Air Tanzania, TWIGA issue 09

Issue 09 / April to June 2021

YO U R F R E E A I R TA N Z A N I A M AGA ZINE

T R AV E L / TA ST E / TALEN T

Twiga A I R TA N Z A N I A Issue 09

Pumzika kwa amani A tribute to late President John Pombe Joseph Magufuli Modern mamas Tanzania's inspirational women

Vunjabei and me

Entrepreneur on his fashion empire

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See page 6 for details

contents 7

19

Regulars

Features

2

6 Twiga Miles

CEO foreword Our President’s legacy

3

7

Air Tanzania news

10 My Tanzania

Maasai jewellery from Enjipai

39 Twiga competition

Tribute

20 Role models

President John Pombe Magufuli

How to grow into your career

A Zimbabwe biker reveals a softer side

44 Interior design 54 Food with Fred Uisso

How beer with your barbecue could save your life

By Maundu Mwingizi

Beauty queens on a mission

23 Miranda Naiman

Take a tour of stunning Mumbai home

Win a stay at Mediterraneo

50 Tech 50 shades of grey

19 Special feature: Inspirational women

41 Born to be mild

16 Twiga trends

54

Sign up now and get 1,000 free points!

12 24 Hours in… Songea

Fred ‘Vunjabei’ Ngajiro

49 Swahili story

44

57 Best boutique hotels Try these small but stylish options

26 Queens of the sky High-flying women at ATCL

27 Black Unicorn Studios Dar’s all-women production team

31 Lina Gadi Taking hair and skin care vision global

35 Bahati Band A girl band going places

52 Faysal’s blog 52 Sound and vision

Air Tanzania information

53 Arts column

60 Travel information 60 Air Tanzania fleet

Is published by: Land & Marine Publications (Tanzania) Ltd Room A14, 3rd floor, Josam House plot Number 16, Mikocheni Area Along Coca-Cola Road, Dar es Salaam Tel: +255 686 118 816 www.landmarine.com Head Office: Land & Marine Publications Ltd 1 Kings Court, Newcomen Way Severalls Business Park, Colchester, Essex, UK, CO4 9RA Tel: +44 (0)1206 752902 Email: publishing@landmarine.com

Read Twiga online: qrs.ly/qdbooco

62 Air Tanzania destinations 64 Air Tanzania contacts

On behalf of: Call toll free: 0800 110 045

Editor: Mark Edwards markedwards@landmarine.com Advertising sales: Catherine O’Callaghan Tel: +44 (0)7944 212063 (WhatsApp) Email: ATCL-inflight@landmarine.org Godfrey S. Urassa Tel: +255 (0) 686 118 816 (WhatsApp) Email: godfreyurassa@landmarine.org Printed by Jamana Printers Ltd, Dar es Salaam

@AirTanzania Air Tanzania Company Ltd (ACTL) Second floor, ATC House, Ohio Street Dar es Salaam. Email: info@airtanzania.co.tz Office (JNIA) Telephone: +255 222113248 Jerry Ngewe, Marketing Executive, Email: jerry.ngewe@airtanzania.co.tz

@airtanzania airtanzania_atcl For the latest flights, information and to book online, visit:

www.airtanzania.co.tz

The opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the editor, or any other organisation associated with this publication. No liability can be accepted for any inaccuracies or omissions. ©2020 Land & Marine Publications Ltd.

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CEO foreword

President’s legacy lives on in us EDITOR’S NOTE The death of President John Pombe Magufuli has come as a great shock and source of sorrow to Tanzania.

Air Tanzania was fortunate to be among a host of historic ventures that owe their success to the vision and fortitude of this great man.

His legacy will live on and we now welcome in President Samia Suluhu Hussan, who made history from her first moment in power by becoming Tanzania’s first women head of state.

‘Mama Samia’ is an inspiring woman – one of many in this country. This special edition of Twiga turns the spotlight on just a few of the women who are leading the way in carving lives full of purpose and a will to help others.

You’ll find entrepreneurs, musicians, filmmakers, even a few valued members of the ATCL team. It’s been a pleasure to find out more about these incredible women and I hope it is an inspirational read for all of our dear passengers.

Have a great flight.

President John Pombe Joseph Magufuli was a great man and one who I was proud to call a friend. As with Tanzanians everywhere, I share the deep sadness at his passing.

Still, his great work lives on in the many grand projects he instigated. We will forever be grateful that Air Tanzania was among those projects and we are dedicated to continuing his legacy in a manner he would be proud of.

Reviving the national carrier and the airline market was key to Dr Magufuli’s vision for a strong, independent Tanzania. Under his rule, the Government purchased eight new aircraft for Air Tanzania, all through its own funds.

Such investment has transformed Air Tanzania into the country’s leading airline. We continue to grow and to repay the faith Dr Magufuli put in us with two more Airbus A220-300 and another Q400 Dash 8 set to arrive this year and longer-term plans to bring our number of aircraft up to 11.

Tragically, Dr Magufuli will not get to see these developments, but they are a living tribute to him.

We welcome in new President Samia Suluhu Hussan, who we are sure will be a worthy successor, but Dr Magufuli’s efforts will never be forgotten.

We have created the pathways for new connections and new adventures for our passengers and we are excited to share them with you. That you are relaxing in comfort on your Air Tanzania flight while being connected across the country or our growing network in Africa and beyond owes much to Dr Magufuli’s vision.

Have a wonderful flight.

markedwards@landmarine.com

www.airtanzania.co.tz Follow us on:

@AirTanzania

Eng. Ladislaus Matindi Managing Director and Chief Executive Air Tanzania

@airtanzania airtanzania_atcl Air Tanzania ATCL airtanzania.co.tz / 3

Air Tanzania news

Entebbe, Harare, Lusaka… plan your African adventure with us

Tatsiana Hendzel / Shutterstock.com

Air Tanzania now gives its passengers even more opportunities to explore the wonders of the continent with regular flights to Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

For a different view of Lake Victoria, head to our East African neighbour Uganda. Flights to Entebbe leave Dar es Salaam every Wednesday and Saturday.

The lush lakeside town of Entebbe is the gateway to some of Uganda’s wildest adventures. You can get a ferry to explore the Ssese Islands, head into the Mamamba Swamps in search of the singular looking shoebill stork or wander among the diverse flora and fauna of the Entebbe Botanical Gardens.

We also offer twice-weekly flights south to Zambia and then on to Zimbabwe. Every Tuesday and Friday our Dash8-Q400 aircraft fly to Harare via Lusaka.

Zimbabwe’s attractive, laid-back

capital Harare is a popular launchpad for 4x4 safari adventures in the country, but it’s a cosmopolitan city that rewards sticking around.

You’ll find fantastic examples of local handicraft at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, the seemingly precarious natural art of the Epworth Balancing Rocks and wildlife sightings in the Mukuvisi Woodlands.

The cosmopolitan, welcoming city of Lusaka is said to be home to about 1 in 10 Zambians and you’ll find most of them enjoying the city’s excellent choice of bars and restaurants in the evening. Also take time to check out the Lechwe Trust Art Gallery, which supports the work of emerging local artists. Just 15km south of the city is the Munda Wanga Environmental Park and there’s the chance to see lions, elephants and zebras at the Chaminuka Game Reserve, which is about a 40-minute drive from the city.

(From left) Explore Entebbe, Harare or Lusaka

NEW ADDITIONS TO OUR FLEET We are looking to significantly expand our fleet in the coming months with plans to for another two Airbus A220-300s and one more Q400 Dash 8 in 2021 to service our growing network of destinations. This will give us a 11-strong fleet consisting of two Dreamliner 787s, four Airbus A220-300s and five Bombardier Q400 Dash 8s.

Visit www.airtanzania.co.tz to book your trip or call free on 0800 110 045 for more information.

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Sign up to Twiga Miles now and get 1,000 free points!

And that’s just the beginning of your savings as every subsequent flight you take will earn you more points, which can all be redeemed towards future free flights across Air Tanzania’s domestic and international network of destinations. The amount of points you will earn depends on your ticket type, fare class and destination.

As a Twiga Miles member each flight you take will also help you climb through the ranks of our tier system. With each tier upgrade, you’ll get access to even more varied and valuable benefits.

So, what are you waiting for? Sign up at www.airtanzania.co.tz now.

Member Benefits

There’s never been a better time to take advantage of Twiga Miles, Air Tanzania’s loyalty programme, with all new members who sign up before May 19 this year getting a welcome pack of 1,000 points as soon as they take their first flight.

BLUE

SILVER SELOUS

GOLD SERENGETI

Start earning points towards a free flight with Air Tanzania.

Members will earn 25% more points than Blue members on each flight they take.

Members will earn 50% more points than Blue members on each flight they take.

Free extra 5kg baggage allowance on domestic flights

Free extra 10kg baggage allowance on domestic flights

Priority check-in at Dar, Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar airports

Priority check-in at Dar, Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar airports

Priority membership baggage tags that ensure your bags are first on conveyor belt at your destination

Priority membership baggage tags that ensure your bags are first on conveyor belt at your destination

FAQS How do I enrol?

Visit airtanzania.co.tz or contact our call centre on 0800 110 045.

Will I get a membership card?

Cards will be issued to Silver Selous and Gold Serengeti members.

How long does it take for my points to be transferred to my account?

Your points will have been transferred

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Twiga

to your account no later than 72 hours following your flight.

How long do my points remain valid?

Until the end of the third calendar year following the date you earned them.

For example, points earned in June 2021 remain valid till the end of 2024.

How can I spend my points?

You can spend your points by clicking

on “Use My Points to Buy” section under the payment options tab for the tickets you are going to buy on our website at www.airtanzania.co.tz Twiga Miles is only for passengers aged 18 and above. The scheme applies to all Air Tanzania destinations. Air Tanzania reserves the right to amend the terms and conditions of the campaign. All users participating in the campaign are deemed to have read and accepted these rules.

President John Pombe Joseph Magufuli

Our President in pictures T

he success of Air Tanzania was fundamental to late President John Pombe Joseph Magufuli’s vision to turn our country into a major transportation hub.

He expanded the fleet to include industry-leading longhaul aircraft such as the 787 Dreamliner.

These pictures from the Air Tanzania archive show President Magufuli inspecting our first Dreamliner when it arrived at Julius Nyerere International Airport and later joining passengers on a flight to Mwanza. They show the man’s gift for connecting with his people. We were honoured to fly you, Mr President.

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President John Pombe Joseph Magufuli obituary

Pumzika kwa amani Air Tanzania joins the nation in mourning the loss of President John Pombe Jospeh Magufuli, who died, aged 61, on March 17. Our airline is just one of the many beneficiaries of his drive to develop this country. Here we pay tribute to an inspirational man of action taken too soon.

T

hat Dr John Pombe Joseph Magufuli was able to go from modest beginnings – he grew up the son of a smallholder farmer in a small village in north-western Chato district along the shore of Lake Victoria – to become the fifth president of Tanzania is testament to his work ethic and unshakeable strength of will.

This can-do energy was also a feature of his presidency. Once he was elected in 2015, he wasted no time in streamlining the finances of the country by rooting out corruption and wasteful spending among public officials and instead channelling funds into people-orientated projects such as transport, hospitals and schools.

Those early years in Chato saw the young John Pombe Joseph Magufuli herding cattle and selling milk and fish to support his family. He was also prepared to get his hands dirty as leader of the country.

When he ordered a public clean-up in 2015 to combat a cholera outbreak in the country, he was to be seen picking up rubbish outside State House. Such a hands-on, results-orientated approach earned him a great deal of praise in Tanzania and across Africa, inspiring the Twitter hashtag: #WhatWouldMagufuliDo. In the same way, he did not excuse himself

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from the measures he imposed to curb government spending, reducing his own salary from US$15,000 to US$4,000 per month once in power.

Here was a president committed to the pursuit of his vision of a lean, mean Tanzania, increasingly independent of foreign aid and funding its own largescale ventures that boosted Tanzanians’ confidence in their country.

We at Air Tanzania are incredibly grateful that reviving the national carrier was part of his vision. That we are now the country’s leading airline with an enviable nine-strong fleet to service a growing network of destinations at home and abroad is thanks to the investment of Dr John Pombe Joseph Magufuli and the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party. Tanzania now has airline to be proud of.

There were many more achievements during his presidency. The man who acquired the nickname ‘the bulldozer’ for driving a programme to build roads as minister for works, continued to launch large infrastructure projects once he had taken the presidential oath. Among them was a standard-gauge railway to connect the country with its neighbours and the major highways and a traffic-avoiding bus

rapid transit system in Dar es Salaam. He also implemented water projects across the country and increased electricity production, reducing the need for power rationing.

In 2017 he introduced legislation that gave Tanzania a larger stake in the mining of its lucrative natural resources and in 2019 he made history again in relocating the entire government from coastal Dar es Salaam to the central capital Dodoma to bring it closer to the people it served.

Dr Magufuli, who was awarded his honorary doctorate by the University of Dodoma for improving the economy of the country, believed public education was key to creating a strong Tanzania and early in his presidency he extended free schooling for all up to secondary school level. His own education path from Chato Primary School to Mkwawa College of Education saw him excel in chemistry and mathematics and he chose to share his skills with other students, becoming a teacher at The Sengerema Secondary School.

He taught at the school for a year before furthering his own education with a science degree followed by a masters in chemistry at constituent colleges of the University of Dar es Salaam. Both courses

PRESIDENT JOHN POMBE JOSEPH MAGUFULI 29 October 1959 ~ 17 March 2021

the country as its first president while Magufuli was growing up in Chato.

were geared towards enriching the lives of others through his learning.

After a six-year stint working as an industrial chemist, his political calling and desire to work for the Tanzanian public led him to campaign for election as MP for his own Chato district. He won the seat in 1995 and soon rose through the ranks, being promoted to deputy minister of works in his first term and promoted to a full ministerial position in the cabinet when he retained his seat in the 2000 election. Under President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete he served as Minister of Lands & Human Settlement, Minister of Livestock & Fisheries and twice as Minister of Works.

He was declared president on his 56th birthday in October 2015 and fulfilled his promise to be an agent of change in the country. He brought to his presidency a vision informed by his staunch Catholic values and socialist principles. He sought African solutions to issues in his country and sought to reduce dependence on foreign aid. This fiercely independent stance had echoes of Tanzania’s founding father, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, who led

Such unswerving determination to follow the path he thought was right earned him the nickname Chuma (the Swahili word for a block of iron) and it on occasion left him at odds with the wider world. Still, that singular vision brought results no-one can deny. Under his rule Tanzania was classified by the World Bank as a middleincome economy for the first time in its history with its increasing wealth driven by the Dr Magufuli’s grand investments in infrastructure and agriculture.

Given the list of achievements in his first term of office, the sense of loss at

Dr Magufuli’s passing feels even more acute as it came just a few months into a second five-year term won in a landslide election victory in October last year.

It is tempting to think what more he could have done in those remaining years, but Samia Suluhu Hassan is an able replacement to serve out the rest of his term in the top postion as the President of the United Republic of Tanzania.

‘Mama Samia’, who becomes Africa’s only current woman national leader, announced her “deep regret” at Dr Magufuli’s passing and introduced a 14-day period of national mourning. It is a sadness we all share, but his legacy lives on in a transformed Tanzania.

African leaders pay tribute Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta said: “I have lost a friend, colleague and visionary ally,” and declared a seven-day period of national mourning in Kenya.

Former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan called Magufuli a “partner in democracy” and a “patriot who loved his country”.

Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga said on Twitter: “It is with deep sadness that I have learned of the passing of my friend, President Magufuli. He and his family have been close friends for a long time.

He’s been by my side at my most difficult and painful moments. My condolences to his family and the people of Tanzania.”

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa Tweeted: “South Africa is united in grief with the government and people of Tanzania following the passing of His Excellency President Magufuli.”

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My Tanzania

FRED VUNJABEI

To many fashion-conscious Tanzanians, entrepreneur Fred Fabian Ngajiro is known simply as ‘Fred Vunjabei’, such is the fame of his franchise of discount clothing stores. There are now more than 10 Vunjabei outlets across the country and the brand has extended to include sports products, pharmaceuticals and even fast food. Here the shilling multi-billionaire reveals the many failures he experienced before achieving his dreams and who he hopes will be the next big name signing for his music label, Too Much Money.

Q: Where do you think your drive to succeed in business comes from?

A: I was raised in Iringa by entrepreneurial parents. My family were engaged in agriculture, the timber business, vitenge fabrics, transport and guest houses. I got my first experience of retail trading from them. I was encouraged to focus on my schoolwork, but at the weekends and during the holidays I would help my father. As a result I had an entrepreneurial energy in me even before I started as a student at the University of Dar es Salaam Business School.

I researched that the most in-demand items for students were computers and DVD players. The only capital I had to buy the goods was my student loan from the government, which was supposed to cover my daily expenses. It was a risk, but I felt I didn’t have a choice. In the end I used half of my loan to buy DVD players and found most of my student customers were at universities in the north of the country. The business was kind of successful, which gave me the desire and determination to carry on.

Q: You’ve built a multi-billion business empire and yet you are still in your early 30s. What do you put the speed of your success down to?

A: It has taken longer than you might think.

Though I had a successful business venture running as a student, I knew the best capital was to get an education and complete my bachelors degree. For the next six years or

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so I was employed in private and government institutions, but at the same time I was trying hard to get a lot of my own start-up business ventures going. I tried writing books, running boda boda and dala dala public transport businesses, selling cows and running a butchers, preparing documents for lenders in banks, commissioning and selling used cars, importing phones and accessories and starting fast food restaurants and clothing businesses, but most were failures.

I made plenty of mistakes and losses, but I did not get discouraged. All the while I was understanding more about business techniques and modalities. I got the confidence to resign from the government and invest wholeheartedly in the fashion business. I started the Vunjabei brand, which is today the best and biggest fashion company in Tanzania.

Q: Who is your primary target market with the Vunjabei stores?

A: Vunjabei offers the best cut-price fashionables clothes for men, women and children. It targets a wide range of low- and middle-income earners from the streets.

All services are provided through its extensive stores network and online platforms.

Q: You must bump into people wearing Vunjabei clothes all the time. How does that make you feel?

A: It is a really good feeling indeed. It’s the

same as when a politician promises voters and finally wins. Whenever I meet people with our goods I feel like I owe them to provide even more quality and fashion-value products.

Q: You are renowned as Tanzania youngest shilling billionaire and run a music label called Too Much Money, does having wealth and success bring its own challenges?

A: I was born into an average family and there were many poor people around us.

There is great difficulty in being poor, but having money can also be a challenge. As my business has expanded I have been exposed to many enemies and opponents. Now I need security and have to be more careful.

Some relatives and even old friends have become resentful or critical of my success.

Fame has come at a great cost to my freedom to the extent that I can no longer visit some of my favourite places or do the things I used to love to do.

Q: You are well educated, know the analytics of business and have plenty of experience as an entrepreneur, but how big a role do you think instinct still plays in making important decisions?

A: I have always said that the first thing that differentiates those who succeed and those who fail is decision making. This is the only factor that makes one person rich and another poor. Having the ability to

All images courtesy of Fred Ngajiro

make good decisions depends on a range of factors such as experience, being informed, education and being a good listener.

Instinctive abilities such as being to think out of a box, analyse information and innovate are crucial. I previously mentioned I was born into an entrepreneurial family, was employed by private and Government institutions and have worked with many different managers – some good and some challenging. All that experience has today given me the abilities to lead my team.

Q: What are your earliest memories of growing up in Iringa?

A: My father had a lot of farms and used to take me with him to help with the cultivation, planting, weeding, harvesting, warehousing and selling. This experience led me to create an agricultural business idea of my own, which I am still researching.

Agriculture is one of the areas in which I will invest heavily in future.

Q: You have a trio of talents – Whozu, Badest47 and Odong Odwaa – already on Too Much Money, but would be your dream artist to sign for your label?

Speaking at a media briefing about Vunjabei projects to support Tanzanian youth

A: We are in discussions to acquire a trending new hip-hop artist called Young Lunya, who has been my favourite since his first underground releases. I would also love to sign a woman artist and see a gender balance as we grow our label.

(Below) With Diamond Platnumz during filming for The Big Sunday Show

/ My Tanzania

(Bottom) With Iringa District Commissioner Richard Kasesela

Q: What advice would you give to someone keen on starting their journey as an entrepreneur?

A: Entrepreneurship is like faith, if you jump into it accidentally you will not fit, you need to prepare your mind, accepts the risks associated with it, generate interest, choose the right mentor then go for it wholeheartedly. Don’t go for something you understand partially because in business information is power.

Q: You were voted Most Preferred Upcoming Male Business Icon at the Tanzania Choice Awards 2020 and are inspiration to many budding entrepreneurs. What advice would you give them?

A: In giving my thank you speech at the awards ceremony, I said that when I started my first business I believed in two things: firstly distinguishing myself from other people in the clothing business by doing common things in uncommon ways and secondly to dedicate my life in to hard work.

Q: Which living person do you admire the most?

A: I have admiring Mohammed Dewji ever since I was in school. I am fortunate enough to have met him and discuss business for hours. His negotiating skills were such that I agreed to all his suggestions. The fact that he has invested in different sectors has really impressed me. He is active in textile manufacturing, flour milling, edible oils and beverages in eastern, southern and central Africa.

Q: What do you consider your greatest achievement so far?

Every human being should try to make the

world a better place to live. Every living individual should enhance positive change and find happiness in themselves.

Q: Who would play you in the film of your life?

A: Too Much Money artist Whozu, is someone who knows me very well. He is also a comedian and an actor and, as my life has never been too serious, he would fit my personality just about perfectly.

Q: Where do you go in Tanzania when you want to escape and relax?

A: My mum is my favourite human being in the world so my best comfort zone is wherever she is.

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Songea

24 hours in…

SONGEA With Air Tanzania now flying to Songea from Dar es Salaam every Wednesday and Sunday, Twiga has put together the itinerary for the perfect day in the Ruvuma region’s historic capital, where the first seeds of Tanzanian nationalism were sown.

MORNING Flying to Songea opens up the wonders of southern Tanzania’s picturesque Ruvuma Region with its attractions reaching from the beach resorts of Lake Nyasa to the west to the Selous Game Reserve – the largest of its kind on the continent – and the rare marine life of the Mnazi Bay-Ruvuma Estuary Marine Park on the eastern coast.

Before you embark on those adventures, take a day to appreciate the charms of the region’s capital.

Songea is an enchanting and historic town set amid the verdant rolling landscape of the Matagoro forest reserve and mountains.

A hike to the highest peak, Mount Matagoro, begins just a 10km drive from the town. Guided tours will drive you there and help navigate your rocky route to the top on foot.

Make sure you start early to avoid the heat of the day and make the most of early morning views across a verdant vista of hillside villages, tobacco farms and fields of maize.

Suitably refuelled after your exertions, retrace your steps down the hill to the market. It’s a bustling, crowded area in contrast to the rest of the town’s quiet, leafy streets, but it is worth exploring as a showcase of the fresh fruit, vegetables and cereals farmed fresh in the town’s fertile surrounds.

From here, take time to soak up the town’s rich history. Songea’s streets are peppered with crumbling architectural remnants of its time under German colonial rule such as the German Boma, citadel and courthouse. However, the stand its people took in the early 19th century against the abuses of authority of the European settlers – the first organised African resistance against colonialists – has retained its power over time. The revolt, called the Maji Maji revolution – named after the widespread belief among the Ngoni

AFTERNOON Your tour may include a picnic lunch on the peak, but if you return to town still hungry, check out Krista Park Fast Food, a popular café 400m uphill from the market. Here you’ll find a choice of snacks, local-style fast food and freshly baked bread and pastries.

Egbert in donker Afrika | Wikimedia Commons | CC-BY-SA-2.0

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Elmundodelreves | Wikimedia Commons | CC-BY-SA-2.0

Songea’s bustling market place

The Matagoro Mountains loom over the Ruvuma Region

and Matengo tribes that the enemy’s bullets would turn to water (‘maji’) before hitting them, an incautious claim that contributed to close to 100,000 people losing their lives – lasted two years before the Germans reaffirmed control.

The events of the revolution and its legacy are detailed at the Songea Museum, which is an essential stop-off for visitors to the town. The museum is located next to a burial ground for hundreds of warriors killed in the revolt and also abuts a hanging tree said to be where the beheaded bodies of leaders – among them the Ngoni chief Songea, who gave the town its name – were suspended by the Germans. They were not to die in vain as the revolt ushered in a temporary liberalisation of colonial rule and a shift from military to civilian government as well as empowering national tribes towards

/ 24 hours in… Songea

Imani selemani Nsamila | Wikimedia Commons | CC-BY-SA-4.0

a movement for independence.

If you still have time in your day, it is worth heading west around 30 km to Peramiho for welcome evidence of the influence of more peaceful and integrating visitors to the region.

The Cathedral of St Benedict was first built by monks in 1899 and bringing education, medicine and Christianity to the local community.

It was destroyed during the Maji Maji revolution, but the monks returned and the impressive brick building still standing today was completed in 1945. Make sure you take in its three large copper plated doors with their antique locks. As well as the monastery there is an affiliated hospital.

offers 12 clean, attractive rooms, is a great spot to take your time over a good meal in pleasant surroundings. The hotel restaurant is just three km out of town and has a beautiful covered open-air dining area in its garden.

Service can be a little slow, but the menu’s range of continental and Indian dishes are all worth the wait. If you are reluctant to let your day in Songea end, the hotel also has an excellent garden bar, where you can enjoy a selection of beers, wines and cocktails and reflect on your Ruvuma region adventure.

The events of the revolution and its legacy are detailed at the Songea Museum, which is an essential stop-off for visitors to the town

EVENING It’s been a busy day so perhaps best to bring it to restful end with a relaxing evening meal. The Heritage Cottage, which also

FLYING TO SONGEA Air Tanzania now flies from Dar to Songea. Visit airtanzania.co.tz or call free on 0800 1100045.

D.Tamimo Boehm | Wikimedia Commons | CC-BY-SA-4.0

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trends

MAASAI-MADE JEWELLERY

Brown and gold beaded necklace Tsh 75,000

Named after the Maasai word for ‘happiness’, Enjipai is a Tanzanian company that supports and showcases the beautiful beadwork which is such a vital aspect of the tribe’s culture. The beading is often coupled with brass additions from western Africa to create statement jewellery that has been described as ‘wearable art’. You can see the vibrant looks achievable here and shop the range online at enjipai.co.tz and at Enjipai’s store in The Slipway Shopping Centre, Dar es Salaam.

Pink pendant Tsh. 120,000

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Blue pendant Tsh 95,000

Black ring necklace Tsh. 145,000

/ Twiga trends

Red necklace with silver pendant Tsh. 95,000

White necklace Tsh 55,000

Blue necklace Tsh 165,000

Rainbow necklace Tsh 100,000

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Inspirational women

MODERN

MAMAS of Tanzania

Image: Luis Quezada

With Tanzania having just sworn in its first woman president in Samia Suluhu Hussan, Twiga has put together a special collection of features that celebrate the inspirational women who do so much to help the country thrive.

Over the next 18 pages you’ll find women who have made a difference in the worlds of business, health, education and the arts.

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Role models

Flaviana Matata

ROLE MODELS Tanzania is blessed with beauty queens and fashion models whose appeal is far more than skin deep. Twiga takes a close-up look at the homegrown goddesses that have used their high profile to help others.

Queen Mugesi Ainory Gesase Being crowned Miss Grand Tanzania in 2018 and the modelling career that followed has brought many opportunities for international travel for Queen Mugesi Ainory Gesase. The 22-year-old has always been someone with an interest in global issues. She studied international relations and diplomacy at Tanzania Centre for Foreign Relations, one of the country’s most prestigious learning institutions, and attached herself to the work of the African Reflections Foundation.

The keen dancer and singer has shown her commitment to charity work since her teens when she began volunteering for the Alpha and Omega Reconciliation and Peace Building, educating and campaigning for the prevention of war and violence and the effects it has on women and children.

For details on how to get involved in Alpha and Omega Reconciliation and Peace Building projects, visit: arepeb.or.tz/g

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In 2018, Matata was named Most Inspirational Woman at the Global Women Gala.

Queen Mugesi surrounded by children on an outreach project for the African Reflections Foundation

Donate to the work of the foundation at flavianamatatafoundation.org

Image: Luis Quezada

Among the NGO’s continent-wide operations is Village Hearts Projects in Tanzania, which tackles hardships in the country’s rural areas. As its Water Ambassador, Queen Mugesi has fronted outreach projects in villages such as Mwarusembe in the Pwani region, where the project built a deep well at the local primary school to provide clean water for villagers. Mugesi oversaw the handing out of carrying cans to pupils so they can transport water back for their families after each school day.

Matata was the first ever winner of the Miss Universe Tanzania competition, in 2007, and has gone on to become one of Africa’s most recognisable and successful models. Her striking looks have seen her front campaigns for global brands such as Diesel and Clarins, and build a global profile she has used to pursue philanthropic projects dear to her. Matata was raised in Shinyanga, in northern Tanzania, and after completing high school gained a diploma in electrical engineering at Arusha Technical College.

It’s an academic path many young Tanzanians – girls especially – don’t get the chance to take. Matata credits her parents for always prioritising education and wants to do all she can to support more young women to stay in school and pursue their potential. The Flaviana Matata Foundation offers scholarships to young girls to pay for their fees through high school and into further education so they have the skills and support they need to get a job or start a business. Other accomplishments include renovating schools, kitting them out with new tables and desks, organising afterschool clubs for girls and distributing toiletry boxes to schools for girls to use during their menstrual cycle.

/ Role models Flaviana Matata handing out school equipment to pupils as part of her foundation’s work Image: Michael Mlingwa

Sylivia Sebastian Bebwa The Mwanza-born Sylivia was crowned Miss Tanzania in 2019 and went on to compete in that year’s Miss World competition. She has qualifications in physics, chemistry and biology and at one time harboured ambitions to be a doctor.

The desire to help others with health conditions informed her choice of ‘beauty with purpose’ project for the Miss World event. Sylivia works with children in Tanzania who have hydrocephalus, a condition in which an accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid occurs within the brain, often causing long term complications such as learning disabilities and speech and memory problems. Sufferers can have a full life span if the condition is caught early enough and Sylvia’s work has so far helped raise funds for 20 families to get treatment while also raising awareness of a condition that can attract damaging superstitious beliefs in some Tanzanian communities.

Sylivia, who in her spare time loves sport and dancing, is also involved in supporting the work of non-profit Smile Train, which provides corrective surgery for children with cleft lips and palates, as well as the Tanzania Breast Cancer Foundation.

Having had a modest upbringing in Mwanza before gaining global renown as Miss Tanzania, she was also an inspirational presence at a recent Global Peace Foundation event, encouraging young girls to follow their dreams.

(Above) Sylivia talking at a Global Peace Foundation event and (left) on outreach work for her own foundation

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/ Role models The work of the Miriam Odemba Foundation has brought clean water to rural communities

Miriam Odemba Odemba was the first Tanzanian model to win a contract with world-leading modelling agency Elite and was the first from her country to win a major world beauty pageant when she was crowned Miss Earth/Air/Water in 2008.

The elemental nature of her title has also inspired the direction of her philanthropic work. The Miriam Odemba Foundation was set up in 2019 with its environmentally friendly projects including providing clean drinking water in rural areas and the planting of trees to offset global warming.

Its work also encourages families to send their children to school and empowers women in communities. The not-forprofit foundation already has an impressive list of completed projects. It has provided water cans for pupils in Miteza, Mingombe and Kiwambo; funded the school fees of 250 students in the Manyara district; built a deep solar well and renovated a school in the Mkuranga district; paid for a double green house for the Matokeo Agriculture Group and bought 10 sewing machines for a sustainable women’s project.

To donate to the foundation’s work, visit miriamodembafoundation.org

Queen Elizabeth Makune Makune was Tanzania’s representative in the 2018 Miss World beauty pageant and has continued to boost the profile of her home country in setting up Twenzetu Kutali, which showcases the many attractions of Tanzania to a domestic market and provides an online savings account designed to help Tanzanians save for the safari holiday they have always dreamed of.

Makune knows how rewarding it is to experience Tanzania’s greatest natural attractions. She has climbed to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro and she also aims high when it comes to her career. She is ambassador for Jatu PLC, a food retailer that supports the Tanzanian agricultural industry by providing a supportive market outlet for local farmers. Her role involves spreading the company’s mission to build health and eradicate poverty through human resources, agriculture and industry. The MBA student is also a regular speaker at the Jatu Unitalk seminars at universities where she shares with students the rewarding career paths available for graduates that will make the most of their years of learning.

To find out more about Twenzetu Kutali, visit its Instagram page #twenzetukutalii

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Queen Elizabeth Makune addresses students at a Jatu Unitalk event

Miranda Naiman

BUILDING A GROWTH STATE GENERATION Empower is an award-winning Tanzanian human capital consulting firm with a global reach. Women make up 70 per cent of its talented team, all dedicated to providing career lift-off to the country’s brightest young talent. Twiga speaks to its award-winning and adventurous founder, Miranda Naiman

W

hen the grand ceremony for the Tanzania Consumer Choice Awards 2020 was held in Dar es Salaam’s Mtana Hall in December last year, the winner of the Most Preferred Female CEO of the Year, Miranda Naiman, was not there to pick up her award. She was far away from the evening’s glitz and glamour, fighting for each breath on a final push to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.

The climb was the latest in a long line of challenges the entrepreneur sets herself as part of the growth mindset that has helped her increase the revenue of her human capital consultancy firm Empower by at least 20 per cent each year since it began more than a decade ago.

That mindset is also entrenched in the culture of the company and the now more than three million people across Africa that Empower has helped secure rewarding jobs or furthered their personal development through its workshops, academies and other initiatives.

Positive thinking Naiman was one of only three in her expedition group to battle through the altitude sickness and arrive at the 5,895-metre high Uhuru Peak, a feat she puts down to positive thinking. “It was not about being the fittest, it was being mentally strong. Before I set out, I told myself ‘I will get to the top’. Near the end

my heart was thumping in my chest with every step, but giving up was not an option.”

Naiman and her carefully selected Empower team have helped many others find similar motivation from within to pursue a meaningful career path. The self-described “accidental entrepreneur” began Empower in 2009 as a solo consultancy that gave her the flexibility to work around being a new – and single – mum. She sees her son, Micah, who was born a year earlier, as the inspiration that drove her to make a success of the venture. “Every time I looked at him, I knew I could not fail,” she says.

Now Naiman has a “dream team” of 19 staff that work with a host of blue-chip clients across Tanzania and into East Africa with plans in place to extend operations across the continent. Empower’s portfolio of services encompasses human resource consultancy, recruitment and business insight. The team helps connect the talent pool of Tanzanian graduates with the corporate world, fills vacancies across sectors such as banking, manufacturing and energy and provides data analysis to help drive results for businesses.

There’s no shortage of people in need of the company’s help.

According to the World Health Organisation, 800,000 individuals enter the Tanzanian job market every year. For Naiman there is “great potential” for development here if

Founder of Empower Miranda Naiman

these young people are given knowledge and opportunities and she sees Empower, “with its understanding of employers and the labour market” as ideally placed to deliver a solution.

Support for students

Naiman took on Mt Kilimanjaro in 2020

Figures from the Tanzania Commission for Universities show that in the academic year 2019/20 there were 55,760 new student admissions with numbers having risen by almost 50 per cent since the 2012/13 intake. These institutions should contain some of the country’s best and brightest young people, but there are concerns too many leave unequipped for employment.

Naiman applauds students who signal early business initiative by pursuing start-up opportunities while still at university and, as a member of entrepreneurs’ network EO Tanzania she is among the judges selecting the winner of its annual Global Student Entrepreneur Awards.

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/ Miranda Naiman

Empower is also looking to hone the early business focus of some of the most promising students.

Last July, the company launched a non-profit programme GenEm (short for Generation Empower) in collaboration with the University of Dar es Salaam, which aims to give undergraduates in their final year of study the relevant skills and industry exposure that will make them more attractive to employers.

The programme is scheduled to run until 2025 with 250 students selected on merit from across the university’s colleges to take part each academic year. Naiman says: “It gives the chance to prime young people before they enter the job market.”

You don’t have to be among the GenEm chosen ones to benefit from the Empower team’s experience and motivational advice. The company offers plenty of free content across its online platforms. Regular features include weekend reading recommendations, blog posts from leading figures in business on trending topics and a weekly video series of inspirational one-to-one interviews called Yellow Couch Chat, which are conducted in the Empower offices on a sofa as sunny as the company’s unfailingly upbeat staff.

Spirit of learning It’s a holistic approach – with content ranging from fitness and wellbeing tips to guides on how to impress at a job interview or structure a productive day – and all part of Empower’s mission to instil an inclusive spirit of learning.

A key move for Naiman in spreading this culture of collective growth in Dar es Salaam was the launch of the Inspire Centre. The event space and café, located along with the Empower offices in Dar’s Tanzanite Park Building, hosts free monthly programme Empower Academy – with recent guest speakers including creative entrepreneur Grace Matata and musician Nikki wa Pili – among events ranging from poetry nights

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to language classes. Its café is also a hub for many of the city’s self-starters.

Naiman says: “The centre is an extension of who we are at Empower.

It combines meeting places with open public space for entrepreneurs who can sit and use the free wi-fi to build their business without a need for their own office.”

Unfortunately, the week before we speak, Naiman had to temporarily close the centre with its usual busy timetable of events and gatherings “hit hard” by the social restrictions of the pandemic. Still, Naiman is, as ever, positive. “It will be back,” she says.

Team spirit When Naiman began Empower, she says she could never have envisioned that it would have grown and diversified to include projects such as the Inspire Centre. She is delighted by the “different beast” it has become and credits these tangents of growth to the creative idea-sharing of the team she has built around her. “Empower is ours, not mine,” she says.

So, while she was otherwise engaged amid the rarefied air of the roof of Africa, Naiman thought it fitting that members of the team accepted the Tanzania Consumer Choice Award instead. She is also very proud that 70 per cent of the team are women, including four out of its six managers – a quality among those recognised by daily newspaper The Citizen in naming Empower as this year’s winner of its Rising Women Award.

True to a company that prides itself on having the ‘talent to recognise talent’, Naiman points out that the predominance of women in the Empower team was not a conscious decision, but just a reflection that they were the right people for those jobs. “Empower is setting the standard,” says Naiman. “We just look for the best candidate.”

It’s clear there is a close, family-like bond throughout the Empower

Naiman made it to Uhuru Peak

team, literally in the case of Naiman’s younger brother, Joshua, and sister, Ella, who came on board five and six years ago, respectively, and are now both shareholders within the venture.

Family influence Naiman credits her siblings with “transforming the business”. Both were fundamental in setting up the Inspire Centre and Ella, who gave up a high-flying job as a project manager for retail giant Marks & Spencer in UK to join Empower, heads the company’s advisory team while Joshua co-ordinates

Naiman points out that the predominance of women in the Empower team was not a conscious decision, but just a reflection that they were the right people for those jobs

/ Miranda Naiman

business insight projects such as data collection and mystery shopper programmes.

The family influence at Empower can be traced even further back with Naiman claiming the seeds of her belief in the power of education that are deeply ingrained in the company were sown by her British-born mother, who was a teacher at the International School of Tanganyika, in Dar. Her mother’s position meant Naiman was able to become a student at the prestigious fee-paying school for free and she made the most of an education she “could not afford” and never forgot the opportunities it brought her.

The power of education was at the fore of her higher education as well. She gained a degree in applied theatre in education in the UK at London’s industry-leading performance arts college The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

Despite admitting to feeling like a “fish out of water” as a Tanzanian

fascinated by education among the college’s ranks of students who harboured dreams of being the future stars of stage and screen, Naiman learned much here and the University of Leeds, where she went on to take a masters in theatre and development studies, about how drama could be used to foster effective learning.

Naiman says the techniques she learned during this time can still be seen in the role-playing and team-building services Empower offers clients in its workshops and academies and which, she believes, are among the unique features that give the company its “a competitive edge” in the market.

Return to Tanzania The final familial influence comes from Naiman’s father – a Tanzanian businessman – who encouraged his daughter to return home once she had completed her studies in UK. “He told me there were lots of opportunities here and should come

The Empower ‘dream team’ strike a pose

Naiman was named Most Preferred CEO of 2020 at the Tanzania Consumer Choice Awards

back, give it a year and see what happens,” she says.

He was right. Naiman joined a recruitment agency and got a job almost immediately. When she became a mum, it felt time to venture out on her own with Empower.

Much has changed since then.

Micah will be a teenager this year and Empower is looking to go pan-African and keep building its team. The opportunities for work in Tanzania that Naiman’s father praised over a decade ago are even greater now as a result of the efforts of the Empower team to create an employment ecosystem where skills are aligned to available jobs. The new GenEm is motivated, educated and in a state of growth.

To see the latest Empower job vacancies, visit its website at empower.co.tz For news on its upcoming events and the times of its latest Yellow Couch Chat, head to its Instagram and Facebook pages @EmpowerLimited

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Air Tanzania staff

Queens of the sky In celebrating the inspirational women of Tanzania, we can’t forget those among our own ATCL team. Whether onboard or behind the scenes, these talented women ensure your Air Tanzania experience runs safe and smooth. Look out for these three on your next flight with us.

Joanita Kabula Bomani

Nadhifa Hassan

Brenda Kway

Joanita is a first officer of our Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. She has 12 years of experience in the aviation industry and has amassed 1800 flight hours. Apart from being a pilot she’s a proud mother and loves to spend time with her kids and family. Her message to all girls and women is: “To get success in life, you need to find something to hold onto, something to motivate you, something to inspire you.”

Nadhifa is a certified TCAA and EASA aircraft maintenance engineer who works on our Boeing 787- 8 Dreamliner and the Bombardier Q400 Dash 8. She is a proud mother to three boys that she loves endlessly. Her message to all the young girls out there is: “You have the power to create change.”

Brenda has been part of the Air Tanzania cabin crew for the past three years, flying both domestic and international flights. She loves her job and outside of work also enjoys travelling, cooking, watching movies and swimming. Her message to women is: “No matter where you are from, your dreams are valid.”

For Booking & Enquiries: 0800 110045 www.airtanzania.co.tz Follow us:

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@AirTanzania

@airtanzania

airtanzania_atcl

Air Tanzania ATCL

Film premiere images taken by Vanessa Mwingira (@punkandblvck)

/ Binti film

Binti brings Hollywood to Bongowood Not many Tanzanian films make it onto the big screen, but Dar-set drama Binti has secured a cinematic release at home and abroad. Twiga speaks to Angela Ruhinda, its co-screenwriter and co-executive producer, about the new standards the film sets.

I

nternational Women’s Day, March 8, saw the world premiere of Tanzanian-made film Binti at this year’s online Pan African Film & Arts Festival (PAFF) along with gala screenings at cinemas in Dar es Salaam, Nairobi and Kampala. It was a fitting date for a film in which women dominate in front of and behind the camera.

Tanzanian cinema-goers will also have the chance to see Binti (the title means ‘daughter’ in Swahili) on the big screen as it goes on nationwide release from April 9. The powerful film focuses on four very different women in Dar es Salaam, whose lives ultimately entwine in unforgettable fashion. The project was devised and brought to screens by Tanzanian production company Black Unicorn Studios, run by sisters Angela and Alinda Ruhinda. Angela also wrote the screenplay alongside the film’s director, Seko Shamte.

The March 8 date for the

premiere was a happy accident, Angela tells me, as was the allwomen creative team assembled for the film. She was delighted to secure Seko – an established Tanzanian filmmaker with her own production company, Alkemist Media – as she was the best person for the role, irrespective of gender.

Universal story “Picking Seko to be our director was the best decision we could have made,” the 32-year-old says. “She’s very sharp and she has never had the opportunity to tell a story about women like this.”

That story of the struggles for women is not only a recognisable one in Dar es Salaam, but Angela also hopes it has universal relevance to women all over the world.

The predominantly Swahili film’s English subtitles should help build the film’s reach beyond East Africa.

Those in the audience, wherever

(below) Angela Ruhinda and (above) with the Black Unicorn Studios team

they are, should be prepared for an emotional experience. “Bring your tissues,” says Angela.

She adds: “Binti explores the interior spaces of women that we rarely get to see. It sheds light on the concerns, plight and pressures of Tanzanian women living in its cities.

We hope our audiences leave the cinema knowing that the Tanzanian woman is no different from other women from other parts of the world.

“It is a universal story of the struggle of women in general. And it is important for men to see this film as well and recognize their sisters, mothers and daughters.”

Being selected for PAFF should play a role in raising the global profile of the film. In its usual pandemic-less physical form, the 10-day festival is based at a cinema in Los Angeles, a US city Angela knows well. The film fanatic and keen writer headed to the home of Hollywood in 2011 to study for a masters in airtanzania.co.tz / 27

/ Binti film

Binti is our first feature film and the stakes are high. We want to introduce ourselves as competent and forward-thinking storytellers

Binti director Seko Shamte with the film’s leading actors at the premiere in Dar es Salaam

screenwriting and playwriting at the New York Film Academy after completing a degree in philosophy and film studies in the UK. While on the year-long course, Angela wrote a thesis script about a secret office romance between two 20-something interracial co-workers that inadvertently goes public. The comedy, called Iman & Andy, was snapped up by Electus, a multimedia entertainment studio with links to Academy Award-winning actress Whoopi Goldberg, which then sold it to US television network ABC.

Writing in Hollywood Like so many initially promising projects in Tinsel Town, Iman & Andy languished in development hell and never made it onto screens.

However, Angela had made an instant name for herself in a competitive market and was soon writing and directing her short film If Girls Were Like Boys, and got her name in the end credits of a Hollywood film when she was among the scriptwriting team for Moonlight in Vermont, a 2017 entry in the long line of hugely popular romantic comedies released by the Hallmark channel.

Born in Canada to Tanzanian parents, Angela had an itinerant upbringing with long stays in China, Kenya and UK necessitated by her parents’ work. Still, after years of screen success Stateside, she felt the pull of her homeland and decided to return to Tanzania.

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“I was very fortunate to work with a few big companies in Hollywood and I am proud of what I am accomplished in my short-time living and studying in Los Angeles,” she says.

“Initially, I came home to be closer to my family and when I made the move to return home, I decided that I would use my talent and experience to bring something new to Tanzania.

Fortunately, my sister Alinda was more than willing to join me in the quest to produce quality entertainment in our own backyard.”

Alinda had also spent time in the US, studying for a degree in advertising at Temple University, in Philadelphia, and built a career in media and marketing. Such skills were crucial in building the Black Unicorn Studios brand when the sisters launched the project in August 2018. The studio produces content such as music videos, documentaries and online and TV commercials. Its first major project was The Big Three, a comic stage play that captures the chaos that ensues when a woman decides to hold a dinner party to introduce the three men she is dating to one another. It was written by and starred Angela and played to packed houses at Dar’s Little Theatre Club.

Debut feature This success spurred the sisters to develop the studio’s first feature film, which would set new standards for production values here. Tanzania

has a popular ‘bongo’ film industry, but it thrives on quick turnaround video films shot with low budgets, short schedules and camcorders.

The Ruhinda sisters, however, had a vision that was more Hollywood than Bongowood.

“Binti is our first feature film and the stakes are high. We want to introduce ourselves as competent and forward-thinking storytellers,” Angela says. “Black Unicorn Studios aims at producing high quality productions that reach international standards.

High production values

Dar drama – scenes from the film Binti

“We believe that investing in certain aspects of film and theatre will elevate all our stories. Certain aspects of production aren’t emphasised in Tanzania and we would like to change that. Every great film needs a script, for example. Rehearsals were also such a big part of making Binti. By the time cameras start rolling, everything should run like clockwork. The end result is great performances and a great product.”

Angela, Alinda and Seko led the Binti rehearsals at the Black Unicorn Production House in Dar’s Masaki neighbourhood with a cast of mostly amateur actors, although fans of TV talent show Bongo Star Search will spot head judge Rita Paulsen playing the role of a doctor

/ Binti film

Actress and TV show host Rita Paulsen at the Binti premiere

Classics of African cinema Our pick of the films to check out from across the continent

1

Abouna (Chad, 2002)

This tender, poignant film

by Chad director Mahamat Saleh Haroun follows the forlorn attempts of two young brothers to track down their missing father.

Angela says: “Out of the four leading ladies, Godliver Gordian is a seasoned actor and has a loyal fan base in Tanzania. The other three ladies – Bertha Robert, Maggie Munisi and Helen Hartmann – are fresh faces. Audiences will be blown away by their gut-wrenching performances, we are very proud of them and all the actors in general.”

As well as the exacting rehearsal process, the team took time in choosing outside locations for the film shoot, evoking a true sense of the life of contrasts that Tanzania’s commercial capital presents.

Angela says: “The film was shot over the course of 21 days, all over the city of Dar es Salaam. [We captured] different extremes of the city, like the busy streets of Kariakoo to as far away as Mbweni and Mbezi Beach. We had 12-hour days, Monday to Saturday. The first week we did early mornings starting at 6am, second week was night shoots and the final week was a mix of day and night. We were lucky to have a good locations manager, Sulemain Mchora, who managed to get us several locations that fit the tone of the film.”

The striking locations suffuse the film with a cinematic quality that was made for the big screen and theatres in Dar, Mwanza, Dodoma, Tanga and Arusha will be showing Binti from April.

The film is already making waves with super models Flaviana Matata

and Millen Happiness Magese among the firmament at the star-studded Dar premiere. Angela hopes “to keep this momentum going for years to come” with projects that showcase the country’s creative talent.

“From theatre to films, we have met people who are skilled in every department. There are so many wonderful actors, singers and writers here.

“Tanzanians are very talented; we just lack the opportunity to showcase these talents. We hope this changes, and that Black Unicorn can be a part of that change.”

Global reach The studio also wants its films to be appreciated far beyond the country’s borders. With the Academy Awards panel finally bowing to pressure to be more inclusive with the talent it singles out, Tanzanian cinema could be on their radar very soon. Whether it is or not, Angela and Black Unicorn are on a mission to make their mark.

“We see no reason why we can’t bring our own seats to the global table of storytelling. We are not opposed to getting a call from the Academy awards but we will make history regardless.”

To keep updated with Tanzanian screening dates for Binti, follow @bintimovie To find out more about the work of Black Unicorn Studios, visit blackunicornstudiostz.com

2

Touki Bouki (Senegal, 1973)

3

I Am Not A Witch (Zambia, 2017)

4

The Wedding Party (Nigeria, 2016)

5

From A Whisper (Kenya, 2009)

This subversive film chronicles the adventures of a rebellious Senegalese couple in their efforts to escape to Europe.

Director Rungano Nyoni helms this ultimately uplifting tale of a young Zambian orphan who is accused of witchcraft and exiled from her village only to fall in with a bizarre mentor who seems to summon miracles from her.

This fast-paced comedy about a young couple’s chaotic wedding plans has proved the highestgrossing international hit of the Nollywood movie industry.

This affecting drama explores the lingering legacy of the bombing of the US Embassy in Nairobi in 1998 by focusing on the victims and their families.

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Lina Gadi

The Tanzanian women in my life have driven me to carve

MY OWN VERSION OF SUCCESS

No more stealing your girlfriend’s conditioner! The Aaron Wallace range of natural hair and beard care products are tailored especially for black men. The brand’s Tanzanian co-founder, Lina Gadi, reveals how the products have shaken up the global grooming industry and expresses her delight that they are now available to the African market.

A

frican hair is magical and beautiful, but it can be difficult to maintain and requires specialised care and styling. The global skin and haircare market may be worth hundreds of billions of dollars, but the vast majority of it overlooks dark skin shades and natural afro hair. The problem is especially acute for black men, with the number of products optimised for their hair severely lacking.

How welcome then is natural hair

care brand Aaron Wallace? This recent, award-winning addition to the market is specially formulated to meet the grooming needs of men of African heritage. Its premium hair and beard care products blend ingredients such as mango, shea, castor and coconut that replenish moisture in afro-textured hair, which can be prone to dryness, without stripping away its natural oils. The result is soft, healthy hair with long-lasting moisture.

All-natural – the Aaron Wallace conditioner contains mango butter and black seed oil

The brand started small three years ago –products were packaged for postal orders from the back room of a barbershop in London, UK – but its reach soon rocketed. Its hair and beard oil was named among UK men’s style magazine GQ’s best grooming products last year and the full Aaron Wallace range is now available to customers across the world thanks to the brand’s

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/ Lina Gadi

recent partnership with global online retailer Asos. This, of course, includes the African market, something Aaron Wallace co-founder Lina Gadi – who has Tanzanian parents – is very excited about.

“I am proud of my Tanzanian heritage and nothing would make me happier than growing a successful company that Tanzanians can benefit from as well,” she says. “Beyond that Africa is a beautiful continent full of endless possibilities. It was always our goal to enter the market at some point, this Asos deal has only served to speed up that timeline. I am confident that Aaron Wallace will perform well in Africa. We have already seen a sharp increase in traffic from Nigeria and Ghana and so this partnership comes at the perfect time and means we can service the whole of Africa and beyond.”

Gadi was born in the UK and spent most of her childhood in the Netherlands, an international upbringing that suited her mother’s job as a flight attendant for airlines including Air Tanzania. Her proudly Tanzanian parents also ensured her daughters were fluent in Swahili as well as English and Dutch. The family also maintained close links to relations back home.

Gadi says: “I was raised in a Tanzanian household with all the traditions that accompany it. My mother did an incredible job of raising both my sister and I to speak fluent Swahili, which strengthened our ties to Tanzania and is also the reason I identify as a Tanzanian, despite not being born there. I spent a lot of time visiting family in Tanzania during my childhood, including extended summer holidays mostly in Dar Es Salaam’s Mikocheni, Oyster Bay and Masaki regions.”

Inspirational mother Gadi also credits her mother with inspiring her to pursue a life with meaning. “Without doubt, I am who I am because of my mother and everything she taught me,” she says. “I am completely inspired by and driven by her. I am also very

32 / Twiga

fortunate to be surrounded by formidable women in the form of my aunts who each, through their own successes, continue to show me what it means to be a phenomenal black woman. They have all played a role in giving me the drive to carve out my own version of success and for me that means building something that will outlive me and hopefully go some way towards making the world a better place.”

Gadi’s mother sadly died in 2014, but her guidance still resonates. The loss hit the family hard and the griefstricken Gadi felt unable to continue the good work of Start Young Global, a business resource hub she had set up to support budding millennial entrepreneurs.

As a black woman, I know the struggle of finding the right products for my hair and skin and black men struggle even more

Barber beginnings Start Young Global’s founding members included Gadi’s sister, Jusnah, and Aaron Wallace, a former music teacher and kindred spirit who shared Gadi’s drive to make a mark in life. The pair clicked immediately.

“Working with Aaron was easy then and still is easy now,” she says.

At that time, Wallace was the owner of the Shear & Shine Barbershop in south London. The highly successful, sociable place was packed night and day with punters who came not just because of Wallace’s expertise with the clippers, but also to chat with friends and just hang out.

Among the regular topics of conversations that would bounce around the barbers would be the issues of getting good products for afro hair.

Gadi would often drop by the barbers and was familiar with the complaints. She says: “As a black woman, I know the struggle of finding the right products for my hair and skin all too well and being in the barbershop I got to see how much black men struggled even more to get their hands on the right products. So much so that most of the men we spoke to either accepted their hair and skin problems as ‘that’s just the way it is’, not realising these

Lina Gadi with the Aaron Wallace range

Gadi was born to Tanzanian parents in the Netherlands

were solvable issues or they resorted to either creating their own solutions by mixing existing products, using their women’s/ mother’s products or picking up whatever they can find on the shelves and hope for the best.”

Wallace decided to change this situation for black men everywhere and offer them a solution that works. He began research into the natural ingredients best to replenish and protect male afro hair. He put together the Aaron Wallace three-part grooming system with shampoo, moisturiser and conditioner containing naturally derived mango butter and black seed oil to

All images courtesy of Lina Gadi

/ Lina Gadi

need for his grooming products.

“With our online presence, we didn’t just create a presence for ourselves, we created a community for Aaron Wallace, a community of black men who all understood the problem first-hand and wanted to be a part of the solution,” says Gadi.

“We quickly created a team of brand ambassadors who helped amplify our message and until this day continue to advocate for Aaron Wallace.” getting stuck in and in the process felt closer to our customers.”

In expanding the profile of the brand, Gadi’s marketing experience was crucial. A keen filmmaker in her teens, she opted to pursue film studies degree as a degree at university, but her head was soon turned to an advertising and marketing communications course, which Gadi, a “natural people’s person” thought a better fit. She didn’t look back.

Building the brand

seal in moisture while softly cleansing the hair and scalp.

The brand was launched and Gadi was onboard from the start. With limited financial backing the pair had to be very hands-on in their roles.

“We would normally set aside two hours at the end of the day to get all the orders from that day dispatched,” she says. “Luckily we had a post office right next door to the barbershop which meant we didn’t have to travel too far with lots of packages.

I’ll be honest, as impractical as it was to continue packaging and posting our products ourselves, I do miss that period in time. I really enjoyed

“What I love about marketing is the relationship between brand and people,” she says. “That understanding helped me create that initial buzz about Aaron Wallace. The first press release we put out went viral ended up in local, national and even international media. This created a huge launch platform for us. Our story was shared over 100,000 times all across the world, which was unexpected and just fantastic.

I believe the reason it was such a huge story is because people were shocked to realise black men were still so under-represented in the male grooming industry. I think people loved to see us trying to do something about it and were eager to support us in bringing about that change. Self-care is just as important to black men as it is to everyone else and the fact that so many people were willing to share our story just proves that.”

She has also built a digital presence for the brand, creating an online community forum that globalises the barbershop banter that first convinced Wallace there was a

Gadi with business partner Aaron Wallace

Going global The Asos partnership has taken the brand to another level and the new global audience will soon have more products to choose from as Aaron Wallace brings out its own skincare range later this year.

“We have been working hard to formulate a natural, high quality skin care range that will help black men reduce the risk of ingrown hair and keep the skin nicely moisturised in the process,” says Gadi. “This is only the beginning for Aaron Wallace and there will be many more product launches in the future, all with the goal of helping black men take better care of their hair, their beards and their skin.”

Gadi hopes that will include plenty of men in this country. She will get a chance to judge the Tanzanian grooming game on a visit to the country – flight restrictions depending – later this year. It promises to be an emotional visit.

“I used to visit at least once a year but that all changed after my mother sadly passed away. I miss Tanzania and my family terribly; I hope to return this year to my favourite country. No matter how long I stay away, going there always feels like coming home.”

FURTHER INFORMATION For more details on the full range, blog posts on afro male grooming and joining the Aaron Wallace community, visit byaaronwallace.com To shop the Aaron Wallace range on Asos, visit asos.com

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Bahati Band

STRONG SISTERS

SPREAD THEIR MUSICAL MESSAGE Bahati Band are an all-women music group in Dar es Salaam breaking down the barriers of the music industry boys’ club. They play their own instruments, write songs that touch souls and are inspiring women to find their voices and pursue their music dreams.

Live act – Bahati Band on stage at Nafasi Arts Space in Dar es Salaam

A

s the only all-women music group to play their own instruments and write their own songs in Tanzania, Bahati Band are gamechangers. The six-piece band have been together barely a year, but with their joyous mix of afro-fusion, r&b and reggae they have already proved they should be taken as seriously as their male counterparts and have become a popular booking on the Dar es Salaam live music scene.

Band members Dorice George, who plays bass, saxophonist Gloria Samson, pianist Alice Nyato, singers

Neema Mwasha and Merry Mshana, percussionist Britenia Richard, Mariam Namuyodi on drums and Nipael Mtana on keyboards were among the most impressive candidates who answered a call put out in January 2020 by Pili Maguzo, the founder of performance art theatre Bahati Art Group, for talented musicians to form an all-women musical group.

The band continued the Bahati name, which means ‘luck’ in Swahili, and Mtana says the word seems apt as each musician feels blessed by their abilities and the reception the

band has enjoyed from the public.

“We felt lucky that each one of us has a special talent in music,” she says. “From the first day we formed a bond and fell in love with each other.

Society also accepted us and gave us a chance to show what we have. The love and invitations we have received so far has been amazing.”

Nafasi Arts Space gave the band rehearsal space and its first live show in September when they were among the featured acts at the Dar creative hub’s showcase of visual and performing arts Wikiendi Live – Pamoja Tena. Bahati Band were a airtanzania.co.tz / 35

/ Bahati Band

huge hit and the show is still strong in Mtana’s memory. “We were the only women performing that day and the audience loved us so much.”

Plenty more shows have followed, including a regular Friday night gig at lively Oyster Bay restaurant, bar and guest house Triniti. As Mtana intimates, the success of the band has been as surprising as it is welcome.

Tanzania has plenty of very visible female singing stars, Vanessa Mdee, Zuchu and Lady Jaydee among them, but Bahati Band presents a previously unseen level of female autonomy with women making all the music and calling the shots behind the scenes. The strong dadas of the band share a sistership that extends to their band’s manager, the dancer and gender equality campaigner Irene Themistocles, who is instrumental in securing their busy calendar of live shows. When seeking gigs she has come up against those that believe the role of women in a band is just to sing and who want to pay less to book Bahati because they are an allwomen group.

Its entrenched beliefs such as these that Maguzo – who attended Dar dance centre Muda Africa and often performs with Bahati alongside fellow dancer Lilian for unforgettable live shows – wanted to counter in

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her vision for the band.

Bahati Band has shown support for events in Dar that promote gender equality, such as December’s Women, Talents, Empowerment at Alliance Française, where they put on another show-stopping performance, which Mtana says she “loved every beat of”.

The keyboard player is naturally creative. Her skills as a pianist have led her being nominated this year for an award of recognition from African Art Music TV. She is also a talented gospel singer and designs and sells her own jewellery under her brand Nipa Accessories – but she hopes the band is an inspiration to all women in the audience, who get to see what can come of pursuing a creative purpose. There is even the possibility of becoming a Bahati Band member themselves.

“When we started playing together, not all of us were that good. We had to practice so hard to improve, form a good bond and be able to meet people’s expectations.

“We encourage other girls who can play instruments and sing to join the band. Even those who are still not good in music but finds interest can join us and learn. There is a big population in the country with no employment so instead of staying

Bahati Band members, including keyboard player Nipael Mtana (top left), on stage and in rehearsals

idle it’s better to learn new stuff or use your talent to employ yourself.

Before I was playing piano just for myself at home, but now I play in the band and earn some money.”

As well as the welcome income, Mtana – who started playing keyboards three years ago – finds she can channel her emotions, both good and bad, into her music. Bahati Band play with a smile on their faces and Mtana puts it down to the joyful escape of making music.

“Playing piano makes me feel special and it relaxes my mind,” she says. “When I play, I feel like I’m in another world, it takes away all the sadness and anger.”

Those negative emotions can arrive. Mtana has used a wheelchair since the age of nine when a mystery condition struck and left her unable to walk. The option of surgery to help Mtana walk again was offered

We encourage other girls who can play instruments and sing to join the band. Even those who are still not good in music but finds interest can join us and learn

/ Bahati Band

Tanzania Women Jazz Band

tracks among the set-list and they are not afraid to dig deep when it comes to the lyrical content.

Songwriting skills

but it also carried a 40 per cent risk of her dying on the operating table.

“My parents were scared so they refused,” she says.

Mtana says she has not let it define or restrict her, but it does present challenges. To travel any distance requires taking a taxi or bajaj. “I don’t earn enough to afford that,” she says, “and not all of the drivers are capable of carrying me so they refuse the ride.”

Music offers a chance to channel this hurt. When Bahati started out they mostly performed covers of their favourite songs, but now there is a good number of band-written

The song ‘Subira’ calls for patience and trust in pursuing goals and to not get disheartened when success is not immediate. ‘Uze’ is sung in the character of a woman who is introducing her lover to her family for the first time while ‘Dunia’ berates the loss of national identity that comes from people overvaluing influences from abroad.

Being able to craft their own music has helped the band be taken seriously and the next step is to get some of these tracks recorded and released for people to enjoy. Mtana says there are plans for the band to get some studio time in the near future and for more live shows to support the recorded work.

“We are practicing to make sure the new shows are our best yet.”

Bahati Band may currently be the only all-women music group in Tanzania, but they are not the first. For that, you have to go back to 1965 and the Tanzania Women Jazz Band. This group began as the Police Jazz Band and was made up of young women turned from complete novices by the force’s head of music activities, the talented musician Mzee Mayaglio, into a jazz band so esteemed it toured across Tanzania and into Kenya. In 1966 the 15-strong band recorded six songs at Radio Tanzania Dar es Salaam (RTD) Studios, a venue which became crucial in nurturing the country’s music scene in the early years of independence. A tour of China was supposed to be next, but the band split up before this could happen, with members complaining they did not get a share of the revenue created by the venture.

To keep up to date with upcoming live performances and the latest Bahati Band news, visit the Instagram page @bahati_female_band Bahati Band have recorded an affecting tribute song, complete with video, to the late President John Pombe Magufuil. Watch it on YouTube.

Pioneers – the Tanzania Women Jazz band

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competition

WIN

Images: Mediterraneo Hotel & Restaurant

BED AND BREAKFAST FOR TWO AT THE MEDITERRANEO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS To be in with a chance of claiming this wonderful prize, email your answers to the three questions below along with a photograph of you holding your copy of Twiga 9 on your ATCL flight to competition@landmarine.org by 10th June 2021. Good luck!

1

What instrument does Bahati Band’s Nipael Mtana play?

2

3

S

et amid lush gardens and just footsteps away from the fine white sand and sheltered waters of Msasani Bay, Mediterraneo boutique hotel offers one of Dar es Salaam’s most relaxing and romantic hotel options.

Guests stay in cosy cottage-style rooms with all modern comforts included and have the choice of two restaurants, both offering priceless Indian Ocean views and delicious Mediterranean or Swahili dishes.

The hotel cultivates a cool boho chic atmosphere with the outdoor bar and restaurants candle-lit as the evenings draw in. Guests have their pick of the sumptuous sofas to lounge on and enjoy one of the best sundowners spots in the city.

Twiga is delighted that this boutique hotel experience in Dar is up for grabs for one of our readers.

Mediterraneo is offering a prize of a night’s stay with breakfast included for the winner of our competition and a guest of their choice.

At which festival did the film ‘Binti’ have its world premiere?

What is the name given to the cohort of students chosen by the University of Dar es Salaam and human capital consultancy Empower?

COMPETITION TERMS AND CONDITIONS: Prizes dependent on availability.

One entry per person. Entrants must be 18 years or over. The decision of the organisers will be final. The competition is not open to employees and their relatives of Mediterraneo Hotel & Restaurant, Air Tanzania or Land & Marine Publications Ltd. The prize does not include flights or travel to and from the destination.

Last issue’s

WINNER Congratulations to Mariam Abizer who wins a meal for two at Ahlan Restaurant @ahlan.tz Well done and thanks for flying Air Tanzania.

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Motors

‘People who see bikers as criminals watch too much television’

Motorcycle gangs can project an intimidating presence with their roaring machines, tattoos and black-leather clothing, but avid Zimbabwean biker, creative and technology entrepreneur Walter Wanyanya reveals a softer side to Cecilia Kamuputa.

“I

think those who view bikers as criminals watch too much television,” says Walter Wanyanya.

“First and foremost, bikers are united by the love and passion for their bikes and obviously we then band together with other people that have the same passions much like any other sport, hobby or club.”

Wanyanya began riding motorbikes

as a teenager growing up in Harare suburb Mufakose and has ridden with a number of biker gangs in Zimbabwe.

In his experience, bikers are sensitive, caring types and a huge aspect of biking culture is charity work.

He added that bikers are simply very united and once one is part of a group, loyalty and brotherhood are a huge aspect.

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/ Motors

I guess I have always been a person who doesn’t follow trends or the norm. I just seem to find myself going the opposite direction but it has paid off

“Anyone can be a biker, young, old, pink, yellow, blue or black, and when we meet especially here in Zimbabwe, we tend to see a fellow biker first before anything else.”

Wanyanya attained his primary education at Chiedza Primary School in Norton, 49.3 km out of Harare and his secondary education at St Eric’s High School and Dzivarasekwa High School in the capital. He later on went to train as an Apple technician in Durban.

42 / Twiga

He was first introduced to bikes as a teen by a friend, Bruce Woest, who taught him to ride a dirt bike on his farm. He was hooked from then on.

“I could ride a motor bike before I could drive a car. It is a very long love affair,” he says.

Off-centre passions As a teen, he also learnt how to play the guitar at the Celebration Church in Borrowdale, Harare. Here, he also learnt other life-enhancing skills that have aided him later in life to become the founder of multiple tech and music production firms, an accomplished artists’ manager for big names such as the late superstar Oliver Mtukudzi and the founder and artistic director of Zimbabwe’s fastest growing music festival, the Jacaranda Music Festival.

“My love for music started at the church and it then led me to the business of music and entertainment,” he says.

Wanyanya sees a strong correlation among his three major passions; music, technology and biking.

They are all considered off-centre passions. Should you mention to someone you are a biker, be prepared to be told how dangerous it is while expressing a desire to be a musician is often met with

Walter Wanyanya with his beloved Harley-Davidson Fat Bob

a response about how it will lead nowhere. It is also only recently that it has become acceptable to pursue tech as a business.

“So, I guess I have always been a person who doesn’t follow trends or the norm. I just seem to find myself going the opposite direction but it has paid off,” he says.

Ghost rider Wanyanya rides a Harley-Davidson Fat Bob which goes by the name ‘Chipo’, short for chipoko, which means ‘ghost’ in the local Shona

All images courtesy of Walter Wanyanya

/ Motors

Wanyanya is still weighing up which Harare bike club he will join

language. To him, the bike symbolizes “freedom”. “It’s my dream bike,” he says. “It was love at first sight.”

He claims that riding has transformed his life as it has brought him into contact with a group of very different people he would have not met any other way.

“People who are now family to me,” he added.

Wanyanya is not a member of any motorcycle club at the moment, but he plans to be by the end of year and for now is trying a few out to see which fits him best

“I ride with most if not all the clubs in Zimbabwe right now to help me make a decision on which club to join,” he says.

“Each group or club [has its] particular club rules so joining a club is something one must carefully consider before making a final decision.”

Wanyanya and his fellow bikers love to take to the open roads of the surrounding countries with recent tours in Zambia, Malawi, South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.

“Southern Africa is our playground,” he says.

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Interior design

ARC DE TRIOMPHE Mumbai is home to some of the world’s most lavish and beautiful residences. Among them is Half Arc House, located in one of the high-rise city’s most opulent skyscrapers. It enjoys uninterrupted views of the Arabian Sea at one end and the city on the other while its interiors, which include a lavish swimming pool and gym, were curated by international design studio Covet House. Here, Twiga gives you a guided tour of this luxury living experience.

All images courtesy of COVET HOUSE, www.covethouse.eu

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/ Interior design

(Left) The Half Arc House gets its name from the recurring quarter circle motifs. The first—a textured and painted arc—is seen where the entrance meets the main L-shaped living area, and frames that room.

(Right and below) In the guest bedroom, the arc presents itself within the teak wood and all black, back painted glass cupboards.

And the bow appears yet again in the master suite within the pink shelving unit behind the bed.

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/ Interior design

This lavish city home is currently home to just one woman, who has its 1,400 sq ft of living space all to herself. It was her request that the original have been broken down and converted into just two spacious suites.

(Below) The master suite is complete with en-suite bathroom, a spacious walk-in wardrobe and a dedicated shoe room. Being the primary residence of a young and single entrepreneur, the apartment has been curated to give a homely, feminine appeal with a quirky look and feel.

(Right) The selected furniture and furnishings are all sourced from Europe, from the most covetable brands in the world. Think Boca do Lobo, Koket, Tom Dixon, Baxter, and Reflex Angelo, to name a few – all of which are unabashedly luxurious. These global luxury brands have been paired with indigenous local luxury names including Scarlet Splendor and Jaipur Rugs.

(Below) The Lapiaz Center Table with its polished brass details and mirrored sides is a statement piece.

46 / Twiga

/ Interior design

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Swahili story

‘Marehemu Ameacha Ujumbe’ ‘The Dead Have Left a Message’

BY MAUNDU MWINGIZI Swahili Story is Twiga’s showcase of Tanzanian writing talent in collaboration with author collective Uwaridi. This time we turn the spotlight on Maundu Mwingizi. He describes himself as an ‘authorpreneur’ who wants to make a living through writing. His recent published work includes the mystery novel ‘Fumbo’ and below is his new complete short story, ‘The Dead Have Left a Message’.

M

ke na mume waliojaaliwa kipato kikubwa, waliamua kufanya tafrija kubwa nyumbani kwao.

Ili kudhihirisha ukwasi wao, wakaamua kufanya manunuzi makubwa ya vitu ghali na vya thamani ili kuzikonga nyoyo za waalikwa. Baada ya kumaliza manunuzi, mume alitoka nje na kumwita mzee mmoja -mbeba mizigo kwa ajili ya kuwafikishia mizigo nyumbani.

Kwa umbali wa kutoka madukani hadi nyumbani, gharama za ubebaji hucheza kati ya shilingi elfu arobaini hadi elfu hamsini, lakini mbebaji yule dhaifu aliomba kulipwa shilingi elfu ishirini tu.

Inaonekana alichohitaji mzee yule ni kupata chochote tu alimradi mkono uende kinywani, hivyo hakutaka kupoteza wateja kwa namna yoyote ile.

Cha ajabu, mume aliendelea kumgalaliza ili apunguziwe bei hadi shilingi elfu kumi na tano. Kishingo upande mzee akaafiki.

Mwonekano wa mzee yule, licha ya kudhihirisha dhiki kali, pia ulidhihirisha uungwana na uadilifu. Kwa hivyo, mume aliamua kumtangulizia kabisa malipo ya shilingi elfu kumi, pamoja na anuani yao ya makazi ambapo mizigo ilipaswa kufikishwa, kwa makubaliano kwamba watammalizia kiasi kilichobaki

atakapofikisha mizigo. Kisha wao (mke na mume) wakatangulia nyumbani.

Yalipokatika masaa mawili bila mbebaji kufikisha mizigo, mke alianza kumkaripia mumewe, “Kila siku huwa nakwambia usiamini mtu usiyemjua, lakini hutaki kusikia. Yule fukara asiye hata na uwezo wa kumudu mlo mmoja wa siku, unaenda kumwachia mizigo yote ile, pamoja na malipo, unadhani atakuja? Tumeshapigwa changa la macho hapo!”

Mume akajitutumua kujibu, “Kama atakuwa amethubutu kutuibia, tutampata tu. Tutaanzia palepale kwa wabebaji wenziye, tunakamata hata wawili kisha wakifikishwa polisi watataja tu anapopatikana mwenzao!”

Wazo hilo likapita. Wote wakainuka na kuanza kurejea kule kwa wabebaji.

Wakiwa karibu kufika, wakaitambua mizigo yao ikiwa imebebwa na mbebaji mwingine kwenye mkokoteni mkubwa.

Mke akamuwahi mbebaji yule na kuanza kumkaripia, “Wizi wakubwa nyie! Hamna hata haya - hii ni mizigo yetu mnataka kwenda kuiuza. Yuko wapi yule mzee tuliyemwachia?”

Kwa utulivu kabisa, mbebaji alijibu,

“Punguza munkari mama. Mzee mliyemwachia mizigo hii alikuwa anaumwa, na kumbe tangu jana hakuwa amekula chochote kwa kukosa pesa.

Akiwa njiani kukuleteeni mizigo yenu, nguvu zilimwishia na kuanguka ghafla.

Tulipoletewa taarifa na kumuwahi, alinikabidhi shilingi elfu kumi huku akisema, ‘chukua na anuani hii, hakikisha unafikisha mizigo ya watu. Elfu tano iliyobaki watakumalizia ukifikisha mizigo’ kisha akakata roho! Hapa ndo nilikuwa nakuja kwenu kukabidhi mizigo. Pamoja na umasikini na dhiki zake lakini alikuwa muadilifu.”

Baada ya mume kusikia simulizi ile alianza kububujikwa machozi kwa uchungu.

Alipotaka kumkaripia mkewe kwa kumtuhumu vibaya mzee yule mbebaji, akakumbuka hata yeye alitenda kosa kumgalaliza malipo yake hali yakuwa mzee alibainisha shida alizonazo.

• Toa kwa mwenye uhitaji bila kugalaliza, hiyo ni sadaka nzuri sana.

• heshimu kila mmoja bila kutazama uchumi wake wala mwonekano wa nje.

Maundu Mwingizi (MwanaBalagha), Dar es Salaam.

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Tech

50 SHADES OF

GREY

Grey is a byword for drab and dull to some, but it also has a functionality that shows you mean business. Albert Einstein’s wardrobe famously only contained duplicates of the same grey suit so the wild-haired genius didn’t have to devote any time to trivial matters such as what to wear and could get on with discovering relativity. Twiga can’t promise that this colourless tech is going to help you unravel the mysteries of space and time, but it still may be time you gave your home tech an upgrade (or should that be ‘upgreyed’?)

Apple Watch Series 6

Galaxy S21

The latest incarnation of the hugely popular smart watch is available in ‘Aluminium Space Grey’. The colour extends to the new buckle-less strap – one of a host of new features for the 6.

Smart watches have always attracted the fitness fanatic and now body-conscious wearers can track their sleep, their blood oxygen levels and – handy in current times – the number of times they have washed their hands. I think it also tells the time.

This latest edition to Samsung’s popular Galaxy S series may look very grand with its Phantom Grey case colour, but it arrives on the market US$ 200 cheaper than its predecessor, the S20, and still manages to pack in upgrades such as a dynamic 120Hz display, a powerful new camera module and improved thumbprint recognition. Everything also works that little bit faster thanks to its stateof-the-art Snapdragon 888 chip. All this for just over US$1,000, but you will also have to purchase a charger as that is not among the S21’s host of new features.

apple.com US$ 529

ASUS ZenBook 14 laptop This eminently portable laptop makes the most of its 14-inch screen with its frameless NanoEdge display for excellent high-resolution renderings of your favourite shows or for detailed video editing. It has a trim aluminium case and a hinge that means the keyboard is at a slight raised angle once the laptop is opened, which Asus says reduces typing discomfort over extended periods of time and the downward speakers produce a clearer sound. Inside operations are run by a 10th Generation Intel Core i7 ‘Ice Lake’ processor, 8GB of RAM, integrated Intel Iris Plus graphics, and a 512GB solid-state drive. An impressive package for under US$ 1,000. asus.com US$ 1,115

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Twiga

samsung.com US$ 1,114

/ Tech

Bang & Olufsen Beoplay E8 Headphones

Sonos Move Smart Speaker

These grey and distinguished in-ear headphones introduce a touch of luxury to your listening. The ear buds are compact and light for a better fit, whatever you ear shape, and are intuitively responsive to finger-taps to control calls from your mobile phone. As you would expect from Bang & Olufsen, the sound quality is excellent. This 3rd Generation model has been upgraded with longer battery life of up to 35 hours, a Qi-certified wireless charging case, and Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity for seamless and powerful listening.

Sonos describes the colour of this smart speaker as ‘lunar white’, but it will look greyer each day as this weatherproof and drop resistant is designed to be taken outside and played with roughly. Wherever you go with it you still get the signature Sonos sound quality and you can control it with your voice or Sonos app (available on iOS and Android). Its microphones detect what you’re playing and the environment and adjust to optimise the sound. With 11 hours of battery life it will provide the perfect soundtrack to a beach party or barbecue.

bang-olufsen.com US$ 420

sonos.com US$ 529

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Sound and vision

Faysal’s blog

It was almost the end of the year. The New Year’s Eve decorations were up across the city of Arusha and the anticipation of starting a new chapter was creeping up on me. I began to visualise my new year resolutions coming into fruition.

However, this year I wanted to do something to make this beginning one to remember. Rather than welcoming in the new year through celebratory drinks or meditation, I knew the place to go was the Ngorongoro Crater. Being at one with centuries’ worth of stories and future promises, it provided intoxication and meditation in one place, a natural balance of old hope and new aspirations.

I knew my beginning had to start there. Situated about 120 km miles west of the city of Arusha, this natural crater formed about 2.5 million years ago from a large active volcano whose cone collapsed inward after a major eruption, leaving the present vast, unbroken caldera as its chief remnant.

Spending New Year’s Eve here was something I had never considered before, but seeing animals such as black rhino, buffalo, elephant, leopard and lion and hearing their cries was quite unforgettable. It felt like it was a story written for me and my beginning. This new chapter was about finding and living through the inner me and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

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FILM REVIEWS

Faysal Alao is a vlogger and tour operator from Tanzania living in Arusha. He uploads regular videos about his experiences and everyday lifestyle on his YouTube channel, ‘Lifestyle of Faysal’. You can also keep up with him on Snapchat @faysal_alao and Instagram @callmefays

BOOK REVIEWS

Starting a new chapter at the Ngorongoro Crater

MUSIC REVIEWS

Mark Edwards rounds up the latest releases to stream, screen and read

NAULIZA / BaianaSystem featuring Makaveli and Jay Mita As evidence of the growing reach of singeli – the frenetic dance music born on the streets of Dar es Salaam – here is a collaboration between Sisso Studio stalwarts Makaveli and Jay Mita and Brazilian rock and reggae act BaianaSystem. It’s a polished, assured track, which has an immediacy that could well break singeli worldwide. Mita’s beats are beefed up with slabs of heavy guitar while Makaveli shares rap duties with BaianaSystem’s Russo Passapusso. It comes complete with a madcap video filmed in Tanzania and Brazil and should soon be rocking clubs from Dar es Salaam to Rio de Janeiro.

MONSTER HUNTER / Director: Paul W. S. Anderson Paul WS Anderson and Milla Jovovich, the-husband-and-wife team behind the successful ‘Resident Evil’ franchise, bring another video game series to the big screen with ‘Monster Hunter’.

Jovovich plays Lieutenant Artemis, who, along with her loyal unit of soldiers, is mysteriously transported to another world patrolled by a race of gigantic and very unfriendly monsters. Thai actor Tony Jaa lends his martial arts skills to despatching the beasts as the team are forced into a desperate battle for survival with their unwelcoming hosts.

STRANGER FACES / Namwali Serpell / Transit Books Most readers know Serpell from her epic debut novel, The Old Drift, which has been heaped with praise and prizes since its 2019 release, but the Zambian writer – an English professor at the prestigious UC Berkeley in the US – is also a published academic.

Her latest collection of essays, Stranger Faces, is themed around understanding the human face as a language and source of identity. Fans of Serpell’s fiction will find her signature playfulness still at work here as she brings warmth, wit and wisdom to examine our responses to faces we do not immediately recognise, be they disabled, racially ambiguous or even an emoji.

Arts column

WOZA / Sha Sha The talented Zimbabwean singer channels the heartbreak house music of AmaPiano, which began in the clubs of Soweto, for this sensual, sad banger of a track. Sha Sha’s hypnotic vocals float over an aural tapestry of traditional drums, synths and bass as she implores the target of her affections to “Dance with me tonight, I will be your fire.” It’s another startlingly good track from the winner of last year’s Best New International Act at the BET Awards and continues the hot streak begun with the recent single ‘Tender Love’, featuring DJ Maphorisa.

Meet me at the movies Rebecca Corey is the Director of Nafasi Arts Space in Dar es Salaam and Twiga’s arts columnist. You can visit Nafasi Art Apace online at www.nafasiartspace.org and instagram @nafasiartspace.

Throughout time, stories have always brought people together.

These days, some of our most beloved stories are in the form of movies. No one doubts the entertainment value of films, but they can also be a powerfully expressive work of art.

This month, I spoke with a few Tanzanian filmmakers to get their thoughts on the power of the moving image.

DETECTIVE CHINATOWN 3 / Director: Chen Sicheng This threequel in a buddy-comedy franchise that has proved a record-breaking hit in Asia markets, once again pairs madcap Chinese cops, Qin Feng (Haoran Liu) and Tang Ren (Baoqiang Wang), this time trying to tackle a bizarre crime in Tokyo. A local gang boss has been murdered and the chief suspect, a turf rival, is so desperate to prove his innocence he enlists the help of our bickering heroes. Martial arts’ busiest star Tony Jaa once again turns up for some entertaining fight scenes and there are some spectacular set-pieces, including scenes of absolute chaos at Tokyo’s world-famous Shibuya crossing.

NAIROBI NOIR / edited by Peter Kimani / Akashic books This anthology assembles new works from a stellar cast of Kenyan writers that lift the lid on the complexities and criminalities of day-to-day life in the country’s capital. Each story takes place in a different neighbourhood – exactly where is illustrated in a ghoulish map of the metropolis with the locations represented by the white silhouette of a corpse.

The bodies do pile up throughout the tales from writers such Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Stanley Gazemba and Makena Onjerika. Award-winning author, poet and journalist Peter Kimani – who did much to pioneer African noir with his debut novel, Before the Rooster Crows – is an ideal choice to edit the collection.

Martin Mhando is a filmmaker, academic, and the long-time director of the Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF), which encourages the love of the cinematic arts. For him, films help people make sense of the period they’re living in, which is especially vital in challenging times. He recently announced his return to ZIFF for its 23rd edition, taking place from 21-24 July.

Walt Mzengi, an emerging Tanzanian filmmaker who recently graduated from film school in Cape Town, South Africa, has directed several award-winning short films. His experimental sci-fi film ‘Gulf’ explores the experience of the immigrant forced to assimilate with another culture to survive – but at what cost? In his opinion, “the uniqueness of film as a medium is that it allows the creator to tell expressive, profound, and vivid stories using both sight and sound”.

Celebrated filmmaker Seko Shamte agrees that film creates captivating experiences. “You can be transported to anywhere in the world from the theatre or the comfort of your own home. It’s the cheapest destination ticket you can buy!” she says. Seko’s newest feature, ‘Binti’, had its premiere in March at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles and will soon screen in cinemas across Tanzania. Seko, who has also made a documentary on Hehe Chief Mkwawa and the feature ‘Homecoming’, says films show “our imagination at its finest”.

Valerie Asiimwe Amani, a visual artist and an active member here at Nafasi, uses video in her work to “create the world I want to live in or destroy the things about the world I detest”. She adds: “I find my freedom through these videos - they are rituals, they are tantrums, they are dreams.”

A still from a video work by Valerie Asiimwe Amani

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Fred Uisso recipe

How beer with your barbecue could save your life We in East Africa love our nyama choma, but barbecued meat comes with health risks. However, as Twiga food columnist Chef Fred Uisso reveals, marinading your meat in beer makes your steak safer as well as more succulent.

Meat that is charred over a grill can present serious health risks

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/ Fred Uisso recipe

S

cientists advise us to drink alcoholic beverages in moderation and you have to be over the age of 18 to drink them at all. That’s fine with me because it has the backing of science.

As for the religious rights and wrongs on the subject, it is absolutely an endless debate. The issue of alcoholic beverage in religions is akin to the fanaticism in sport whereby each fan of a certain team will never accept that his team is of low grade.

However, when it comes to the use of alcohol in cooking, I’m all for it. As an example, beer adds a depth of flavour to your cooking if you use it in a marinade and it contains enzymes that break down the fibres in your meat, making it softer.

I have plenty of research into the benefits of using alcoholic beverages for cooking certain dishes. Smart people are always looking to improve and expand on the product or service they create. Beer and meat are one of the holiest relationships ever known to man. Beer can enhance your dish to make a memorable robust that will never disappoint your taste buds. It takes it to another level.

The science says that pyrolysis (literally ‘fire-separating’) is the decomposition of organic matter under high heat. This thermo chemical reaction, which causes

charring, creates a compound called “heterocyclic aromatic amines” (HCA) and the smoke from dripping fat forms a compound called “polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons” (PAH). Both of these are carcinogenic.

Most studies are careful to state that no direct link between these two compounds and cancer in humans has been found, but studies of HCA and studies of PAH have found both do cause cancer in animals. PAH is also found in cigarette smoke and car exhaust. So, it’s probably not too much of a stretch to say these things may not be too great for us, either.

I know, you’re probably getting more despondent by the minute as you are reading this, fearing your days of barbecuing meat are over, but please be calm!

There is a solution.

beer marinades’ at cutting levels HCAs in pan-fried steak. The marinated steak was compared to a non-marinated dish.

The study showed both beer and wine marinades resulted in a decrease in levels of HCAs, but the beer marinade was more effective overall in decreasing all components of heterocyclic aromatic amine.

Further research published in 2014, by the same set of Portuguese and Spanish researchers (Olga Viegas, Iria YebraPimentel, Elena Martínez Carballo, Jesús Simal-Gándara and Isabela Ferreira) and published by the Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry, focused on beer’s ability to reduce levels of PAH in grilled meat.

This new research – and here’s where it gets interesting – has shown a correlation between a beer’s colour and its effectiveness against this carcinogen.

Let’s look on what the science says...

Many scientists have conducted research for quite a long time and reveal that marinades made from wine and beer could not only make your meat tastier, but also reduce the load of these potential carcinogens.

One study conducted in 2008 tested the effectiveness of red wine and lager

Three different beers face a serious grilling about their health benefits In this latest experiment, researchers marinated pork four hours in three different beers; Pilsner lager, non-alcoholic Pilsner, and “Black” beer. All were measured against a control piece of non-marinated pork.

The meats were then cooked on a charcoal grill until well done.

The results showed that all the types of beer did, indeed, lower levels of PAH, but the most effective was the dark beer, which reduced PAH formation by 53 percent.

The least effective was the Pilsner at 13 percent and the non-alcoholic Pilsner came in at 25 percent reduction.

The researchers attribute this to the higher level of an-

tioxidants naturally found in darker beers, which largely derive from melanoidins that naturally form during the brewing process, as well as the kilning of different types of malts.

Doctor Primus Felician Saidia, a Tanzanian medical doctor specialises in medical gastroenterology, says: “It is scientifically proved that consumption of excessive amounts of red meat increases the risk of several cancers to mention, colon cancer. However, proof has been scientifically found that it is the way we prepare our meals that exposes us to carcinogens. Recent studies have shown that marinating meat with beer especially black beer reduces the cancer-causing molecules by 50 to 90 percent. So, eating a well-prepared meat is the safest way to go!”

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/ Fred Uisso recipe

Chef Fred’s beer marinade recipe for the best barbecues Here is my beer marinades recipe that will make your taste buds fall in love with you. Give it a try. Since my experience base is in Tanzania, I have discovered that both oven-pan and flame-grilled meats, if infused well with Tanzania’s Safari lager beer for beef, lamb or chicken, are a partnership worth celebrating. The combination of this mouth-watering recipe with just salt, corn pepper, cooking oil, garlic and vinegar will automatically turn you into a life-long meat lover.

Beer marinade recipe: 6 Make your choice of lean or medium tenderloin beef, lamb or chicken 6 Take a marinade tray and pour in garlic paste, cooking oil, salt, and black or white peppercorn powder. Mix thoroughly 6 The quantity of these ingredients depends on the size of the meat you want to grill

Marinate your meat The pointed area on this grilled meat is carcinogen substance that promotes the formation of cancer.

The safest method to eliminate this substance even if they appear in the grilled meat is to marinate the meat by using dark beer or lager beer or acidic ingredients such as lime, vinegar and garlic.

6 Place the meat in the marinade tray and keep on massaging softly with the marinade mixture.

6 Add vinegar to taste.

6 Pour the first round of Safari lager beer and mix it thoroughly 6 Onja (taste) the marinade to create your desired flavour and leave it for five minutes or more depends on tenderness and thickness of the meat. At this stage the beer penetrates deeply inside the meat and makes it tender with contented flavour.

6 Finally, you add again a reasonable amount of Safari lager beer and mix again.

6 Onja the marinade again to confirm your desired flavour. Don’t let this stay for long

INFORMATION Learn more about my recipes by downloading the Chef Uisso app from Google Play Store. To experience my tasty recipes live, visit my restaurant Club Afrikando in Kinondoni, Dar es Salaam.

Follow Chef Fred Uisso on Facebook @chefuisso and Instagram @clubafrikando and @freduisso People living with chronic diseases should consult their health experts about their food intake for the safety of their health.

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6 Take the meat and place on a grill 6 Keep on turning the meat and apply the leftover marinade with a brush until the meat is done to your desired texture, either rare, medium rare or well done.

Trust me… this will be the most delicious and tasty meat you have ever experienced.

Boutique hotels

THE BEST

BOUTIQUE HOTELS Small but perfectly formed, these boutique hotels offer an added layer of character, charm and personal service that so many larger chain hotels miss out on. We’ve picked our favourites from across the Air Tanzania network.

Mediterraneo Hotel & Restaurant

Images: Mediterraneo Hotel & Restaurant

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

This 40-room hotel brings some rustic Italian flavour to Dar es Salaam with its cosy, cottage-like rooms set amid verdant gardens right on the ocean shore. From single travellers to large families the range of rooms and suites – each with a private verandah – offer a stylish stay. Guests can hear the sheltered waters of Msasani Bay lapping onto the beach just footsteps away.

It’s a beachside vantage point also enjoyed by the hotel’s very popular restaurants.

One specialises in cuisine inspired by the culinary regions of the Mediterranean while the new upstairs ZanyDar offers a range of Swahili dishes. Diners enjoy ocean views which become especially magical at sunset. The lantern-lit lounge bar offers another option for soaking up the views, drink in hand.

Price: Double rooms from US$ 99 Contact: mediterraneotanzania.com airtanzania.co.tz / 57

/ Boutique hotels

Boutique Hotel Matlai

You get your own piece of the paradise island of Zanzibar with a stay at this exclusive beach-side boutique hotel. Here just six rooms are spread across two very different but equally huge and luxurious villas, which share a stretch of powder-fine white beach in Pingwe on Unguja’s south-east coast. Asili House blends in among the surrounding tall palm trees with its thatched roof while the slightly more expensive Villa Kidosho channels the grand architecture of the Omani sultans’ palaces.

Both make the most of their beachside location with ocean views from each bedroom balcony and the luxurious outdoor bathrooms. Each villa also has its own outdoor swimming pool stretching out to meet the sand. The neighbouring Matlai ZanziBar & Restaurant, which is open to hotel guests and the public, provides an excellent all-day menu that draws heavily on the archipelago’s natural bounty of spices and seafood. It is possible to book an entire villa, making a great option for a group of friends to enjoy a holiday together, or each room can be booked separately. In low season, the latter option can result in lucky guests still having the entire villa to themselves.

Price: Two nights is the minimum stay. A deluxe room at Asili

Images: www.hotelmatlai.com

House starts at £780 for two nights with breakfast. A deluxe suite at Villa Kidosho starts at £970 for two nights with breakfast.

Contact: hotelmatlai.com

Images: Wild Geese Lodge @wildgeeselodge

Pingwe, Zanzibar

Wild Geese Lodge Harare, Zimbabwe

This nine-room boutique hotel is just a 15-minute drive from the centre of Harare, yet offers total, blissful escape within its own wildlife sanctuary. Guests can walk among its thirty acres of indigenous garden and savannah with fellow residents including sable, zebra, eland and a hugely diverse bird population. The rooms, including one executive suite, are spacious and elegantly appointed and offer views of the grounds and the spectacular Mazowe Hills in the distance from private verandahs. Each is luxuriously finished in its own individual urban-safari style.

The main lodge has been renovated and now holds the Goose Restaurant and Bar, which provides meals and drinks either inside or al fresco on the top lawn and has become one of the city’s premier dining establishments.

Price: Double rooms from US$ 140 Contact: hotels.com 58 / Twiga

/ Boutique hotels

River Bird Guest House Lusaka, Zambia

Images: @riverbirdgh

This grand home in the affluent suburb of Leopard’s Hill – about a 20-minute drive from Lusaka’s CBD – has been converted into a six-room boutique hotel. Shrouded in lush gardens, it provides a tranquil escape from the bustle of the city. Guests can choose from double or twin rooms, a deluxe suite in the main building or two separate cottage-style rooms, the larger of which has two bedrooms and can accommodate up to four people. All rooms are air conditioned and stylishly kitted out with flat-screen TVs and workspaces. You can start your day with a few lengths of the outdoor pool, refuel with the buffet breakfast each morning and enjoy an evening at the bar, which regularly hosts music events and barbecues. Leafy Leopard’s Hill is a pleasant area to explore on foot and a short stroll will get you to the The Village shopping complex with its souvenir stores, bars and restaurants.

Image: Booking.com

Price: Double rooms from US$ 95 Contact: booking.com

Ferreira House Mumbai, India

If Mumbai’s mass of anonymous skyscraper hotels doesn’t appeal and you prefer a place to stay that is full of stories rather than storeys, Ferreira House is for you. This historic woodcarved Portuguese house in the village-like Khotachiwadi district has three guest rooms packed with charm, character and all manner of antique furniture that the owner James Ferreira – a local fashion designer who still lives in the property – has amassed. The housekeeper will provide a complimentary breakfast each morning and you’ll find plenty of excellent options for evening meals in the restaurants that dot the narrow-cobbled streets that surround the property. A short stroll from the Ferreira will also reveal the Mumbai Opera House and many of the city’s premier attractions such as Chowpatty Beach, the Queen’s Necklace, Kala Ghoda and Crawford Market are all within easy reach.

Price: Double rooms from around US$ 116 all-year round Contact: booking.com

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Travel information

Before take-off Taking your first flight is certainly exciting, but can also become a source of stress for those who are unfamiliar with the rules, procedures and customs of flying. To prepare yourself for your first flight, it is therefore important to get information on everything you need to do before and during your journey. Here is a useful pre-departure checklist.

1

Before departing, it is important to check the airline’s website for its hand luggage rules: weight, sizes and types of objects you can take on board. For example, as regards liquids, you are advised to carry these in your hand luggage, only in transparent, reseal able, plastic containers, not exceeding 100 ml. In this section, you will find information regarding the hand luggage permitted on your flights; if you have connection flights, we advise that you also check the websites of other airlines.

2

Arriving at the airport in advance (at least two hours for domestic flights and three hours for international flights)

will enable you to check in and board your flight calmly, without anxiety and without unexpected last-minute issues.

3

Check in online, if possible.

If travelling with hand luggage alone, you can check in online and print or download your boarding pass which you must take with you directly to security checks. This will enable you to save precious time once at the airport and to go to the gate calmly. For further information, please visit the dedicated page.

4

Set your mobile to flight mode, as well as other devices connected to the internet that you are taking on board.

Cabin crew will remind you of this step before take-off. With flight mode set, you can still take photos of your unforgettable journey and you can also enjoy the in-flight entertainment system! To find out more, please visit the dedicated section.

5

If you suffer from motion sickness… you will only find out about it during your first flight! To prevent sickness from ruining your first flight on a plane, we advise you to take natural remedies, such as, for example, ginger tablets or gum to chew. Ginger is believed to have a anti-nausea properties. Otherwise, ask your doctor to prescribe you antihistamines with a sedative effect.

6

Enjoy the view! By choosing a seat near the window, you will see breath-taking landscapes and you can take photos of the exquisite white clouds you will be flying above.

Try to take a nap. Sleeping on the plane will make time pass faster and you will arrive at your destination calm and rested.

7

8

Lastly, especially during take-off and landing, the change in pressure inside the cabin may cause discomfort in your ears. To prevent this discomfort, you are advised to stay awake during these manoeuvres and to chew gum or wear earplugs.

AIR TANZANIA FLEET National carrier Air Tanzania is justifiably proud of its revamped six-strong fleet. Here we take a close-up look at our aircraft with technical data and specifications.

BOMBARDIER DASH 8-Q400 Number of aircraft available: 5 Bombardier Seat capacity: (3 Bombardier) Business Class 6, Economy 70 (1 Bombardier) Business class 10, Economy 68 Number of flight-deck crew: 2 Range: 2,063 km (1,362 Nm) Typical cruising speed: up to 360 knots (414 mph or 667 km/hr) Wingspan: 93 ft 3 in (28.4 m) Length: 107 ft 9 in (32.8 m)

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AIRBUS 220-300 (CS300) Number of aircraft available: 2 Seat capacity: Business Class 12 and 120 Economy Class Number of flight-deck crew: 2 Range: 6,112 km (3,300 Nm) Typical cruising speed: 470 knots (541 mph or 871 km/hr) Thrust per engine at sea level: 23,300 lbf / 103.6 kN Wingspan: 115 ft 1 in (35.1 m) Length: 127 ft (38.7 m) Interior cabin width: 129 inches (3.28 m)

BOEING 787-8 DREAMLINER Number of aircraft available: 2 Seat capacity: Business Class 22 and 240 Economy Class Number of flight-deck crew: 2 Range: 13,621 km (7,355 Nm) Typical cruising speed: 488 knots (561 mph or 903 km/hr) Thrust per engine at sea level: 64,000 lbf / 280 kN Wingspan: 197 ft 3 in (60.12 m) Length: 186 ft 1 in (56.72 m) Interior cabin width: 18 ft 0 inch (5.49 m)

Flying between COMOROS - AFRICA TANZANIA - TANZANIA AFRICA - INDIA AFRICA - AFRICA

hours ahead of your flight time for domestic flights and three hours for international flights.

Family travel

Passports and visas A valid passport or travel document that is valid for at least six months is required to enter the United Republic of Tanzania.

Visitors will also require a valid visa upon arrival. There are a range of visas available depending on the nature and frequency of your visits, but a single entry visa can be obtained on arrival in Tanzania subject to the fulfilment of all immigration requirements. There is a US$ 50 charge for the visa.

For a full list of visas available and for countries for which special terms exist, visit the Air Tanzania website.

Check-in Check in online, if possible. If travelling with hand luggage alone, you can check in online and print or download your boarding pass, which you must take with you directly to security checks. You should check in two

Fares for infants and children As a general rule, children up to two years old are not required to have their own seat and are allowed to travel on parents’ lap.

An infant tickets costs 10 per cent of the regular fare. Depending on the destination, taxes and fees may apply. Please note that only 1 baby per adult is accepted. You can choose to buy a seat for your baby at the reduced rates for children if any children’s rate is applicable.

If your child is older than two years or turns two while you are travelling, you will have to book a separate seat for him or her and book the children fare for the entire journey. If a child travels with an accompanying adult in the same class of cabin, the child should be seated in the same seat row as the accompanying adult. Where this is not possible, the child should be seated no more than one seat row or aisle away. Reduced rates apply for children aged two to 11 on most routes, depending on the travel class. Children turning 12 years en route need to be booked as adults for the entire journey.

Expectant mothers Our priority is always your safety and that of your unborn child.

To avoid unnecessary risks to you and your baby, we recommend

Free allowance

30 kg 23 kg 2PC @ 23 kg 2PC @ 23 kg

that all expectant mothers consult a doctor before booking their ticket and inquire about their fitness to fly the length of the trip they intend to take.

Depending on the stage and circumstances of your pregnancy, you may be required to present certain medical forms before flying. For your own safety and the well-being of your child, Air Tanzania will not accept expectant mothers who are pregnant from their 34th week or beyond.

UMNR (children travelling alone) If you’re planning for your child to travel alone, we’re here to make sure they enjoy their trip and that they are well taken care of throughout their journey.

When you book our unaccompanied minor service, your child will be received at the originating airport, taken care of during transit and while on board the aircraft. He or she will be handed over to the person designated by the parents/ guardians upon arrival at the final destination.

Cost To avail the unaccompanied minor service, an adult fare needs to be purchased for the child. Please contact us to book the flight and the service.

Infant fare checked baggage allowance Infants travelling on an infant fare are allowed 10 kg as baggage allowance.

BUSINESS

Air Tanzania has a free allowance for passengers’ baggage across economy and business class. For full details and rates please see our website www.airtanzania.co.tz or contact booking enquiries 0800 110045

ECONOMY

FREE BAGGAGE ALLOWANCE

Free allowance

40 kg 30 kg 3PC @ 23 kg 3PC @ 23 kg

Child fare baggage allowance Children and infants travelling on a child fare are eligible for the same baggage allowance as adults.

Wheelchairs If you need wheelchair assistance at the airport, you must advise Air Tanzania of this at the time of booking. You can request wheelchair assistance through our Call Centre or at Air Tanzania Sales offices.

Inflight Wi-Fi On board Wi-Fi Enable Wi-Fi on your laptop, tablet or smartphone, and select AirTanzaniaWifi You will need to launch your web browser, which will display the log-in web portal. From the portal, simply select your preferred price plan.

Portable electronic devices (PEDs) You can use your e-readers, tablets and smartphones from gate to gate – including taxiing, take-off and landing – without a risk to safety.

Note that on-board Wi-Fi is only available on certain aircraft. Please follow cabin crew instructions at all times.

For Booking & Enquiries: 0800 110045 www.airtanzania.co.tz

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Air Tanzania destinations

DISCOVER

Regional and international routes

Bukoba Mwanza Geita

Arusha Kilimanjaro

Tabora

Kigoma Katavi

Dodoma

Zanzibar

Dar es Salaam INDIAN OCEAN

Mbeya Songea

Mtwara

Active routes Upcoming routes

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For Booking & Enquiries: 0800 110045 | www.airtanzania.co.tz

UK

London

CHINA

Guangzhou Mumbai

INDIA

Bangkok

THAILAND

NIGERIA

Lagos UGANDA

Entebbe Kigali Bujumbura

KENYA

Nairobi

RWANDA

BURUNDI

TANZANIA

DRC

Lubumbashi

Dar es Salaam Comoros

ZAMBIA

Lusaka ZIMBABWE

Harare

Active routes Upcoming routes

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Air Tanzania contacts

WHERE TO CONTACT US E-COMMERCE Location: ATC House, Ohio Street.

Email: tce-commerce@airtanzania.co.tz

CONTACT CENTRE Location: ATC House, Ohio Street.

Email: contactcentre@airtanzania.co.tz

0800 110045 Toll Free (Tanzania only) Tel: +255 022 212 5221

For the latest flights, information and to book online, visit:

www.airtanzania.co.tz

Follow us on:

@AirTanzania

@airtanzania

airtanzania_atcl

Air Tanzania ATCL

AIR TANZANIA CONTACTS DAR ES SALAAM (HQ)

TABORA

KAMPALA

Location: ATC House, Ohio Street P.O Box 543 Office (JNIA) Tel: +255 222 117 500 Email: darairport.station@airtanzania.co.tz

Email: tabora.station@airtanzania.co.tz

Location: Park Royal Mall, Room 208, Buganda Road.

Email: uganda.station@airtanzania.co.tz Email: bbesalestc@airtanzania.co.tz Tel: +256 414 289 474 / +256 393 517 145

ARUSHA Location: Old Moshi Road, NSSF Mafao House Email: arusha.station@airtanzania.co.tz Tel: + 255 272 520 177/ +255 739 787 500

MBEYA

SONGEA Location: African Benedict Office Hanga- opposite TRA Songea Email: songea.station@airtanzania.co.tz Mob: +255 712 796 421

KIGOMA

Location: Mbeya Mjini Email: godfrey.Samanyi@airtanzania.co.tz Mob: 0714 800 080 / 0737 800 090

Location: Lumumba Road, opp. Mambo Leo Pharmacy Email: kigoma.station@airtanzania.co.tz Mob: +255 742 580 580

COMOROS

IRINGA

Location: Immeuble MATELEC Moroni, Grande Comores Email: com’airgsaatc@gmail.com Tel: +269 3312570 / +269 3322058

BUKOBA Location: Kawawa Rd. Block 1 Email: bukoba.station@airtanzania.co.tz

KILIMANJARO Location: KIA Email: arusha.station@airtanzania.co.tz

DODOMA Location: Hatibu Road, Tofiki Street, CDTF Building Tel: + 255 262 322 272/ 0735 787 241 (mobile)/ 0683 776 744 (mobile) Email: dodoma.station@airtanzania.co.tz

MWANZA

Tel: +255 735 787 239/ +255 28 2501059 Email: mwanza.station@airtanzania.co.tz

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Location: Asas House, Dodoma Road, opp. TCC. Email: Iringa.station@airtanzania.co.tz Mob: +255 753 574 986

ZANZIBAR Location: Postal Building, Kijangwani Email: zanzibar.station@airtanzania.co.tz Mob: +255 785 452 585

ZIMBABWE Location: 24 Shamwari Complex, 157 Sam Nujoma Street, Ext Belgravia, Harare Email: hresalestc@airtanzania.co.tz Tel: +263 424 796 286/7 Mob: +263 773 119 462

ZAMBIA Barnetts Building, Shop 3, Hailie Selasie Avenue, Longacres, Lusaka.

Mob: +260 956 610 250 Email: support.lusaka@airtanzania.co.tz

ENTEBBE Location: Entebbe International Airport, Room no 095.

Email: uganda.station@airtanzania.co.tz Email: bbesalestc@airtanzania.co.tz Tel: +256 716 680 250

BURUNDI Location: 13 Avenue Du Commerce, Romero Street, Bujumbura Email: burindi.station@airtanzania.co.tz Tel: +257 610 139 48.

INDIA Location: Ajanta Travels PVT Ltd, VN Road, Mumbai.

Email: Res.bom@airtanzania.co.in Tel: +91 224 979 0108/09/ +91 98200 61232 (cargo)/ +91 98193 65286 (reservations)/ +91 740 0084680 (staff airport supervisors)

JOHANNESBURG Location: West Tower, 2nd Floor, Nelson Mandela Square, Maude Street, Sandown, Gauteng, South Africa 2146 Email: southernafrica@airlinepros.com Tel: +27 11 881 5945 Tel: +27 11 881 5945

Issue 09 / April to June 2021

YO U R F R E E A I R TA N Z A N I A M AGA ZINE

T R AV E L / TA ST E / TALEN T

Twiga A I R TA N Z A N I A Issue 09

Pumzika kwa amani A tribute to late President John Pombe Joseph Magufuli Modern mamas Tanzania's inspirational women

Vunjabei and me

Entrepreneur on his fashion empire

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