Obama mania

Obama is big in Tanzania, BIG. Before the elections, there were a number of parties hosted in Tanzania to show support for Obama and any number of t-shirts with Obama's face silk screened on in yellow, green and blue (the colours of Tanzania’s flag) up for sale. Every man and his dog had an Obama t-shirt. Election day came and for about an hour between 6:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. time stood still as people stayed glued to their television sets, the air thick in anticipation of the election results. The Obama win was celebrated in my office with big smiles, vigorous hand shakes and lots of hand slapping. Obama mania did not die out after the election. Rather, it resulted in Obama American Garden ads (American Garden is a company that produces food products and it is from the UAE but you would never know that from their advertising or their name) and the Obama kanga, which is pictured above.

A kanga is a length of cotton material that is approximately 1.5 m by 0.5 metre that is normally decorated with a vibrant pattern and that contains a Swahili saying. The Swahili saying is what makes a kanga a kanga. The saying in the Obama kanga is “love and peace to be granted to you by God” or something along those lines. My translation skills are not great. Kanga sayings tend to be proverbs that give messages of love, warning or caution, so it serves you well to know just what your kanga is saying.

From what I’ve seen, kangas are worn wrapped around a woman’s waist, used as a shawl or a head scarf, used as a sling to secure a baby to a woman’s back, or rolled up to create a cushion between a woman’s head and the item she is carrying on her head. I am only just beginning to appreciate the kanga’s versatility.