Hey all,
Hope all is well where ever this post finds you. I'm writing from the University of Dar es Salaam, in Dar es Salaam, in the mainland of Tanzania (came here by fairy, about 2 hours). We will be attending lectures and doing some field excursions here for the next week and a half and will then get to go to Saadani National Game Refuge for a couple of days and will go on a land and water safari there, pretty exciting.
As for the title of my post, I'd thought that I had better talk about some of the themes that I'm finding in this strange beautiful country. Being here we've all experienced innumerable highs and lows, over and over again. Zanzibar, for example, is located roughly 10 degrees South of the equator and is basically set in paradise. However, life is extremely hard here, we've had many days without electricity and water, have witnessed unthinkable land degradation/abuse/pollution, and are surrounded by many illnesses and disease (many of which are extremely preventable). The days here go by fast some days, but extremely slowly at times.
Also, people here can be both wonderful and less than wonderful. Many, if not all of the people that we interact with a great deal are amazing, beautiful people. But some, if not the majority, really don't know how to respond to a group of wazungu (white people, as we are referred to constantly), or even us as individuals. Most if not all of us have experienced blatant discrimination based on race and gender, many times both at the same time (for the girls mostly). This can be somewhat disheartening, but I've come to realize that it must be kept in perspective, as this is a developing country without a firm knowledge of their own identity. Most people don't respond perfectly to change, as I know I don't. It has been a hard adjustment, but one that I know I will always be extremely grateful for having had.
There is a lot we have yet to learn, and the majority of our lessons are learned not in the classroom, but out on the streets, at our homes, on the beach, and anywhere else we find ourselves. I feel extremely fortunate to be able to have this experience and I hope that I will do it justice in the amount of life experience and openmindedness that I can gain.
More soon,
Laura
Friday, February 29, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Salama! (peace)
Habarini!
Greetings from Zanzibar. Power has been out here for about 3 days now, so internet has been difficult. But we found a cafe with a generator so thumbs up. Everything here is good, very hot, but good. I am headed to Dar es Salaam tomorrow for 10 days, and will have interenet access there, so can write a nice long newsy post there. For now just wanted to check in! Activities of late have been my kiswahili final which went very well, as well as finding out that I infact, have two mothers here, not a mom and an aunt. They are sisters, but are also both married to my housedad, not something you learn every day I guess. Its all about the experience, right?
will write more soon,
laila
p.s. went snorkeling in a protected reef yesterday and saw an octapus, baby shark, and lobsters the size of a bike wheel! Insanity!
Greetings from Zanzibar. Power has been out here for about 3 days now, so internet has been difficult. But we found a cafe with a generator so thumbs up. Everything here is good, very hot, but good. I am headed to Dar es Salaam tomorrow for 10 days, and will have interenet access there, so can write a nice long newsy post there. For now just wanted to check in! Activities of late have been my kiswahili final which went very well, as well as finding out that I infact, have two mothers here, not a mom and an aunt. They are sisters, but are also both married to my housedad, not something you learn every day I guess. Its all about the experience, right?
will write more soon,
laila
p.s. went snorkeling in a protected reef yesterday and saw an octapus, baby shark, and lobsters the size of a bike wheel! Insanity!
Friday, February 15, 2008
Local Zanzibari
Habari from Zanzibar!
I hope this post finds you all well and a happy belated Valentines day to you all (Heri ya Siku ya Wapendanao). All is well in the lovely town of Stone Town, Zanzibar. I have been living with my first homestay family for almost a week, and what a week it has been. My family is very nice and have been extremely generous and kind to me and have invited me into their home. My dad (baba), Nassor, is a local politician (which I learned when walking down the street the other day and saw his picture on a poster), he is very nice and quizzes me on my progress in Kiswahili everynight. He knows english pretty well, so it is nice to be able to have someone to talk to in both languages. My mama is named Salma, and her sister also lives with us and is named Salma. I have one brother (kaka mgodo), Issa who is about 10, and two sisters (dada), Jokha (8) and Shemsa (3). I was told on the first day of meeting the family that Shemsa, the youngest, is trouble, or "matata" (think hakuna matata, which means without trouble). She is a mischievious little thing, but is way too cute for me to be bothered by. I gave them some presents the other night and we got to play together, which was really fun. Their language is far superior to mine, so we teach eachother words everyday, in both english and kiswahili. They are great kids and I feel very fortunate to have landed in such a great home. There is also an Australian girl living here for a week, on a stop in her long journey across Africa, and I've gotten to know her pretty well.
This week we have been continuing our Kiswahili trainging 4 hours a day, and also attending daily lectures at the Institute of Marine Science here in Stone Town, as well as some cultural lectures. We've covered everything from seaweed farming, sea turtles, Islamic culture and history (Zanzibar is 99% Muslim), and everything inbetween. We are learning a lot and having fun in between (see pictures below).
Food in Zanzibar is very, heavy, to put it nicely. However, we get fruit with every meal so I cannot complain. A typical day in Zanzibar cuisine looks like this:
Asabuhi (breakfast):
Bread (makate) of some kind (usually fried, or in a tortilla-like form, called chapati)
Fruit, usually pineapple, mango (embe), papaya, or banana (ndisi)
Eggs (mayai), boiled or fried
Tea (chai)
Mchana (lunch):
Bread
Fruit
Fish (samaki), fish and more fish, usually kingfish, snapper or tuna
Rice
Curry/meat/vegetable/beans dish
Tea
Usiku (dinner):
Bread
Fish
Rice
Curry/meat/vegetables/beans
All of the food is very good, and we're not totally sick of it yet, although today at lunch we all decided that we are craving fresh vegetables, and of course, cheese and chocolate. Anyways, I uploaded some pictures on Picasa, so hopefully you guys can check them out below. Fingers crossed. I hope you are all well and staying warm!
best,
laura
http://picasaweb.google.com/laurameaton1/ZanzibarI
I hope this post finds you all well and a happy belated Valentines day to you all (Heri ya Siku ya Wapendanao). All is well in the lovely town of Stone Town, Zanzibar. I have been living with my first homestay family for almost a week, and what a week it has been. My family is very nice and have been extremely generous and kind to me and have invited me into their home. My dad (baba), Nassor, is a local politician (which I learned when walking down the street the other day and saw his picture on a poster), he is very nice and quizzes me on my progress in Kiswahili everynight. He knows english pretty well, so it is nice to be able to have someone to talk to in both languages. My mama is named Salma, and her sister also lives with us and is named Salma. I have one brother (kaka mgodo), Issa who is about 10, and two sisters (dada), Jokha (8) and Shemsa (3). I was told on the first day of meeting the family that Shemsa, the youngest, is trouble, or "matata" (think hakuna matata, which means without trouble). She is a mischievious little thing, but is way too cute for me to be bothered by. I gave them some presents the other night and we got to play together, which was really fun. Their language is far superior to mine, so we teach eachother words everyday, in both english and kiswahili. They are great kids and I feel very fortunate to have landed in such a great home. There is also an Australian girl living here for a week, on a stop in her long journey across Africa, and I've gotten to know her pretty well.
This week we have been continuing our Kiswahili trainging 4 hours a day, and also attending daily lectures at the Institute of Marine Science here in Stone Town, as well as some cultural lectures. We've covered everything from seaweed farming, sea turtles, Islamic culture and history (Zanzibar is 99% Muslim), and everything inbetween. We are learning a lot and having fun in between (see pictures below).
Food in Zanzibar is very, heavy, to put it nicely. However, we get fruit with every meal so I cannot complain. A typical day in Zanzibar cuisine looks like this:
Asabuhi (breakfast):
Bread (makate) of some kind (usually fried, or in a tortilla-like form, called chapati)
Fruit, usually pineapple, mango (embe), papaya, or banana (ndisi)
Eggs (mayai), boiled or fried
Tea (chai)
Mchana (lunch):
Bread
Fruit
Fish (samaki), fish and more fish, usually kingfish, snapper or tuna
Rice
Curry/meat/vegetable/beans dish
Tea
Usiku (dinner):
Bread
Fish
Rice
Curry/meat/vegetables/beans
All of the food is very good, and we're not totally sick of it yet, although today at lunch we all decided that we are craving fresh vegetables, and of course, cheese and chocolate. Anyways, I uploaded some pictures on Picasa, so hopefully you guys can check them out below. Fingers crossed. I hope you are all well and staying warm!
best,
laura
http://picasaweb.google.com/laurameaton1/ZanzibarI
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Tafrija siku ya kuzaliwa Laila
Hey everyone,
Hope this message finds you all well, and warm, I hear MN got some snow? Its about 85 degrees and sunny here in Stone Town. The title of this post means literally "the day of birthday of Laila (my given kiswahili name, sounds like Clapton's Layla)". This year I am fortunate enough that I got to spend my 23rd birthday in Kizimkaze and Stone Town, Zanzibar. Kizimkaze is a town thats about a 1 hour bus ride south along te western coast of the island. We spent about 4 days in Kizimkaze, and after a night out exploring the village (lots of stories there, which I'll save for later, given upon request), we got up at 5:30 AM to catch the dolphins morning ritual feeding. We brought scuba gear at the chance that they might just let us swim with them, and they did. I found myself jumping into the Indian Ocean and immidiately I was in the middle of a pack of bottlenose dolphins. I looked underneath me and there were about 8-12 of them. Amazing. After that swim and a couple marine mammal lectures, we headed north to Stone Town. Our language courses are pretty intense, as we study Kiswahili for about 4 hours a day, and in addition practice it virtually all the time as everyone we interact with has limited or no english vocabulary. Which is very nice, as it gives us a chance to put our language to practice. On the eve of my birthday, we went to a music festival in Stone Town called, sauti na Busara (sounds of wisdom). Pretty amazing, as all of the bands are local to East Africa, mostly from Kenya, mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar. The concert is a really big deal and if you guys are interested you should look it up. I start my two week homestay with a Stone Town family tomorrow, which should be interesting and lots of fun.
In American news, I just found out today that the paper that I have been working on with the UST Geo department for over a year has officially passed the first round of revisions with flying colors!!! So thats very exciting. Other than that I'm doing very well, and while I miss you all in the states, you are with me here in my heart!
More later,
laura
Hope this message finds you all well, and warm, I hear MN got some snow? Its about 85 degrees and sunny here in Stone Town. The title of this post means literally "the day of birthday of Laila (my given kiswahili name, sounds like Clapton's Layla)". This year I am fortunate enough that I got to spend my 23rd birthday in Kizimkaze and Stone Town, Zanzibar. Kizimkaze is a town thats about a 1 hour bus ride south along te western coast of the island. We spent about 4 days in Kizimkaze, and after a night out exploring the village (lots of stories there, which I'll save for later, given upon request), we got up at 5:30 AM to catch the dolphins morning ritual feeding. We brought scuba gear at the chance that they might just let us swim with them, and they did. I found myself jumping into the Indian Ocean and immidiately I was in the middle of a pack of bottlenose dolphins. I looked underneath me and there were about 8-12 of them. Amazing. After that swim and a couple marine mammal lectures, we headed north to Stone Town. Our language courses are pretty intense, as we study Kiswahili for about 4 hours a day, and in addition practice it virtually all the time as everyone we interact with has limited or no english vocabulary. Which is very nice, as it gives us a chance to put our language to practice. On the eve of my birthday, we went to a music festival in Stone Town called, sauti na Busara (sounds of wisdom). Pretty amazing, as all of the bands are local to East Africa, mostly from Kenya, mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar. The concert is a really big deal and if you guys are interested you should look it up. I start my two week homestay with a Stone Town family tomorrow, which should be interesting and lots of fun.
In American news, I just found out today that the paper that I have been working on with the UST Geo department for over a year has officially passed the first round of revisions with flying colors!!! So thats very exciting. Other than that I'm doing very well, and while I miss you all in the states, you are with me here in my heart!
More later,
laura
Monday, February 4, 2008
Jambo!
After 40 hours flying from NYC-Dubai-Nairobi-Kilamenjaro-Zanzibar, we finally arrived here on this little island. It is beautiful and I've already had a chance to explore a little bit and have found a lot of things that I want to do and see. This morning we went snorkeling in the Indian Ocean, saw lots of coral and pretty fish and what not, and it was amazng to say the least. Then we had a lunch of mango, pineapple, and bread with nutella on an island near where we snorkeled. So, just an ordinary Monday for me..... Anyways, I don't have much time to write but just wanted to say a quick hello and I'm alive. I'm afraid I won't have a lot of internet and phone time, so if I'm slow to respond I'm sorry!!!! I found out today that I will be swimming with dolphins on Friday, my birthday, so thats pretty exciting. What a way to spend my 23rd. Tomorrow we leave on a safari to the Southern part of the main island for a few days to study butterflys among other things. I hope you are all finding this message well and I will write again as soon as I get a chance!
much love,
laura
much love,
laura
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