Woman of the Week: Eliza Maganga Nsese

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)”