Sikiliza

Violence..  When we talk about living in a culture of violence it is important that recognise that this will manifest in different ways and in our day to day lives. For instance, I have watched people who do not take no for an answer; they simply keep asking and asking and asking... and are tone deaf to see that this isn’t a consenting person at the other end, but simply someone worn down to the bone. I have seen people who bombard past lover’s lives; trying to undermine any hope of their moving on.... Incessantly obsessing about their movements, associations and developments. I have also watched hurt and disgruntled ex-lovers in so much pain there whole lives are defined by what was done to them... every waking minute is spent angry, regretful or in tears, a kind of paralysis...life stands still for them yet the rest of the whole world has moved on... it becomes the way we are instinctively  distrusting of our friends, associations and potential partners and some...

Magufuli’s stupid statements  hit a raw nerve when he chest thumped his authority in a public rally on 22 June in Bagamoyo saying, “In my administration, as long as I am president … no pregnant student will be allowed to return to school. We cannot allow this immoral behaviour to permeate our primary and secondary schools … never,” he said. That was a slap on my face and my visceral reaction of utter disgust was swift. You see the ease within which many of us fall into shaming teenage mothers is appalling as it is widespread. For me, his words and those who cheered him is very much a personal affront. I was after all a teenage mother and that indifferent declaration took me to a very ominous period of my life. My first inkling of teen mother shaming and the impact it had on girls was in my first year and term of high school.  I found myself in a boarding school that was not easy; finding kindness was a rare thing. Thankfully my parents were perceptive en...