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 decided to visit the State school and to meet the school principal to better understand their economic situation, as well as their biggest needs and weaknesses. We established that most of the governmental support finances the continuous struggle to maintain the school building constructed in 1947. With approximately 790 students and 4-5 students per desk a major expense is also purchasing new desks. When it comes to specific classes, Maths and Language  teachers (Swahili and English) have access to use the blackboard, Physical Education and Music lessons are conducted without inventory (e.g. one broken football and two worn drums), and Art lessons without paper and colours – children have never had an opportunity to draw or paint.

Many students find it difficult to cope with language and math lessons. The overall motivation to study is limited and students are often sent home due to lack of discipline. There are of course exceptions and we met two girls that are the top students in the school. Documentation of the school conditions and images of the Principal and the top students of the school is availble at: http://kim-kultura.wix.com/kim-kultura#!bridging-creativity-tanzania/c1pq3 ,  under the project name 'Bridging Creativity'.

Nkoaranga Friend´s Community was very helpful during our initial visit in 2013 when we got to see the region and the obstacles that the village faces. Realising the urgency of support that is needed in the school to ensure a sustainable development in the community overall, we therefore plan to provide school material to the teachers and share our knowledge of creative techniques that have positive impact on students’ well-being, motivation, concentration, and self-worth. Moreover, we want to contribute further by:

1) Long-term: Organise an art festival at the school to unite the teachers and students. The idea of organising an Art Festival in Nkoaranga came as a result of our visit and after further discussions with Nkoaranga Friend´s Community we can see that this is a viable project that we can make happen in the near future. As they are continuously moving between Scandinavia and Tanzania, they happily agree to help manage the project on site.

2) Short-term/Long-term: Using creativity to bridge communication with villages from different cultures. During our trip in Tanzania in 2013 we also visited the village Bwejuu in Zanzibar and it’s local state school, which we found even more impoverished. We are aware of the tension between the two regions of mainland Tanzania and the island of Zanzibar, especially coinciding the 50th anniversary of the Republic of Tanzania this year. This gives us a good reason to carefully examine creative yet simple communication opportunities between the students in Nkoaranga and Bwejuu. We believe that this will help improve motivation, identity, and self-worth among students in Nkoaranga, as well as the children in Bwejuu.