Dar growing UP
By Noël Mzese
Dar es Salaam. The 9th fastest growing city in the world, last time I checked.
Not that I need an online resource to know that–
I just look outside my window.
One, two, three stories…
Even in what used to be the “poor” neighborhood.
Somebody has apparently come into some money.
Eight, nine, ten stories…
Why does one need bars on their windows up that high?
Habit, I suppose.
The skyline is changing.
The smell remains the same.
Where will all this extra waste go? The harbor already swells with our trash.
Twelve, thirteen, fourteen stories…
Why would anyone build a fourteen story building in a place with no fire trucks?
Besides, there’s still only one road to get into the city center.
No offense to the city planners, but there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of planning going on.
We’re all just trying to get our piece.
Twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven stories…
Will these structures survive the next ‘accidental’ ammo depot explosion?
What happens to the elevators during electricity rationing?
Where is this heading?
Must we go up? Is that the singular thought put into this glass and cement architecture? Just, ‘up’, ‘up’, ‘up’! ‘Build it and they will come!’
Tall, slender super-structures
on an
ever-
shift-
ing
unre-
li-
able
Base.
Will this all come crashing down before too long?
Noël Mzese is a native New Yorker brought by fate’s many twists and turns to settle her life in Tanzania. She currently lives in Dar es Salaam with her husband, Chisondi, daughter Monica and various other relatives.
