"...It was a day like any other. ... I took a bus to Ubungo from my residence. I wanted to board another daladala to Posta. As usual, I had to perform a somersault to get onto the daladala that early morning. The bus was full. But as a regualar passenger I pressed hard enough to find myself space to stand and hold on... It was painful, considering how tall I am. If you have ever used the Morogoro Road, especially from Mandela Expressway, you will understand what I mean. The traffic jam that leads to the traffic lights at their junction is hell on earth. ... I got off the daladala as soon as it stopped in the traffic jam to walk nearly 1 km to catch another bus. This is the order of the day here. However, as I dropped off the daladala, just as my other foot landed on the ground, a speeding motorcycle came from nowhere and almost hit me. I nearly got smashed! I moved back just a little to cheat death! ... I was terrified! Meanwhile, bodaboda guy didn't bother to stop for a minute to offer an apology. Instead, he hurled insults at me. 'Next time be more careful. You idiot! Utakufa siku si zako {You will die one of these days}' he said as he sped off. At that moment, all the stories I had heard about pedestrians being knocked to their graves by motorcycles in Dar flashed through my mind... I thought of my friends whose parents are still mourning years after bodaboda riders banged their children to death. Yet this incident never seemed to have moved many of the people around me... It is Dar es Salaam, of course, and such accidents have become normal. "
By Joseph Mtebe, The Citizen (in Success), Tuesday, 27 September 2011, p.22, joefortunatus@gmail.com
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