Written by Emma Horsfield, Christina Puzzolo, and Irmak Taner

 

Although our time in Arusha was short, it was extremely significant.  We departed from Amboseli National Park in Kenya to embark on our Tanzanian portion of the program on March 6th. Our drive was filled with beautiful, scenic views of Mount Kilimanjaro, followed by views of Mount Meru as we approached Arusha. Arusha is a city located on the southern foothills of Mount Meru, the second highest mountain in Tanzania after Kilimanjaro. It is the capital of Arusha Region, one of Tanzania’s thirty administrative regions. We stayed at Kilimanjaro Eco-Lodge near the Usa River, with a view Mount Meru from our tenting spot.

 

In the morning of our first and only full day, we had a guest lecture by Erica, a woman from the community-based organization Tanzania Natural Resource Forum (TNRF).  One of the most inspirational aspects of her talk was learning about the way in which TNRF uses film as an educational and awareness-spreading tool. This form of filmmaking is called participatory video whereby communities have control over the content and method of production of the film to present a given struggle or challenge they face. She showed us an example of one of these films, which depicted a Maasai land conflict in Loliondo, a nearby village, where the people had been forcibly evicted from their homes. The film exhibited a variety of local voices expressing their discontent and anger with their eviction, and through this presentation of their problems the film aimed to gain the attention of the district government and to hopefully have their voices heard. This was a truly inspiring and hopefully effective approach to land conflict.

 

Following Erica’s talk we visited a local women’s finance group in the afternoon. With no external funding or help from the government, these women organized their own banking association. The group started in 2013 and has 30 members, meeting every Tuesday with each member required to bring 3000 Tanzanian shillings (equivalent to 2.00 CAD), which they call ‘a goat’. Some members have been elected into leadership positions, including a president, secretary, and treasurer. There is a designated moneybox in which they store all the funds. One member is responsible for keeping the box, while three others are responsible for the keys for one of the three locks on the box which fosters responsibility and trust. Members of the association are allowed to take out loans from this group banking initiative, which they use to pay for school fees, small business initiatives, and various other expenses.  What is so great about this initiative is that these women hold one another accountable, while giving them the opportunity to have financial independence.

 

A few of us decided to stay behind to ask some of the women questions for our research projects. This interaction was probably the most meaningful of the day. With a translator, we asked questions back and forth about everything from maternal health to marriage to tattoos. It is these sort of personal interactions that make this program so valuable. You can read any number of books and articles and watch any number of films back in Montreal about East Africa, but nothing can compare to meeting locals and talking purely on a human level.

 

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