Bongo Series: The Cap City Stint

Let me try going back to this writing thing and see if it will work. As of now, I walk around sometimes feeling like my eyes are full of sand. That’s what lack of sleep will do to you. I know someone in Bongo will be asking, “Yaani mwanaume mzima unalea mtoto”? Yap, I do, because the cost of hiring a “yaya” in the United States is almost equivalent to my own pay.

If you have to know, malezi has been the main thing keeping me from yapping on this space.

Before I got interrupted by good news of another bundle of joy, I was headed towards Dodoma, right? And I was looking forward to it.

Dodoma, as I alluded to earlier, also holds a special place in my heart. That is because that’s where I practically grew up. Shirati is my “genesis” if you will, but Dodoma carries the next many chapters in my life.

How did I end up in Dodoma from Shirati? See, when my father died in 1974, my elder sister took over the caretaking of the family. She was in her early twenties, but she sacrificed to live with my older brother and me. She was then teaching at Chamwino Primary School when she took the uphill task.

I was then very little, but I witnessed UNICO, a construction company work on Arusha Road/Area C roads. Trust me, it has been nearly 30 years and those roads are rock solid. It is laughable that newly constructed roads are disintegrating. In case you wanted to know, I graduated from Kiwanja cha Ndege Primary School and later Dodoma Secondary School, before hitting Shycom in Shinyanga for high school.

Dodoma is where I formed my lifelong friendships. I don’t know about you, but friends I formed during my formative years have been my forever friendships.

Before you hit Kizota from Singida, the road magically become paved again. I wonder what the Singida folks did to Kajima, the Japanese company working on the road. I was surprised to see how Dodoma has expanded from the years I left town.

The town was as chilly as ever. As June was a dry season, the dusty winds blew the same way. I stayed with my sister who still lives in Dodoma. She no longer teaches, but she is still very much involved in education as an inspector.

I noticed that Dodoma has positively changed in some aspects. The Kuu Street, which is the main street, has been beautified with street lights. In addition, the street also boasts of a Nyerere Memorial Park. The park was absolutely awesome, particularly if you have time to relax after work or over the weekend.

I was anxious to see how my alma mater, Dodoma Secondary School looked like. Just like what I saw in Shinyanga, my old beloved old school is also suffering from a culture of destruction. See when I was attending Dom Sec, the school compound was fenced and everything kept beautiful. The story is quite different as the fence is gone and folks coming from the nearby Makole section of the town crosses right in the middle of the school.

The most amazing thing is this: Pascal Degera, who used to be my headmaster, is an MP for Kondoa South and he spends most of his time at the Bunge building in town. I wonder why he is not stopping by now and then to scold the current headmaster for letting the school disintegrate.
What I was truly hungry for was Mnadani. To my disappointment, I was informed that the weekend barbeque festivities have died. The mnada was moved from Mnadani to Kizota and the craze just died. For anyone who has ever been to Mnadani, you can definitely agree with me that the place offered the best barbeque in the whole wide world.

I tried to compensate my cravings with some organic barbeque chicken right in town center, but it wasn’t the same.

My few days in town came to an end and I had to leave town. Dar was calling me one more time before I caught my flight back “home”.