Global Voices Online

Cold temperatures in Tanzania inspired Lynda to make warm roast tomato and onion salad.

Brian of Black Star Journal remembers de 10th anniversary of the bombings of the American embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania with links to regional press accounts on the anniversary.

Kenyan blogger Jerry Okungo, writing at Siasa Duni, comments on “the realisation that Tanzanians may not be as good masters of Kiswahili as the rest of East Africa may think” and on last week's decision by the Tanzanian Parliament “that the country had abandoned Ujamaism—the country’s version of socialism”. And he wonders: “Will the end of Ujamaism usher in unbridled greed and high level corruption that has permeated the Kenyan society?”

Louder than Swahili offers an in-depth description of the town of Bagamoyo, which is one of the oldest towns in Tanzania on the coast at the Indian Ocean. She starts by saying: “Bagamoyo is not just a town of different cultures. It is a microcosm of East African history: Arabs and Indians established the trade; The African population were either shipped off as slaves or they worked at the plantations, in the salt mines or as fishermen; The European explorers went through on their way to and from the African continent: Later came the missionaries, the German colonizers, and today the tourists”.

The African Uptimist congratulates three African companies for winning the 2008 Ashden Awards.

White African spots two new East African websites: “Bongoza is a new search engine for Tanzania. I’m intrigued by this idea of a niche search engine by country. Usually I would think that the big search engines would do an adequate job for any area, however it might be different if there’s a human helping to index uniquely Tanzanian content, especially as much of it is in Swahili.”

Mobile Africa reports about a mobile payment system empowering rural communities in Africa: “Leading mobile payments provider Mi-Pay has signed a contract with an East African operator to deliver a mobile money ecosystem to its subscribers in rural communities. Mi-Pay’s technology and expertise will enable subscribers to benefit from international remittance services, as well as support a network of agents to support domestic payments via mobile.”

The Star Tribune review a Swahili movie, Bongoland II: “The beauty of “Bongoland II” arises in its misleading simplicity. Although it could be said that the film tracks Juma's adaptation, it uses larger issues to highlight the ways in which Juma is not - and may never be - fully readjusted. From family secrets to workplace drama, reconnecting with friends to waiting for his girlfriend, it becomes clear that Juma might not fully reclaim who he once was.”