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Published: October 31st 2008
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The Dodoma Farewell Committee
Don't they look sorry to be saying good-bye? Given the October school break, Gerry and I decided it was time for a little travelling. Gerry, our daughter Karen and a friend visiting from Canada planned a trip to Zanzibar and Mikumi National Park. I decided this time to go on my own so I opted for something a little out of the ordinary.
My plan was to ride the Central Line of the Tanzanian Railway west from Dodoma to Kigoma on Lake Tanganyika. After a couple of days in Kigoma I would board the MV Liemba and take passage to Mpulungu, Zambia, at the south end of the lake and then back to Kigoma. There is very little information available on Liemba's movements other than 'normally sails from Kigoma on Wednesday and the trip to Mpulungu and back will take four days.' As often happens in this part of the world, plans do not turn out quite the way you expected they would.
I boarded the train in Dodoma on Saturday morning. The schedule indicated that we would arrive in Kigoma at 7am the next morning. As it turned out we left Dodoma half an hour late and eventually arrived in Kigoma almost six hours behind schedule.
The route west from Dodoma included a fairly long stop at Tabora where the train split, half continuing west to Kigoma, and half heading north to Mwanza on Lake Victoria. The Kigoma - Tabora route is an historic one. The slave traders used this route to move their cargo across east Africa to Bagamoyo on the coast. The slaves were then taken to Zanzibar where they were sold and eventually shipped to points east.
On the train security seemed to be an important issue, particularly during the over-night run from Tabora to Kigoma. Police boarded the train in Tabora and passengers were provided with a piece of wood to wedge each window shut. Apparently, it is not uncommon during the night for thieves to enter the train through the windows and grab whatever they can lay their hands on. While it was very hot and not a great night for sleeping (this is not the Eurostar or the Bullet Train) we made it safely to Kigoma late but otherwise without incident.
A little about MV Liemba - she is a vessel of about 1500T, built in Germany in 1913 and originally called 'Graf von Gotzen'. What a
history she has had. Once built, she was immediately dismantled plate by plate, and sent by sea in boxes to Dar es Salaam, at the time, the capital of German East Africa. Still in pieces she was then transported on the recently completed Central Railway Line to Kigoma where in 1914 she was reassembled, launched on Lake Tanganyika and commissioned into service first with the German East Africa Company and not long after with the German Navy. Von Gotzen was scuttled in 1916 as Germany retreated from Kigoma. In 1924 she was salvaged and christened Liemba. Liemba is currently owned by a subsidiary of the Tanzanian Railway Company and continues to move people and cargo on Lake Tanganyika.
Regrettably for me, on arrival in Kigoma I found that while Liemba is still in service between Kigoma and Mpulungu, she is also chartered from time to time by the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to move displaced people around the region. While I was in Kigoma Liemba was to sail for Mpulungu but was breaking her voyage there to transport people on behalf of UNHCR to/from Zambia and Congo. Liemba's revised schedule meant that had I headed for Mpulungu
I could not have returned to Dodoma in time to meet my obligations at CAMS. So, in the end I was able only to watch Liemba load but never got to take passage in her.
Like Tanzania and Zambia, are both fairly stable countries, Burundi, Rwanda and the eastern Congo also border on Lake Tanganyika but still experience considerable political and social unrest. As a result, thousands of refugees are constantly on the move in the region. UNHCR and the Red Cross have regional bases in Kigoma both to deal with the refugees that arrive in western Tanzania and to provide a base of operations for their work in the wider region.
Most of the pictures this time were taken during my train trip to Kigoma. As we stopped in station after station it struck me how many children there are in this country and how hard people work, adults and children alike, just to eak out a living. On this planet of ours we seem to have parallel worlds. On the one hand people anxiously watch the stock market as millions of dollars change hands, and on the other, small children on a railway siding in Tanzania
Village in Dodoma District
The low buildings made from mud bricks are typical of village homes in Dodoma. anxiously try to sell peanuts, sugar cane or a glass of dirty water for the equivalent of about 4 cents. One wonders which has more cause to be worried about the future, the person watching the stock market or the child on the siding.
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