How Mastercard Foundation Scholars are Giving Back Amid COVID-19
Second in a series of four stories.
Globally, the lives of hundreds of millions of students were upended as school closures, travel restrictions, and other safety measures were implemented in response to COVID-19. Over 15,000 Mastercard Foundation Scholars among those affected. The Foundation quickly acted to meet Scholars mental, physical, and academic needs. With these met, and as Scholars have adjusted to their temporary new normal, they’ve turned their attention outwards to the needs of their peers, families, communities, and countries.
Using Street Art to Drive Social Change
It’s been a busy year for Tanzania native Emmanuel Mushy, a 27-year-old alumni of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program. In January 2020 he launched Visual Aided Stories, a youth led movement that works with street artists and uses visual arts (murals) and digital marketing as tools for social change.
“Our murals are a brilliant intersection between art and advertising (Part Art + Part Ad) where the art part has been psychologically proven to connect with humans on an emotional level, given art is intertwined in our lives and its open to interpretation. While the ad side of it is where we attach a socially uplifting message, inspiring message.”
With funding from the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Entrepreneurship Fund, Emmanuel turned his vision into a reality by building a collaborative community/network of visual artists, digital marketers, and other content creators to create a series of messages around the theme of peace and unity ahead of the upcoming Tanzania elections.
Continuing process of learning and adapting
Then the pandemic happened. “It’s been an unprecedented time not just for just us but for people and families across the world,” said Emmanuel. “It’s a continuous process of learning as an entrepreneur. New reality. I had to challenge myself to look at this problem and find an angle for an opportunity. That’s when we sat down as a team and decided that it was vital to shift our message from peace and unity and address the challenge with COVID-19 awareness.”
Emmanuel sat down with 10 artists to explore different concepts that would reinforce the importance of good hygiene like wearing masks, washing hands. The final concept included the image of a beautiful African woman they named Karina and a special message “zingatia” which means pay attention in Swahili. “The word has power in Swahili,” said Emmanuel. “It is something that we are told by a very caring person.”
The mural was installed in the neighbourhood of Kigogo in Dar es Salaam, home to around 57,600 residents, near a main road, that gets a lot of pedestrian traffic.
“Karina”, a street mural installed in the neighbourhood of Kigogo in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
“Most of these people (living in Kigogo) are low income. They are the ones at high risk to be affected by COVID. Many of them have failed to process COVID-19 information coming from abroad, or in international languages. Sanitizer is not common here. Even in Swahili, literacy rates are low, and cannot impact behaviour change. We thought art would be a powerful tool to discuss the prevention measures.”
After installing the mural on ground, the creators at VAS hub shared Karina’s message on social media. A video showing a 360-degree experience of the mural installation became one of their best performing posts with 7,902 engagements online across Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, Mbeya & Dodoma.
Feedback from the community has largely been favourable. Many of those who interacted with the mural including pedestrians, residents, boda boda drivers, and others believe there is need for a washing station.
“We have been looking for stakeholders/partners to work on our COVID-19 awareness by providing supplies but have been unsuccessful so far. From there, we can map out to install the same mural concept and message in other neighborhoods,” Emmanuel explains. “I’m a huge believer in the power of youth, in that we are a true reminder of the power of idealism, resilience and enthusiasm, with courage to learn from our past to shape our future. I strongly believe in our vibrant ideas and creativity to have potential impact, in as much as disruptive, they might sound.”
Update: VAS has installed a second mural, this time in Illala and they have partnered with the Swiss Embassy in Tanzania to map out Karina’s story in three other neighbourhoods beginning in mid-June.
In this series, we’re sharing just a few stories of current and past Mastercard Foundation Scholars who are giving back amid COVID-19. Read the other stories in the series.
