Germany 2013 | 70 mins.
A documentary by Benjamin Leers
The Teacher’s Country is the story of a country 50 years after its independence, told by four of its seemingly ordinary inhabitants. It examines the stories of their daily life in order to highlight the country’s long struggle for autonomy. There is single mother Bertha from Dar es Salaam. Since she works all day to make ends meet, she hardly sees her 10-year-old-daughter. Laurent Nestory works as a teacher on Kome Island. He tries hard to prepare his pupils for a life of increasingly challenging economic, social and political conditions. Also, there is Thomas Billingi, a catholic priest in the vast dry hinterland of Lake Victoria. A region that has little to offer but much to change for the better. Last but not least, there is Madaraka Nyerere, the youngest son of the famous first president on his way to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Fifty years after the independence of Tanzania — on December 9, 2011 — he is remembering the struggle for independence, which his father was deeply involved in.