Zainabu Abassi Mchisa

In April I got a question from Denmark: "I have a painting from 1975  and it is signed A.Mchisa. Do you know the painter?" Yes, I do know the painter, I have visited him in February 2009 in the Tinga Tinga villages in south Tanzania, 700 km from Dar es Salaam. He left his native village Mtonya for Dar es Salaam in seventies to find better life as a Tinga Tinga Painter. But later he failed and returned to south Tanzania. He was one of the first painters to paint in Tinga Tinga style in Tanzania. When I met him in Mtonya in 2009 he was without wife or family. He was extreemly welcoming and modest person. He was lonely, living in the forest where he had a small farm. It took 1 hour by food to reach his place. I was wondering how he could live here alone. At the time I met him he had no food and he was sick. I bought him a chicken and fanta. He was very happy. It is worth to notice that he is brother of Mohamed Charinda, but unlike him he was very slim. He told me that if he had colors and a canvas he would paint me a painting. I didn´t believe him. I didn´t believe his story until I got the question from Denmark in April 2010.