Roots of Resilience: Education, Gender, Climate Change, and Courage in Tanzania

The rapidly melting glacier atop Mt. Kilimanjaro is a vivid symbol of climate change. In the plains of northern Tanzania below, disrupted climate patterns have impacted food and water security, damaged health, and altered socio-economic lives, including schooling. As the ecosystem shifts, so too does education. How have school communities in Tanzania understood and responded to climate challenges? How are their stories connected to ours in Iowa? Musa Kamaika and Laura Wangsness Willemsen (’97) will share findings from their recent Fulbright research in rural Tanzanian schools confronting an accelerating climate crisis. They will reveal the gendered implications of, and responses to, climate challenges from the perspectives of students, teachers, and families. They will share stories of hope and, in doing so, invite attendees to consider how their own stories might connect to climate hope. Focused on the experiences of the region’s Maasai people, this talk offers insights from communities whose climate resilience is rooted in care, innovation, and courage.
Musa Kamaika is a Maasai cultural guide, researcher, teacher, and development expert who has helped lead Luther’s Tanzania J-term program since 2010. He is the founder and director of the Natopiwo Organization, an NGO working to strengthen Maasai communities’ resilience and wellbeing through education, environmental conservation, and gender justice projects. Laura Wangsness Willemsen is an educational anthropologist and professor in the Department of Doctoral Studies in Education at Concordia University, St. Paul.