Return to Tanzania

Dave and I left Columbus on July 10 (our thirty-fifth wedding anniversary), for Morogoro, Tanzania, a bustling town about two hundred kilometers west of Dar es Salaam at the foot of the Uluguru Mountains.  For us, this is “Tanzania II” since we first came to Tanzania in 1981 with one daughter, Jess, and left with two -- Erica was born at Dareda Hospital near our home in Babati in 1982. Tanzania was a good place to raise children then. That’s one thing that hasn’t changed but a lot of other things have. There are more schools today and more young people able to attend. There is more access to health care, clean drinking water, and the basic necessities of life.

Tanzania seems, to me, a country full of promise; a land and people on the move. There is still much to be done to alleviate poverty but the nation has laid a good foundation since independence in 1961. Part of this was the commitment by its first president, Julius Nyerere, to create a broad sense of national solidarity among Tanzanians that could rise above ethnic and tribal affiliations. Its early leaders also shared a commitment to public education and health care despite limited economic resources. More about that later, but Tanzania has always held a special place in my heart, partly because of its history and political outlook and partly because of the sheer natural beauty of the land.

Where else on this green earth is there a place to match the majestic upheaval of the East African Rift that sweeps through Tanzania to create awe-inspiring volcanic lakes, Ngorongoro Crater, the vast Serengeti, Olduvai Gorge and great rift walls throughout?  I can look up from anywhere here in Morogoro town to see the imposing Uluguru Mountains rising sharply skyward from a surrounding plain that is even and flat as far as the eye can see. Throughout the country, north and south, are vast game parks filled with wondrous animals that the nation of Tanzania protects and treasures as its gift to the entire world.

Above all is the open friendliness and hospitality of Tanzanians that reaches out to every visitor. Swahili is the national language and, in Swahili, the word for stranger (mgeni) is the same as the word for guest. This linguistic feature is, in fact, the spirit of welcome that you will find in this warm and generous country when you come to visit.