Page 52 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 34
P. 52
Art & Culture
Miraa (Khats’) while puffing off the smoke of The walls were engraved with arches and
bhang (Cannabis sativa). He smelled rotten semi-circle patterns. The Swahili furniture
fish and the stench of bhang smoke. He quickly and ceramic items were placed strategically
noticed me and grabbed my bag, but I held it in every corner. The beds, stools, chairs,
tightly fearing a robbery. and cabinets were designed with floral and
arch-shaped patterns. The furniture was
The one-eyed boy was stammering heavily in carved with geometrical shapes and relief
broken French, English, and Swahili. He talked lines inspired by the Arabic style. It had a
shaking his head and throwing his hands in prayer section roofed with a dome shape
the air fighting mosquito oozing in his ear. He and a floor carpeted with floral patterns. The
struggled to pronounce various historic sites I room had an arch-shaped stool where the
needed to visit. Finally, the boy yelled loudly, Quran was placed. In the far corner, there
Mr Chairman Sir! The stutter could not allow was a Swahili washroom in a dome shape
him to utter words like “accommodation” with a toilet and a bathroom. The washroom
instead he stuttered “abduction”. I got more had a small container made from coconut
scared trembling my lips in Jehovah prayers. shells and a mangrove stick handle. The
Suddenly, an old man showed up and shouted kikao (large courtyard) had four erected
at him, “Mwache we fala!” (Stupid! Leave pillars that formed an arch shape. The doors
him alone). The boy disappeared into the and windows took the semi-circle and arch
bustling crowd shamelessly looking down. The shapes. The ray of sunshine beamed through
old man introduced himself as Mzee Bakari, the doors and windows brightening the
a retired civil servant who had worked in kikao. The Jumba la Swahili belonged to the
Tanzania, Mombasa, Malindi, and Zanzibar. He royal family or wealthy traders from Oman,
welcomed me to the resort two hundred meters Zanzibar, and Istanbul.
away from the sea.
Mzee Bakari gave me a room on the
I stayed in a Swahili house converted into fourth floor adjacent to the baraza (outside
a resort hotel. It was named “Tausi Kipenzi veranda). Most of the time I enjoyed a
Resort”, a colorful peacock bird that is superior perspective view of the calm sea, a linear of
among other birds. The Resort is a few Jumba Lamu architecture, the green vegetation of
la Swahili (Swahili houses) with spacious Pate Island, the take-off of aircraft in Manda
rooms and an atmospheric view of the sea. It Island, and the docking of ships in Lamu
featured large Bajuni carved doors coated with port. I watched a mashua gliding across the
limestone coral walls. It had a wide baraza water carrying passengers and LAPSSET
(veranda) next to the door steps where the government projects connecting Lamu with
visitor rested. Inside the Tausi Kipenzi Resort other regions. Occasionally, I could hear an
were large corridors and staircases that led engine boat roaring speedily and splashing
to vijumbas (upper rooms). Other sections of out waters in the distance. Most of the time,
the room were cemented with a white plaster. the room was hot and I stood at the baraza
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