LET US KNOW THE SWAHILI PEOPLE AND THEIR SWAHILINESSThe defining characteristic of the Swahili people is uungwana—nobility, civility, and refined conduct.Let us get to know the Swahili people and their Swahiliness.The first photograph shows Swahili elders at the TANU Council of Elders in 1957.The photograph below it shows a Swahili elder, Mzee Mshume Kiyate, wrapping a kitambi around the waist of the Father of the Nation, Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere, to comfort him after he returned to power following the Tanganyika Rifles mutiny of 1964.The next photograph again shows, on the right, the Swahili elder Mzee Mshume Kiyate holding the hand of Julius Nyerere. Beside Nyerere are Swahili Wazaramo elders Makisi Mbwana and Mzee Mwinjuma Mwinyikambi.This was in 1962, on the presidential election day, a position contested between Julius Nyerere (TANU) and Zuberi Mtemvu (Congress), a Swahili Mluguru.The following photograph shows Mwalimu Nyerere’s first journey to the United Nations (UNO) in 1955. From the right are Bi. Chiku bint Said Kisusa, a Swahili Msukuma; Bibi Titi Mohamed, a Swahili Mndengereko; Bi. Mwamvita Mwinyamani; Julius Nyerere; Lucy Lameck, a Swahili Mchagga; and Bi. Tatu bint Mzee.I have titled the last photograph “Four Manyema and One Mzanaki.”I could have titled it “Four Swahili Manyema and One Mzanaki,” but that would not have done justice to Mwalimu Nyerere, who proudly identified with Swahili culture—going so far as to compose poetry and wear the kofia ya mkono (traditional Swahili cap).This photograph was taken in 1956 at Dodoma Train Station. From the right are Haruna Iddi Taratibu, Saadan Abdu Kandoro, Julius Nyerere, Sheikh Mohamed Ramia, and Iddi Faiz Mafungo.To fully explain the history of these Swahili figures would require an entire book.Within these photographs are Dossa Aziz, a Swahili Mdigo; a Swahili Mrufiji, Said Chamwenyewe; Sheikh Issa Nasir; Mshume Kiyate; Jumbe Tambaza, a Swahili Mmashomvi; Sheikh Suleiman Takadir, a Swahili Zanzibari; a Swahili Manyema who was the first Treasurer of TANU; and Iddi Faiz Mafungo, Treasurer of Al Jamiatul Islamiyya fi Tanganyika, who was responsible for fundraising and coordinating Nyerere’s 1955 trip to the United Nations.There is also Bi. Chiku, a Swahili Msukuma and wife of the Swahili Arab Shariff Abdallah Omar Attas, who played a key role in bringing women into TANU—just to mention a few and a fraction of their contributions.These Swahili people were noble in character and conduct in all circumstances.They played a major role in the struggle for the independence of Tanganyika, standing shoulder to shoulder with Julius Nyerere, yet they restrained themselves from speaking about their own contributions.They never had the opportunity to tell their stories before they went to their graves.Today, they are not valued, and few people know these patriots.These are the Swahili people of Tanganyika and their Swahiliness.What wrong did they ever do?