A TERRIBLE TRAGEDY: WHEN THE FERRY BOAT ‘M.V. NYERERE’ CAPSIZED.

“M.V. NYERERE”, was a government owned ferry-boat, which capsized in the afternoon of Thursday,  20th September, 2018;  just as it  was  approaching its destination  Bwisya,  on Ukara Island. It was  on one of its regular trips between Bugolora (Ukerewe Island) and Bwisya (Ukara Island). The capsizing of the M.V. NYERERE was a terrible, shocking tragedy; which caused the reported loss of 228 lives.  It was a national tragedy, and the late President John Pombe Magufuli  directed the nation to observe a mourning period of four days, during which the national flags would fly at half-mast. 

        That accident brought the nation together in mourning and prayer for the departed souls.  And it was indeed a shocking tragedy; because the very high population density of Ukara Island; for, because of this demographic factor, the deaths resulting from that accident, inevitably caused bereavement and related suffering to a very large number of families. And, taking into account the factor of the ‘extended family’ hat is created by marriage relationships, this was a catastrophe of immense proportions, affecting almost every single family in Ukara. 

        One English poet whose name was John Donne (1573 – 1631), is on record as having written the following words:- “Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never ask to know for whom the bell tolls.  It tolls for thee”. The sudden death of so many people in this single accident, did indeed “diminish” the spirit of our nation.                            

        But it also moved me to write an article, which was published in this column on 4th October, 2018, designed to mourn that tragic event.  Thus, I have considered it worthwhile, to commemorate that event in  today’s presentation, being its  fifth anniversary;  primarily  in order to enable our current readers  to appreciate the  heroic rescue  efforts which were voluntarily made, plus  the instant operations that were  undertaken, particularly  by the residents of Bwisya Village; and  the rapid response actions that were  taken by  the  government of the late President Magufuli  in relation  thereto. 
These  Islands’  profile. 
The two Islands of Ukerewe and Ukara, are the  largest islands among the 38 islands that together constitute the Ukerewe district, which is among the earliest districts of Tanzania, having been established way back in 1947, by the British Colonial Administration.   The ferry boat  that was christened “M.V. NYERERE”, had been provided by the government in order to facilitate the transportation of persons, and goods, between the two Islands; whose residents have, traditionally,  always had  very close relationships.                                                                          

         Since the primary purpose of this presentation is to enable today’s readers to appreciate (and applaud) the heroic rescue and other operations in relation thereto, we will go directly into that  discussion.   
Kudos to the rescuers and other supporters.
Kudos first to the residents of Bwisya village;  for, immediately upon hearing of the bad news, large numbers of that village’s  residents rushed to the scene of the accident, and quickly organized themselves into rescue teams, which deployed every available canoe to the rescue efforts. 

            And  indeed, their heroism and prompt voluntary actions saved about forty lives. Reports emanating from the scene of that accident said that in one particular case of extreme bravery,  one of the survivors of the accident, being an expert swimmer, not only saved himself by swimming alone to safety,  but also saved the lives of two other persons, including a pregnant woman, whom he  carried along with him when he swam to the shore.  The same reports say that  the late President John Magufuli himself immediately swung into  rapid action by sending a contingent of Ministers, plus all the commanders of the relevant security Organs to Bwisya, to the scene of the accident, with instructions to ‘closely monitor and coordinate  the  victims’ rescue efforts’; but also to make arrangements for the provision of alternative temporary transport facilities between Ukerewe and Ukara, to replace the service  that was abruptly terminated by the occurrence of this nasty accident.                

              The President also formed a special select committee of experts, which was tasked to investigate the true causes of this accident, and recommend measures that should be taken to prevent any other such tragic occurrences in future. 
As the gurus have said: “when the going gets tough, the tough get going”.                                        

           Handling the aftermath of this accident was pretty “tough going”; and, consequently, the ‘tough’ government of President Magufuli, got going instantly, in response to this accident.  And the coordinator of government business, Prime Minister Hon. Kassim Majaliwa, himself set up an emergency camp in nearby Mwanza City for the first three days following that accident, and shuttled daily to Bwisya by army helicopter, in order to give “on-the-spot  guidance” to the government rescue team that had camped there.              

        And for the purpose of keeping the nation fully informed of the what was going on at Bwisya, for the whole of the week following the event, the government owned Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) gave full coverage of the operations that were taking place, enabling the whole nation to be kept informed of what was happening there. For example, It was TBC which reported the heroic efforts of the survivor who saved two lives mentioned above. But TBC also also reported everything else that was happening at Bwisya in response to that accident; including the agonizing  news of a Secondary School teacher who had gone to  Ukara to see his wife  who had just given birth to their first baby. As is customary in this area, his wife   had gone to her parents’ home in Ukara, in order to give birth under the watchful eyes and intensive care of her experienced mother.  

     On that fateful day, the couple had gone to Bugolora in Ukerewe, to do some shopping, leaving behind their newly born baby under the safe care of the baby’s grandmother.  They both perished in that accident. Kudos to the government team that had set up camp at Bwisya,  and to all other people who were involved in this emergency operation.  And kudos to all those persons who voluntarily made financial contributions, partly for  compensating the surviving victims, and  the families of those who lost  their lives in the accident; but mainly for the provision of new social facilities for the people of Ukara.

         The government subsequently revealed that some 725 million shillings had been received as such contributions, both from individuals, and from institutions.  

 Tribal attitudes concerning ‘death by drowning’.
For people living in islands like Ukara and Ukerewe, fishing is their main preoccupation. And because of the underdeveloped, ‘hand-made’ canoes which they use as fishing vessels, although they are generally quite safe, but accidents involving the capsizing of a canoe do occur from time to time, causing the ‘death by drowning’ of one or two people.  Hence, the relevant tribal communities have developed certain tribal practices, for handling such ‘deaths by drowning’ when they occur.                                                          

            I am indebted to the TBC broadcasts from Bwisya already mentioned above,  which also gave this information relating to these  Ukara tribal customs, as narrated by the Chairman of the Bwisya Village government.  The said Chairman explained that the episode of  ‘death by drowning’ has a special name in the tribal language of Ukara, it is called “LICHUMU” (spear), and is considered to be a “curse”, or bad omen;  that is to say, a harbinger of  evil harm, or destruction, that is expected to follow its occurrence.           

        Thus, the burial of the dead body or bodies that are victims of “LICHUMU”, is done differently from that of the body of a person who died a ‘natural’ death, who are normally buried in the middle of the household compound of the bereaved family. But the victims of ‘death by drowning’ are buried on the periphery of the family compound.  And this is what happened also in the case of the    M.V. NYERERE accident victims, who were similarly treated.  

         The Chairman further explained that according to their tribal customs, the ‘water body’ which caused such death must not be used for household purposes, at least for a certain specified period. 
The cultural wonders of the Ukara Island people 
I had another occasion last year, on which I wrote another article in which I mentioned some of the folklore that makes Ukara island truly unique and famous, as the land of “miracles”.  Because these stories are so extraordinary and interesting, I will present them again today, for the benefit of our readers who missed that earlier presentation.                                                                        

            The ‘magic powers’ that are possessed by some Ukara families, can only belong to the supernatural world!   For example, there is one clan in Nyamanga village, which has the magic power to command a stationary heavy granite rock, estimated to weigh about 5 tons and stands on another solid, flat natural  rock,  to perform a dancing show for visitors. This is the famous “dancing stone” (locally known as Nyabulebeka),  which  has become a tourist attraction; and I have also witnessed it myself.  

            The other miracles of the  Ukara people, include the magic power possessed by yet another clan  resident in  Chifule village, which has the reputation of possessing an extraordinary  “magic knife”, locally known as  Imbanda ya Nyamalulu ; which has the magic power to settle community disputes instantly.  It is said that any such dispute can be easily resolved by this extraordinary knife “magistrate”.  when such disputes are brought for settlement, the knife is laid on the ground by that owner, who then asks the accused persons separately, to walk across that knife. The results are that any innocent person will easily succeed in doing so; but the guilty party will have his legs suddenly paralyzed, which will make him fail to raise his legs to cross that knife.   

         The person found guilty will be ordered to compensate the victim of his actions, and both will continue to live in their community ‘happily thereafter’. There are many more such reported miracles.  In Kome village, there is another clan that reportedly “owns” a piece of Lake Victoria that is close to their residence.  This clan is reported to have the miraculous power of preventing water that is ‘stolen’, i.e. drawn without their permission, from boiling.  In such rural communities, water is drawn mainly for cooking food.  It is claimed that no matter for how long the thief will try to boil the stolen water, it just will not boil!  

        Then there is  that person in Eburongo area, who had the unusual capability of domesticating some of the Lake Victoria crocodiles, and could use them to carry out such assignments that he would give them.  This was demonstrated in 1972, when the Mwanza Regional government was forced to abandon the attempt to get this unwilling crocodile owner relocated to Sengerema, because he was so effectively defended by his ‘crocodile Unit’ against the Police Field Force Unit which had been sent to force him to obey the government order to relocate.   

         The full story of this episode actually sounds “stranger than fiction”, but it is true, like the other ‘miracle  wonders’  of  Ukara  Island.   And there may be others that I am not aware of. Hence, anyone who is interested, should visit Ukara  to see  these ‘miracle’ wonders for himself. 

piomsekwa@gmail.com /0754767576.

Source: Daily News.