Irene (22 years old)
How would you describe life in Tanzania? “People, they think that life is hard. But life is not hard. If you work hard, life will not be hard. A real problem is people don’t want to work hard. Because even the rich people, they didn’t get rich from sitting; they worked hard. You know, people here in Tanzania think if you just sit you will get money, but life isn’t like that. I come to realize, if you do work you won’t see life as hard. A good example is when I was not working and I had problems and didn’t have money. I finally got capital for making mandazi [Tanzanian donut] and karanga [roasted peanuts]. I did this while I was in Form 4. I found a shop where garage people were, and would bring them mandazi to sell. If you work hard, you will get far. But if you don’t want to work hard you wont get anything.”
