Showing posts with label Tanzania. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tanzania. Show all posts
When I checked my phone on Thursday, at first I was excited to see a message from one of my Tanzanian co-workers. But my delight quickly turned to horror as I read through the message.

A fire broke out at Mchikichini Market on Thursday night and swept through the entire market. Good news: no one was reported injured. The market was closed for the night so it was largely empty when the fire spread. Bad news: as you can see from the photos everything was destroyed.

The women traders have been campaigning to improve market infrastructure at Mchikichini for the past few months. They cited health risks and fire risks among the reasons to rebuild the market. While many traders were on board, there was a steady resistance from the owners of some of the stalls. You see, the municipal government has committed to a one stall per person rule for any new markets. Which meant that anyone who owned more than one stall was going to loose income. When I left Tanzania in April, women were lobbying for the market committee to approve the rebuild.
Mchikichini Market last fall. The billboard in the background is the one you see burned in the picture above.
Perhaps the best thing that can be said about the situation is that a rebuild has to happen. However, the municipality moves slowly and I would bet that illegal structures will be thrown up as fast as possible. And I would also put money on a fair amount that there will be conflict over stalls, ownership and boundaries. None of these will likely go in women's favour.

But more than the conflict and chaos of rebuild, this event makes me think about how very fragile life is for women traders. These women don't have anything to fall back on. They don't have income saved to cover off a month or more without business. They are going to have to seek income somewhere else, and in truth there isn't an obvious place for them to turn. Most of them had to fight hard to get those spots in the first place. The public markets are already full and spilling into the streets. And if they move somewhere else, they risk loosing their spot when the market is put back together.

These markets are where people go for hope of a better livelihood. They are the step up from selling out of your house or the street. But this shows that there is more to financial security than increased income. We (Canada, UK, USA) take our systems of protection for granted. In fact, we regularly attack them as sheltering the lazy or wasting money. But if your work burned to the ground, you would be okay while they sorted things out. It would take some time, things would be tight but you'd probably manage. The truth is because of these systems, its really hard for us to imagine what having absolutely no where to turn would feel like.

It seems so unfair that these women, who have already shown so much strength, so much determination and worked so hard have yet another hurdle to overcome. I have no doubt that they will rise to the challenge, but I wish they didn't have to. I wish they had the sort of security, however imperfect it might be, that I had.
I owe everyone one more story for the Global Solidarity Challenge. Unfortunately I got rained out on the friday (as did the entire city) and last week turned more than a little hectic with last minute work. In addition to being my last GSC story, this will also be my last story about market women in Tanzania as I fly out to my city and job in London tomorrow.


I would like to introduce Consolatha Cleophas, a tailor in Ilala market who is one of the most energetic paralegals in our programme. All by herself she started using what she learned in the paralegal training to conduct legal awareness sessions in the market. I interviewed her on Tuesday and I would like to share her story.

Why Did You Apply to Become a Paralegal?
When I saw the advertisements for paralegal I didn't know what a paralegal was. Then EfG came to the market and explained which made me curious. Even thought I didn't know a lot about it, I thought it was an opportunity to learn. Now I really like what I am doing and I am happy to be able to help my community know the laws and help people settle disputes.

Why did you start also teaching even men in the markets about legal issues?
I have been teaching both women and men traders in the market. At first I only taught women, but then the men wanted to know as well so I started to teach them. Mainly we talk about marriage and inheritance laws. I discovered that men also don't know the laws. If I only teach women it can create conflict. Men are happy about the teaching and are even asking for publications. I'm happy to share publications with the men because they go home and teach everyone in their household, including women and girls about the law.

What are People Most Surprised to Learn About in the Laws?
Most people are surprised to learn that any property bought during a marriage is joint property. Both women and men usually think that only men can own property but even a housewife is entitled to property bought by the husband during the marriage.

People are also surprised to learn that if a woman and a man live together for two years in a community they are recognized to be married. If they divorce, the women has the same rights to support and property as in a registered marriage.

Why is it important for women to know their rights and the laws?
It is important because laws affect the daily lives of women and they need to be able to defend their rights. Right now married women buy land secretly and keep the title with a friend because they are afraid of their husbands. A lot of women suffer abuse but “only god knows” because they don't understand their rights and where to go for help.

How has being a paralegal changed how you feel about yourself?
Being a paralegal has really changed my status in the market. I have discovered that I love to teach people. Now as I go through the market both men and women call me “Mama Law.” I am respected and people seek me out for advice.

What has been the most exciting thing so far about being a paralegal?

I travelled to Dodoma and I got to meet with an established paralegal unit there. They started just like we are starting but now those first paralegals even train other paralegals. There are some paralegals who have gone back to school and now hold law degrees. When I see that, I think even one day I could become a lawyer.

Working with Equality for Growth has been an amazing experience and the nine months I have spent here were incredible. Thanks so much to everyone whose followed along and read my blog. I plan to continue to right though in a slightly different vein in London so please stay tuned for updates!
Day 4 of Global Solidarity Challenge and I wanted to visit with some of the women who do tailoring in the market. Not all markets have tailoring section so I haven't met very many of them over the past few months and this seemed a great opportunity to see another side of market trading.


I've visited tailors before in Zambia to get clothes made from kitenge (local fabric). However, what I found here in the market was nothing like the small tailoring booths I'd seen before. It was more like being on a factory floor than visiting a tailor. Whole sections with women and men crammed together back behind the clothing shops of the market, working away on pedal sewing machines.

I met with Rukia, she has been working in the market for seven years, ever since her daughter was born and she needed to get income for the both of them. She learned to sew from a class she took in her home town before moving to Dar es Salaam.


Rukia doesn't actual sew for individuals coming in off the street. She's another piece of the used-clothing industry. After used-clothing vendors have bought clothes from people like Betty, they do one of two things with them. If the clothes are good quality the go straight to resell them. But some clothes are bought with an eye to make alterations. This can be as simple as making pants into shorts or they can be made into completely different items. Rukia spends her time making skirts, typically out of oversized dress shirts that are considered too big to sell.

It turns out, a lot of the clothes being sold in Tanzania is "recycled fashion." Now, some of my favourite items of clothing come from a Toronto based store recycled clothing store called Pre-Love where a lot items sell for over $100. However, here recycled fashion isn't a eco-trend. Its part of a waste-not want-not philosophy. Just because an item is too big or a bit ripped doesn't mean it should go to waste!

Being more common its also not nearly as highly priced. Rukia is paid 400 Tshs or about $0.18 for each skirt she makes. On an average day she'll make about 35 skirts, which makes her take home roughly $10.  This is about twice what a vegetable seller would bring home buts it a lot of work to run a pedal machine all day.


I talked to Rukia about how recycled fashion is more of a luxury where I come from. She says that unfortunately they don't get to set their own prices. The clothing vendors are the ones who determine the cost of all alterations and if you don't accept that price they'll just find someone else. This is why Equality for Growth wants to investigate starting a social enterprise among the women tailors. If women came together, they would be able to bid as a group to produce and get better prices overall. And women like Rukia would be able to make a better living, working in a better environment.

Please help support the great work of VIDEA and its partners like Equality to Growth by supporting me through my solidarity challenge!
Day three of the Global Solidarity Challenge and I headed out to see a very different side of market trading. There are hierarchies in market trading. How high up you are depends on two things; the volume of goods you move and what type of goods you have. Therefore it is the wholesalers, those who sell good to other market traders, who always make the most profit. And the most profitable goods being sold in the markets are used clothes.

Have you every wondered what happens to all those used clothes at Goodwill or Value Village? There are far more used clothes than people buying them in Canada. Well whatever isn't sold in Canada, is sold to exporters who ship it off to Africa where alongside clothes from USA, China and Korea its has become a major trade. By the way I've been informed that clothes from Canada are the highest quality and go for the highest price (and the women tried to get me to start exporting to them).


There is a fair bit of criticism of this practice- mainly that it has destroyed most local clothing production in Africa which would provide a lot more jobs than the used clothes industry. But for the people who make their living in the industry its a vital part of business. Importers buy the clothing bales at the port and then sell them to clothing wholesalers in the market. Women like, Betty (the one with glasses) buys 8-10 bags of clothes a week. Bag cost vary by item and quality but a typically a bag the size of a hay-bale goes for 200-300 dollars.

Every day Betty will open up one or two bags and auction off items to the crowds of men and women who buy them to resell the items to customers. Each item can go for $5-$10 dollars. People come from all over Tanzania to buy clothes from Ilala market where Betty works. She says its a lot easier to be a wholesaler than to sell direct to customers because she is never without clients.

Unsurprisingly, the hardest thing about being a clothing wholesaler is to put together the capital to be able to buy the bales. Its taken Betty years to build up the capital to do business on the level she does. She started as a wholesaler in 1999, after coming to Dar Es Salaam from district up near the Ugandan border. She's taken a lot of risk with loans to get the capital to buy her goods and sometimes she's lost her stock because of it but she's managed to make it work. Through her business, Betty doesn't just support herself and daughter but also supports both her elderly parents and helps out brothers and sisters.

The market has given Betty a very good income. But she says the crowded conditions in clothing markets, lack of ventilation and heavy dust from the fabric are a major problem. The biggest concern for her is that Tuberculosis is rampant among traders. While improving her own business is important, she wants to be able to come to work without worrying that she's going to come down ill. Thats why Betty became the chair of the women's association to help campaign for a better market. Because she believes just because the market gives great opportunity for business, she and her fellow traders shouldn't have to put up with bad conditions.

 Please help support the great work of VIDEA and its partners like Equality to Growth by supporting me through my solidarity challenge!
Today for the Global Solidarity Challenge I headed out of the downtown and away from the high rises to Gongo La Mboto market. Far from being well off, its one of the cheapest communities to live in that still has relatively direct access to the city core so lots of people live out that way.


At the market I met with Sihaba, a 34 year old trader who runs a business selling drinks and plantains. Sihaba started trading four years ago. She is a single mother with two children- a girl of thirteen and a boy of seven. Her decision to trade was simple, she needed money but had no real skills. Trading was the obvious choice so she started to look for a good location. It was her brother that told her to look in Gongo La Mboto market. She started off by selling plastic bags to traders and customers in the market, but since bags sell for less than $0.01 she wasn't getting ahead. She switched to selling plantains and eventually got enough funds together to start selling cold drinks.

Because she mentioned her brother, I asked Sihaba if her family had helped her set up her business. Her response was that they didn't offer and she didn't ask. Its not uncommon for women to struggle with finding support for starting business even within their own families. Women aren't seen as a "worthwhile" business investment. So its not surprising that Sihaba has had to make it own her own.

Sihaba actually has a great location in the market. Its a proper stall but its mainly empty. She wishes that it could be more like what we might call a "corner store." Her dream is for it to be stocked with everything from food goods to drinks and cleaning supplies. However, to get the capital to invest in all those goods is way beyond her means. However, next week she and all the other women traders will get back their years worth of savings from their saving and credit group so there is hope for growth in the future.


Unlike Rose, from yesterday, Sihaba is more focused on making ends meet. But then she doesn't have the support of a husband to help share the financial burden and let her invest in her business. Right now the fact that she doesn't need to relying on anyone else and is able to send her two kids to school is a lot. Being able to stand on your own two feet is no small thing. She is someone who does what needs to be done and finds a way to make it work. Market trading has given her the financial means to be independent and make her own decisions. That is a lot of be proud of.

Please help support the great work of VIDEA and its partners like Equality to Growth by supporting me through my solidarity challenge!
This is the first day of the Global Solidarity Challenge 2014. As promised I'm spending time every day with market women this week. Unfortunately, due to the injuring my shoulder, I won't be able to do all day in the market, but I will still take this week to introduce you to these amazing women.

So today I headed out to Kisutu market, a very old market. Its located near the centre of town, making it one of the better off areas. However, that doesn't mean that it much nicer inside than any of the other markets. Walking inside, its hot, dark and the lack of air keeps the musty smell mixed with rotting vegetables pretty much constant. There is hope that it will be rebuilt, but there is always a problem of where people work during construction, especially because construction tends not to proceed very quickly. So for now they are all making do.


We went to the market because one of my coworker was conducting legal empowerment sessions in the market. Taking advantage of a savings group meeting, our Legal Aid officer, along with a couple of paralegals, gave women an overview of the requirements for official marriage in Tanzania. In the word of the women's association chairperson "Marriage can be a dangerous thing for women. We should all learn as much as we can about the laws."


I got the chance to sit down and chat with Rose, the chairperson for Kisutu market and hear her story about about working in the market, which she gave me permission to share with all of you.

Rose has been working in Kisutu for 14 years. After getting married, she realized that she couldn't expect her husband to provide everything for her family. At first she did small catering out of her home but eventually took the stall in Kisutu because she thought the visibility of being in a public market would help her to better advertise her catering.

Now Rose has seven girls working with her. She sells food in the market but also delivers meals to people in nearby houses and businesses as well as contracting for events. Recently, she took a micro-loan to acquire supplies to improve her business, but it was very risky. The institution only gives loans to groups and if one of the women fails to pay her share, all the others have to chip in or they will all loose their investments. She says she wouldn't take a loan micro-loan again and hopes that the savings and credit group will help her grow her businesses without the fear of loosing what she gains.

Working in the market environment is sometimes an advantage and sometimes a barrier. One one hand it gives Rose access to a lot of customers because of its location. But sometimes when prospective clients come and visit her and see the environment where she works, they doubt that she will be able to deliver good services. Rose says she and her girls have cooked at weddings where they've fed 800 guests but looking at the stall she's working in, its can be hard to believe she's so successful.

What drives Rose in her business? The future for her two children. Rose says she and her husband work extra hard so they can send their children to an international school (a good quality private school). Their daughter just sat her final exams and placed in the top 10% in Tanzania. She plans to become a doctor or a pilot some day.

I'm in awe of what Rose has accomplished and I think the women in Kisutu market is lucky to have her as a leader and mentor. For me, Rose's story is what I wish the story was for all market women. Its not without challenges and hardship but the market has been a step up for her. Because the market should be a place of opportunity for women. It should help them grow their income. And ultimately  it should give women the opportunity to break the cycle of poverty and provide their children with a better and brighter future.


This was an awesome first day and please go to my fundraising page to help support VIDEA and their amazing partners.
We had a pretty banger week at EfG. Our Executive Director won the Martin Luther King Jr Drum Major Award from the American Embassy and then we had our women's day celebration. Its important to stop sometimes and celebrate what has been accomplished and these occasions gave everyone an opportunity to do exactly that.

The celebration for the award included a ceremony at the American Embassy (the lack of pictures from the ceremony can be blamed on the security at the Embassy). Our director took this moment to highlight informal sector women and also call upon all sectors of society to seek out avenues to making small trading a step out of poverty.

Our celebration for International Women's day had a bit more locally flavoured. We held the event at Tabata Muslim Market. Key to celebration (and really any celebration we've done) is the inclusion of traditional performance groups. These groups are dance, acrobatics and theatre all rolled into one.

The acrobatics are something I don't remember from my other travels in South Africa, but I've seen them at our events and other events throughout Tanzania. They include contortion and balance acts

leaps and flips...

Some pretty interesting dual dance moves. This woman was dancing with one of the male performers twisted around her waist.

And of course, if there is dancing everyone else needs to join in.

We took the opportunity to explain the award to our traders, and how the Executive Director accepted it in recognition of women's traders. Our women were pretty thrilled to the extent that they actually picked her up and carried her through the crowd (sort of like a coach after a winning game!)


This week also marked the completion of our strategic plan. Hopefully all this energy can carry everyone forward to get it up and going.


Last July, I and my good friend @AliaK_ spent one week living on $1.25 a day to raise awareness on poverty and inequality worldwide and raised $1650 for the Victoria International Development and Education Association. It was a crazy week of trying to cook cheap food, feeling pretty hungry and realizing that we both would be very bad at being poor.

The Global Solidarity Challenge is co-ordinated by VIDEA (my Canadian partner organization). For one week, people from all over Canada raise awareness and support for ending extreme poverty.

Your Long Distance Neighbour will be spending five days this week, getting down and dirty in the markets, working alongside women market traders, sharing their stories and learning from their life experience and wisdom. I'm in for some pretty long days and I will try and share as much as I can about my experience with you all through this blog.

My goal is to raise $500 dollars during this challenge. The money that I raise will go to VIDEA to support programs that build partnerships between Canada and local African organizations to end poverty and make a more just and equitable world for everyone.

We hope you are interested in supporting my activities. To donate please visit our Fundraising Page on the Global Solidarity website and help us reach our goal.




Disclaimer:  I do not get any money from this venture nor does this blog. This is just one of the ways I hope to give back the Canadian community and overseas organizations that are supporting me in all my work.  
Sometimes, you have to write the story in front of you. Have been madly trying to figure out a short post I could do as the writing chaos of my job right now is leaving me disinclined to blog. Luckily, a find of a whole bunch of new ethical fashion people on twitter this morning provided me with a little inspiration. I'm taking an easy out today and sharing with you all a list of some of my recent finds in the world wide-web, mostly to do with ethical fashion.

On April 24th, the anniversary of collapse of the Bangladesh Factory, Fashion Revolution is organizing a “Who Made Your Clothes” online event to encourage people to think about where their clothes come from. Participating is simple, photograph the label of at least one item of clothing your wearing with the hashtag #inside! I'll be joining and you should too!

Online ethical fashion, accessory a shop in the UK. It also has a running blog which I really enjoy 

I found this through the blog of {Think} Boutique. This combines my love of mismatching with my love of asymmetry... must own a pair!

Bags, scarves and top. All ethically made and fair-trade out of Nepal. Can personally attest to their products as I got one of their bags for Christmas!







Will be back soon with more Dar stories!
Last weekend, I hit the one month point of my return to Tanzania. While I was traveling through Canada, there were a number of things I really missed about Tanzania. Some of them came as no surprise (sun, beach, warmth!), others took me by surprise.

What to Eat?


Before returning to Canada, I really missed the variety of food. But, when I was back home, I actually felt rather overwhelmed by all the choice. I would freeze up trying to make a choice from a menu (and in grocery stores and department stores). Turns out that choice can be overrated and I'm perfectly happy to buy my breakfast from the same Chapati lady everyday I can.   

Nice Place but I Wouldn't Want to Live There


When I first got back to Tanzania, I stayed two weeks in the fancy part of town. This is an area I visit all the time to get a bit of an escape from the crazy city life. The peninsula, as its affectionately known, is full of higher end shops and restaurants and dominated by the expats. However I didn't feel like I was really back in Dar es Salaam until I hit my crazy market neighbourhood - Karikoo. Its all what you're used to I guess and the peninsula feels like a holiday to me, rather than my daily existence.

Love Dar, Hate the Traffic


Transport can be a love/hate relationship but its a rare day I have to wait for a bus. Though sometimes buses take a while to fill-up, at least I can sit down while waiting. And, if you are going to be stuck in traffic, why not be only paying 25 cents? And anyone who follows my twitter feed knows, that some of my favourite/funny moments happen while riding the bus.
Where you trade in the market has a big impact on how successful your business is. This is even more important in the really big markets. Two weeks ago, several of the women vegetable traders in Ilala market were shifted from their spots to a new location on the outskirts of the market. They had been petitioning the market committee to place all vegetable sellers closer to the other food vendors so that customers would have easier access.

This move was not what they had in mind.
The new location of the sellers was muddy with pools of standing water (even though it hasn't rained in days). Stalls are located along the edge of drainage ditches that haven't been cleaned in ages. We watched as one woman lost some of her pumpkins when they rolled down into the dirty ditches.


Some women have tried to move to one of the side-streets, but they're paying double taxes as the street committee and the market committee disagree about whose territory this is.

So what happened? Reports from the women say that they were moved by the market committee after a group of tomato vendors from another market bribed the committee and officials to take their place.

This sort of corruption does not make the news, but it does have a major impact on women's lives. This is why working with market women isn't just about economic empowerment and business skills. That is not enough. Business plans and good accounting are great, but if your business can be uprooted at any time you can't get ahead. Knowing your rights, knowing where to go and how to demand accountability from the very people you elected to be in charge, is just as important.

And these women are fighting back. They've mobilized and begun an organized response working from the market committee up to the municipal government. Its probably going to be a battle - no one wants to claim responsibility or even knowledge of what happened. But then, knowing your rights doesn't mean you automatically win. Its about having good tools and the confidence to be able to fight. And the 20 women who are showing up in the councillors' offices know the system, they know their rights and are there to get answers. I say more power to them.
I got pretty lucky with my living situation for the next three months. Its right around the corner from where I used to live and I've got two great, new room-mates.

The apartment is on the top floor, which is pretty high up and key because we don't have any air-conditioning. But we do have a great breeze in the evening and you can sit on our balcony and watch the city below.

The apartment is a work in-progress at the moment. Everyone just moved in so furnishing the place is an ongoing effort. If you look at the photos of my old apartment you'll see that a lot of the furniture at the moment are pieces from my old place.

However, unlike my old place, I do have my own room. Though I got quite used to sharing a room; quoting my old room-mate, "I now define privacy as everyone sitting together and not talking". It's not a bad thing to have your own space. I'm enjoying not needing headphones to watch movies and listen to music.

Funny enough, I already have some things that I never got around to buying in my last 6 months (such as curtains). Tonight, I'm venturing out to get a full-length mirror, another item that was much discussed in my last apartment but never actually purchased.

And if I miss my old home, all I have to do is look across the way and there it is!
Our last week in Dar felt a bit like an attempt to test the limits of time and space. Saying good-bye to everyone and visiting all of our favourite places was going to be busy enough. And then for I needed to make arrangement for my return in January. We crammed it all in right up to the final hours, where we celebrating with my Executive Director at her kitchen party.

What's a kitchen party? Its a bridal-shower like you've never seen it before. No games and a few presents in someone's living-room, this is an event almost as big as the wedding itself, involving all of the women in the bride's life. I went to a couple kitchen parties in Zambia but this was my first Tanzanian occasion and it was a lot fancier than I've previously seen. Everyone who attends contributes to support the expenses of the party and to buy the bride gifts.


The entire party was hosted by a matron who lead the party in welcoming the bride to the world of marriage and gave her advice on how to be a good wife. This, of course, was mixed in with a lot of dancing!

In the chaos of organizing ourselves to go home, it was a really special way to spend our last night in Tanzania. Its hard to believe that this six months is coming to an end. Even though I'm coming back, it will be different. I'll miss the great group that we had. Nikupenda sana!
I have been struggling about how to write the post for the end of my stay in Dar es Salaam. But it looks like I've managed to escape this task because I'M COMING BACK IN JANUARY!
Last minute, I've managed to pull together more work for another 3 months, so I will be swinging through London and Canada before heading back to Tanzania in January.

The next few months going to be a bit different because I will be coming back on my own but I'm really excited to be able to continue to working with Equality for Growth. Its going to be an busy three months as we work to get the new strategic plan under way.

So I now have a weekend of “see you later,” instead of “good-bye” though I will still be saying tearful good-byes (and this is a literal prediction) to my fellow interns. Next posting will be from the Northern Hemisphere!