Rosemary Nyerere

What a fantastic day this was. I made a wonderful new friend in the person of Rosemary Nyerere, the daughter to of the late President Julius K. Nyerere, Baba wa Taifa, father of the nation and the leader of the nonviolent revolution that led to independence from British Rule in 1961. We traveled out of the Serengeti to his home village of Butiama near Lake Victoria. There is a small but satisfying museum there that tells of his life and accomplishments as well as his former home when President, only steps from the site of his birth and burial. Mwalimu(teacher) Nyerere was known for his farsighted vision for Tanzania, the unification of the nation, the establishment of Swahili as the national language (no small feat with over 120 tribes and dialects), free access to public education, an ongoing commitment to the eradication of illiteracy, conservation of the land, self sustainability of village life and preservation of the nature, with the establishment of over 25% of the land know within National Park Preservation status.

We had an independently guided orientation to his museum followed by coffee with Rosemary. She is quite the accomplished woman herself, having been in Parliament here as well as a college lecturer in Mathematics. It was such an honor and joy to meet here. She openly shared loving memories of her father and described him in eerily similar fashion as Tara Gandhi for her grandfather: an amazing ability to focus totally on the person at hand, the belief in the good in every human being and the ability to bring out the best in them, deep empathy for those who suffer, and an early and fierce recognition of injustice and unfairness. She described a man of deep intellect, social genius and an unwavering love for his family and country.

"When he died, we all lost a father-the entire nation. But I never minded sharing him, because he was home every night to be with his family, giving us his undivided attention as if he hadn't a care in the world. That was his gift."