Habari, pole na kazi muheshimiwa. naomba unitundikie duku duku langu hapo chini.thank you in advance
ALIENS, FAR AWAY FROM HOME
The incident which occurred in Mysore City, India, on 31st October 2009,leading to the arrest of 1 Kenyan and 9 Tanzanian students has raised a lot of concern among foreign students, in particular Africans here in Mysore and India at large. Most of what has been said in the media is not true nor is all of it untrue, the truth lies somewhere in between. All in all the damage has been done, that can not be changed. As far as the truth about exactly what happened that morning, it is yet to be determined by the Court of law.
In the meantime, we should realize that we have been stigmatized. Not by this particular incident only, but by many other incidences which have occurred prior, by the mistakes made by those who were here before us and even those who are in other foreign lands. Currently, once a mishap occurs concerning an African and an Indian, immediately, with no questions asked, it is presumed that the African is at fault.
It is true that some of us have broken the laws once or twice, but am sure there are more law abiders than law breakers among us but since Indians have it in their heads that an “African is bound to break the law,” we are the ones who have to suffer. And not only the ones at faults that suffer, but all of us have to face the consequences, something which is not fair at all. If we meet with an accident then it is concluded that the African was drunk or negligent, without a doubt.
Unfortunately one of us met with an accident few weeks back and a pedestrian died on the spot. The headings in the local newspapers read “a foreigner kills an Indian”. As if it was an intentional murder case or that this has never happened before involving Indians only. You forget that road accidents do happen, whether you are red or black or white or yellow.
Recently, one male and two female Tanzanians were beaten up by Indians in a restaurant just because the Indians who were there demanded to be served first before the “Negroes” who were there before those Indians, simply because it is “their India” and that they were the ones paying the taxes, hence it was their right.
Our friends were brutally injured and fortunately one of the Indians involved was in the same college as one the Tanzanian victims. To our astonishment, the lectures kept begging us to exclude this particular Indian from the case as it would bring a bad reputation to her and her family simply because it was a “she”.
They completely forgot the fact that another foreign student, from that same college, who had equal rights, had to be suspended them at the expense of an Indian girl who was worried more about her reputation. This particular incident was not seen in any of the newspapers despite the complaint being filled at the police nor did the principal make a big fuss out of it.
In the current event, because the accused were Africans, and because we are ever the lawbreakers and not the victims, the media had a field day with this one. We all know why this is so. The locals have been putting the blame on our cultural values, that once we are here we should adjust with the local customs. We are in the 21st century, due to globalization and improved infrastructure the world has become one big village and people from different parts of the world are crossing borders, coming together and interacting in various fields.
In such occasions cultural clashes are bound to happen so if it is cultural adjustments, then it should be a give and take policy, the locals need to adjust too. Locals should be aware that there are foreigners here too and an environment need to be created to make us feel comfortable since their Government made it possible for us to be here. If they did not want us here, they should not have granted us visas.
Not only that, but also because there are fellow Indians back in our home countries, and we have made it a point to make sure they are not harassed or discriminated in any way. We understand that “majority rule” prevails but just because we are the minority, we should not be forced to loose our individuality, put down our customs and values, forget about our practices and adopt yours just like that, it would be denial of our basic “right to freedom.” Law is a universal common knowledge and we are aware of it therefore we cant be defending any cultural practices which might be offensive to the indigenous people or which might lead to breaking the laws of this particular land. All we are asking is for the right to live with human dignity.
Until today, Indians still refer to us as “Negroes”, despite world wide rejection against the use of this particular term as it is regarded offensive. They are aware of the implications of the word and at times they just use it so as to annoy and provoke us and see how we would react. You might come across 6year olds calling out “Negro” with a big smile on their faces, just to see how you react. It is obvious that they are being taught but their elders, and this shows the level of ignorance and racism among most of them.
We often see in the newspapers and televisions Indian from different parts of the world protesting about racism against them. From Shilpa Shetty’s incident in England few years back to the recent protests in Australia. Are you aware of the racism happening in your own country? For a country practicing “untouchability”, you need not look so far to realize there is racism against your own kind, let alone racism against other nationalities. Incase you are not aware, there are many Indians back in our home country.
Most of whom have been given ample opportunities and have succeeded and prospered a lot. Crackers are not allowed in our country but with due respect to Indian culture, they are allowed to fire crackers on “Diwali!”, this shows the respect we have for your culture and how far we are willing to go to make sure that you people are comfortable in our country. Few months back, I was on a plane back home for the holidays. I was sitting next to an Indian woman carrying a 3months old baby girl. She addressed me in “Swahili”, asking me where I was from.
I told her I was a Tanzanian and she told me she was Kenyan and that she is so excited going back HOME to Kenya after giving birth to her beautiful baby girl in India. This was only her second time in India in 35 years since she was born in Kenya. I was not surprised by all this because back at home many of them even get angry when you refer to them as Indians, they want to be called Tanzanians, proudly, with full of joy on their faces and hearts. You should see the look on their faces once we tell them that we are going to India for studies.
They ask, “why India?” and we often wonder “could it be that bad?” Never have I heard of or read in the newspapers a racist act against an Indian back in our country. Last month I had entered in one of the bookstores here in Mysore, they do offer membership cards but unfortunately for me that day I was denied of one. When I asked the reason behind this, the clerk replied “we do not offer these cards to your kind.” I asked “when you say my kind, you mean foreigners?” He said “no, Africans!” God forbid, if this were how you are being treated back in our home countries.
To make matters even worse, our guardians on this foreign land, the Tanzanian High Commission in New Delhi, are not doing anything to make things any better. Unfortunately, I was not lucky enough to visit the High Commission nor did I have any personal matter which required an assistance from there, as of this I feel very fortunate. But the experience of those who have been there and those who have required assistance from our High Commission has not been very good, it has been disappointments only.
For the 4 years I have been here, I haven’t come across any Tanzanian who has spoken positively about our High Commission. It might sound odd, but it is the truth. I had to experience it first hand during these several months when I got the opportunity to be the Chairperson of Tanzanian Students Association in Mysore.
To mention a few incidences : a Tanzanian had met with an accident and injured a middle aged Indian woman. The Indian family demanded a big sum of money as compensation. It was obvious that the exorbitant amount of money was demanded simply because the driver was a Tanzanian, a “Negro.” The driver and the parents back at home tried to seek assistance from the Embassy but nothing has been done till today. It has been more than 2 years now, after extorting a lot from us, the case had to be taken to the court of law where it is still going on to date. No assistance has been granted from there.
Another student had problems with his Visa and needed to go back home, he was stranded here for 1 whole year but the High Commission responded as it always does “ we can not help you on that.” So he had to seek assistance from the Indian High Commission in Dar es salaam, and that is when he was able to leave. The other Tanzanian who had met with an accident and a pedestrian died on the spot.
He was later arrested and convicted. The Commission was asked for assistance but it did not provide any, it responded with “what was he doing on the road at that time!” We engaged a lawyer and posted bail on our own without a helping hand from the Commissioner. The three Tanzanians who were beaten up by Indians in a restaurant, after the complaint being filled, we expected the Commission to put pressure and fight for the rights of the victimized students but rather it responded with “what were they doing there in the first place? If they could have been inside their houses, none of this would have happened.”
With the very recent incident, I was constantly being asked for a report, as to what we have accomplished so far in helping our friends. We engaged a lawyer by ourselves, as we always do, we came up with the bail money of 50,000 Indian Rupees {nearly 2 million Tshs}, we managed to raise that amount on our own, through contributions. Mind you, the bail money was needed immediately or else the 9 Tanzanians would have remained in prison till today.
The Embassy responded with, “the matter is already in the Court, there is nothing much we can do. Just keep us posted with a written report!” And without shame, we hear them in the media claiming that they have helped us and that they are working with us through out this whole time. Very untrue. These have been the common responses I have been receiving from our guardians in New Delhi. It makes us wonder, what are they doing for us.. In 4 years, an official from the High Commission has visited Mysore only ONCE.
And this could not have been possible if it was not for the son of the current Vice President of Tanzania who was studying here at the time. We usually hear from our neighbors in Bangalore that an official is has come from the High Commission for an event or just to come and check on things. We have sent invitations to the Commission several times for various events such as Graduations, but they always reply saying they are caught up with work hence can not make it here. This is not the case with Bangalore.
Mysore and Bangalore is only 2 hours away but these people never make it to Mysore. It is alleged that this is so because most of the students in Bangalore are under Government sponsorship, does this mean others who are under private sponsorship need not be assisted in any way by the High Commission? A year ago, the son of one of the most top officials was studying in Bangalore, everyone here knows what kind of a character he was but yet the Commission made constant visits to Bangalore to clear up whatever mess he had made.
But for the Tanzanians in Mysore, it takes only 1 incident to be blacklisted. If this is so, if the Commission is at the disposal of only the selected few, then it should be disclosed so that us, the sons and daughters of the common laymen, and of the farmers, should look for other means of assistance or other guardians who will look out for our interests. As if it is not enough being discriminated by the locals, our own kind is doing just that.
Due to the lack of assistance from the High Commission, Indians take advantage of us because they know there is no one near to help us since we have left our parents back home and we have come here all alone. We have no choice than to keep aside our differences and look out for each other because we are all we have got in this foreign land, far way from home. A friend of mine once said “The only mistake we have made is for being BLACK.”
BY MWINGA B MUNGWE
MYSORE