First Lady's Luncheon

This past Friday evening as I lay on my bed playing with my 4 month old daughter I suddenly heard the phone ring. I quckly turned and reached for the phone recognizing it was my mother calling me. After the initial exchange of greetings she told me that she would not be able to see her grand-daughter the day after tomorrow as her usual routine. Then my mind began to wonder what could be so important that would make Grandma cancel her weekly visist with her grand-daughter. She said she had been invited to lunch on Sunday with the First Tanzanian lady-Mrs Salma Kikwete. 

Then I told her that was great but inquired further on how she got the invitation and who had invited her. She said that was her secret. Nevertheless I persisted to inquire and eventuallly she told me that she had received an invitation from one of the Tano Ladies. A day had passed and we spoke again. This time Grandma was real excited, getting her hair and nails done for the event. I asked how comes she got an invitation or are there more invitations going out to all the Tanzanians Women residing in the USA. She said she did not know. I told her that I too would have wanted to attend and meet the first lady however had not received an invitation. 

What is the criteria to receiving an invitation, I asked. She told me that she suspected the reason why I did not get an invitation was because I was not visibly active in the Tanzania community or pehaps an active supporter or participant of Tano Ladies activities,mission and goals. Then I asked her what has that got to do with meeting the First Lady. I believe as a Tanzania women residing in DMV I should also have the same luxury of receiving an invitation. 

I believe this is my right as a native of Tanzania. Anyway we carried on with other topics, however later on that day I began to wonder perhaps this is the reason why our Tanzania community especially in the DMV is so divided. What is really going on?? I would love for the Embassador ( H.E. Liberata Mulamula) to address this issue of not extending an inivitation to all Tanzania women in USA and why give people very short notice of the meeting. If the embassy felt that inviting all the women would perhaps be too expensive why not be open about it and maybe people could have contributed given enough time. Perhaps including all of us (not just the Tano Ladies) in organizing the event could have helped some what. 

 Another option could have been to announce open invitation on Vijimambo to everyone and include the fact that there is limited space and it would be "a first come first serve" thing. This would eliminate feelings of being discriminated against. I want to congradulate and praise TANO Ladies for the wonderful work they have done in our community but I am curious on how their work has anything to do with meeting the first lady or how they got involved in deciding who should or should not be inivited to the luncheon. If this luncheon was organized by the Tano Ladies using their own funds for food and venue etc. then that would be o.k as no one has the right to infridge on someone else's business or personal life. However if this was funded by the Tanzania Embassy should it not be the right of all Tanzania women to receive an invitation. Again I have nothing against the TANO ladies but I really believe that in this instance things could have been done differently and some people would not have felt discriminated against.

Ruth Mukami
Resident of DMV