Zanzibar

So I've been in Tanzania for about two weeks now. Started off in Dar Es Salaam, the capitol of TZ. Now I'm in Zanzibar, where I've been for about a week. I'm back in Stone Town (Zanzibar town) after a 3 day trip to three different sites on the island. Jozani national park, Jambiani village, and kizimkazi village. we rode there in a dala dala (traditional motor transport) and were in three small groups each visiting a different place each day. we stayed in homestays in each place, none of which spoke english. my swahili is still very limited so the conversation usually consists of "hello," "thankyou," and "what's your name" and a few other random nouns here and there. the beaches at jambiani and kizimkazi were FANTASTIC. white sand, blue water, nice seashells. this morning we went on a boat ride and saw lots of dolphins and snorkled around in a coral reef then toured the village with the local school teacher and interviewed fisherman. All three site visits were focused on conservation and ecotourism. REALLY interesting. oh and in kizimkazi i got to go into the oldest mosque in zanzibar (1184). women aren't usually allowed, so it was pretty cool.

So far I like Zanzibar much better than Dar. it's more historical, less industrial. more tourists though (or "muzungus" (white person) as the locals call them/us). Most everybody is Muslim and we got here just in time for about three days of celebration for Eid. My host family took us out to celebrate downtown and my host mama put henna on my hands and feet. So my host mom is only 23 and my host dad is 25. they are newlyweds and don't have any kids. and they're awesome. i really like them and they both speak english really well, but also are good about teaching us Swahili. Maryam, my host mom, insists that Caroll (the other IHP student staying w/ me) and I call her Mama and she calls us her babies and holds our hands when we cross the street. she feeds us way too much food, packs us lunch when we go to class, worries about us when we're late, brushes and braids my hair and loves to talk to us about her wedding (which coincidently relates to one of our anthro. assignments which is to describe a swahili wedding and how it has changed over time and with globalization). Hamid, my host dad, is very traditional and his family is from Oman. Maryam is more traditional Swahili African, which is still Muslim, but incorporates aspects of other, less monotheistic religion. there is an interesting mix of cultures on the island. lots of arabs, chinese, indian, italians, dutch, germans. i'm learning all about the history and politics. too much to explain. We have been having class in an historic sultan's palace. our coordinator here, Fatma Alloo, is awesome. She's a pretty bad-ass muslim/feminist/activist/journalist. well connected. gets us all the best guest speakers and whatnot. She rented out a clubhouse for us to hang out in and do work called the "bustani" which means graveyard. it's actually in an old muslim graveyard with chickens running everywhere and a secret entrance that you have to pull a hidden string to unlock. there is an excellent library there that she compiled just for us and there are couches and beds and a kitchen and bathrooms with TOILET PAPER. a luxury.

let's see, what else. I guess I never wrote about Dar. we were there for a week and we stayed in the YMCA and had class everyday at the University of Dar es Salaam. Our week in Dar was the TZ foundation week which consisted of several VERY long lectures by guest speakers. I'm gonna be honest, I hate lectures. I think they're a really bad way of teaching. but i sat through them all and soaked up what i could when i wasn't dozing off because it was a million degrees in our open classroom.

When we were in Dar we had a "Health Day" where we visited the Youth Action Volunteers, an advocacy group that oversees government policy implementaion that affects access to health care (I think that's an ok description). Basically they are a grassroots organization that meets with government officials, attends parliament meetings, and does research and surveys to make sure the government is doing its job in providing health care and making sure that Tanzanians know their rights to health care. Well, as part of the day we broke into three small groups and went to visit different hospitals in the area to get a look at some typical Tanzanian health care. it was frightening. seriuosly. i don't really feel like describing it, but i felt like I definately should not have been there.

I haven't gotten sick yet except for a little digestional distress over some octopus soup (we watched a video about the traditional fishing practices in Jambiani in which we saw a woman grab an octpus out of a hole in some coral at low tide, promptly rip it's guts out and beat it with a club on the sand for a good solid minute to "tenderize" it. and i still wanted to eat it) i've also been eating quite a bit of street food. it's delicious and cheap. like less than $2 for an entire meal.

My host mama took me shopping the other day and I got a couple kangas (very culturally important clothing for women. one piece of cloth on bottom as a skirt and a matching one on top to cover head. they all have messages in swahili on the bottom that communicate different things. a sneaky way of saying something to your husband or neighbor or mother-in-law without saying it out loud) and a dress which she then prefumed with incense and oil.

right now i'm tired and wondering how i'm going to get all my work done. it seems to pile up and then all of a sudden i have a million things due in one week. i realize this isn't much different than regular school, but it's ten times harder here. It's hard to balance seeing the place i'm in and sitting inside and doing school work.

enough for now.