As the month of December arrived and my time remaining in Dar es Salaam diminished, I made efforts to ensure that the activities I’ve undertaken toward conserving heritage architecture in Dar es Salaam are carried on after I return to Canada. Primarily this means engaging the local stakeholders I have met, passing on my own research and facilitating their collaboration with each other.

I arranged a meeting with the Director of Antiquities, and brought along the City Tourism Officer as well as a graduate student, Richard Moses Besha, who is writing his thesis on conservation in Dar es Salaam. Since then, I have met again on several occasions with a principal conservator of the Antiquities Department, John Kimaro, in order to gather resources and learn of the future plans they have at the Antiquities Department.

There are several other people I have met in Dar es Salaam who are trying to promote conservation in Dar es Salaam, and I have introduced them to each other in an effort to increase their effectiveness and have them work collaboratively. The group includes local government officials, community based activists, and university professors, as well as senior staff in international aid agencies and academic researchers.