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Martin’s Blog

I’ve been imitated so well I’ve heard people copy my mistakes.

Jimi Hendrix

A Nasir-ud-Din story

By My StoriesNo Comments

The legendary Mullah Nasir-ud-Din arrived in the city in the middle of Ramadan. The mullah was very hungry and when he heard that the Emperor was providing a free iftar (meal that breaks Ramadan fasting) to anyone who came to the Red Fort he immeadiately tied up his donkey and went along. However he was so dirty from his ride that the Master of Ceremonies placed him in a distant corner, far from the Emperor, and at the end of the queue for food. Read More

We had a dream …. Tanzania Feb 2009

By Africa, My Stories, TanzaniaNo Comments
Hetton Law Feb 2009 1

Our journey started from snow covered Northumbria, skidding down the narrow icy lanes towards the A1 and ended 3 days later (after various forms of public transport – car, plane, taxi, dalai, coach and three wheeler cycle!) in hot and humid Dodoma which is situated in central Tanzania.

Tanzania Feb 2009 gr3 033Tanzania, although one of the least urbanised, is East Africa’s largest country. With a diverse landscape of savannah, bush, lakes and highland plateau. It is renowned for its wild life, game reserves and Mount Kilimanjaro, (the highest mountain on this continent). Its 126 different tribal groups, each with their own heritage, are welded together by the Kiswahili language, a mix of Arabic and old Bantu originating from Zanzibar. Before 1972 this diverse group of people had no cohesion and lived in scattered pockets throughout the country. Between 1972 and 1974 under the Presidency of Julius Nyerere the Government forced these pockets into village formats. Read More

Back to Mnase

By Africa, My Stories, TanzaniaNo Comments
Tanzania

Early this morning we set off to Mnase village in what can only be described as a metal moving object crammed to absolute capacity with people, chickens and general household objects. This picture gradually got worse as people finding no room through the doors started climbing in through the windows ….. and every once in a while there would be startled looks at the realisation that there were Msungu’s (white people) on the bus! Read More

Rumours of glory are often hidden inside of what many consider myths and legends

The Shack