Atlanta father’s mission to expose his son to Tanzania’s life realities

Atlanta.John Kazilo now lives in Atlanta, a suburban neighbourhood with a manicured lawn and a picket fence, the American dream he worked hard for decades.

 Still, the little boy in him yearns for his humble beginning, born in a village in the Nzega, Shinyanga region. Mr John still goes back home.

This recent trip to Tanzania was exceptionally special; his American-born son, who had never been to Tanzania, was making his first trip to his fatherland, and he had to introduce him to all the relatives in the country.

All his son used to hear were tales of his father’s time growing up in the rural setting, a life his son could only imagine, so he felt it was crucial to take him back to his home; it was also intended to make him stay connected to his roots as much as possible.

His recent stay in Tanzania was for three weeks; still, he felt it was too short a stay.

His itinerary was packed with a lot of activities and people to visit.

“There was too much to do, things that required me to be physically in Tanzania, so when I get there, it gets too busy,” he mentioned.

He had to visit close to five families in a week; friends and family expected him to go greet them. He had not seen them for a long time, so he had to meticulously plan his schedule so that he wouldn’t disappoint anyone.

It took years to plan for his son to make his first trip to Tanzania; he was keen to make it memorable, so he had to patiently wait until he came of age to fly him across the Atlantic Ocean.

He said if he had made his first trip when he was younger, he would hardly remember the experience later in life.

“I had to wait and surprise him with this trip when I saw that he had grown up,” he said.

For Mr John, this was an educational trip for his son; he had to learn about his roots, where he comes from. As a Tanzanian father, he felt compelled to take his son through this path in life.

His son was exceedingly excited to learn about his culture.

All the stories his dad had told him about Tanzania finally came to life, and he could see the people and the places his father was telling him about.

Mr John has been trying to teach his son Kiswahili, a challenging task considering that he has no one to speak Kiswahili with regularly to improve his grammar, and John is busy at work.

So the progress has been slower than he would have liked.

“I spend just a short time at home due to work, and he spends most of his day in school and only meets in the evening,” he said.

Weekends are the days they get enough time together and teach their son the language.

He admits sometimes he gets impatient with the progress, he wishes his son would be able to speak Kiswahili, and sometimes he has to resort to speaking English for easier communication around the house.

His trip to Tanzania proved to be a turning point; upon meeting relatives who only spoke Kiswahili, his son quickly learnt basic words to help him communicate with the family members. He can now count and speak basic Kiswahili, something he couldn’t do just a few months ago.

His son saw the disparity of life between the two nations he now calls home.

His father wanted him to see the three levels of life in Tanzania: the high-income lifestyle, the middle-income households, and those in the low-income level.

He wanted his children to learn and appreciate all people, regardless but also not take life’s blessings for granted.

“I want him to understand life; I want to expose him to life outside his comfortable American life,” he said.

We went to places in Nzega province where there is little development, but we also passed through dusty roads and went to places in my village where there is still no electricity. We also got to see the much-developed Dar es Salaam suburbs and city centre, which, to a level, has a lifestyle similar to where he comes from.

Mr John wanted his son to see the village like he grew up in but also to understand Tanzania in general.

Most Tanzanian parents in the diaspora would only narrate to their kids about the humble life they grew up in.

They would talk about growing up without a television set in the household, and their kids wouldn’t be able to relate.

So he took his son to his village and showed him the life he lived as a boy.

He had to travel back to his village, where life is still extremely underdeveloped, with people still living in huts.

“We ate from a single pot with other family members; we all dipped our hands in the same pot and ate. He was shocked,” he said.

He just wanted his son to see the reality in life and, at the same time, understand the sacrifice he has made to provide him a better life.

He took him to the tiny house where he grew up with his father; he was dumbfounded—he couldn’t imagine living in that house.

It dawned on him what his dad had to endure.

Mr John told his son about his journey growing up and living in Nzega and his struggle to find a better life in Dar es Salaam and eventually relocating to America more than twenty-four years ago.

Though later in life, while living in Dar es Salaam, John found a good job, his dream was always to educate himself further in the United States.

As a young man, he would always speak to friends about his dream to live in America. His dreams took longer than he anticipated; at some point he almost gave up, but he got a lucky break and got to travel to the US for his studies.

He would later make good on his promises to attain the American dream that he is currently living.

He has also been able to improve the lives of his family back home in Tanzania, something he is very proud of.

“The American dream was not only for me but for my family as well,” he said.

“I wanted to make it in life so that I can also support my relatives,” he added.

Similarly to those people who leave their villages to seek a better life in Dar es Salaam, he said.

He said living in America can lead to homesickness, and sometimes it gets unbearable.

Homesickness is mainly caused by not being close to family and friends.

Back in the days before technology was able to bridge the gap, it used to get so bad it led to anxiety and deep depression for those Tanzanians who relocated to the US.

On those days, the only communication they had was letters that sometimes would take weeks or months to arrive.

“Those days, getting a chance to go back to Tanzania for a visit felt like leaving a prison and going to a free world,” he remembers.

Getting an opportunity to go back to Tanzania for a visit was rare, he said.

But now technology has solved all that.

He now makes video calls back home and sees family members’ faces, and they get to laugh together and enjoy each other’s company regardless of the distance.

The only things that he misses now are the local cuisine and the home atmosphere.

Mr John, who grew up in church, has always put God at the centre of his life; he has always been close to his church and close to Tanzanian preachers who get to visit the United States for sermons.

He has always welcomed them to his home in Atlanta.

When he was in Tanzania, he got to visit a church in Kigamboni and preached, something that he cherishes.

As he now settles back in Atlanta after a dutiful trip back to his motherland, John hopes his son will grow up to serve others who are less fortunate than him.

He is teaching him that having a blessed life makes him responsible for uplifting others whenever he can.

The trip has transformed his son’s perspective on life.