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KAHENDI'S BLOG
Darwin's Nightmare- an East African Tragedy
Related to country: Tanzania
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The documentary film "Darwin's Nightmare: A Celluloid Dream Release" gives insight into the extremes of globalization and the impact it's had on Mwanza, an East African urban center. Many of the villages around the lakeside town are stricken by HIV-AIDS, and regularly lose their breadwinners. Young women, several of them widowed by AIDS, are forced into prostitution to support themselves and their families. The fishermen who catch Nile perch from the lake for their livelihood are unable to eat the same: it's too expensive for them. All their catch is sold to the factories that process the fish for exportation to Western Europe. What do the fishermen and their families eat? The remains from the processing plants i.e. the rejected fish, and the parts that are unappetizing for the Western European consumers. As if that is not bad enough, it transpires that the Nile Perch are foreign to Lake Victoria, and that their introduction to the lake has created an environmental disaster. Who knows how many species have been drastically impacted by the introduction of that commercial fish?! I wonder what further impact that has had on the people of the lakeside who have, for centuries, depended upon the lake for food.
Within the film, Hon. Joseph Munyao, the Kenyan Minister for Livestock and Fisheries, expresses his disappointment that those who film Africa tend to focus on the negative instead of highlighting the positive.
Are politicians right in saying that Western media tends to portray sub-Saharan Africa in a negative light? Yes, they are, but it is also true that the events being filmed do happen, not just in our nations, but also in every other nation in the world. Anyone that reads the news regularly is aware of several environmental crises all over the world. Poverty in different parts of the globe is often highlighted, even when that poverty exists in the most powerful nation, the USA- Remember Katrina. If documentary films tend to highlight our failings, then we should use them to identify those areas that we need to work on.
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| January 5, 2007 | 2:50 PM |
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Comments
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Kwanini tutumie lugha za watu?
Natamani ningefanya kuibadili makala nzima uloandika hapo juu. Tuipende lugha yetu.
Kupitia mtandao tunaweza kuufanya ulimwengu uitambue Tanzania kuwa ni taifa la aina gani.
Aidha tuache kuandika makala zinazotukandia na kutudhalilisha japokuwa zinakuwa na ukweli ndani yake. Aibu kwa Kenya ni aibu kwa Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda na hata Burundi kwakuwa sote huchukuliwa kitu kimoja.
Naumia sana pale tunapoandika kwa lugha za wenzetu wakipata picha mbaya ya kwetu na tukapoteza utu wetu.
Nimekosea?
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Ahsanta
Habari yako, ndugu? Natumai u salama.
Nakushukuru kwa yote uliyoyasema.
Sisi sote ni wanadamu: waafrika, wazungu, wahindi, waarabu, wachina, wavenezuela.....
Mwafrika akitenda makosa, ni mwanadamu anayetenda makosa. Wengine wanaweza kujifunza kwa kututazama, nasi twaweza kujifunza kwa kuwatazama. Kwa hivyo, kwa maoni yangu, si kosa kuongea juu ya matatizo yetu mbele ya wengine.
Hawa watu wengine, tayari washaongea juu ya matatizo yetu, na washatufahamu kwa undani. Ndio maana wanaunda filamu juu ya nchi zetu. Mbona tusiongee hadharani, ndugu? Haya maovu yalitendeka hadharani. Tusipoongea juu yao, si bado yataendelea kutendeka, tena hadharani?
Kukubali kwetu kwamba tuna kasoro hakutatupotezea utu wetu. Tukishazikubali ila na kasoro zetu, ndipo tutakapokamilika kama wanadamu.
Wauropa walitenda maovu makubwa sana wakati wa Vita vya Pili vya Dunia. Habari hizo zote zimehifadhiwa kwenye vitabu vya historia, kwenya filamu nk. Naam, mpaka sasa wanahisi soni, fedheha na aibu kwa ajili ya yote waliyoyatenda. Na mpaka leo, wanajaribu kuyarekebisha makosa yale. Kwa maoni yangu, fedheha ni hisia inayomlazimisha mwanadamu kukiri kwamba amekosea, na hivi, humlazimisha kuyakosoa yale makosa yake. Ndiyo maana ninasema afadhali tuongee juu ya mambo haya na tuaibike ili tuanze kuyasuluhisha.
Suala la pili lenye ningetaka kulishughulikia ni suala la lugha. Ninaipenda lugha yangu, na ninaitumia kila ninapopata fursa. Ninapoandika katika blogu yangu hapa TIG, nia yangu ni kuwasiliana na idadi kubwa ya watu. Ndiyo, kuna wanaofahamu Kiswahili, lakini kuna idadi kubwa zaidi ya wanaofahamu kiingereza. Ningaliandika makala za kiswahili pekee, singaliweza kuwasiliana na marafiki zangu wafilipino, wamisri, wakanada nk. Hawa watu wote huja hapa kuongea juu ya mema na maovu katika nchi zao, na kwa vile wanaandika katika kiingereza, ninawaelewa. Basi itakuwaje nikiwajibu katika kiswahili? :) Ninatamani sana kuielewa dunia na kuwaelewa wanadamu wanaoishi katika sehemu tofauti za dunia. Kiingereza ni lugha ya kimataifa inayoniwezesha kufanya hivyo.
Nakushukuru tena, ndugu, na ninatarajia kusoma mengine kutoka kwako.
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