Eliza Maganga Nsese |
Her name is Eliza. It is unlikely anyone really knows about
her, except for the pilot’s that used her and the producers and viewers of the documentary,
“Darwin’s Nightmare”. She is just another face forgotten, another woman lost in the sex industry. She was only in three short scenes in the
documentary I watched in my “Poverty, Development and Globalisation” class. In
the first scene, Eliza is singing a song about her home country Tanzania; she
is sitting before a Ukrainian pilot who used her as his girlfriend while away
from home. The next scene is of her alone, sharing her desire to go back to
school, if she had the means. The last scene is the same as the first scene.
However, this time, Eliza is seen singing on a handheld video camera rather
than in person. The people holding the camera are Eliza’s friends; they are
mourning her death. Eliza was murdered by one of her foreign clients.
I can't imagine Eliza's story being unique in Tanzania. If the makers of "Darwin's Nightmare" hadn't captured her on film, she would be forgotten alongside other women used and thrown away like commodities. Her friends would have mourned, but perhaps never challenged her fate. The documentary proves that Eliza exists. That her story will not be lost; her story will live on and change us. I still struggle to get the song she sang in the video out of my head. She had a beautiful voice and a playful air. And then she was gone with no repercussions for her murderer. I wrote the poem below to commemorate Eliza:
"Dear Eliza"
You endured
The grimy slug who flies to receive but never to give
With drunken breaths and tipsy words
Thrown upon your lean shoulders
Ukrainian Fat
You resist with your body, but not with your heart
You are nothing to him
But a pilot whore
Truth you hide behind laugh and smiles
As you sway on singing
“Tanzania Tanzania
Nakupenda kwa moyo wote (I love you with all my heart)
Nchi yangu Tanzania (My country Tanzania)
Jina lako ni tamu sana (Your name is very sweet)”
In a raspy tone
Like sandpaper dipped in honey
The Australian one did not love your song
Nor your country
He took from your seas and left your people hungry
Invasive like the Nile Perch
Destroying others to feed himself
You were but a small fish
For him to eat for one night’s pleasure
Leaving no remains but bones
Your song an epithet written upon your grave
“Nilalapo nakuota wewe (When I sleep I dream of you)
Niamkapo ni heri mama wee (When I wake I am at peace)
Tanzania Tanzania
Nakupenda kwa moyo wote (I love you with all my heart)”