When people talk of art in Tanzania, the things that come to mind immediately are music, ngoma (dance), sculpturing (especially the famous Makonde sculptures) and that is almost all. In this series, we talk with two illustrators. They live on producing illustrations and are doing well by standards of the majority of Tanzanians. They own their own houses and cars and support both their nucleus and extended families. I traveled to Bunju, a suburb that is 30 kilometers north of Dar es Salaam on the highway to the historic town of Bagamoyo.

I met with Cloudy Chatanda, 33. We sat on the verandah of his small two bedroom house. It is self contained, that is, with a bathroom, kitchen and sitting room all within the house. It is a beautiful house sitting on a piece of land that is approximately half-an-acre in size. On the remaining huge space he intends to construct a bigger house and a place to display his works of art. His car is parked outside. He lives with his wife, two children, a maiden and two schooling relatives. He started engaging in art ever since he was young, so he says.

His early recognised works were illustrations that were used in books titled: Binti Chura, Mwanasimba and Vitendawili kwa picha. These he did in the year 1993 when he was still a secondary school student. He says, he was later inspired by works and lives of such great artists as Borris Vallejo, Leonardo da Vinci, Michael Angelo and Douglas Mpoto. His mentor was Paul Ndunguru. He thinks that slavery and colonization played a part in killing people's appreciation of art. Many people prefer 'white color' jobs to jobs that engage in research, creativity and a life commitment. "We need to redress this thinking, we've to start with children - let's encourage them to explore the world and express it to us as they see it," he says. Art is about keeping trying and never tiring of trying, one should never be discouraged by failure. True development is only possible with an earnest appreciation for art.

Art is everywhere. Everything starts with art. Whatever one touches, there is a work of art behind. Unless we put back art in its proper place, we will never compete against developed nations. We will remain consumers of technology and not 'producers' of technology. He says that apart from other challenges, one main challenge is lack of availability of materials for carrying out artistic works. There are no shops or stores that stock such items. So, they depend on stores based in Nairobi in neighbouring Kenya, thus, inconveniencing artists' works a lot. Even though his family did not like him to engage in art in his early childhood, they are now thankful that he resisted their opposition and they are now benefiting from his work. He intends to expand his artistic activities to include sculpturing, painting and of course continue with illustrations.