Over a million people call it home. They can see Mt. Kilimanjaro if they look east and slightly north. It’s somewhat close to Kenya. Starbucks grows coffee beans there, and sunflowers are used for oil, not eating. Donkeys, children and goats line the sides of the streets. Everyone seems to have a cell phone. And families live on top of each other. But not in a bad way.
Pamoja, pamoja.
Translated to mean “together, together,” we spent a day attempting to understand what it means to be family, live with family and grow with family. In a typical neighborhood made up of pedestrian alleyways, patchwork houses, children playing [everywhere!] and much laughter, we caught a glimpse at pamoja, pamoja in everyday Arusha.
Most of these faces are related to each other, with cousins upon cousins calling each other neighbor, siblings as the best of friends and one dear, elderly grandmother who has collected the most stories of all.
20 years & 1000 words 