The Maji Maji Resistance War is the most vividly remembered in Tanzania, of the many bloody confrontations between its people and the German colonizers at the turn of the nineteenth century. It is vividly remembered because thousands of Africans, who thought they were protected from the impact of German bullets, were mown down like grass.
Hussein's play evokes the spiritual experience which led to the tragedy, by focusing attention on Kinjeketile, the seer who, after days and nights spent in contemplation in a river, gets possessed by the local spirit Hongo, who gives him a message for his people. Kinjeketile, using water ('maji' in Swahili) as a symbol of unity, immunity and love, asks the tribes to unite, for a military confrontation with the Germans. Under Kinjeketile the people unite, and await his word to start the war. But the word does not come. The people, carried away by emotion, optimism and enthusiasm, and arguing-'Why wait?" "The water will protect us' 'Hongo is on our side' etc.-go to war.