The photos show a small range of goods that can be purchased along the foreshore in downtown Dar. Nothing much surprising here: fresh and healthy-looking vegetables; neatly presented rows of the left or right of a pair of shoes; and mixtures of colourful household items and bric-a-brac. Parked close by, a line of three-wheel taxis are at hand to move the customers and their purchases. But the two street hustles that most capture my attention are the motorbikes and the chick-chick vendors, which are both ubiquitous in Dar and the preserve young men and boys.

Large numbers of motorbikes regularly ferry their owners and families around Dar, but they also function as two-wheel taxis. Young men wait around on corners ready to transport people and all manner of goods. These young bucks have a fascinating way of lounging on their business vehicle: draped with casual confidence across their bike or skillfully reclined along the backbone. This could be mistaken for laziness, but they are likely working 14 + hour days and taking what rest they can before the next transaction. If Tanzania is similar to Uganda, these young men will have accessed a loan for their bike that will have them paying for the equivalent of 5 bikes by the time the loan is fully repaid. With so many bikes around this must still be a worthwhile hustle, but with lots of competition.

The chick-chick boys seem impelled to endlessly pace the streets. This name is my choice to reflect their juggling of a small set of stone discs tied together through a hole in their centre. In this way, potential buyers are alerted to their approach and can choose from the modest basket of goods, such as small packets of groundnuts, that they carry casually in one arm. I seldom saw them make a sale and perhaps their offerings are in demand at another time of the day. The sound of the stones is both gentle and penetrating and carries 9 stories or more above the ground and can be heard above the traffic noise when you’re stopped at traffic lights. As one boy disappears around a corner another can be heard approaching, so that the chick-chick of the stones provides a heartbeat to the city. This is a poor recording but will give you some feel for the sound.

This sound brings an emotional response from my soul. For me, it is evocative of being back in Dar-es-Salaam, and demonstrates a gentle persistence in the pursuit of a meagre return. This trade is about survival in a big and bustling African city and, hopefully, part of tiny incremental steps of saving that work towards some more lucrative endeavour.