Ujamaa The Hidden Story of Tanzania’s Socialist Villages

How in 1960s Tanzania the Ruvuma Development Association (RDA) was created – 17 self governing villages working the land communally. Men, women and children together organized production, distribution, housing, education, childcare,Healthcare, without recourse to foreign loans. The extraordinary President Nyerere had proposed Ujamaa or African Socialism- economic development on the traditional principle that all worked and all benefitted- but  updated to overcome poverty and Women’s subordination. Ujamaa became a reality in Ruvuma. People came from near and far to see this developing caring society that built on independence to bypass capitalism.