Dar Aspects
Upon moving to Tanzania in 2005, I was asked to take over a monthly column for the magazine Dar Guide. The column focused on aspects of life in and around Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s biggest city, and it turned out to be a gift in disguise. Living on a quiet peninsula a stone’s throw from Msasani Bay, I was eager to explore the city and meet people from all walks of life. The column gave me that opportunity and helped me find my place in a foreign setting.
It took only a few weeks for me to feel at home in Dar, unlike the many months it had taken to adjust to life in Abidjan a decade before. The gig also allowed me to poke around places that few visitors saw and make friends in unexpected venues. Included here are a few articles that provide glimpses of life in Dar es Salaam.
Photo of Sunset on Msasani Bay by Terry A. Repak
Keep Tanzania Beautiful
If anything could rouse me to road rage, it was the sight of someone tossing an empty food container or bottle out of a bus or car. We saw it all the time in Tanzania, and sometimes our car had to swerve to miss trash that bounced onto the road.
Bottles to Beads
One self-help group in Dar es Salaam would fashion earrings and necklaces out of glass beads made from recycled glass. Alexandra Wilson, a British anthropologist who’d worked with Krobo and Ashanti people in Ghana, knew about a low-technology method for using recycled glass to make beads.
Kids on the Pitch
Soon after we moved to Dar es Salaam, I was looking for volunteer opportunities when I happened to meet a Tanzanian woman who’d started a group called Kids on the Pitch. Gizelle’s mission was to engage local youths in sports and other activities that would keep them off the streets.