For more than 25 years, ATD Fourth World has been active in Tanzania, working with and alongside families living in extreme poverty. These families seek to transform their lives and build a better future for their children.

Today, these families are facing the realities of social and environmental injustice in their communities and workplaces. Some families lack the spaces to express their experiences or the resources to act. Others refuse to sit idly by, undertaking projects — often from scratch — that reveal their strength and dignity.

This is why COMIDA, the Community of Ideas and Actions for Social and Environmental Justice, has decided to stand in solidarity with the families who make their living breaking stones in Boko, Dar es Salaam. COMIDA is also working with the Kisangani Smith Group in Njombe and the village of Miku. By involving these groups, COMIDA aims to support these individuals to first recognise their shared identity through their work toward a collective cause. The families will then meet as a group to create an open space for dialogue, where everyone’s perspectives are taken into account, and members can work together to identify possible solutions to the problems they face.

This is also an opportunity to join a wider community of other groups with similar or different experiences, who share a common space to exchange messages of hope and courage.

Visit to Boko Quarry by the COMIDA’s facilitation team

To strengthen the relationship between these two groups and COMIDA, two members of COMIDA’s facilitation team, Linda Schwitzer-Lestien and Daniel Alingalya, travelled to Tanzania in February 2026. This provided an opportunity to learn about the activities and daily lives of these COMIDA members.

The group in Boko is a collective of men and women who have worked at the Gereza site for several years, most of them for more than 10 years. Previously, they were individuals who met at the quarry to break stones, without ever forming any group. However, COMIDA seeks to create a space where people can recognise themselves as part of the same workforce and reflect on their problems together. Seven people agreed to share their experiences and knowledge and listen to what others had to say.

During their visit to the quarry, Linda and Daniel met these families and got a sense of how hard their work is.

Yoane, a father of four children who has been working at the quarry for nearly 20 years, told them, “We breathe in dust all day, we risk hitting our fingers with the hammer, we have vision problems because of the sun, and sometimes the stones shatter into our eyes. The women suffer from many infections. For a 20kg bucket of stones, we receive 300 shillings, so we need to fill ten of them to have any hope of earning 3000 shillings, which is barely worth 1 euro.”

Maman Eveline, a mother of seven children, is a member of the Boko group and has worked at the quarry for 19 years. She told them, “I don’t know how to give this job up, because it is thanks to this that I can feed my family. I remember Maman Marie-Mois giving birth to her baby on the same day that she was working at the quarry, because every minute counts. What bothers me is that nowadays the government is accusing us of polluting the environment, while just next door, businesses are praised for using dynamite to blast rocks. The quarry is almost depleted, and the remaining stones belong to a cement company. To keep breaking stones, they’d have to bring us some from somewhere else, but the work is getting harder and harder.”

Through its work with the Boko group, COMIDA aims to change society’s perception of these workers. They are often denounced for their profession, but the stone breakers recognise that their hard work has contributed to the building, urbanisation, and beautification of Dar es Salaam. It is inspiring that these families have agreed to be part of COMIDA and have found the time to meet and see themselves as a family.

Visit to Mkiu Village to Learn About the Kisangani Smith Group

Reuben Mtitu, an ATD Fourth World ally founded the Kisangani Smith Group in his village of Mkiu, Njombe, drawing on what he learned by his older brother. Reuben has taught young people mechanics, trained women in sewing, and encouraged locals to plant trees, including avocado trees and agroforestry species. ATD Fourth World has partnered with the group for several years.

The visit to Mkiu gave the team an opportunity to meet group members as part of the COMIDA initiative. One member, Maman Warta Maurusi, described how she learned to set up a nursery where she grows and sells seedlings to customers — particularly Chinese buyers — which are planted and eventually harvested for timber. She has already found support from someone who helps water and maintain the nursery. With this earned income, she bought a water pump, a tank, and a freezer to make and sell ice to locals. This nursery enables Maman Warta Maurusi to feed her family. She affirms, “I am proud of what I do here in the village, and I don’t dream of moving to the city. Instead, I dream of having a large area of land so I can earn more money and end my poverty. “This work has opened up a way for us to make a living.”

These people have chosen to transform the land, breathing new life into it by growing plants. This simple act allows people to live with dignity and guarantees a better future for their children and the planet.

Demonstrating Resilience

The visit highlighted the resilience of individuals facing extreme poverty and how they stand up to social and environmental injustices. Their courage fuels their hope to change the world they live in, not just for their own benefit, but for the good of the entire community. Whether through breaking stones or reforestation, their struggle and courage reflect their desire to live with dignity and reaffirm COMIDA’s mission: To create a community that strives towards social and environmental justice, where everyone’s contribution is recognised.