Shaaban bin Robert, also known as Shaaban Robert (1 January 1909 – 22 June 1962), was a Tanzanian poet, author, and essayist who supported the preservation of African verse traditions.[1] He was born in Vibamba in the country's Tanga Region. Robert is thought of as a great Swahili thinker and writer in East Africa and has been called "poet laureate of Swahili" and the "Father of Swahili."[2]
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Robert was born in the tiny village of Vibamba south of the town of Tanga in northeastern Tanzania (then Tanganyika) in East Africa. The surname Robert is most likely a name his father was given when he went to primary school. Shaaban himself for a time wrote it Roberts rather than Robert. From 1922 to 1926 he was educated in Dar es Salaam, coming in second in a class of 11 to receive the School Leaving Certificate under the then British colonial educational system in Tanganyika.[2]
The capital city of Dar es Salaam is home to a school named after him, the Shaaban Robert Secondary School.
After receiving the school certificate Shaaban worked at various posts as a colonial government civil servant. From 1926 to 1944 he was a customs official at different locations throughout the territory. From 1944 to 1946 he worked for the Game Department. From 1946 to 1952 he worked in the Tanga District Office, and from 1952 to 1960 he was in the Survey Office there. He worked very closely with the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) and Nyerere. Many of his civil service experiences are woven into his writings. During his lifetime he received the Margaret Wrong Memorial Prize for writing and was honored by the British government as a Member of the British Empire (M.B.E.).[2]
Robert contributed to the promotion of the Swahili language and the struggle for the dignity of mankind. He was a humanist. He worked for freedom and gender equality, and was against racial and religious discrimination. Tanzania's first president, Julius Nyerere, had complete admiration for the late Shaaban Robert, and greatly valued and promoted his intellectual work. His was also equal respect for both Muslims and Christians. That is depicted by his two unusual names (Shaaban—Muslim name and Robert, a Christian name).
Sheikh Shaaban Robert succeeded to write essay books, prose and poems and some of his literature is part of the must-school and higher education reading. Some of his books included Maisha Yangu na Baada ya Miaka Hamsini, Kusadikika, and Wasifu wa Siti binti Saad.