Tanzania

[Megan]

Order of the Torch of Kilimandjaro

Mwenge Wa Kilimanjaro

Awarded in 3 classes to heads of state, heads of government and governmental ministers - apparently more by position held than accomplishments or services rendered.

This is the 1st Class, which is worn as a sash badge. There is no star.

[Megan]

Here is the 3rd Class.

[eitze]

Hello Megan,

nice but very basic oders.

Are they homemade in Tanzania ??

Here are my 3 pieces.

First

Vita Service Medal and envelope (War with Idi Amin `s Uganda)

[eitze]

Second:

Republic Medal on Armed Forces Ribbon

[eitze]

And last an unknown medal.

Perhaps you know what it is.

greetings from Germany

eitze

[Megan]

Actually, I believe most if not all of Tanzania's awards are made for them by Spink & Son...

[heusy68]

Hello Megan,

nice but very basic oders.

Are they homemade in Tanzania ??

Here are my 3 pieces.

First

Vita Service Medal and envelope (War with Idi Amin `s Uganda)

Hello Sir,

What do you mean by very basic ?

Tanzania is a country that had wanted to cut ties with UK and all what could remain too much european.So it's not strange they have chosen a new type of shape.

By the way the manufacturing quality of their Order is exceptionnal (nothing to match with the quality of most of the medal of Tanzania),and the quality is much better than most of the european Order.

Just to give an idea the 1st Class sash badge is 165 grammes.

Emmanuel

[Megan]

Medal of Bravery

Nishani Ya Ujasiri

[eitze]

Hello Sir,

What do you mean by very basic ?

Tanzania is a country that had wanted to cut ties with UK and all what could remain too much european.So it's not strange they have chosen a new type of shape.

By the way the manufacturing quality of their Order is exceptionnal (nothing to match with the quality of most of the medal of Tanzania),and the quality is much better than most of the european Order.

Just to give an idea the 1st Class sash badge is 165 grammes.

Emmanuel

Hello Emmanuel,

it was not my intension to say something bad about the orders of Tanzania

I thought there was a diffenrence to European productions.

greetings

Andre

[heusy68]

Hello Emmanuel,

it was not my intension to say something bad about the orders of Tanzania

I thought there was a diffenrence to European productions.

greetings

Andre

Hello Andre,

Yes they are of different shape,sometimes the design of some new country is handsome,sometimes it's catastrophic like it is nowday the case with Trinidad & Tobago and their senior award the Trinity Cross which was a hanhdsome award,and now there has been a change in Trinidad & Tobago because some people had argueing that an award cross shaped is an "offense" to non christian.Now in Trinidad the new Trinity Cross is so ugly...I will try to do a post later on that just to show.

But here I come back to Tanzania,you know it's a rare Order ,the Torch of Kilimandjaro,even King baudouin from Belgium who made a long State Visit to Tanzania in the late 60ies or early 70ies wasn't awarded an Order by Tanzania ( you can try to have acess on ars.moriendi ,look on google surch engine and on ars.moriendi there is the list of obituary of King of Belgium + a lot of belgian politician from 1830 to nowdays).

Also Queen Elisabeth II which list of awards is available easily on the net was NOT awarded an Order of Tanzania.

It would be interesting to know if some senior official of ex German Democratic Republic were awarded some Tanzanian awards as Tanzania was looking to the socialist way for its economy in the 60ies & 70ies.,also because Tanzania was a german colony before 1918.

Emmanuel

[JPL]

Hi Megan and the group,

Nice to see images of the seldom seen Tanzania awards.

Being a ribbon collector, over the years I've kept notes on the awards and more specifically the ribbons from various countries worldwide.

I had a look at my Tanzania notes and see that there is information that might be of interest to this group. Please note that these notes were stated some 30 odd years ago and I did not keep track of sources, since this was going to be for my own personal use, so my apologies for that. I will try to scan the ribbons, as I'm sure Megan would be interested in order to add them to her website.

Orders, Decorations and Medals of Tanzania

Order of Kilimanjaro (1977)

· 1st Class – sash (88mm)

· 2nd Class – neck (45mm)

· 3rd Class – ribbon (38mm)

· Ribbon is 88mm watered, blue (17mm), dark green (15mm), yellow (7mm) black (10mm), and reverse. Other widths of ribbons identical, but propertied accordingly.

Order of Arusha (DSO) (1977)

· 1st Class – neck (44mm)

· 2nd Class – ribbon (38mm)

· 3rd Class – ribbon (38mm)

· Ribbon is 44mm watered, blue (14mm), yellow (3mm), black (10mm), yellow (3mm) dark green (14mm).

Medal of Bravery

Ribbon is 38mm watered. Equal stripes of green/yellow/black/yellow/blue/red and reverse.

Medal of Valour

Ribbon is 38mm watered. Centre stripe is red. On each side equal stripes of green/yellow/black/yellow (reading inwards).

Medal of the Republic

Ribbon is 38mm watered. Blue (7mm), yellow (3mm), black (20mm), yellow (3mm), and green (7mm).

Long Service and Good Conduct Medal

Ribbon is 38mm watered. Dark green (4mm), black (5mm), blue (10mm), yellow (10mm), black (5mm), and dark green (4mm).

Victory in Uganda Medal (1978-79)

Ribbon is 33mm wide, orange-red with two 2mm black stripes each 10mm from each edge.

Kagera Medal (1979)

Ribbon is 27mm wide, green/black/red equal.

Zimbabwe Medal (1981)

Ribbon is 35mm, black (8mm), red (4mm), white (2mm), yellow centre (7mm), and repeat in reverse.

Note 1: This list appears to cover the timeframe of 1977-1981

Note 2: The ribbon I have in my collection for the Medal of Valour has a blue centre vice being red.

I have the following ribbons in my collection. They were obtained from the OMRS Ribbon Section and appear to be of recent issue.

· Medal of Valour - As described above, but with a blue centre vice red.

· Bravery Medal – As described above.

· Medal of the Republic – As described above.

· Nishani Ya Utumishi – Civil (Also Tanganyika – Nishani Ya Jamhuri – Mark of Republic

· Nishani Ya Muungano – Civil (Mark of United)

· Nishani Ya Uzalishaji Mali Bora (Mark of to be born riches good)

· Nishani Ya Utumishi – Prisons (Mark of Worker)

· Nishani Ya Utumishi Mrefu – Prisons (Mark of Worker Long)

· Nishani Ya Utumishi Uliotukuka – Prisons (Mark of Worker Come From)

· Nishani Ya Muungano – Army (Mark of United)

· Nishani Ya Utumishi Mrefu – Army (Mark of Worker Long)

· Nishani Ya Utumishi Uliotukuka – Army (Mark of Worker Come From)

· Nishani Ya Muungano – Police (Mark of United)

· Nishani Ya Utumishi – Police (Mark of Worker)

· Nishani Ya Utumishi Uliotukuka – Police (Mark of Worker Come From)

· Nishani Ya Utumishi Mrefu – Police (Mark of Worker Long)

Note: The prison ribbons are green with a series of white stripes, the army ribbons are red with a series of white stripes, and the police ribbons are blue with a series of white stripes.

As well, the Republic Service Medal - Instituted in 1962, this gilt and enamel medal has the arms of Tanzania on the obverse, in a blue circle lettered NISHANI YA JAMHURI TANZANIA, all within a scalloped border. The reverse is plain, with the name of the recipient engraved. Ribbon is 38mm wide, black flanked by 2mm yellow stripes, and 6mm edges of green (left) and blue (right). (Reference: Ribbons and Medals by H. Taprell Dorling)

Jean-Paul

[Megan]

Medal of Perseverance & Endurance

Nishani Ya Ushupavu

[heusy68]

Hello Gentlemen

I did some translation with an on line translator from Swahili to English (not always easy,as a word in Swahili may have different meaning depending of context).Here are the words you can found on different medals from Tanzania.

Keep in mind that Tanzania has for at least 3 of its awards the same badge used for the 3 Services (Army - Police - Prison ) but with a different ribbon.

These are : Exemplary Service Medal - Long Service Medal & Unification Medal.

For all these 3 medals the main colour of ribbon is bright red for the Army,dark bleu for the Police & green for the Prison.

Nishani : Award - Medal

Ya : of

Na : and

Jamhuri : Republic

Ujasiri : Bravery

Utumishi : Service

Mrefu : Long

Tabia : Conduct

Njema : Good

Uzalishaji : Production

Bora : Excellent

Ushupavu : Tenacity Endurance Persevernce Resolution (a lot of meaning for this word).

Muungano :Union

If someone who has Swahili has his mother language could confirm or correct it would be great.

Emmanuel

[Megan]

I shall try to catch some of our African-heritage students when they come back to college mid-September (term for 2nd years starts on the 14th...). I'm not sure which languages they all speak but someone might know Swahili although they mostly speak Zulu and what they call 'Zimbabwean.'

[Megan]

Medal of Exemplary Service

Nishani ya Utumishi

This is the army version (red ribbon):

[Megan]

Medal of Long Service & Good Conduct

Nishani ya Utumishi Mrefu na Tabia Njema

I think this is the same irrespective of branch of service, unlike most Tanzanian awards.

[Megan]

Medal of Long Service

Nishani ya Utumishi Mrefu

This is the Prison Service version (green ribbon) - it also comes for the Army (red ribbon) & Police (blue ribbon) but the medal stays the same!

[Ulsterman]

very interesting thread. Has anyone contacted the UK manufacturer?

I wonder what services the Zimbabwe medal was awarded for.

[JPL]

very interesting thread. Has anyone contacted the UK manufacturer?

I wonder what services the Zimbabwe medal was awarded for.

In regards to the Zimbabwe Medal, I found this on Wikipedia:

The Tanzania Peoples’ Defence Force (TPDF) was created in September 1964, as a result of the disbandment of the Tanganyika Rifles after a mutiny. The TPDF was one of the front line National Armies during the struggle to liberate Mozambique, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Uganda. TPDF officers also trained African National Congress fighters in Morogoro. TPDF officers also participated in the training of the new Democratic Republic of Congo army, but were later withdrawn because of the war in the Congo.

The most significant TPDF involvement in the Uganda-Tanzania War following a Ugandan invasion of Kagera in 1978. Idi Amin with the help of Libya, accused Julius Nyerere of being at the root of his troubles and of waging war against Uganda. Amin invaded Tanzanian territory on 1 November 1978 and annexed Kagera. Julius Nyerere told the nation that Tanzania had the reason to fight Amin, was intent on fighting Amin and had the ability to defeat him. The war effort was not for the army alone on 22 November 1978, but for the entire population, the nation understood him and the reaction was predictable. In April 1979, Tanzania took Kampala and Amin fled the country to Libya.

Jean-Paul

[heusy68]

Hello Gentlemen,the Kagera Battle was the spot of the war between Uganda & Tanzania in 1978-79.

Both countries have issued medals for this battle.

At left you can see the one of Uganda (but issued long time after Idi Amin had left the country).This medal is (was) widely available in London some years ago.The one at right is the much more seldom one issued by Tanzania (I got it in Dar es Salam junk shop long time ago for 5 US $).

Tanzania had also issued the Vita Medal for the soldiers who took action in this war (but not necesserely the Kagera Battle).

This medal has been posted by Eitze and you can see it above.

Both medals are uniface,the medal of Uganda made by Spink,the other one ?

The diameter of the Tanzania medal is 35 millimeters & for Uganda 36 millimeters.

Emmanuel

[Megan]

Medal of Unification

Nishani ya Muungano

Awarded to mark the union between Tanganyka and Zanzibar on 26 April 1964 that formed Tanzania.

Like many Tanzanian medals, it comes in army, police and prison service versions, there's also a civilian version for this medal.

Here is the police one (blue ribbon):

[Megan]

Medal of War 1978-79

Nishani ya Vita

Awarded for service in the war with Uganda, that culminated in the fall of Idi Amin.

Obverse:

The reverse is blank.

This is one of the most widely-awarded Tanzanian medals... possibly due to the fact that it is cheap to manufacture, whereas many of the others have enamel and so are expensive for what is a poor nation to have manufactured!

[ilja559]

Nice thread.Thanks !!!

[Megan]

You're welcome

Medal of the Republic

Nishani ya Jamhuri

[Megan]

Medal for Excellent Production

Nishani ya Uzalishaji Mali Bora