Few regions of Africa have been untouched by the outside world, even fewer have populations still living that can remember life with minimal foreign influences, but Mtwara, Tanzania is one such place. The reason for this might be explained by the late development of the region because of the German and Portuguese desire to maintain a “buffer zone” between their colonial holdings, and thus avoided development along there shared, Ruvuma River boarder; or it was the inhospitable climate, malaria and poor farming conditions that discouraged the settlement of European settlers; or possibly the mythical fierceness of the Makonde people. Whatever the reasons, Mtwara’s late development has left it with a rich reservoir of empirical knowledge of a “purer” African life and traditional culture in the minds of its elders. Some of these elders are old enough to remember life prior to woven textiles, corn and matches. There are countless stories on how life was lived and perceived; unique, not just from tribe to tribe, but village to village.
Their perceptions on birth, death, marriage, pregnancy, courtship, superstitions, and the power of witchcraft provide an intriguing and ethnologically important alternative perception of life. Also practices related to medicines, food, illness, dance, music, storytelling, and justice have interest and shape their unique identity. But every day that this information remains undocumented, it is lost forever as that generation passes away.
