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
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.