Oscar Kambona
Oscar Salathiel Kambona was the first foreign affairs minister of Tanganyika and the second most influential and most popular leader in the country after President Julius Nyerere.
He was born on 13 August 1928 on the shores of Lake Nyasa in a small village called Kwambe near Mbamba Bay in the district of Mbinga near Songea in southern Tanganyika. He died in London in July 1997.
He was the son of the Reverend David Kambona and Miriam Kambona. Reverend David Kambona belonged to the first group of African priests to be ordained into the Anglican Church of Tanganyika.
Kambona received his primary school education at home under a mango tree in his home village. The tree still stands today. He was taught by his parents and by an uncle, all of whom were teachers.
He was then sent to St Barnabas Middle School in Liuli in southern Tanganyika not far from his home. He also attended Alliance Secondary School in Dodoma in central Tanganyika.
A British Anglican bishop paid Oscar Kambona's school fees because his father could not afford to do so. The school fees were 30 Pounds per year. Kambona is reported to have said he convinced the Anglican bishop to pay his school fees by reciting the Lord's Prayer in English.
He was then selected to attend Tabora Boys’ Senior Government School where he first met Julius Nyerere who was already teaching at St. Mary's, a Catholic school in the town of Tabora.
Read more about Oscar Kambona: Political Career, Exile, Coup Leader, Return of The "prodigal Son", The Beginning of The End, End of His Life