A classic of modern Swahili literature, Rosa Mistika is now available in English. First published in 1971, it’s the story of a teenage girl whose parents and boarding school teachers try to keep her away from boys, and of course she circumvents all efforts to control her. It’s also an allegory for the young nation of Tanzania, which was formed in 1964 after the nations of Tanganyika and Zanzibar received their independence from Great Britain and united into a new country.
The book itself is good, short and readable. Our heroine, Rosa, is navigating her young adulthood with no real guidance, and there are plenty of boys (and grown men) who are happy to take advantage of her: and she is happy to take advantage of them, too. She’s not ashamed, and the author isn’t ashamed for her, but plenty of people around her are quick to want to see her ruined. She is trying to make the double standard about morality for men and women work for her, and it is turned against her.
And in the same way, the author, Euphrase Kezilahabi, is trying to warn the people of Tanzania about the temptations of managing political freedom. He’s very much in favor of freedom, but also aware that there are people in the world who would be happy to see post-colonial African nations fail.
Tanzania has a constitutional democracy (although only one party ever seems to win elections) and a stable lower middle-income economy with high but not ridiculous levels of income inequality. More than 60 years into independence, the people seem to have heeded Kezilahabi’s warnings.
