Arusha, international center, but a regular town too
Arusha National Park, Tanzania hosts the Burundi peace talks, the international tribunal on the Rwandan Genocide, and the headquarters for the rapidly developing East African Community. But it is a regular town too, a tourist center close to spectacular national parks, and a place where residents are working many of the same problems and challenges faced by any other town world wide. Let’s see a few of Arusha’s “other sides.”
Arusha, Tanzania is probably not a place most of us think about every day, or any day. But those who have even a rudimentary political interest in Africa will know Arusha as the location of the peace talks attempting to settle the long Burundi civil war, and as the location of the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda that is handling the major cases from the 1994 Rwandan Genocide (Photo credit, opening photo: Arusha Node Marie)
Former South African President Nelson Mandela has been playing a major mediation role in the Burundi talks, and former President Clinton went there in August 2000 to show his solidarity with Mandela’s approach and to urge the parties to the conflict to settle.
Those who have watched the Genocide trials know that in late September 2002, Colonel Tharcisse Ranzaho, a former prefect of Kigali-ville during the 1994 Genocide, was arrested in Kinshasa, DR Congo and transferred to the detention facility of the tribunal in Arusha. Renzaho is the first Genocide suspect arrested in the DR Congo.
Given that Rwanda and the Congo have been at war for four years, this was seen by many as a breakthrough arrest. More who have been hiding in the Congo are now clearly at risk.
So Arusha, Tanzania is on many maps throughout the world. We wanted to set aside the Burundi talks and tribunal for a moment and take a look at the city and what makes it tick. We had some fun doing so.
We’ll start by admitting that we have been a great fan of the newly revived East African Community (EAC) that brings together Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda into a regional group, with Rwanda and Burundi looking to get in downstream.
We like this particular grouping because we believe the Indian Ocean littoral is going to be among the world’s most dynamic trading centers in this century, especially if India can keep building and if Iran can pull out of its isolation and join the global economic community as a partner instead of being so encumbered with bitterness and hostility.
In any event, Arusha serves as the headquarters for the EAC, a feather for Tanzania’s cap, in our view. Kenya is, of course, the dominant economic power of the group so it was good to see Arusha get the nod instead of Nairobi, which already hosts so many important economic, political and media power centers.
While we have not visited Arusha, we have traveled the internet and gotten a very good look at it.
Mt. Meru, Photo credit: Utalii.com
It is one of Tanzania’s most attractive towns and sits in a lush, green countryside at the foot of Mr. Mweru (4556 meters).
Indeed, Arusha is not far from Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak. “Kili” is only 75km to the east. (On this map, you can see Mt. Meru as the small white area in the upper right quadrant, then Mt. Kilimanjaro as the large white area to the right, or east, Arusha National park in red just south of Mt. Meru, and Arusha town just below that. So there is no misunderstanding, this is all inside Tanzania, near the border with Kenya, and, by the way, all of this is very close to and part of The Great Rift Valley) For travelers, Arusha is the gateway to Serengeti, Lake Manyara Tarangire and Arusha national parks and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
Arusha is a pleasant town to walk around and take in the sights, and the market area is particularly lively.
The town is in two parts, separated by a small valley through which the Naura River runs. The upper part, just off the main Moshi to Namanga road, contains the government buildings, post office, immigration, most of the top-range hotels, safari companies, airline offices, curio and craft shops, and the huge Arusha International Conference Center (AICC), shown in this picture (Photo credit: Arusha Node Marie). Further down the hill and across the valley are the commercial and industrial areas, the market, small shops, many of the budget hotels and the bus station.
Photo credit: Jep Information Center, Tanzania
The Clock Tower marks the center of town, and is located halfway between Cairo and the Cape of Good Hope.
Photo credit: Arusha Node Marie
Boma Road proceeds northeast from the Clock Tower (seen in the distance at the left).
Photo credit: Arusha Node Marie
At the end of Boma Road is the Old Boma (with the top of Mt Meru just peeking around a tree). The Boma is a German fortification built a century ago. Now it functions as the National History Museum and hosts cultural events.
Photo credit: Arusha Node Marie
The Boma represents the past, but the Uhuru Torch represents the present. Tanzania celebrates almost 40 years of independence under stable leadership begun by founding father Julius Nyerere.
Photo credit: Cindy and Dave Dillard
The Arusha National Park is a very beautiful area, though it is a small park. It lies on the eastern edge of the Great Rift Valley. It has a wide range of habitats, from the string of crater lakes where many water birds can be watched, through the highland montane forest and on up to the imposing summit of Mt. Meru. The forests contain a wealth of birds and other animals.
Three distinct areas are to be found within Arusha National Park: Ngurdoto Crater, the Momela Lakes and the rugged Mt. Meru.
Meru from crater rim, Photo credit: EWP
Altitudes range from 1,500 meters (4,921 feet) above sea level at Momela to over 4,500 (14,764 feet) meters at the summit of Meru. The vegetation, which occurs in the Park, is correlated to the altitude and geology of the area. Ngurdoto Crater is surrounded by forest while the crater floor is a swampy area. The Momela Lakes, like many in the Rift Valley, are alkaline, and Mt. Meru is a mixture of lush forests and bare rocks.
Arusha National Park is situated in a densely inhabited part of Tanzania, where demands for land are high, and parts of the Park are already bordered by agricultural settlement.
In sum, from all this you can see that Arusha is really an important place in the global scheme of things: Burundi peace talks, International Crimes Tribunal on Rwanda, East African Community headquarters, close to Mt. Kilimanjaro and a host of other world wonders, and itself a beautiful city.
These are all things that are the most publicized about this city. It is a town of distinction and esteem. But we wanted to look at it just a little closer, so we decided to have a little fun, and we visited The Arusha Times, its October 5-11, 2002 edition, on-line.
It is not our purpose here to detail everything we read, only to give you a flavor for the town and its people. Frankly, it read much like our local Herndon Times here in northern Virginia. And that’s our point. Yes, Tanzanians are far poorer than we are, and yes, most of them are black and most of us are white. And, of course, we live light years away from each other. Our customs and traditions differ, our histories differ, our languages differ, all kinds of things differ. But, as you’ll see, there is much that is common to us all. That’s because we are all human, and we all generally want the same things.
To start, “Karibu Arusha!” that is Swahili for “Welcome to Arusha.”
We want you to know that you can take one of two different shuttle buses between Nairobi and Arusha.
Photo credit: East Africa Shuttles
The Riverside car hire and shuttle bus is one of the two. It’s been in business for 20 years and operates a fleet of modern minibuses, using the 25 seater for the main leg of the five-hour journey. Driver safety is watched closely, and their drivers have a very good record. They travel through some rural areas, but are in radio contact with the headquarters in case of a breakdown or other emergency.
The Arusha Society for Protection of Animals, founded in 1996, is promoting humane treatment for domesticated pets. The Technical College of Arusha, shown in this next photo, is producing middle level engineers, specializing in automotive, civil, electrical, highway and mechanical engineering.
Photo credit: Technical College of Arusha
Arusha is a tourist town, it is served by a small airport that connects to Mt. Kilimanjaro International Airport which services the rest of the world using KLM and Alliance Air.
Parking in the city can be a problem, and many with urgent business in town find themselves getting frustrated easily. The new East African Community complex is under construction, and the city has lost valuable parking space as a result. The UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has about 700 staff at its complex and about 400 car owners, with another 100 official cars in use. Add in the tourists, business people and visitors and the area around just the Arusha International Conference Center hosts 1,000 cars every day. Citizens are wondering whether municipal authorities realize that this growth is happening. Sure, when the VIPs come in to any one of a number of big meetings, they roll right in and right out, but what about the regular mortals? Traffic congestion looks like a ticking time bomb and quite soon, Arusha will no longer be automobile friendly.
Tengeru-based Patandi Teachers College has been taking in handicapped students, and those lacking hearing, sight and speech sense still have to compete with those not having those disadvantages. This is a photo of Bahati Ngeniuko, 27, who is a blind student taking a Grade IIIA teaching course at Patandi Teachers College Tengeru. Sign language is the “mother tongue” for several students, and others have to lean over the notes being taken by hearing students to get everything, fearing they missed something in reading the professors’ lips. That’s a big problem when the teacher turns his or her back to the students! The blind have different challenges, since they cannot read the books or see the blackboard. They must be most attentive to what they can hear. Several are trying to get Braille typewriters with which to take their notes.
One of the pains of a growing city is that new shopping conglomerates move in and out. Shoprite has just moved in, and, of course, they located it right across the street from the Kilombero market. As Shoprite is the town’s first supermarket, shoppers rushed there for opening day to get the special offers, bargains and discount prices. Items like the neatly packed frozen chicken were limited to only three items per person. But somehow, the pale frozen stuff lacked the color and taste of the fresh chickens so many are used to. There were several different things going on in this supermarket that people do not experience at the Kilombero. KK Guards would not allow shoppers to bring in their purses or handbags, which startled many shoppers. One lady took a cart, put in one 200 ml container of yogurt, and raced around the store bumping into everyone before she lined up at the check-out, with her single item in the cart. It was especially aggravating to stand there and get no service at the Takeout area, especially when there were several workers there all talking and giggling among themselves.
There’s another outlet in town owned by the Brits named “Poundstretcher.” It’s a discount house and it seems that the shoppers view the store as a cheap store and they tend to treat the workers cheaply. There are frequent arguments and shoppers act like they are so superior to the workers that they quickly become offensive to the workers. Surely the workers don’t have to stand for that. After all, if the shopper is so superior, what is he or she doing in “Poundstretcher?” The truth is, don’t let anyone ever tell you you have no worth. People, no matter what their livelihood, should not be made to feel cheap and insignificant.
FZS Africa Representative, Mr. Joseph Ole Kuwai (Left) handing over keys of donated vehicles to the Director of Tourism, Mr. Salehe Pamba. Photo credit: Arusha Times
The Frankfurt, Germany Zoological Society (FZS) has donated ten Land Rover 110s to its various conservation partners. The Tanzania National Parks, Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority and Research Projects will use the vehicles. They’ll use them for anti-poaching patrols, rhino monitoring, and the Serengeti cheetah project. The Germans have been doing this kind of thing in Tanzania for the past 50 years and have focused 50 percent of their budget on Tanzania.
Two young children, 3 and 5, both from one family, drowned in a communal pool on September 30. The younger child slipped and fell into the pool, and the older one jumped in to try to save the other. Other kids playing football heard the screams for help and ran to the scene but they were too late. Both children died at the hospital after efforts were made to resuscitate them on the scene.
“Kilimanjaro – to the roof of Africa” has just opened at Chafoo Village at the foot of the might mountain. The residents sang along with the movie’s sound track trademark tune, “Kilimanjaro ni Mlima Mrefu!” a song which is popular along the slopes of the Africa’s highest peak but especially among local porters and mountain guides. The villagers were especially happy that the film’s producer, David Breashears, shown in this photo, came to attend the showing. Of course there is no theater in Chafoo, so the villagers watched it from a DVD player connected to a mobile projection unit. Local porters who participated in the movie production were awarded books from which the movie was adopted. The movie is going to be used throughout the Arusha and Kilimanjaro areas at local schools for teaching purposes.
As an editor’s aside, the movie has opened in the US and Canada. It is about five trekkers led by a local Chagga guide who climb up the largest freestanding mountain in the world. The trekkers represent a mix of gender, race and life experiences, ranging in age from 12 to 64.
The organization for Women in Action (WIA) in Arusha has supported more than 56 youths from Lemara and Ngarenaro wards to obtain training on income generating activities. Training opportunities that have been offered to the youths through WIA project programs include plumbing, sewing and repairing of milling machines. Other courses are on environmental control and conservation, health aspects, management skills, horticulture and home economics. WIA is also providing counseling services to young people about HIV-AIDS, and has concentrated on urging youngsters to avoid unprotected sex.
One writer, Raja Jivraj, lamented that he spent most of an entire day eating and drinking products from South Africa, and had not one thing to eat or drink that was made in Tanzania. He asked, “What has happened to our local industries? Is that the outcome of misdirected economic policies?
The Arusha region will participate in the Special Olympics scheduled to take place in Dar es Salaam from October 10-20. The region is sending 40 kids to compete among a total of 500 from 14 regions in athletic events that include sprint, middle distance, long distance and long jump and in football. Arusha’s kids have been training every morning at the Arusha stadium with coaches and volunteers. A Dutch organization, Terre des Hommes, is sponsoring the troops as they compete, paying mostly travel expenses.
One final note. Arusha is a twin city with Muikamachi, Japan. The Japanese especially liked Arusha as a superior sports and training base.
So that’s a sense for the beat in Arusha. It sounds much the same as here in Herndon, Virginia, though we understand well that there are great differences. Those differences, though, are mostly economic. Psychologically and philosophically, our guess is the differences are not that great.
Frankly, that is reassuring. In this closing photo by Peter Essick, presented by Ray of Light Photographs we show you Japanese workers from Muikamachi, Japan, Arusha’s twin city, snow-bleaching kimonos. You see, different people, different worlds, twin cities!