tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17137876007595948482024-03-18T12:48:44.947+03:00The Mikocheni ReportA Life in Dar es SalaamElsie Eyakuze-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13101928879201073169noreply@blogger.comBlogger554125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1713787600759594848.post-89874842164711714012023-01-13T13:13:00.000+03:002023-01-13T13:13:11.950+03:00CorrespondenceAll my fuzzy intentions to revive the blog have melted in
the summer heat. Every attempt on my part to stoke the flames of passion that
were the fount of my writing prior to my “quitting” in protest has fizzled out.
Why am I suffering this impotence, what was the underlying issue? After all I
write on a regular basis anyways for a different public, and blogging was my
refuge and relaxation, my Elsie Eyakuze-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13101928879201073169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1713787600759594848.post-5985334556271231372022-08-04T12:30:00.005+03:002022-08-04T12:30:58.542+03:00"City of the Smiling People"- Ongala Festival 2022"I am sitting at a table during the height of the lunch rush,
waiting for someone. A couple approaches the 4-top and asks if they can sit
there with me? Against my nature I tell them “I am waiting for someone” because
I don’t know if that someone will be okay with company. This does not go down
well. They remark to me, surprised, that surely they may sit since I am only
waiting for one person? I Elsie Eyakuze-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13101928879201073169noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1713787600759594848.post-42824121296944312882022-07-20T09:12:00.002+03:002022-07-20T09:12:30.373+03:00Social Media, Amirite? Y'all, while I was away a lot happened in the Tanzanian social media sphere. Much of it is great, much of it is bad- we are in keeping with global trends in this sphere. So there I was planning to totally blog on the weekend and get things warmed up again. But in the back of my mind I had an issue brewing. That of cyberbullying. A friend was going through a very messed up situation andElsie Eyakuze-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13101928879201073169noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1713787600759594848.post-37278709584022255452022-07-10T15:53:00.000+03:002022-07-10T15:53:02.398+03:001527 Days: 4 Years, Two Months and a Week.In my last real blogpost published on May 3rd of
2018, I said the following:
“Tanzania
has passed laws and regulations this year requiring bloggers to register and
pay a punitive fee in order to keep offering their content. The flimsy excuse
is taxation. The real reason is standard restriction of free speech. The
Tanzanian blogosphere is too minute to generate anything worth taxing, but it
has Elsie Eyakuze-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13101928879201073169noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1713787600759594848.post-12938756004775603962022-07-09T08:16:00.000+03:002022-07-09T08:16:09.045+03:00Loading 2022...Power up: Good Morning, Author. It is Saturday, 9th of July, 2022 CE. Wetware: Running Diagnostics. Hardware: Running Diagnostics. Warning: Upgrade recommended. Software: Running Diagnostincs. Warning: Retraining recommended. Overall Report: Diagnostics ongoing. Main systems appear to be functioning optimally. However, some changes detected in the Wetware and Software Elsie Eyakuze-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13101928879201073169noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1713787600759594848.post-50737695203894067652022-07-08T16:19:00.004+03:002022-07-08T16:19:56.642+03:00Tuning. Touching Keyboards. Checking the Dashboard. Trying Not To Cry on the Electronics. ...Hello?Mic check. Audio Check. Heart Check. Maintenance Mode: Engage. Cue: Song dedicated to the Written Word. Selection: The One and Only Ray Charles. Power Down. Rest Mode: EngagedRestart: To Be Determined...Elsie Eyakuze-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13101928879201073169noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1713787600759594848.post-54997847727002185952018-05-03T16:13:00.002+03:002018-05-03T16:13:33.319+03:00Au Revoir But Maybe Not AdieuHey there. It has been a tradition on this blog to do a yearly check-in every April to mark the anniversary of this blog and maybe talk about how it could be improved.
That last bit was always my favorite because it was dismally and laughably optimistic. Like a new years resolution- meant to fail. It became a fun inside joke.
But this year I did not check in. And I apologise because that Elsie Eyakuze-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13101928879201073169noreply@blogger.com145tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1713787600759594848.post-24095792834924548552017-04-24T15:03:00.003+03:002017-04-25T14:43:58.330+03:00The Places That Begin With Q
Go to Mozambique*, they said. It's fabulous there, they said. Wonderful country...they said. I got excited. Mozambique...even the name suggests that this is no ordinary place. It's got z's and q's in it and is pronounced differently by every accent I have ever heard. We call it Msumbiji up here, our quiescent neighbor with whom we have a long relationship colored by the harder, darker parts of Elsie Eyakuze-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13101928879201073169noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1713787600759594848.post-54990685401739097692017-04-12T15:08:00.003+03:002017-04-12T15:08:19.337+03:00The Other Governance Structure/Why Nobody Gets Called 'Daddy.'
Y'all know how I go on and on and on about the patriarchy. Believe it or not, I actually appreciate some elements of patriarchy when they are done right. Just because I am a feminist doesn't mean I am immune from my own cultural conditioning, hey, and besides one should always be aware of the distances between the ideals we hold and the realities we inhabit.
This week's article is Elsie Eyakuze-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13101928879201073169noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1713787600759594848.post-71283182509760181712017-04-06T15:13:00.005+03:002017-04-06T15:13:53.790+03:00April 2017: A Note on Blogiversary the Ninth
Still alive! April 2017 marks the 9th Blogiversary of The Mikocheni Report and a good time to assure you that the project is not abandoned. Here's a fat wall of text to make up for so long a silence.
These past few months have been a period of hibernation and reflection for a number of reasons:
1. Writing fatigue happens. Social media with its incessant appetite for fresh content is Elsie Eyakuze-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13101928879201073169noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1713787600759594848.post-17224817852998470242017-01-19T20:39:00.001+03:002017-01-19T20:39:18.099+03:00The Weekly Sneak: This is Fine.
Hello, happy 2017! Sorry about the long silence. Needed some time to be quiet because of a number of interdictions I had set on myself. First: to carefully not share my opinion on President Magufuli's performance so far. Second: to not have a public melt-down over the Trumpocalypse too early in the game. Third: to have a quiet end to 2016, because.
Anyways.
I filed my East African Elsie Eyakuze-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13101928879201073169noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1713787600759594848.post-26496335743705915262016-11-30T18:51:00.000+03:002016-11-30T18:51:04.635+03:00Lego Therapy for Tired Brains
2016, right? But nah, this is about appreciating something good that happened.
A couple of weeks ago a handful of Danish students visiting Tanzania from Vallekilde Hojskolle (lets pretend I spelled that right) took some time to sit with me in Mikocheni and shoot the breeze about feminism, religion, politics, individual agency and other light-weight matters. Their coordinator, Pia, had Elsie Eyakuze-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13101928879201073169noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1713787600759594848.post-90045667643290352442016-10-21T10:28:00.001+03:002016-10-21T10:28:10.184+03:00The Weekly Sneak: What Just Happened?
Somewhere between Trump and Buhari I had a Major Feminist Attack* and decided to write about chauvinism. And then I got completely lost in my own essay. You see, what I wanted to do was comment on the fact that we're still living in an era where men find it normal- beneficial even- to tell women what their place in life is.
But then I got way too deep into discussing the biological Elsie Eyakuze-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13101928879201073169noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1713787600759594848.post-40101572419569691832016-10-06T10:32:00.006+03:002017-04-12T15:35:51.498+03:00The Weekly Sneak: An Illosophy of Protest
I am in Grahamstown, South Africa. It is such a unique place. So many characteristics that I find particular to South Africa seem concentrated here. A University town and South African to boot, it is very 'diverse'. The friction of the mixture is like a scent in the air. A slightly buttoned up malaise mixed with friendliness, as opposed to the brusqueness one might experience in Elsie Eyakuze-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13101928879201073169noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1713787600759594848.post-73589086739734709252016-09-30T16:36:00.001+03:002016-09-30T16:36:23.112+03:00Basic Kiswahili Phrases: 'Nilipopata Ajali'
Just about everyone who lives here has that story. It begins with "when I had my accident..." and goes from there. A city of broken people, we are, all harboring reminiscences of hospital stays caused by incredible events. Those of us who have lived to tell about it.
Someone asked me recently: how come everybody has that story? I was stumped. I don't drive in Dar anymore... since I had Elsie Eyakuze-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13101928879201073169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1713787600759594848.post-36515224745267838312016-09-03T22:07:00.002+03:002016-09-03T23:44:32.978+03:00Keep An Eye OutI was supposed to write a thing for an online outlet that says it is about African opinions. We didn't agree on how that goes. Oh well. Here's the raw material, complete with holes in the argument and questionability. Still, if it makes you want to Google something, my job is done. Namaste.
Come Bearing Gifts.
by Elsie Eyakuze
Thursday 1st September 2016
This article is the result of Elsie Eyakuze-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13101928879201073169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1713787600759594848.post-24052188438085860642016-09-01T15:37:00.000+03:002016-09-01T15:37:01.482+03:00The Weekly Sneak: Goddammit, UKUTA!
You made me lose at least four arguments. Just last Sunday I declared with grand pomposity that there is no way the government was going to shut the planned September 1st demonstrations. That the force of discontent would burst through all restrictions as Tanzanians' quest for freedoms and rights breached the damn walls of stupid middle-aged patriarchal crap. I even went so far as to denigrate Elsie Eyakuze-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13101928879201073169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1713787600759594848.post-12270554179017105252016-08-26T12:34:00.002+03:002016-08-26T12:34:36.159+03:00The Weekly Sneak: You Are Who You Eat
First of all, a little notice. I am perfectly aware that the Frankenmonster of an opposition that we have is headed for a full-bull encounter with my stubborn and frightened state security system. There will be more than enough time, with Government The Fifth, to talk about it.
So this week was the second segment about weird future stuff that I am into and I made a mistake. I crossed Elsie Eyakuze-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13101928879201073169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1713787600759594848.post-41343491569159631362016-08-20T13:41:00.002+03:002016-08-20T13:41:42.548+03:00The Weekly Sneak: Let's All Get Scared Together
This week it is about the potentialities of CRISPR technology, except not really because my mind doesn't quite work that way. It is more a freakout about the social consequences of genetic manipulation and what the future holds.
Heh. Okay, nothing ever works out the way we imagine it will. Leonardo da Vinci would soil his toga at the sight of an Airbus 380. Even Elon Musk hasn't been Elsie Eyakuze-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13101928879201073169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1713787600759594848.post-34829046960190292972016-08-11T14:02:00.000+03:002016-08-12T17:42:51.567+03:00This Writing Life: Context Is Everything.
Here is a story, but first let me
emphasize that the biggest take-away from this experience is that the
people of Zimbabwe offered grace and friendliness and most
importantly a wonderful sense of humor. In the few hours I spent in
Bulawayo I made a couple of new insta-friends, was greeted with many
delightful attempts at learning how to say hello in Kiswahili and
enjoyed mutual political Elsie Eyakuze-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13101928879201073169noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1713787600759594848.post-24308025579971830032016-07-31T11:03:00.004+03:002016-07-31T11:03:52.589+03:00The Weekly Sneak: Hidden in Plain Sight
Almost a year ago exactly I asked some American citizens what they thought of Donald Trump vying for the Presidential candidacy of the Republican party. The answers ranged from dismissive amusement to...actually there was no range. Just dismissive amusement. And here we are, today.
Reading around I found out that not only is this not Mr. Trump's first attempt at the Presidency but that Elsie Eyakuze-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13101928879201073169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1713787600759594848.post-41076691446615866852016-07-15T11:04:00.004+03:002016-07-15T11:04:49.989+03:00The Weekly Sneak Problems of American Imperialism
The Black Lives Matter movement is one which I don't think should remain an American one alone. This is a watershed issue that is kicking up all of the racial silt laid down through centuries not only of American imperialism but the colonialism that preceded that. It has deep roots in this thing we call globalization, and maybe it is time to acknowledge that globalization's history has been a Elsie Eyakuze-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13101928879201073169noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1713787600759594848.post-87393508857283755102016-07-08T15:37:00.000+03:002016-07-08T15:37:00.437+03:00The Weekly Sneak: How to Curmudgeon
As the last piece in a series about the internet, privacy, freedoms etc I really got to let fly about my perspective on these technologies. To which La Dee said: do you realize you have turned into a grumpy old lady? Yes, I have. And yes, I know. My defense is that it is harder to catch a pessimist off-guard than your average bear:
"In the relationship
between woman and machine I am firmly Elsie Eyakuze-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13101928879201073169noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1713787600759594848.post-57276114631677445662016-06-26T16:43:00.002+03:002016-06-26T16:43:42.559+03:00Will Brexit Affect My Favorite International Broadcaster?
So I'm using the BBC to keep abreast of the Brexit story. The BBC happens to be the "inventor," if you will, of the public broadcaster genre, and if you want you can read about it in David Attenborough's* biography.
Before they ventured forth, nobody really used the new technologies of Radio and subsequently Television in the manner we have become accustomed to in this day and age. TheyElsie Eyakuze-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13101928879201073169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1713787600759594848.post-78919065891967178582016-06-24T10:31:00.003+03:002016-06-24T10:31:52.086+03:00The Day That Britain Left Europe.
So #Brexit happened, by a tragically thin sliver. Just a wee two percent difference in the Yes/No vote and kaboom! everything changed. You would think something this dramatic would at least warrant dramatic poll numbers but apparently reality is not scripted by Hollywood.
The most interesting information to come out of the polls has to be the generational difference in opinion about theElsie Eyakuze-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13101928879201073169noreply@blogger.com0