AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE

We are living in the world that peace and stability is a new myth. Pure human rights ,justice and equality practices are almost as rare as Tanzanite jewels which are believed to be available only in Tanzania,the country where I hail from. When war against terror,seeking peace and justice becomes the common words in every world leader speech, another common man like me wonders what happened and what to be done?Trying to ponder a question like what to be done needs extra-ordinary courage. I call it extra-ordinary courage because why do you think all the remaining members of G8 can not have one stand against the injustice that United States is doing in Iraq and places like Guantanamo,Sudan etc etc? Don’t you know that United States is illegally occupying the Guantanamo Bay from Cuba? Is it not a fact that USA is in Iraq today just because of its interest in oil? Have you ever asked yourself why US did not find it a priority to send “troops” to Rwanda in 1994? The case is clear,United States has no friends but interests! United States is not a friend to even its closest neighbor Canada. Who is expected to say “No” to Americans? Honestly,I always wonder around this question. Can’t Steven Harper and all his G7 friends stop the Americans? What is United Nations?We have unending wars and injustice around the world just because someone is never satisfied with what they have. They think they deserve everything good while the rest of the world deserves nothing. That is why Iran is now in the pipeline for attack. Why can’t Iran be allowed to explore and use its nuclear technology? If Bush were attacked by any other country using WMDs like nuclear would he insist that Americans will use nuclear for energy purposes only? I can not imagine someone coming to my country and telling me that you are not allowed to do this and that while they are doing the same back in their countries. Justice,equality,human rights….what a joke today’s world roams around with. The whole world is watching.Our leaders are speechless and moral corrupts than ever! If you can’t fight them you do not necessarily have to join them,keep fighting.

In countless occassions I have clearly stated that english is not my language.Not even the second one or the third. Outspoken as hell in the cradle of humanity,I still struggle to bring sentences together. The notable difference is that giving up is a sin to me,therefore I keep going,miles and miles. The journey of being multi-lingual is not an easy one. You will always carry the luggage of jokes and criticism from the pros of the language you are trying to learn. As if that is not enough you have to be prepared with ear quizes like ..what?What did you say….sorry I can not understand you…do you speak english?? etc etc. The pain of being in a foreign country does not end in only being constantly reminded that you do not belong there but also emerge from the iceberg of social justice and liberty. “When was the last time you went to Tanzania?” How many times will I hear that question? At least in Canada the question is asked a bit politely. When I was in another countries the question was “when are you going back to Tanzania?”. It was a request full of commanding tone, it simply meant you do not belong here!

You have probably heard ESL(English as a second language) more times than you have heard the word “language” itself. Canada,which is now internationally known to be a haven of every culture tries to hit the social justice even in the language paths. Good job! However,have you ever asked yourself how difficult and almost impossible it is when someone is trying to teach you their language when they can not even utter one word of your language?? How does it work for God’s sake?

If I am not mistaken teaching language is almost about exchanging literature, you teach me your language because you know lots or bits about mine. I believe, and heaven hear me please, language learnt that way is more fun and extremely easy. Having a good command of swahili for example and bla bla of english I can be the best teacher for a swahili speaker who wants to learn english. Unfortunately, the british empire that once ruled and colonized the entire world including Canada and United Stated, they wanted and have successfully promoted their language to sound and smell superior. If you do not speak english in today’s world you are considered uneducated and somehow uncivilized.That is why even though Chinese is spoken by many people than english it is not a superior language and you can count how many people are interested to learn it.

Anyway,the point I am trying to make here is that english as a second language classes are social joke unless they become categorized in the common sense explained above. If not at the end of the day we will never know who taught me the little english I know.Is it the esl teacher or my friends and relatives at home who knew my original language and had learnt english before?