Julius Nyerere

It was 1967, in Arusha, Tanzania.

A man presented a declaration to his country. It spoke of banks, factories, schools and clinics. But above all, it spoke of a word: ujamaa. Familyhood.

Everyone called this man Mwalimu. The teacher.

Julius Nyerere was born on April 13, 1922, in Butiama, in the Mara region. His father, Nyerere Burito, was a chief of the Zanaki. He had many children.

Julius did not start school until he was twelve. He went on to Tabora, then to Makerere, in Uganda, where he earned a teaching diploma.

In 1943, he was already writing that the educated African should take the lead.

He became a teacher. At St. Mary's, in Tabora, he taught biology and English. He had chosen this post, even though the salary was lower.

Then he left for Scotland. At the University of Edinburgh, he earned a master's degree in economics and history, in 1952.

Back home, he taught at St. Francis' College, in Pugu, near Dar es Salaam. There he taught history, English and Kiswahili.

But the country was not yet independent. On July 7, 1954, with others, he founded a party: TANU, the Tanganyika African National Union.

The party said it plainly: the struggle was against colonialism, not against white people.

On December 9, 1961, Tanganyika became independent. Nyerere was its prime minister, then, a year later, its first president. In 1964, Tanganyika and Zanzibar united. It became Tanzania.

Then came Arusha, in 1967.

Ujamaa was the idea that the nation could live like one large family. The banks and major industries were nationalized. Education and health care were expanded.

The dream ran into reality. The collective farms held back food production. Some regions had to rely on food aid.

Nyerere also governed through a single party. A 1962 law allowed people to be detained without trial. He was accused of authoritarian rule. These shadows are part of his story.

Yet he was praised for his country's stability and unity.

In 1978 and 1979, the war with Uganda brought down Idi Amin.

In 1985, Nyerere did something rare. He left power of his own accord. He was the first African head of state to retire voluntarily.

He did not stop serving. In 1996, he became chief mediator in the conflict in Burundi.

He said of himself that he was:

Ujamaa comes from his own tradition. It echoes Ubuntu: the conviction that a person never grows alone, but among their own.

Julius Nyerere died on October 14, 1999, in London. He was brought home. He rests in Butiama, where he was born.

His nickname is what remained: Mwalimu. The one who teaches.