Salama from Stone Town,
I hope this post finds you all swimmingly. We just arrived back in Stone Town after about a 10 week trip. Most of our time was on the Northern most island of Zanzibar, Pemba, which is faaaaaaaar more rural than Unguja. I loved every second of my time on Pemba, which is an island that is dominated by farms (shambas), growing rubber, coconuts, pineapple, mangoe, cloves cloves and more cloves, lemon grass, rice, you get the point. I stayed with a family for about 6 days in the capital of Pemba, Chake Chake (on the West coast), and became very close with them. I had a house mom and dad, and 7 brothers and sisters, ranging in age from 3 to 21. It was pretty crazy, and they were very eager to teach me anything and everything that I showed the slightest interest in.
Some highlights include:
1) My house mom and dad continually force feeding me. And by force feed I mean filling and re-filling my plate constantly. I thought it was bad when I was in Russia last year, but this has been far worse (not much to complain about though). Although every meal feels a little like fear factor, in that I don't know what is going to be put in front of me, wheather it be prawns, fish heads, squid, you name it, we eat it, with our hands.
2) My sisters (5 of them) and house mom covering a large portion of my body in henna. My hands and feet are still completely covered, and I also got to to my moms, which really excited her.
3) My house dad trying to teach me anything and everything about the Engligh Premier League. His favorite team is Chelsea and he is diehard. Once I expressed initial interest in a game he was watching, it was over.
4) My house dad was the only one in the house that spoke any english, as he is a teacher of math and physics at a local school. My kiswahili was really put on the spot, and we understood eachother for the most part.
Overall it was a great stay, lots and lots of stories and sentiment that I'll spare you all. My house sister is getting married this month, and the family invited me back for the wedding, which I am going to try and find a ferry that I can take up there. We then went North to Wete for three days of farming lectures and tours, and I also went to visit a salt mine on one of my days off with an employee from the Department of the Envr. on Pemba. We spent the day riding a moped up and down the coast, it was pretty amazing. We went through one villiage where I'm certain only one of two mzungu has ever been, based on the looks I was given. It was great. We then returned to Unguja and have spent the last 3 days doing forest research and birding in the Jozani National Forest, which was great. It feels good to be back in Stone Town, and on walking to the internet I ran into my Stone Town dad and he let me know that my house mom here had a baby girl last Wednesday, so I will get to go see her tomorrow.
More soon,
Laura
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Mailboxes etc
Hey all,
Just a quick note, we actually can recieve mail here in Zanzibar (thanks Aunt Peggy and Uncle Paul for the birthday card!). Letters and cards are welcome, but not required. I think you can also send packages, however I'd suggest not to, as I don't really trust them to make it to me, at least not unopened! Take care!
Laura Eaton
World Learning, C/O Said Hamad
Box 3040
Zanzibar, Tanzania
(no zip code or anything).
Thanks guys!
laura
Just a quick note, we actually can recieve mail here in Zanzibar (thanks Aunt Peggy and Uncle Paul for the birthday card!). Letters and cards are welcome, but not required. I think you can also send packages, however I'd suggest not to, as I don't really trust them to make it to me, at least not unopened! Take care!
Laura Eaton
World Learning, C/O Said Hamad
Box 3040
Zanzibar, Tanzania
(no zip code or anything).
Thanks guys!
laura
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Hello all,
I hope this post finds you well. We just arrived back in Stone Town yesterday. The past 2 weeks have been filled with lots of ferry trips (thanks toad), bus rides, car rides, dala dala rides, safari jeep rides, boat rides, you name it, we've been on it. Our time spent in Dar es Salaam was really great, it was good/odd to be in a big city since we've been in small villages and Stone Town the entire time we've been here. And you'd think that big city means fast moving traffic, reliable electricity and water, cement building, paved roads. In fact, Dar es Salaam really is not like a big city that we know, but more of a village that is spread way out. We attended lectures at the Univeristy of Dar es Salaam on various topics from various professors, and got to see the campus life which was really great.
The past weeks have also included a couple excursions with a famous East African Marine Biologist/Taxonomist, Matt Richmond (also author of our text book for this semester), which was really awesome. We snorkeled and learned to identify various fish species and families, as well as coral species as well. We were on some protected reefs and islands, as well as some that are not, and the difference was very noticeable. Our studies focus on coastal ecology and conservation, and really we have been learning a great deal about problems with sustainability and conservation in Tanzania. Tanzania, like many or most other developing countries, struggles with conservation of their natural resources, mostly due to a lack of enforcement, lack of funds, lack of accountability, and inablility of most citizens to see the environment in the big picture. This is mostly due to the fact that a lot of people think day to day or week to week. Most don't have the luxury that us Westerners do to think in a larger timescale, often year to year or more. This concept can be hard to appreciate for a tree hugger like me (or most of us here), who hears about dynamite fishing and can't believe that it still is actually practiced in places similar to Tanzania and Zanzibar. However, when put in this situation, its totally understandable that without the proper money, equipment, and with foreign outfits coming in with state of the art technology (and getting most of the fish), environmental sustainability isn't number one on the average fisherman's mind. This has been eye-opening, and was an unexpected lesson that I've learned.
In other, lighter news, we got to do yoga with a yoga master here, which was pretty amazing (and painful). Satya runs a free school and clinic in Vugu forest, right outside of Dar es Salaam, and after having touring the facilities, he invited us to do yoga with him for a while. I made the mistake of planting myself towards the front, and all of the sudden found myself dead-center in front of him. It was awesome, although my hamstrings would say differently.
The trip to Saadani National Park (formerly Saadani Game Refuge) was amazing, and it is located "where the bush meets the sea". Picture the Lion King, without the talking animals and choreography, and thats pretty much what it was like. Maybe not exactly, but at one point, our driver Gideon (who is the toughest Tanzanian I've met yet, and wears a raspberry beret (not kidding)), had us right infront of a heard of wildebeast, and a group of about 10 zebras, and some giraffes. Pretty amazing. We stayed at a campsite on the ocean, and ate really well, as the cooks there knew we were American (we got mashed potatoes and spaghetti and I'm pretty sure we all must have looked like we hadn't seen food in 2 weeks as we ate that food so quickly). While at Saadani, we saw giraffe, hippos, crocodile, wildebeast, waterbuck, ripa, lions, and a lot of pretty birds (sorry I don't know the birds names you guys in Spearfish, but I took pictures).
Our return back to Stone Town was more than welcome. And we were all very excited to see our friends and families that we had left behind for two weeks. Next week we head up to the island of Pembe, the Northern island in the Zanzibar archipelago. In other news, I have been wrestling with grad school decision time while over here, and was accepted at the U of Utah, U of New Mexico, and well as the U of Nevada, Las Vegas. I have officially decided to accept their offer at UNLV, so if anyone wants to take a Vegas vacation next year, you have a place to stay and a tour guide (lots of cool rocks, oh and the strip).
Salama,
Laura
p.s. will try and post pictures soon.
I hope this post finds you well. We just arrived back in Stone Town yesterday. The past 2 weeks have been filled with lots of ferry trips (thanks toad), bus rides, car rides, dala dala rides, safari jeep rides, boat rides, you name it, we've been on it. Our time spent in Dar es Salaam was really great, it was good/odd to be in a big city since we've been in small villages and Stone Town the entire time we've been here. And you'd think that big city means fast moving traffic, reliable electricity and water, cement building, paved roads. In fact, Dar es Salaam really is not like a big city that we know, but more of a village that is spread way out. We attended lectures at the Univeristy of Dar es Salaam on various topics from various professors, and got to see the campus life which was really great.
The past weeks have also included a couple excursions with a famous East African Marine Biologist/Taxonomist, Matt Richmond (also author of our text book for this semester), which was really awesome. We snorkeled and learned to identify various fish species and families, as well as coral species as well. We were on some protected reefs and islands, as well as some that are not, and the difference was very noticeable. Our studies focus on coastal ecology and conservation, and really we have been learning a great deal about problems with sustainability and conservation in Tanzania. Tanzania, like many or most other developing countries, struggles with conservation of their natural resources, mostly due to a lack of enforcement, lack of funds, lack of accountability, and inablility of most citizens to see the environment in the big picture. This is mostly due to the fact that a lot of people think day to day or week to week. Most don't have the luxury that us Westerners do to think in a larger timescale, often year to year or more. This concept can be hard to appreciate for a tree hugger like me (or most of us here), who hears about dynamite fishing and can't believe that it still is actually practiced in places similar to Tanzania and Zanzibar. However, when put in this situation, its totally understandable that without the proper money, equipment, and with foreign outfits coming in with state of the art technology (and getting most of the fish), environmental sustainability isn't number one on the average fisherman's mind. This has been eye-opening, and was an unexpected lesson that I've learned.
In other, lighter news, we got to do yoga with a yoga master here, which was pretty amazing (and painful). Satya runs a free school and clinic in Vugu forest, right outside of Dar es Salaam, and after having touring the facilities, he invited us to do yoga with him for a while. I made the mistake of planting myself towards the front, and all of the sudden found myself dead-center in front of him. It was awesome, although my hamstrings would say differently.
The trip to Saadani National Park (formerly Saadani Game Refuge) was amazing, and it is located "where the bush meets the sea". Picture the Lion King, without the talking animals and choreography, and thats pretty much what it was like. Maybe not exactly, but at one point, our driver Gideon (who is the toughest Tanzanian I've met yet, and wears a raspberry beret (not kidding)), had us right infront of a heard of wildebeast, and a group of about 10 zebras, and some giraffes. Pretty amazing. We stayed at a campsite on the ocean, and ate really well, as the cooks there knew we were American (we got mashed potatoes and spaghetti and I'm pretty sure we all must have looked like we hadn't seen food in 2 weeks as we ate that food so quickly). While at Saadani, we saw giraffe, hippos, crocodile, wildebeast, waterbuck, ripa, lions, and a lot of pretty birds (sorry I don't know the birds names you guys in Spearfish, but I took pictures).
Our return back to Stone Town was more than welcome. And we were all very excited to see our friends and families that we had left behind for two weeks. Next week we head up to the island of Pembe, the Northern island in the Zanzibar archipelago. In other news, I have been wrestling with grad school decision time while over here, and was accepted at the U of Utah, U of New Mexico, and well as the U of Nevada, Las Vegas. I have officially decided to accept their offer at UNLV, so if anyone wants to take a Vegas vacation next year, you have a place to stay and a tour guide (lots of cool rocks, oh and the strip).
Salama,
Laura
p.s. will try and post pictures soon.
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