Back to Kapuscinski, back to Africa This was no longer Addis Ababa but Dar es-Salam, a city on a by that had been sculptured into such a perfect semicircle that it seemed like one of hundreds of gentle Greek coves –this one somehow transported here, to the eastern shore of Africa. The sea was always calm; slow little waves, creating a quiet, rhythmic splash, sank without a trace into the warm sand of the shore. Although the city numbered no more than two hundred thousand, it seemed now as if half the world had converged upon it and was calling it home. Its name alone, Dar el-Salam, which in Arabic means ‘House of Peace’, spoke of its ties to the Middle east (infamous ties, to be sure, because Arabs shipped out African slaves through here). The center of town was occupied largely by Indians and Pakistanis, with all the permutations of language and faith their civilization has produced: among them were Sikhs, followers of the Aga Khan, Muslims, and Catholics from Goa. There were colonies of immigrants from the Indian Ocean islands –from the Seychelles and the Comoros, Madagascar and Mauritius –an attractive, even beautiful group that came into being from the mingling of various peoples of the South. And there were the more recently arrived Chinese, who had come here to build the Tanzania-Zambia railroad. Ryszard Kapuscinski (2007). Travels with Herodotus Penguin Books 2008 Original language : Polish. 1960s Dar es-Salam
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 14:34:08 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015