By Ibraheem Hamza Muhammad
The culture of the people of the ancient Stone Town in the semi-autonomous island nation of Zanzibar in Tanzania has many distinctive similarities with the culture of the people of Northern Nigeria. Ibraheem Hamza Muhammad, who was in Zanzibar, writes.
In the history of the island which is now a World Heritage site, many wars were fought over its control by natives, Europeans and Arabs. The island is blessed with medicinal spices and fishermen, making the area a big fishing port now.
According to a tour guide, Alawi Abbas Malik, the name Zanzibar was derived from "zengi", the name for local people (said to mean "black" in Persian language), and the Persian word "barr", which means coast or shore.[6]
Zanj Bar is an Arabic word, meaning black land. Swahili was derived from the Arabic word Sahil, which means trust or welcome to the black trust.
Zanzibar was also called Unguja and or Pemba. Mafia Island is part of the mainland Tanzania. Malik said the first inhabitants of Zanzibar are the Bantus in the fifth century Persia, Arabs, Indians and Chinese.The island was ruled by the Portuguese, Arabs and English before its independence in 1963, which led to a revolution that sent its Sultan running.
The first thing that would attract your attention in the area is how the people, mostly the elderly, wear their caps.
Most of the men working in the airport are taxi drivers who wear shirt and, oddly so, put on cap they called 'Islam cap,' which is called 'Dubai' in Nigeria.
The people of Zanzibar, whose clean-looking airport is located by the sea, are welcoming and willing to be of help to others.
Houses of middle income earners in the island look just like those found in Northern Nigeria with gates and fences. There is a fabulous museum on the island and the buildings are mostly covered in white paint.
The island's people prefer to welcome people in the language of Swahili, saying 'Karibu,' meaning welcome. And when you are parting, they say 'Asante,' meaning thank you or they say 'asante sana,' meaning thank you very much.
The men are industrious, with some, who mostly serve as tour guides, speaking English. The ancient town is inhabited by Africans, Arabs, Persian, Chinese, Indians and Portuguese.
The palace of the former Sultan, who was deposed, is now a tourist attraction. It is a storey building that sits alongside many others.
The name Stone Town came from the use of stone to build in those days, although some of the old houses are still standing. Some of the town's hotels are hundreds of years old.
Other notable attractions in the town are the mosque, church and a temple on the same road, and in a row.
This has made the football pitch by the seaside to double as a fish market in the afternoon. The market is operated by those who do not want to be shortchanged by middle men and thereby sale their catch directly to consumers. The boys play football there in the evening.
Most women in Zanzibar wear black dress or the long black gown. They are only differentiated by the colour of the veil they wrap around their head and shoulders.
Women are in the majority in the market, known as Darajani, with many of them selling foodstuffs and household items. The market has fruits displayed on tables, just like in Northern Nigeria. The only difference is that the traders have a lot of customers, including tourists.
However, while some Northern Nigerian women patronize shopping complexes, going there in flashy cars, the island's women prefer the open market. They either trek or are driven there on scooters.
There are many scooters on the island, just like there are in Nigeria's city of Kano. Only that, rides without wearing a helmet.
Many able-bodied porters with carts waiting for goods to take from one point to the other can be seen in the city.
On the eve of the country's general elections recently, women were seen collecting voting materials, as most of them are educated and recruited as polling clerks. The election was devoid of violence, as even the then President Jakaya Kikwete queued to cast his vote.
Most of the receptionists in the hotels and offices are ladies, dressed in black.
However, it was gathered that there is little or no inter-marriages among the Swahili, Arabs, Indians, Persians and others in the city.
The gates to the houses are classified according to ones status, trade, culture, belief among others. Those of the Muslims have Qur'anic and Arabic inscriptions written on them, while those of Indians are decorated with many copper knobs. The houses of the novelty are decorated with flowery arts and other designs.
The roads in the Stone Town are narrow, while the drivers are patient and obey the traffic rules. If a car develops fault, the driver is assisted to fix the problem. And if a driver is turning, the vehicles on both sides halt until he is done.
When I asked a driver: why don't motorists horn, he said if a driver horns, the people turn and look at him in amazement as they believe that honking horn does not solve problem but patience does.
He said that when you meet a traffic gridlock, there must be a genuine reason for that and you don't need to honk horn as the people ahead of you would try to solve the problem.
When we reached my destination, I horned and most of the people laughed, saying that was how many tourists behaved to confirm whether the cars have horns or not.
Bus stations have shade and passengers could be seen seated and conversing while waiting for bus. In the evening, even a young boy must put on his bicycle lamp and nobody drives on the wrong side of the road.
The patience of this people is unique as when I ordered for food by the seaside, I nearly fell asleep before the food was served about an hour later.
Similarly, the people of Tanzania and Zanzibar are law abiding as nobody throws away rubbish on the ground.
On my return to Abuja, I saw a crowd of people and when I asked what was happening, I was told that two taxi drivers were fighting and I said, "This is my people."
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