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.

I am still processing my impressions from a trip to Kyaka II refugee settlement in Southwestern Uganda in January, 2024. The potholed eroded roads are polluted by discarded plastic items that have long served their purpose only to be picked up again by a child. I cannot forget the image of a little girl playing with a broken plastic pistol, pointing it to her temple and pulling the trigger and the “click” that followed again and again as she fired another shot from her gun!

My name is Nicoletta. I am an ETH Alumna, a member of the ETH Circle and on the board of Chance for Childhood (CfC), an international nongovernmental organization (INGO) that focuses on children with disabilities. The experience I would like to share dives into social issues with the hope of fostering understanding on the topics of exclusion and intersectionality.

Understand the system

At Kyaka II, CfC supports children and their families, ensuring safe access to education amidst some of the most challenging circumstances of displacement and trauma.

The refugee settlement is over 80 km² in size and dotted with mud huts inhabited by approximately 130’000 people mostly from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, victims of the dynamic and complex realties of conflicts within Africa’s Great Lakes Region. Surprisingly, there are no gates or fences as refugees are confined to the area by their circumstances.

A needs assessment conducted by CfC in 2019 on educational and safeguarding needs of children in Kyaka II, revealed that 9% of children aged 5-17 had a disability (versus the national average of 7%) but in schools this fell to 2 % indicating a particularly high dropout rate for children with disabilities.

Shifting perspectives on disability

Children with disabilities face additional discrimination due to stigma, violence and lack of appropriate support and this stigma extends to families.

When it comes to disability, we need to go beyond the medical circumstances to consider the social dimension. Disability is a complex experience and not a condition that cannot be changed. By shifting our mindset we discover that society’s mental attitudes, biases and physical barriers are the true impairment.

Disability should hence not be addressed at the individual level only but requires a multi-layered approach involving all stakeholders.

Partnerships for change

In 2021 CfC launched a programme to tackle the lack of inclusion in education for the most marginalised leaners in the settlement. Today the program is supporting more than 1100 children (aged 5-17) by providing scholastic equipment, learning assistance and training on inclusive education.

This work relies on our partnership with African Women and Youth Action for Development (AWYAD) and teaching assistants from YARID, most of whom are refugees themselves. In our conversation the teachers emphasized the breadth of their work: as educators, mentors and advocates on the importance of education. Their passion was the highlight of my visit.

During the trip to the settlement I was struck by the incredible resilience of children and families living in challenging realities of displacement and exclusion. Their experiences draw attention to the role of society in inclusion and should inspire us to contribute to removing obstacles and working towards a more inclusive and equitable future.