Bagamoyo - Surrender your Soul

24 November 2008

Case 501. The first I saw in Bagamoyo, is a woman carrying a small baby. She doesn't know her own exact age, but thinks she might be 33 years old. She does not know how long she has had the disease, but has tested positive since 2007 and has a CD4 count of 310. The baby is much too small, weighing 3 kg at 4 months. Her face looks prematurely old and withered.

The mother suffers from fungal eruptions and frequent bouts of malaria accompanied by a maddening headache. She loves her food, especially spices. But she is weak and tired, and has to sleep in the day.

In the night she dreams that she is crying. When she has this dream, she knows that when she wakes up someone will have died, and it always happens. These dreams come true, too often. Her parents divorced when she was 3.
I gave her Nat-mur 30C, two pellets in a bottle of water, one teaspoon to be taken daily.



Bagamoyo is a town situated on the shores of the Indian Ocean, about one and a half hours drive north from Dar Es Salaam. It is as poor a town as any, with dusty narrow dirt roads and one room family dwellings. The old colonial buildings, once large and imposing, have dilapidated into ruins. Several holiday resorts lie closed, the once attractive huts shedding their thatched roofs. Nevertheless there is an Art school, and dancing, and the locals stroll the beach in the evening, and the fishermen sail boats designed 3000 years ago.

But Bagamoyo is rich, rich in history. Unfortunately, it is not the kind of history that attracts many tourists. Those that come here are looking for a two day beach holiday close to their Dar Es Salaam stop over. There are no hoards of Japanese, German or American sightseers. In fact, I hardly see any tourists.

Bagamoyo is the gateway to African history. This is where they came in, and this is where they left.

The first invasion came from Persia in the 13th century. They landed just outside Bagamoyo, in a place called Kaole, derived from the words ' lets go and see', as in 'Come quick and check out the weird aliens'. The weird aliens introduced Islam into Africa, and it grew from there. They built a small mosque, a school, a small village and a cemetery. The ruins can still be seen, and there is a well of holy water where people come to pray. Of course there is a tiny museum, and a coca cola machine. In the field nearby is a huge Baobab tree, 500 years old and probably 15 meters in girth. Eventually, Islam took over a large portion of Africa. But the harbour that brought them here in the first place is closed, taken over by Mangrove trees. My African friend calls it 'revenge'.

Just 5 kilometres north in Bagomoyo, stands a big cross, a monument to the point where Christianity entered Africa, Catholics first. They arrived in 1868, built a church and a mission. In the court yard stands an enormous Baobab tree, 200 years old and 12 meters in circumference. Half of the museum is dedicated to the famous and noble Dr Livingston, who passed by here on his way into Africa, and again on his was out, in a coffin headed for England.

There can be no doubt that these religious invasions changed Africa forever. The local tribal religions were no match for their persuasion, and they soon crumbled. The main reason for this is that they had no coherency and no documented history. Each tribe had its own unique beliefs, their own way of interpreting spirituality. The knowledge passed down the generations by stories, music, dance and ritual. There were strong traditional values and respect for elders and ancestors. The tribes didn’t mix or intermarry because there was no need to. The resources were abundant; plenty of water, food and land for everyone.

Other than Egypt, there is no real knowledge of African history prior to these times, because nothing was ever written. The good side of this is that the roots of oral tradition lay deep, stretching back thousands of years into an unknown past. The bad part was that they were an easy prey for the cerebral and well documented 'facts' of the invaders. A case of mind over spirit. But for many years the Christians and the Muslims lived in harmony here, as they do in Tanzania today. This was no 9.11.

But the real history of Bagamoyo is in the exit, or exodus. Bagamoyo is the gateway through which every east African slave departed from their home. It started from the massacre and robbing of the great bull elephants, which demanded porters to carrying the ivory, but it quickly deteriorated into slavery. Many of the slaves were sold to the Arab masters by their chieftains for the price of a few trinkets. The slaves were dragged to Bagomoyo over vast distances, chained to each other by the neck or ankle. On the way they were tortured, raped, shot and hung. When they arrived they were herded into tiny prisons, 50 or more in a room the size of a small kitchen. Bagamoyo still has the hanging trees which laid many of the slaves to rest. A few thousand were saved by the Christians, paid for by the mission.

Every slave of East Africa passed through Bagomoyo. From here they were shipped to the nearby island of Zanzibar, after which they were gone forever. Like the Ivory they carried, they were cut off from their roots, never to see their wife, husband, child or tribe again.

The main perpetrators of this trade were the Arabic countries, from Saudi Arabia to Persia to India. Unlike the Negro tribes of West Africa that were exported to America, none of the East African lineages survived. You do not find many black people living in the Arabian countries. While African Americans eventually thrived, found their roots, and elected a president, the eastern slaves were not allowed to reproduce and died off. It was the end of the lines for millions of people.

If there is any one place in Africa that needs healing, it is this one. Bagamoyo literally means 'surrender your soul' or ' lay down your heart'. In Africa's dream, Bagamoyo is still crying.