, in different woods. The blackwood ones
were particularly impressive, together with two glossy tortoises carved
apparently with a chisel. The artefacts in the Wamwera house were striking,
woven mats, walking sticks, traditional bed. It’s astonishing how pleasing a
house built of mud, woven sticks and thatch can be, provided that it’s been made
carefully.
My next love-object was the Ngalawa or fishing vessel, used along the coast of
East Africa. It is a long canoe, with outriggers on each side, and a sail that
can be hoisted.
As dwelling-places, the Waha and Wanyakyusa houses gained my prizes for beauty.
Like most country peoples here they spend little time indoors, but looks are
important for the houses. The first were of mud and roofed with many-layered
thatch. There were round ones with a pointed roof, flat-roofed and rectangular,
rectangular with sloping roof. The second, the Wanyakyusa, were constructed of
bamboo and could be round or rectangular. They had woven, cylindrical
grain-stores with pointed, thatched roofs. Here and there in the trees were the
hollowed-out tree-trunks used as beehives.
Lastly let me mention the medicinal plants and trees to be found in this village
museum. It was so nice to see the tamarind tree and the ebony tree, but
especially the mti wa arobaiini, so called because it is used to treat 40
diseases – I can vouch for its efficacity in the case of malaria. Where the
“workers” I’ve mentioned were having their chai at the exit from the village,
was the most gigantic mango tree I’ve ever set eyes on…farewell tree until next
time.