Bond with Chinese Language of a Local Teacher in Tanzania

"Sweet honey, you smile so sweetly, like a flower blooming in the spring breeze..."

In a packed classroom, the somewhat shy Tanzanian girl, Imani Haji, stands at the podium and sings her favorite song in fluent Chinese, winning applause from the students. Her sweet singing reaches the campus of the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) through the windows.

It's hard to believe that this fluent Chinese-speaking teacher on the podium is a 28-year-old Tanzanian girl without meeting her in person. "My Chinese colleagues say that when I speak Chinese, I sound just like a Chinese person. It's not easy to tell the difference just by listening." Haji said with a confident smile.

Haji also has a beautiful Chinese name - Han Ya. As a Chinese language teacher at UDSM, she prefers to be called by her Chinese name both in class and during her leisure time with her Chinese colleagues.
Born in Zanzibar, Haji has always enjoyed sitting in front of the TV, watching Chinese programs. The melodious Chinese songs and various types of Chinese cuisine have always fascinated her. Whenever her brother wanted to switch the channel, Haji would tightly hold onto the remote control. Her mother laughed and asked, "What do you want to do when you grow up?" Haji replied firmly, "I want to learn Chinese and go to China."

During her university years, Haji chose to take Chinese language as one of her selective courses and passed a couple of tests in the Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK). Inspired by her Chinese teachers, she decided to further her study at Harbin Normal University in China after graduation.

"The winter in Harbin is freezing cold, but my classmates make me feel very warm." She said with a smile. Accompanied by her Chinese friends, she finally got to taste the Chinese delicacies she had longed for since childhood. "My favorites are Fried Pork in Scoop and Beijing Roast Duck." Haji could name these dishes without hesitation.

After completing her studies in 2018, Haji returned to Tanzania and became a local Chinese language teacher. In her first year, she volunteered to take a teaching position for Chinese language at a secondary school about 450 kilometers from the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.

To her surprise, the students at the school were quite enthusiastic about learning Chinese, always asking her about various aspects of China. Among their interests, Chinese martial arts stood out. "Miss, I want to learn Chinese well and become a person like you, so I can go to study in China and become a teacher when I grow up." One child said casually, strengthening her resolve to be a good Chinese language teacher.

Thanks to the dedicated and hard work of Haji, some 20 students in her class have passed the HSK test in their first year of learning, which in return got Haji an award from the Chinese Embassy in Tanzania in October 2020, for her outstanding work to promote Chinese language teaching in Tanzania and enhance cultural exchanges between China and Tanzania.

With the increasingly closer economic and trade cooperation as well as people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and Africa, more and more young people in Tanzania are learning Chinese. To Haji, the increase has reflected the long-lasting and profound friendship between China and Tanzania, and the key word of this special friendship is cultural exchange. It is cultural exchange that enables people living far away from each other to achieve mutual understanding.

Haji hopes that there will be more rich and colorful cultural exchanges between Tanzania and China, letting more Tanzanian young people have the opportunity to appreciate the charm of Chinese and understand the profound Chinese culture. She also looks forward to furthering her studies in the field of international Chinese language education, and passing on more knowledge to young Tanzanians who love Chinese culture.

(Reporter: Gao Zhu, Li Sibo)