Only men were allowed to work in the Tanzanian gem mine. To be accepted, a Tanzanian woman pretended to be a man, and made a fortune in the business. She was unmasked when she was accused of rape and she had to prove that she couldn’t have done it. At age 31, Pili Hussein ran away from a husband who was maltreating her.
She arrived in Mererani, the only place in the world where a rare gemstone called Tanzanite is mined. Problem was, women were not allowed in the mine. So Pili disguised herself as a man and took the name Mjomba Hussein (Uncle Hussein) She told the journal UN women: “My ski cap hid my hair and part of my face. I abandoned my skirt for loose trousers and long-sleeved shirts. I walked alongside men for 10-12 hours every day; they never suspected that I was a woman.
I drank Konyagi (local gin) and joked with the men about which village women I liked. The miners treated me as an equal and even sought my counsel. I was able to convince them to stop harassing the village women” A year into hard labour at the mine, she made a fortune when she uncovered two massive clusters of Tanzanite stones, 1000 grams and 800 grams each. With part of the money, she not only built new homes for her parents and twin sister, but bought tools and set up her own business- employing male miners to work for her. An extra ordinary turn of events was to reveal her true identity.
A local woman had been raped by some of the miners. Pili was one of the suspects and was arrested. At the Police Station, she had no choice but to reveal her identity as a woman. At her request the police found a woman to physically examine her to prove that she could not have committed rape and was promptly released.
Although stunned by the revelation, her male colleagues (co-miners) accepted her for what she had become- an ex-man. Her popularity soared. Today, Pili Hussein who remarried in 2001, has her own mining company, employing 70 workers, having 150 acres of land, 100 cows and tractors. She is now 60years-old – a true woman of grit and enterprise.
