A serie of portraits as results of a lot of meeting under the socio-cultural project Bridgin Creativity with people in small villages in Tanzania and Zanzibar

Bridging Creativity, 2013 in Nkoaranga, Tanzania was socio-cultural project  where our team examined the ongoing issues local villages face and how improved collaboration between local schools and cooperatives can help. 

​We were given the opportunity to meet the villagers, and to get to know their way of living and the problems they face on a daily basis. When it comes to education, Tanzania’s economic situation has led to a shortage of schools and teaching material. The largest school in the village and the only to be financed by the state receives extremely limited funding per pupil. We understand that support is given to schools in Tanzania, for instance from Sweden, in various areas such as distribution of school books. Assistance also goes to basic training of primary school teachers and improving cooperation between vocational schools and the labour market. However, the support is not enough - especially in rural villages such as Nkoaranga.

We were offered by the Friends Fair Trade to visit a coffee farm in Nkoaranga village near Arusha to learn and spread the knowledge of organic coffee production in Tanzania. By visiting the coffee bean plantations we discovered and documented the laborious process of growing organic coffee bushes, roasting coffee, and met the people that develop new processes of organic coffee cultivation. We also realised how economics of coffee dictate local wages of the villagers, their living standards, and the choice of schools for their children (state or privileged private schools). Despite the benefits of organic coffee production, only a few can afford to start an organic production due to high startup costs.