38 | Msasani Primary School, Dar es Salaam

This year I am going to complete another set of paintings for the series Schoolchildren in Tanzania. The first two are finished already. Read more about this series in this article.

Msasani Primary School

All schoolchildren that I have painted for the series “Schoolchildren in Tanzania” attend the Msasani Primary School in Dar es Salaam. Over the years, many children going there have been sponsored by the small German charity association Tansania AG des Friedrichs-Gymnasiums Herford e.V. The school is a public one and doesn’t not charge any fees, but of course books and uniform cost money, and some parents cannot even afford the bus fare ticket to get to school.

The children at this school all face an extra challenge as they are hearing impaired or even deaf, and a few have additional health issues. When I visited Msasani Primary School in 2019, I felt deeply touched by the school spirit and the teachers’ tireless commitment to prepare their pupils for life as good as possible. Being able to financially help a severely physically disabled boy transfer from his place on the floor into a wheelchair for just a little more money that I usually spend on our weekly grocery shopping , made a deep impression on me.

**Schoolchildren in Tanzania 6**
Oil on canvas | 80 x 100 cm
2022
Reference photo: CK Visuals

The Series “Schoolchildren in Tanzania”

In late 2019, I began to paint the first children from this school and I pledged to donate a good part of of proceeds from the sales of this series to the German charity mentioned above. Last year, two of the paintings found a new home in Taiwan and they are now part of the large international portrait collection “The Art Connect” by Standard Chartered Bank, which I am particularly proud of.

Since my next visit to Tanzania is not in sight, I started working with a photographer in Dar es Salaam last year, who provides me with new photos from Masanai Primary School for my art. You can read more about CK and our collaboration in the already published blogpost 33 | The Photographers I Work With (4).