Blogu hii imeandaliwa na Benson Joel Mwasaga Mahenya. Nilijiunga na Kidato cha kwanza Mbeya Day mnamo January 1983 nikitokea Mwenge Primary School Mwanjelwa. Miaka ile Form I na II tulikuwa tukisoma masomo yote kuanzia Fine Arts, Typing, Arts, Science and Commercial Subjects kwa wavulana. Wasichana hawakusoma Fine Arts bali walisoma upishi! Ilipofika Form III nikachukua mchepuo wa science kwa kupunguza masomo ya Book keeping, Commerce, Fine Arts, History na Typing na nikaongezewa somo la Additional Mathematics (still can’t say why the name is called ‘additional’).

Form V nikachanguliwa kwenda Tosamaganga kusoma EGM kwani enzi zile the late Prof Kighoma Ali Malima ‘the economist’ touched my nerves very much…miwani yake akiivalia chini ya macho! Nami nikatamani kuwa mchumi! Hah hah!

Kutoka Tosamaganga nikapiga jeshi mwaka mmoja pale Mafinga Box 10… JC kwa Afande Mlay…kabla ya kufundisha Irambo kwa wiki 6. Pale niliwakuta akina Mh Joseph Kabila akiwa denti! (ret) Capt Shitambala akiwa mwalimu wake wa lugha! Baada ya mawenge wenge ya ualimu nikaishia Arusha via Dar… ambako nilifanya kazi CTHI/Sopa kabla ya kujiunga na UDSM kusoma BCom 1991-94. Nikarudi Sopa kwa mwaka mmoja baadaye nikarudi UDSM kusoma MBA Marketing, nikapaa Uskotchi Strathclyde MSc Finance, kule nikawa na kaka Kihanda, kaka Dunia etc na nikarudi zangu bongo kuanza maisha. Nilibahatika kufanya kazi na Tritel kwa wiki 4 kabla ya kujiunga na PricewaterhouseCoopers kama mkaguzi wa mahesabu (auditor). Nikasoma CPA na kujimwaga sokoni kwanza sekta ya benki (StanChart, ABC, NMB) na T-MARC kwa vatu wa Marekani.

Sasa hivi Benson (Bentall au BenGun kama vijana wa Nisajile walivyokuwa wakimwita) ni mwekezaji wa kujitegemea na mshauri mtaalam wa mambo ya biashara za mtandao. Waweza kumpata piawww.tanscott.com na www.networkmarketingtanzania.com kwa mawasiliano binafsi bmahenya@yahoo.com

Memorable events at Mbeya Day

Zipo siku nyingi sana lakini leo ntawamegea chache tu:

Siku Mwalimu Mwandeko alipofumaniwa na Headmaster Nisajile (Reagan) akiwa amechelewa kufika saa 3 asubuhi na alipoulizwa akajibu kwa Sauri yake firm but show kuwa kama kachelewa basi wacha arudi home atawahi kesho yake!.. Kuanzia kesho yake akawa anawahi sana shule…hadi situ alipomfuma Nisajile naye kachelewa…akamuuliza je wewe ukichelewa nani akuulize?..they then became buddies! Kwenye pombe n.k! If you can win them join them!

Siku mama stima (matron) aliinyaka redio mestin kuwa denti mmoja wa kike tena class yetu kazaa bila all of us kujua! Akamripoti kwa Reagan…ikaitishwa assembly ya chap chap… binti akaitwa mbele ya halaiki…akakoromewa etc and to prove the point akavuliwa shati nyonyo nje nje ikakamuliwa na maziwa yakaruka several meters mbele… can’t forget that sight! Then she was expelled! Sijui yuko wapi siku hizi kama bado yu hai! Sad! The boy who did it, how was he to be punished? … those days bwana!

Nikiwa mugia mgeni Form II walininyungunya sana..I was slim and weak-looking…kila wakiniona wakawa wananidai pesa… na madaftari mapya..eti pongezi za kufaulu Form I lazima wale namimi! Hah hah! Henry Mtiesa na (late) Mathias Chiwango! Kweli walinifuma! Ilibidi niwe nawakacha kila nikiwaona kwa mbali!.. it took sometime kabla sijazoea hiyo hali nao wakawa busy na masomo yao ya Form II… then we all kind of forgot…Henry upo wapi kaka? During that time I heard that at Iyunga a boy was force-circumcised live usiku akiwa dormuni (dormitory)! Can’t believe the pain he went through… bila ganzi….

Tukiwa kwenye muziki wa kukaribishwa our Form I (actually sikuattend, but was told)…I was not a music guy… manjemba ya Form IV yakawa yanakamendea kademu ka Form I kenzetu…bifu bifu kwa wale mabraza wa hostel…ikawa tabu kwa huyu mugia mwenzetu wa kike….ikabidi mwalimu mmoja wa kichaga asimamishe muziki na kutamka kuwa tucheze wawili wawili lakini kama demu akikukataa umuache ae..aende kweli! That was a short masterpiece liberal speech I guess!

Walimu wawili wa kiingereza wote waswahili, mmoja kijana na mwingine mtu mzima…wakazusha mjadala..kijana akisema ukiongea kizungu basi kiseme kama wenyewe…uma pua na ulimi nk…babu yeye akasema no! cha msingi ueleweke… lafudhi si hoja… waliniduwaza!...twagombea lugha ya watu? Eboh! During this time Makweta Waziri wa elimu akaja kwetu na akatuhutubu kwa kiswanglish! I was like? wow! Then akasema …someni science mambo ya Arts or Commercial subjects yamepitwa na wakati..or something to that effect! Mh?

Waziri Mkuu Salim akaja Mbeya on a Sunday… all students in whole town had to line up the streets in uniforms.. tangia early kumbe mkubwa anakuja mchana…na kaka yangu Oscar ‘Kaburu’ akacharazwa mboko…sikumbuki alikosa nini…on a Sunday… in uniforms..(can’t recall teacher’s name!). Kaka Oscar you can sue them now that you are finally a lawyer! Or are you time barred? Justice delayed..?

One Saturday…we went kuvuna shamba la mahindi la mkuu mmoja wa benki…hadi jioni …

Oh I can’t end today without mentioning Masika and Maneno…kama ukekosa muvi…au kwa sio never go muviz…just hand around them pale round about near male toilets… watakupa actions zote za amita bachan,,shash kapoor…etc.. ole wako uwe karibu..masika was animating each and every move in the muvi… na waweza pigwa teke au mtama…haha hah… Maneno was of the diplomatic type…anawachekesha bila yeye kucheka…just a wry or a smile…haha hah thanks Maiko Maneno!

Huyu jamaa kaka wa Mbozi had to be bold to bell the cat…chakula cha hostel kilikuwa kinaibwa na kuvushwa uswahilini…nadhani barracks au mboghoso…huyu mkaka akahiari kufungiwa stores usiku then akawanasa jamaa wakiingia na master keys … kuiba maharage unga chumvi sukari etc…. imagine wangemdhuru kufuta ushahidi… but he was courageous.. any medal given to him… I dunno! Remind me please…

Wacheza TT..mnakumbuka kule jiografi room….ile meza pale nyuma tunacheza TT kwa mikebe! Mathematical sets! …think of the sound..noise…then tukiwa Form II tukaenda kwa mugia wetu kumobilise the would be players….of course pia kujishow off kwa mademu…(down in our chests our hearts pounding profusely..how do you approach mademu?)…then tukafumwa na Mwl Gwasa..tukala mboko 2 za chap chap…but why? Hah hah! Those days!

More to come…

Please share with us any stories that you may recall… no offence meant just to reflect on the past

have you ever been at mbeya? TANZANIA?

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