Interview with Daudi Msseemmaa

Daudi Msseemmaa serves as an Advisor to Mwangaza in Arusha, Tanzania.

What year did you start working for Mwangaza?

2012 as an advisor, after 2 years on the Friends of Mwangaza board.

What is your favorite part of working for Mwangaza?

Seeing change. I have met with students and teachers who show me how the understanding that Mwangaza gave them has helped them thrive. Some talk about academic improvement, but the most powerful statements are about better relationships, making environments where students can thrive. Also I love my time with Mwangaza's staff. They are the kind of people who make me better just by being around them. And I am always in awe of the Friends of Mwangaza folks - their energy, wisdom, dedication. 

How has non-violence impacted your life?

We live in a violent world. It might be easy to despair, but even in the most violent places that I visit, there is subversive nonviolence in some people, against all odds.   Nonviolence has given me a framework for my brain to make sense of what my heart already sees in those people who - just as part of who they are - strip away judgment, draw out people's needs, use empathy, and increase peace in the people around them. They are agents of reconciliation. Mwangaza's program coordinators are educators, yes. But above that they are conduits for students and teachers to become agents of reconciliation, quietly but assertively pushing back against the violence in their world in very specific ways.