I Will Uncover the Secret Behind the Name SALAMA

 

Adeladius Makwega

Office of the President, Department of Records and Archives of Tanzania – DODOMA

 

When Mwanakwetu arrived at this public institution, he discovered that the Director of the Department of Administration and Human Resources was named Salama Saidi Mohamed.

 

Many names immediately came to his mind, among them those of the journalist and former musician Salama Jabir.

Deep in his thoughts, he said to himself that the name SALAMA is essentially the same as SALMA and SALIMA.

 

Swahili speakers and scholars of the Swahili language play their grammatical instruments, arguing that:

 

“This argument is based on the fact that the consonants forming the root of the name do not change, namely S, L and M. Whether it is SALIMA, SALAMA, or SALMA, these forms are used for a girl/woman, while similarly, for a boy/man, the name is SALIMU.”

 

Furthermore, the name can be formed using the vowels A, I, or E, with the vowel A sometimes being repeated, while at other times the vowel I is dropped depending on pronunciation.

 

The Swahili people of Mbagala, Mwanakwetu’s fellow residents, say:

 

“The name can be SALAMA, SALIMA, SALMA, SAALIMA, or SELIMA/SELMA, and so forth. The name can also be used as a male name when pronounced SALIM or SALIMU, as I mentioned earlier.

 

The name originally comes from the ancient language of Hebrew, while other languages such as Arabic and Swahili adopted it in its existing form, and its meaning is PEACE, that is, SALAMA.”

 

Examples of people bearing these names include Salama Jabir (broadcaster), Salma Kikwete (Member of Parliament), Salim Ahmed Salim (former Prime Minister),Selima/Selma Mwazaya (broadcaster) and Solooma Kassim (broadcaster).

 

Meanwhile, here at the Office of the President, Department of Records and Archives, we have SALAMA SAIDI MOHAMED.

This name has two secrets that many people do not know.

 

“Many musicians sing about this name, and many parents give their children this name. What does this name have beyond PEACE?”

For a long time, Mwanakwetu made efforts to find several musicians who could provide answers as to why so many songs are sung and given the name SALIMA. Unfortunately, no answers had been found up to now.

 

Now Mwanakwetu hopes to obtain at least half of the answer to this question: Why do so many parents give their children this name?

 

The person who can provide this answer is none other than Salama Saidi Mohamed, the Director of Administration and Human Resources. I will seek him out privately, and once he gives me the answers, I will share them with you, my reader.

 

At the same time, I will continue searching for all those musicians who have ever sung about this name. I will humbly ask them, in their generosity, to give me an answer.

The question is: Does this Salama Saidi Mohamed of the Office of the President, Department of Records and Archives, have an answer to this question?

Stakeholders told me that she recently lost one of her parents. Did she perhaps ask her parent about the origin of her name while that parent was still alive?

 

I should not write with saliva when I have ink at my disposal. I am now on my way to meet this leader so that she can give me the answers. And Mwanakwetu is not selfish—I will share his answers with you.

Mwanakwetu, are you there? Remember.

I Will Uncover the Secret Behind the Name SALAMA

Wishing you a good day.

makwadeladius@gmail.com
0717649257