Village in a Test Tube: Tracking Art in Tanzania’s New Influence on Umoja Road
Madale is located on the northwestern fringes of Dar es Salaam. This semi-rural ward has none to little exposure to foreigners, so I’m interested in seeing what will happen when one particular community in Madale receives a new and constant flow of well… us.
I’m going to conduct a social experiment.
For the next two months, I’ll be living with 40 volunteers in Art in Tanzania’s new living compound in the middle of Umoja Road and tracking our influence on the local community. Our region of influence, (outlined below in white) stops 500 meters east at the local pub, and a few meters west of our location.
The first residents in this region settled in about a decade ago, and now number around a hundred and fifty. The population here is split quite evenly between men, women and children. Electricity only came into Umoja Road this July. Before that, residents who wanted power had to use solar lamps and diesel generators. The roads here are unpaved, and plans for plumbing have been announced, although no one I’ve asked quite seems to know when.