Firstly, wherever in Tanzania we went there were the effects of globalisation, both the benefits and drawbacks. Everyday consisted of a bus journey whether it was from home to school or a visit to an institution and everywhere we went there was Coca-Cola and Vodafone being advertised on all the small shops. For many of the local people, they were reliant on products such as Coca-Cola to sell in order to earn enough to make some sort of a living from the little amount of money they get. So in that way the people of Tanzania have benefitted from the large number of jobs created by Coca-Cola and the revenue their products produce for local shops and restaurants which works its way into the economy through workers income which is then spent on goods and services or taxes.
However the biggest benefit a country can receive from globalisation is Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), which if used well can boost the countries economy and in some way Tanzania has done that well in terms of the roads which link each major town with each other. This has been important especially for the Morogoro to Dar Es Salaam route as the road is key in linking the industrial Morogoro with the port and airport of Dar Es Salaam. This is not the case everywhere though as the majority of roads are extremely poor leading to many bumpy and often sideways bus rides which were fun unless you suffer from travel sickness.
One of, if not the most hard hitting and emotional parts of the trip is witnessing poverty first hand and it's something you cannot really prepare for. Then you realise how wealthy or relatively wealthy your host family is and that is income inequality, in shining lights in front of your eyes. Although the harsh reality is that we need a divide between rich and poor so not everyone can be rich, it's never easy to see the hardships of those less fortunate than ourselves. However they are always smiling and even though it is such a big issue that we try to tackle in our economy, the community in Dodoma is very well integrated despite the very clear income inequality and this is visible in the school. During our often long bus journeys to and from the school and while in the school we were able to observe the closely bonded friendships within the community among all the children but it was the bus journeys that put into perspective the real meaning of their friendship. It was clear to see that many of the kids were from relatively poor families yet this still didn't affect their friendship with those from much wealthier families, which is quite touching but does make you think. Does income inequality really make people less happier because it quite clearly didn't in Tanzania, instead tackling poverty to help raise their living standards would be more effective. If you ever wanted proof that money doesn't buy you happiness then just look at this picture...
However the biggest benefit a country can receive from globalisation is Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), which if used well can boost the countries economy and in some way Tanzania has done that well in terms of the roads which link each major town with each other. This has been important especially for the Morogoro to Dar Es Salaam route as the road is key in linking the industrial Morogoro with the port and airport of Dar Es Salaam. This is not the case everywhere though as the majority of roads are extremely poor leading to many bumpy and often sideways bus rides which were fun unless you suffer from travel sickness.One of, if not the most hard hitting and emotional parts of the trip is witnessing poverty first hand and it's something you cannot really prepare for. Then you realise how wealthy or relatively wealthy your host family is and that is income inequality, in shining lights in front of your eyes. Although the harsh reality is that we need a divide between rich and poor so not everyone can be rich, it's never easy to see the hardships of those less fortunate than ourselves. However they are always smiling and even though it is such a big issue that we try to tackle in our economy, the community in Dodoma is very well integrated despite the very clear income inequality and this is visible in the school. During our often long bus journeys to and from the school and while in the school we were able to observe the closely bonded friendships within the community among all the children but it was the bus journeys that put into perspective the real meaning of their friendship. It was clear to see that many of the kids were from relatively poor families yet this still didn't affect their friendship with those from much wealthier families, which is quite touching but does make you think. Does income inequality really make people less happier because it quite clearly didn't in Tanzania, instead tackling poverty to help raise their living standards would be more effective. If you ever wanted proof that money doesn't buy you happiness then just look at this picture...
Enjoy the rest of the summer!
Chris
1 comment:
What an excellent read, Chris - well done. You have managed to express how much of an impact the whole experience has had on you and apply what you have been learning to the reality of Tanzanian life. Even though the average UK person has a better economic well-being, Tanzanians seem to know what matters the most in life: spending time with family, friends and being grateful for that they do have.
I look forward to your contributions to Development Economics
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