Discussing Poverty - 3

It’s late, and dark. We’re in one of the many suburbs of Dar, more than an hours drive from the center. The roads are more potholes with some little road on the side then anything else. Houses have space here, there are trees and bushes and it doesn’t feel like town. Our passengers have fallen silent, or are asleep and only the driver and me are awake. Every junction we guess: right or left, in an attempt to escape the web of dirt roads and get back to the main road. Families sit at their verandas, eating and talking in the fresh breeze. We talk with long pauses, about work, home, religion, the future and how hungry we are. Then the topic changes to politics. Dominick misses Nyerere, the socialist who brought Tanzania to independence. That man understood the power of education. Everyone was enrolled in school in his days. Now the whole country is behind. Politicians are just selfish.

Dominick lost his father while in primary school and dropped out after standard seven. He helped his mum to look after his 7 brothers and sisters. Only now that he is 27 he will go back to school with the help of his employer. He believes he can learn anything. He knew nothing about cars before being a driver, but he knows now. He promises that next year we will speak English together. He will know then.