As part of my journey at ETH, I had the joy of going to Tanzania with ETH4D and Helvetas for six months, where I was lucky to collaborate with a team comprising only local Tanzanians, working on a biochar project. The goal of the project was to reduce deforestation through mobilisation of untapped agricultural waste. As around 80% of the national energy demand is met with biomass, one can imagine that deforestation is a huge topic affecting water cycles and local biodiversity. To support me through this, Helvetas and ETH4D organizsed a so-called “tandem” – a local partner I worked closely with – which helped me a lot throughout my journey.

Before I left, I carried with me the idea that I was attending one of the finest universities in the world, and I went to Tanzania somewhat as a kind of Swiss knowledge producer, there to help. Looking back, I can only smile at how quickly life had other plans for that identity.

To be honest, when I first stepped out to see Morogoro, the place I would be living for the next six months, I thought to myself: What have I done? Although I had travelled to quite a few countries before, my new surroundings felt foreign to everything else I had perceived in my life; I felt completely lost and overwhelmed. There is just a completely different “rhythm” to life compared to what I’m used to be. But see for yourself in the following images:

This rhythm wasn’t chaos, as I first assumed, it was simply a different way of keeping time. Things moved in response to what was needed, emerging out of the collective rather than out of a plan. Growing up in a German-speaking country, this was a huge culture shock.

But it wasn’t just this social rhythm, the aesthetics and the environment are strikingly different too. It’s vivid, colorful and powerful. If it rains, it really rains; there’s no such thing as “Nieselregen”.

Luckily, I soon got in touch with the incredibly kind and helpful Tanzanian culture, and with my local partner, Theresia. Through her and others, I connected deeply with a mindset of collaboration in the face of real material constraints. I was really touched by this generosity and was curious about its source. Perhaps a history of socialism, the sheer year-round yield of nature, or as one friend of mine put it: “We know that here everybody is on the ground, so we just help each other.” Whatever the source was, I am not fully aware of, but what I am certain of is how this mindset made me feel at home very quickly. It also shaped my way of thinking, showing me that real problems can never be solved through fear of scarcity, egoism, and pure efficiency, but rather through a spirit of collaboration and trust.

The Swiss knowledge bringer I thought I’d be, quietly gave way to someone who had simply come to learn and to build things together with others. Going through this process was a huge gift to me, and I’m deeply convinced that there is no way forward but collaboration and shared curiosity. Perhaps that’s the real homage: not to help given, but to two sides who simply worked alongside one another, each bringing what the other lacked.