Safari Salama: We Still Jump When We See Dead Snakes

Today in class we talked about the African Court for Human and Peoples Rights. The court was created in order to address issues beyond rulings of the individual states. The court was established in 2003. However, it has only ruled on one case and only four countries in the African Union allow there citizens to be able to bring their cases before it and then also agree to adhere to the ruling of the court. Today a man came and spoke with us whose case, if it is accepted, will be presented to the court and he will be the second case to ever be heard by the ACHPR. Christopher Mtikila is some what of a Tanzanian celebrity. I am not sure what his whole story is but he seems to be somewhat crazy from the rumors I have heard. His case is an appeal form the Tanzanian courts. He is fighting to be able to run as an independent candidate in a Tanzanian election. He use to be a member of the ruling party, which has been in power since independence in the 60s, but from what he was saying he got kicked out for "political reasons" in the 80s. The lawyers made it clear they only took on his case for human rights motivations and have nothing to do with his political agenda. All of the East Africans in the room seemed to giggle at every other response Mtikila gave, which left me very curious about his image in the community.
On a side note I ate lunch at a local canteen and survived! The meals I have been eating were 2000 shillings each which is the equivalent to $1.20 U.S. I can barely finish most of my meals but I have to finish all of it or Mary is upset. She says I must always finish my portion.
Tomorrow we are going to hike the foothills of Mt. Meru where there are waterfalls and interesting birds so I am going to go to bed and get some rest before the early morning adventure!