From August 15 to September 15, 2022, ten students of the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) and ten students of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster (WWU) completed the first phase of an intercultural exchange.
Group photo in front of the International Office
This takes place within the „Pamoja – Tanzanian German Exchange Project“, which focuses on the encounter and intercultural understanding between Tanzanian and German students. The ten students from the University of Münster have been meeting since the beginning of the winter semester 2021 to prepare the content and organization of the exchange. This preparation included financial planning, administrative processing, including the application for visas and other important documents, as well as the content-related examination of the (post-)colonial history of Germany, the geography and political system of Tanzania, and the examination of a travel report from the Global South that was touching the topic of racism. After the successful preparation, the first exchange phase took place from mid-August to mid-September 2022. The students from UDSM and WWU completed this phase in Tanzania. The jointly organized program on site included getting to know the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) and the surrounding region, a visit to the German Embassy and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) as well as the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMTC), whose headquarters are in Arusha.
Cooking is cultural exchange in a very practical way
Furthermore, the German students got to know the families of the Tanzanian students. Through the temporary accommodation of the German students with the families of the Tanzanian students, the students from Münster were able to gain an even deeper understanding of political, social and religious issues. In addition, the postcolonial structures in the north of Tanzania were also highlighted. In this context, they got to know the region around the Kilimanjaro National Park. Another focus was on the past of the former center of the slave trade in East Africa, which is why the twenty students also visited Zanzibar and got to know especially the oldest district „Stone Town“.
From August to September this year, the Tanzanian students will travel to Germany. In preparation for this phase, the tasks on the side of the Tanzanian as well as the German students include the application for the Schengen visa, the preparation of necessary documents, the organization and conclusion of necessary insurances such as the travel health insurance as well as the application for financial means. Another focus is on the content design of the program.
