Warm and humid air struck my face when leaving the air craft. It smelled like Asia, but bitter sweet in a way I did not recognize. Apart from the lights from the airport, it was dark. Dark, silent, humid. I immediately liked it.
My driver met me with my name sign. He was short, built and friendly. He took his time, greeted a uniformed friend and spoke with him while I waited. I did not understand their Kiswahili. Then we walked to his car.
He told me his name is Ndjao, that the car is his own, that he has three kids, the youngest only a week old and that his wife is a good woman.
I asked him what he finds specifically nice about Tanzania, and he started telling me about great water falls, huge savannahs and Mount Kili.
I looked at him and asked if that was what he personally found the best about his country and he smiled back and replied "no ... it is peace. I like that we have peace. We just had election last week, and we still have peace. This is not to be taken for granted in Africa".
When asking him what he found to be the worse he said "corruption".
I asked him to define corruption and he said "it comes in many ways and it has many faces. Some people are in politics just to gain power because power is money. Some people are in Aid and work for organisations paid by the western world - these people make sure to never end their projects, because if they do, they also end their income. This is not helping Africa".
I asked him if he had an education - he seemed pretty well informed about things.
He smiled again and said "no ... I am the driver".
No comments:
Post a Comment