Pemba: Clove Island

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