Making a traditional Chinese cake together is one of the ways of building Sino-African friendship, as Joseph Kahama discovers

One evening, as the sun was setting in an orange sky, Joseph Kahama met the first Chinese in his life.  

The small group of five to seven people spoke to the Tanzanian boy and his friends in perfect Swahili, saying they wanted to join in the game of football the youngsters were playing and, as Kahama recalled, let them win on purpose. 

Those visitors in Dodoma, Tanzania, also gave the boys White Rabbit candies as well as toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes, reminding them to brush their teeth before going to bed. 

"As I think back, that was the perfect strategy to win the hearts of children and also teach them about [oral] health," said Kahama. He later found out that the men were young Chinese doctors who had volunteered to go to African countries to offer medical services. "That scene has stayed in my mind even today," he smiled. 

Kahama, a Christian, believes in the saying that at some stage in one’s life there opens a door which sets the tone for the rest of one’s life.  

It has proved true in his case. The childhood memory from the mid-1970s has guided him through a friendship of over 40 years with Chinese people to make him what he is today - Secretary General of the Tanzania-China Friendship Promotion Association. 

Finding Chinese parents 

In 1984, Kahama’s father was appointed Tanzania’s Ambassador to China. During his father’s tenure in Beijing, Kahama flew back and forth frequently between China and England, where he was studying, and this offered him an opportunity to learn more about China first-hand and to know more Chinese. 

When his parents returned to Tanzania, Kahama did not come to China for 15 years. However, his interactions with the Chinese never stopped, especially with one memorable Chinese couple.  

"I called them Papa Li and Mama Han. For more than half of my life I have regarded them as my Chinese parents," Kahama told ChinAfrica. 

They were Li Songshan and his wife Han Rong. The first generation of Chinese working in Africa, the couple was sent to Tanzania by the Chinese Government in the 1970s. That’s when Kahama got to know them as a 15-year-old.  

The couple was fascinated by Tanzania’s local art. They quit their promising government jobs and moved to Tanzania to study it further.  

By this time Kahama was a young man. They lived close to his office and whenever he felt tired, Kahama would head toward their house for some relaxing conversation. They were also his advisors, especially in family, business, and social matters, and the prime inspiration for the young Tanzanian to devote himself to promoting communication between China and Tanzania.   

"I’m where I am in China-Africa relations because of them," he remarked. 

For decades, Li and Han collected African art, eventually building an Africa-themed museum and an African cultural village in Beijing. For their devotion to Tanzanian art and contribution to popularizing it abroad, the National Arts Council of Tanzania gave them the honorific title "Doctor of African Culture and Art." 

"Friendship doesn’t have to be spelled out; it can be nurtured through art," Kahama said. "Through art we can learn about people’s traditions, hopes and fears and make friends. That is what they did and I happened to be part of it." 

Before Li passed away in December 2015, he made Kahama promise to make sure that the African cultural village project goes on. 

"Papa Li was the backbone of the project," Kahama said. "He’s no longer there [in flesh] but his spirit is." 

Han and he are working to achieve what Li had always dreamt of - turning the cultural village and museum into a center of African art where scholars can study the arts of China and Africa as well as Sino-African relations. 

"I know there are good apples and bad apples everywhere," Kahama said. "But so far, I have not had one single bad experience meeting a Chinese, and I tend to believe I’m not an isolated case."  

A role model 

Kahama returned to China once more in 2006, when he went to Hainan, China’s southernmost province, with Li to attend the first Boao Forum for Asia session. He was amazed by the skyscrapers and the great changes since his childhood days. 

He began returning to China four to six times a year, and each time he came, more development had taken place. "I’ve been in many parts of the world but I have not seen such a fast and concrete development pace as I have in China," he said. 

The secret to China’s success, he observed, was discipline: "People work day and night just to keep pace with development. Without such discipline, no country will be able to catch up with China."

"China cannot prescribe a model or path for Africa but can be a model for Africa to follow," he said.  

Promoting understanding 

Today, as Secretary General of the Tanzania-China Friendship Promotion Association, Kahama feels a special responsibility to maintain the friendship built by the previous generations of both countries.  

"All relationships need maintenance because conditions and situations change," he pointed out. 

Business exchanges between China and Tanzania have grown rapidly, bringing challenges in their wake. Kahama believes it is his and his association’s job, as well as anyone else’s who cares about China-Africa friendship, to bridge the gaps in bilateral understanding. 

In March, the Chinese Government invited him to visit China’s rural areas. Once back in Tanzania, he began helping the Chinese Embassy and Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs build model villages in Tanzania’s under-developed rural areas. He is also ready to help any Chinese company that is facing problems in Tanzania due to lack of understanding of local laws and culture.  

"Understanding has a critical role in mitigating conflict and challenges," he said, "So Chinese and Tanzanians need to invest time to get to know each other as well as each other’s values and customs." 

Kahama desires more foreign direct investment into Tanzania from China, especially in the textile, vehicle, tourism and information technology industries, instead of assistance. He is hoping Chinese companies will bring experts with know-how and experience to work with Tanzanians and train them.  

"Africa has a lot to learn from China," he said, referring to China’s development in the past three decades. "If China can do it, there’s no reason Africa cannot."