It was late again the night before. They had talked their heads hot until late at night. On this late Monday morning, Christine and Edwin Busl are sitting on the terrace with their guests from Tanzania. And the issues they fight with Wilhelm Mgaya, with Bryceson Mbiliwyi and Asifiwe Chanafi are the same again. How should Africa and Europe deal with each other in the future? How burdensome is the colonial legacy? How do you find good together for everyone’s benefit? “Not every problem is caused by colonialism,” says Mgaya, who is the principal of Luduga Secondary School in Ilembula, Tanzania. And Edwin Busl, who was a teacher at the Ernst-Mach-Gymnasium (EMG) and heads the Schu-Pa association for the promotion of education in Tanzania, says: “We only have one chance together on this planet if we meet as equals “.
The married couple Christine and Edwin Busl have guests from Tanzania visiting: the principal of the Luduga Secondary School, Wilhelm Mgaya, nurse Asifiwe Chanafi and Bryceson Mbiliwyi (centre from left).
(Photo: Sebastian Gabriel)
But what does all this mean? German colonialism was cruel, it destroyed a lot and is still having an impact. Tanzania (then Tanganyika) was part of the German East Africa colony that existed from 1885 to 1918, after which it became British. It became independent in 1961 and since then has developed relatively stably compared to many other post-colonial states, although there are always tendencies towards repression. President John Magufuli, who was initially respected both in the country and internationally, who initially took up the fight against corruption, irritated by denying the corona virus and later took action against unpopular critics before he died unexpectedly in 2021. He was succeeded by Vice President Samia Suluhu. For the people in the interior of the country, in Ilembula and Luduga, which together have a good 30,000 inhabitants, where Mgaya, Mbiliwyi and Chanafi live, the Tanzanian metropolis of Dar es Salaam, where the government is based, is 680 kilometers away. It is almost unimaginably far from the south-western highlands in Tanzania to Munich and Haar in Upper Bavaria. 11.5 flight hours, to be precise.
And yet there are close friendships and a firm belief that the destinies of people here and there are closely linked. The Dean’s Office in Munich has had close ties with Tanzania since 1970. A number of partnerships emerged. In the vice-dean’s office in Munich East, the Jesus Church in Haar supports projects in Ilembula via the “Ha-Ile” association, including the school there and in nearby Luduga. This happens hand in hand with the Schu-Pa association, which organizes one-world campaigns at the EMG and at the Trudering high school. A sponsored run in Haar in June raised more than 40,000 euros. A dormitory is currently being built at the Luduga school. Children are financially enabled to attend school.
A German produces eleven tons of CO₂ a year, a person in Tanzania only one
However, in view of the current global crises, the conviction has matured on both sides that aid should not be a one-way street and that real partnership is necessary. Edwin Busl and his wife live without a car in an energy-saving house in the trade fair city. Climate change, the food crisis and the North-South conflict affect everyone: the Busls want to understand the world as a whole. “Our concern is that we question our partnership very critically,” says Busl, “away from the donor-receiver role.” Only together can we succeed in preserving the planet, he says and believes he and his friends from Africa are “on the right track”. You pull yourself together. He takes the intensity of the exchange as a yardstick. “Yesterday we had another three hours of heated discussion.”
Now they like to contradict each other, agree or point out something: Busl intervenes when Mgaya says that people in North and South must fight climate change. “There is a very big difference,” says Busl. While one person in Tanzania produces one tonne of CO₂, one in Germany produces eleven tonnes. Mgaya doesn’t disagree at all. The principal emphasizes the importance of education. Again and again. Of course, the North has exploited the South, things are still anything but fair. But to classify and understand that correctly is not easy for many in his country. “It’s very difficult to decide whether you’re upset or not.” The knowledge is crucial. And there’s a lot going on there.
The classrooms are cramped, like a 10th grade class with 80 students in math class.
(Photo: private)
The former teacher Busl wants to talk about the conditions at the school in Tanzania: The Luduga Secondary School has existed for 17 years. There, 764 students from grades eight to eleven are taught by 23 teachers. Mgaya tells how some teachers have 130 students sitting in front of them at once in a cramped classroom. A lesson in which work is done correctly and also instructed is not possible in this way. No teacher can walk through the rows and see what the students are doing, says Mgaya. The exercise books would be collected at the end of the lesson and the teacher would then correct them. The stacks sometimes reached the teacher from floor to waist, describes Mgaya.
Education, education, education: From the point of view of headmaster Wilhelm Mgaya from the Luduga Secondary School, the system is massively underfunded.
(Photo: private)
One of two boys’ dormitories at the school in Luduga.
(Photo: private)
Washing facility for boys at school.
(Photo: private)
The headmaster blames politics in his country for a lot of things, which have abolished school fees, but only provide the equivalent of 20 euros per student and school year. The government does not have the resources to implement its promises. Corruption is widespread. “It’s about who you know, not what you know.” The headmaster from Luduga talks a lot about what he expects from his government and little about what the Friends of Hair could do for him. Sure, says Gaya, colonialism is having an impact. That’s still on many people’s minds. But that shouldn’t be an excuse to take your fate into your own hands.
But of course Mgaya, Mbiliwyi and Chanafi see the responsibility of the developed countries. The headmaster from Tanzania spoke at the Fridays-for-future demonstration at the Munich Friedensengel on July 1 and called on the many young people there not to let up in their fight for climate protection. He knows that they have the upper hand and can really make a difference. His country is suffering from the consequences of the climate crisis caused primarily by industrialized countries like Germany. But unlike in Kenya, Uganda and the Horn of Africa, there is currently no famine in Tanzania. However, the drought has left its mark. Bryceson Mbiliwyi reports on a short “rain season” this year, which only started in January and was already over in April. Tanzania is currently exporting food to neighboring countries and is benefiting from good prices. But he sees the danger that his own stockpiling will be neglected and that the emergency could soon hit his country.
The earth needs friends: the North-South dialogue is cultivated at the coffee table of the Busl couple.
(Photo: Sebastian Gabriel)
The exchange is lively. On the table is a cup from the Bund Naturschutz with the inscription “The earth needs friends”. And one is tempted to add: Friends in all regions of the world who solve problems together. It also means allowing anger and irritation to exist. When asked, Mgaya said yes, of course all those who know the connections are angry about Germany’s colonial-era crimes in East Africa. And Busl also knows how critical neocolonial ambitions are in Tanzania. There is a growing awareness that when something does not go well, there are usually several to blame.
North-South cooperation has worked before: in the fight against the AIDS virus
In the fight against the HIV virus, you managed to do that to some extent at some point. Bryceson Mbiliwyi from the partner association in Ilembula, which maintains contacts with Haar, is wearing an old T-shirt with a slogan in Kiswahili that calls for an AIDS test to be carried out at the meeting in the trade fair city. Mbiliwyi has supported the AIDS campaign for years. And now it’s also against Corona. In the clinic where Asifiwe Chanafi works in Ilembula, which is supported by the Lutheran church, every patient has only been tested for Covid for a month. Additional ventilators have been purchased.
Christine Busl speaks a little Kiswahili. It’s a question of treating each other with respect, she says at the end of the conversation. “Asante sana” – “Thank you very much.” The Busl couple flies to Tanzania when the guests return. Then there will be further discussion. The CO₂ emissions of the flight, they assure, will be compensated.