Purpose in Tanzania (Photo Story)
Purpose in Tanzania: The Building of the United African Alliance Community Center
Words and Photography by Latrell Broughton
From June to August 2019, I volunteered at the United African Alliance Community Center to teach photography. I first heard about the center the O’Neal’s while pursuing research on African American expatriates. The story was larger than life; Pete O’Neal, one of the founders of the Kansas City chapter of the Black Panther Party, choosing to leave the United States with his wife, Charlotte Hill O’Neal, after facing prison time over trumped up gun charges. After initially escaping to Sweden, they migrate to Tanzania where they build a community center. There were three factors beyond my desire to teach that made my choice to spend a summer there easy. One was that I was researching how African Americans can find and create communities internationally, work that the O’Neals have done and continue to do. Another was that I was exhausted living as a black man in the United States, and I looked to Africa as a place where I could rest and reenergize myself. The final reason was that I had very limited experience traveling internationally, and since I was traveling alone, I wanted to know that I was in a place where I could rely on the community. Almost immediately after entering the space, I felt a sense of community that pervaded every room I entered. I saw a dedication to humanitarianism so prevalent that it was the subject matter of murals everywhere I looked. I noticed myself losing consideration of my original goals and finding something greater to devote my time and energy to. It became clear to me that the United African Alliance Community Center was more than just “a community center started by Black Panthers,” but an important location where those of the diaspora can find community.
Building Community from the Ground Up
“All of these trees, we planted them. All of these walkways, we layed them. People look at it today and think that it was always like this. But it wasn’t. It was a lot of hard work.”
-Charlotte Hill O’Neal (Mama C)
The building of the center began about 40 years ago. The O’Neals were adamant on the idea of building something of their own, as they were still renting this property. They were asking a friend to find them a plot of land that they could purchase, and after repeated requests, he decided to sell them a portion of his property. This land, located in present day Imbaseni Village (about 20 kilometers away from the city of Arusha), was not without its challenges. It was located between Mt. Meru and Kilimanjaro, and thusly was filled with volcanic rocks. It was around 30 kilometers away from Ngara Tony (where the O’Neals were living and farming at the time), which was a difficult commute because of the unpaved and uneven roads. And because there was no electricity, the O’Neals were forced to light their way using 12 volt batteries.
“This was an idea brought to reality on the strength of our will,” Mzee Pete recalled. “I remember New Years evening in 1980, and even though this place was still ramshackle, it was still a beautiful night with a full moon. I said to Charlotte, ‘If you’re really down for this, we’re going to make this place into something.’ She was down, and we both put our blood, sweat and tears into it.” The O’Neals not only rose to the challenge of developing the space, but found joy in the process of building. They used a machine that mixed termite mounds with a small bit of sand to make brick, which they used to the first building on the land (which they called the Big House). Mzee (Swahili honorific) Pete built an electrical windmill from a guide from Mother Earth news, a publication for black naturalists. Through their hard work the O’Neal molded the land into something that they could sustain themselves off, eventually they grew crops and raised enough livestock to support themselves and their two children.
The locals soon took notice of their hard work and chose to support them by sending youth to apprentice with them. It was around this time that elders in the community were looking to develop one of the neighboring provinces Maji ya Chai (which at this time period was primarily farm land) by gifting plots of land to people that they believed would contribute to the development of the area. The O’Neals received one of these plots of land and used it as the site of their first community center, the United African American Community Center. This center, which included a fireplace, kitchen, stage and classrooms, were where the O’Neals began teaching classes. The first classes included art, history, and dance.
The work of the center became recognized in the community, and it was frequented by people ranging from elementary schoolers to government officials. The commute from their home in Imbaseni Village to Maji ya Chai was still difficult for the O’Neals, leading to their decision to build a classroom on the same plot of land as the Big House. This classroom (which was constructed in the style of a lecture hall) was completed around 1990 and was dubbed the “Malcolm X Theatre.” It was also around this time that the locals in the community requested that the O’Neals begin teaching English to youths of the area. The construction of the center became focused on accommodating more teaching, and two additional classrooms and an art workshop were built.
Mama C took a particular interest in teaching the arts through Papier-mâché and furniture making techniques. Center’s service to the community grew even further due to the generosity of close friend and fellow Black Panther Geronimo Ji Jaga. Following a 1997 settlement with the L.A.P.D. for the amount of 4.5 million dollars, Ji Jaga contacted Mzee Pete and asked what he could do to support their efforts in Tanzania. “We told him we urgently needed water,” Mzee Pete recounted, “as it was a very scarce resource at this time.” This is because there is public irrigation or plumbing system in Imbaseni Village, which forced many people at this point in the village’s history to trek on foot to Maji ya Chai to get their water.
The water of Maji ya Chai is known for its high fluoride contain, which in excess causes deformities of teeth if it is consumed regularly. Those who had the means would have rainwater tanks that could collect a great amount of water, but those reserves tended to get low during dry seasons. Ji Jaga funded trucks and workers to come to the space to dig a well, and hence they struck water. The O’Neals filtered it and provided a faucet outside of the gates that the locals could use freely.
“It just grew and grew and grew and grew with the needs of the community, “ Mama C recollected. “People would ask us to teach this and teach that, and we always have been into sharing knowledge and being hands on, and really trying to show people that you can make a living through your hands.”
It was around this period that the name of the center changed from the United African American Community Center to the United African Alliance Community Center. The newest session of classes started in mid-July, and the courses offered have since expanded from solely English to computer science, architecture drawing, music, photography, and carpentry “So many of the children want to be artists,” noted Mama C, “which I love.” The center also houses a communal recording studio where music production classes are conducted, and a few local hip-hop artists have gotten their start. Many of the students who complete these classes stay close to the center as volunteers, often becoming teachers in their own right. Some of these former students include Ngendi Wa Mtaa who helped oversee this year’s intake process as well as the music classes, and Emmanuel Masai who teaches video production.
The Future Leader of Tomorrow
The scope of the center’s service expanded even further in 2010. A benefactor was looking to bestow a grant to fund a children’s home in Tanzania, and after mixed experiences with other organizations in the area, she turned to the UAACC.
“We put a call out to the community that we were starting this initiative to care for children” Mzee Pete recalled, “and because there is such a great need in the community, we had over a hundred families asking us to take in their children. We did interviews with all of them, and we were able to narrow it down to an amount that we could care for.”
The result of this collaboration was the Future Leaders of Tomorrow Children’s Home, a program in which these children would live at the center full-time. As Mama C is mainly focused on artistry and managing classes, it was agreed that Mzee Pete would be the one who looks after the children. “At first I didn’t want much to do with them,” he confided one evening with a thin smile on his face. “Mwajabu (one of the former students who has been working in service of the center for over 15 years) said just try, would bring them into my room every night and they would watch television. They wouldn’t say anything, I wouldn’t say anything, and then she would take them to bed.
One night, I felt that I was missing something, and I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was. I thought about it, and I realized it was because Mwajabu hadn’t brought the children in to see me that night. I called her on the phone and said, ‘I want to see them right now’. She just laughed and brought them in, and that’s happened every night since.”
As he is telling this story, the older kids in the center (who are in their early teens) are watching different renditions of Bill Wither’s classic song Lean on Me, which is the unofficial theme song of the center.
“I taught them this song when they were younger, and they used to sing it with feeling; but now that they’re teenagers, they don’t really believe it anymore,” he explained, “so now I’m trying to get them to sing it and really believe it.”
The practice is put on hold for Mwajabu, who is leading in the younger children. They take their shoes off by the entrance and line up next to his Mzee Pete’s bed, all clamoring for his attention by saying babu (Swahili for grandfather). One by one, Mzee Pete lies his hand on their heads and acknowledge them, causing them all to smile and laugh. They sit for a few minutes listening to music with their older brothers and sisters before Mwajabu leads them out again to prepare them for their bedtime. “Alright let’s sing it again,” he announced after they leave, “and this time I want to really feel it.”
There is a total of 28 children in the Future Leaders of Tomorrow Children Home, with ages ranging from early childhood to young adulthood. The funds raised by the center mostly goes towards housing them and funding their academics (as secondary school in Tanzania comes at a cost). The older children spend a portion of the year going to a private boarding school, which takes them away from the center for months at a time.
“It’s hard to see them go, but I am so proud of them,” Mzee Pete said while looking at pictures from when the children were younger. “So many of them are on honor roll and making straight A’s, and I just couldn’t be more proud of them.” He flipped to another picture, one where the children are gathered around him, and continued. “I didn’t know what happiness was until these children came into my life. I really thought that I did, but as my close friend Mr. Hill (Mama C’s 92-year-old father who has been living in the center for the last year) says, ‘There is no greater joy in life than the sound of a child’s laughter. I didn’t think I had a grandfather in me, but it turns out that a grandfather is all that I am.”
The dedication of the O’Neals and the kindness of the people who have shared in their vision has led to the United African Alliance Community Center becoming a popular destination for people for a wide variety of people, especially black travelers. During my two-month stay in the center during summer of 2019, well over 50 people visited the center. These visitors are essential to the survival of the center and supporting the future leaders of tomorrow, as the contributions they pay for their stay goes directly into supporting them. But more than anything, these visitors are what make the UAACC special and dynamic. Because there are such a wide variety of people bringing in different energy, every time you visit the center it is a unique experience. If there is any constant, is the hospitality of the O’Neals and their passion for teaching others.
Time and again, I saw Mzee Pete and Mama C spend hours recounting the history of the center and the greater history of the Black Panthers to anyone who was interested. Mama C would spend afternoons jamming with artists and students who happened to be visiting the center. Mzee Pete would open his room every night for people to share space and talk about whatever is on their minds. Visitors even had the option of working hands-on with the children, who usually enjoy it so much that they do so every night. Whenever a guest would be scheduled to leave, the occasion would be marked by a ceremony in which everyone from the center marches out to the rhythm of a drumbeat to say their farewells.
Everyone who spends time at the United African Alliance Community center not only becomes a true friend of the center, but an active participant of a movement that has never lost sight of its dedication to the service of others. The United African Alliance Community Center is much more than just a community center started by Black Panthers, but living proof that the ideals of the Black Panthers are alive and successful, even after 50 years.
July 27 was a very special occasion at UAACC, as Pete O’Neal celebrated his 79th birthday and 50th anniversary of marriage to Mama C. The celebration lasted from 7 p.m. to midnight, and was punctuated by dancing, cake, and prizes for the guests, which included everyone from current students to their oldest daughter, Stormy. They jumped the broom, cut cake, poured champagne, and were presented with kind words and gifts from people of the community. Toward the end of the night, Mama C gifts Mzee Pete with something she has been working on for the last few months, a Papier-Mache tapestry of pictures of him throughout the years. “I’m happier here than I have ever been in my entire life,” he said later. “I thought I knew what happiness was, but I didn’t really. The Black Panthers opened the door and Tanzania pushed me through that door.”
The United African Alliance Community Center is always welcoming volunteers and travelers who want to spend time at the center. For inquiries about visiting and donating, please email Mama C at Mamacharlottesmusic2@yahoo.com
