There is no place like home

Oct 20, 2009

EDITOR—Nearly everybody is proud of their parents and citizenship. I say nearly, because not all people are proud of their parents or origins.

EDITOR—Nearly everybody is proud of their parents and citizenship. I say nearly, because not all people are proud of their parents or origins.

When I was in secondary school, there were cases of children who denied their parents on visitation days and referred to them as relatives. I have had the privilege of staying in Tanzania.

I admire the unity, peace and harmony among Tanzanians but above all the love and nostalgia about Mwalimu Julius Nyerere that surrounds each one of them— those that grew up in his generation and those that never even saw him. This includes nursery pupils entertaining the public at the commemoration to mark ‘Baba wa Taifa’s death, 10 years ago.

This is not comparable with the bored attendance at Kololo airstrip at the independence celebrations this year. I could not resist reflecting back to the recent chaos in Uganda and wondered whether we will ever have a ‘Baba Taifa’ of our nation. Uganda does not have a father figure yet. However, in spite of that, I did not wish I was born a Tanzanian. No, There is no place like home!

Florence Muheirwe
Kampala

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});