Mahatma Ghandi once said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world”
Nov 18th, 2012 by Shahista Kassam
My team and I painting the Mural
- HIV/AIDS Mural in Dar-es-salaam, Tanzania
The class on social enterprise recalled memories of high school. I remembered a trip to the Investours where I had the opportunity to explore the idea of microfinance and social enterprise for the very first time. Since then I had developed a great sense of interest towards this concept.
Investours is a non-profit organization in Dar-es-salaam, Tanzania, that aims to fuel entrepreneurs through tourism. These tours allow one to understand life in such poor communities as well as help in investing to develop lives of these entrepreneurs. Fortunately, I had a chance to take one of the tours in which I truly had the experience to see how people worked so hard to make a living for themselves and their families. This made me even more determined to help those less fortunate than me.
Hence, this inspired me to start up a project in school where I recruited seven motivated individuals to paint a mural on a popular road. Through this mural I aimed to change the idea that people with HIV/AIDS were different. Having been exposed to the lives of children with AIDS, I was passionate about raising awareness for this cause. This was a way for me to express my interests through my passion for visual arts.
Works Cited
“Welcome to Investours!” Welcome to Investours! N.p., 2012. Web. 18 Nov. 2012. <http://www.investours.org/>.