IN a matter of weeks, the public has witnessed various sorts of medical teams visiting several urban centres and administering free diagnosis and treatment.

It has not been just ‘generalist’ medical personnel but specialist teams capable of examining even the most acute and hidden ailments.

The latest example is a Chinese naval hospital ship now anchored at the Dar es Salaam Port and starting to provide free humanitarian medical service.

It is a five-day gesture of solidarity as Sino-Tanzanian cooperation attains 60 years, having started in earnest with the founding the Union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar.

Something can be noticed in the frequent medical teams visiting regions, including a recently completed initiative inspired by President Samia Suluhu Hassan, in like manner – a legal aid campaign.

Looking at the matter closely, it is evident that there are substantial amounts of unused energy in the likes of naval forces equipped with medical teams but without a combat situation anywhere to engage their capabilities.

Stretching the matter a little further, one needs plenty of such capacities not just in massive public institutions like the military but also out there in the streets – dotted by hordes of unemployed people.

Public authorities often speak of the many doctors and teachers or other professionals having all the relevant documents for useful employment positions but with the government lacking the revenues to hire even a portion of them.

By the time   the government can offer employment to 10,000 doctors or teachers, nearly 40,000 more would already have graduated. It means that charity initiatives can from time to time use such energies while paid modest allowances and nothing more.

There is evidently need for arranging for occasions like this one – implemented as part of the commemoration of 60 years of Tanzania-China bilateral cooperation.

A cardinal building bloc here is engagement between the Tanzania People’s Defence Forces and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army cemented in the course of seeking friends out there in the wake of the Zanzibar Revolution and ardent support from ‘eastern bloc’ countries.

Other countries have national days tied to big themes enveloping a message of actual empathy and solidarity with people around the world, and with a facilitating structure say in the Prime Minister’s Office, various brief but useful interventions can be arranged.

Such events are equally helpful in helping to consolidate attitude bridges already in place but, as opportunities are still limited, there is a reluctance of being forthright in showing solidarity in times of need.

It is fine if members of the Chinese naval medical corps treat people freely but it is a different matter if a Chinese turns up as a small trader, or small miner somewhere, as then it is a matter of sharing out poverty or scarcity.

Were it that a Chinese buys a cluster of houses in a low-lying area say at 200m/- per house, and the family shares out 50m/- apiece to move elsewhere, this would help shift attitudes as their presence starts being seen as a boon rather than an additional blot.

While we have accepted this arrangement for the Diaspora, there are eager people in other lands who could make a difference in many people’s lives, with cash beyond charity.