You would always recognize him with his long curly and black African hairs which were sometimes left uncombed, didn’t care about the choice of clothes for fashion found no part in him. He was particularly sensitive with shoes, preferred to wear booty leather shoes over other types of shoes. He had a secret belief that his shoes signified a zeal to succeed in any mission!

David’s academic life has always been interesting. He is currently a second-year undergraduate at the University of Dar es Salaam, sponsored by an Australian Safety Recruitment foundation. Always confident he has nothing to worry about the tuition fees, accommodation cost or stipend, unlike other scholars who have a burden of a government loan to pay to the Higher Education Students Loan Board. It is a hurdle he had always wanted to escape due to his humble background.

Apart from his classmates, the truth is that no one knew the exact field of study of David despite his time at the Department of molecular biology and biotechnology pursuing a science degree in microbiology. He was spotted in various lectures including psychology, philosophy, mathematics, physiology and music which were not included in his specialty of study. To him, knowledge was equally compared to a lifetime chase after a beautiful girl that has spellbound his mind and heart.

A burning belief in him is that close communion with knowledge, wisdom and understanding would bring liberation to his old soul. Close people who knew him joked that he was married to education and an acoustic guitar which soothed his complex soul during his free time. His attachment with the guitar began in the year 2015 when he had to save money while volunteering to teach basic mathematics in a public government secondary school close to his home. It was during this time that he was granted a scholarship for tertiary education.

Many people who met David would appreciate his wits and humour. He preferred solitude over the company, but his short time with other people always left an impression of a talkative, amusing and warm personality which remarkably conflicts with his quiet self in isolation.

He has recently been in a quiet and depressed mood which made not just his fellows take notice but also university lecturers close to him who had a hard time from his imaginative and challenging questions which many times did not have clear answers.

He currently experiences everything: a tug of war of silence and noise, peace and war, tranquillity and depression and most commonly vivid dreams, hallucinations and sounds calling from the realm of the unseen.

By Johannes Laizer

Email address: chacha2ma@gmail.com