We were supposed to do more interviews at Ben Bella today, but didn’t go because we figured the Tuesday girls were also informed to come next week.
SUGAR CANE JUICE: We had some sugar cane juice today from the street. They have these machines that squeeze the juice out of the sugar cane stalks. I wonder whether the machines are made especially for that purpose or if they have other uses. While it seems like a fairly specialized piece of machinery (and probably expensive, especially for a food vendor), perhaps it is so necessary that it turns into a good investment.
LAUNDRY: I did laundry for the first time today. The place we live has a washer, which is basically a small machine that spins your clothes around to get them soapy – you fill it with water, then put in clothes, then detergent, and turn on the machine. Then you rinse the clothes with water in a bucket and put them in a spinner which spins them around. Then you hang them up on the line to dry.
I just finished reading the book Desertion, which was written by a native Zanzibari, Abdulrazak Gurnah. He now works at the University of Kent, but the book described some sights in Stonetown that we have visited, a bit of Zanzibar history, and had some great character development that depicted the role of women. It was a great book to learn more about the culture on Zanzibar and how it came to have so many different flavors. It was influenced by many places, such as India and the Middle East, through ports of trade, religion and colonialism. It truly has its own unique cultures.
I especially liked one description of the streets of Stonetown because I thought it accurately described our adventures through the alleyways:
“The street was narrow and deep in shadow at that time of the afternoon, and the house stood across the top of it, making a junction. Another street ran in front of the house in both directions, although that street too would be forced to twist and turn to avoid other houses and so on. That was how the old town was built, short narrow streets and deep humming silences. If you rode a bicycle down these streets, your thumb constantly worked the warning bell and your fingers stroked the bicycle brakes.”
Word of the day:
Pilipili – chili
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
Cultural Immersion
Today we went to Ben Bella Secondary School to interview our first round of applicants! However, no one arrived. A teacher finally came in and said the students were informed that the interviews would take place when the school reopened, which was next week. No one informed us or asked us if this was okay, so it was very frustrating. It's all part of the infamous "Africa time."
How I dress everyday: Every day I wear long sleeved or ¾ length shirts, a long skirt, and sandals. When we aren’t meeting with scholars, we change into jeans or t-shirts, but I kind of like wearing the skirts and shirts because I feel more immersed in the culture when I am wearing what the locals are wearing. I realize, much like China, I can never be fully immersed, especially here because I have very limited Swahili, but the clothing keeps me focused on immersing myself in the culture around me rather than looking at the culture from a tourist perspective. People are starting to recognize us and treat us less like tourists.
It certainly has been an interesting experience for me and my two S4Si friends, Camryn and Iris. First, we are in a predominantly Muslim area, so even if we wanted to blend in we couldn’t because all of the women here cover their heads. Also, we, and especially Iris, get much more attention because we are two white girls (Camryn and I) and one black girl (Iris) walking together. Everyone can tell that Iris is not from Zanzibar, but they will many times talk to her in Swahili, not realizing she is from America. The Zanzibaris are intrigued by her because she is African-American, can’t speak Swahili, and doesn’t know where in Africa her family is from. We frequently talk about this dynamic because we attract a lot of attention walking down the street and always get lots of questions.
Even here, there is a dynamic between the black Zanzibaris and the mixed (arab/black) Zanzibaris. Overall, those who are mixed are better off and make more money.
Word of the day:
Sasahivi - now
How I dress everyday: Every day I wear long sleeved or ¾ length shirts, a long skirt, and sandals. When we aren’t meeting with scholars, we change into jeans or t-shirts, but I kind of like wearing the skirts and shirts because I feel more immersed in the culture when I am wearing what the locals are wearing. I realize, much like China, I can never be fully immersed, especially here because I have very limited Swahili, but the clothing keeps me focused on immersing myself in the culture around me rather than looking at the culture from a tourist perspective. People are starting to recognize us and treat us less like tourists.
It certainly has been an interesting experience for me and my two S4Si friends, Camryn and Iris. First, we are in a predominantly Muslim area, so even if we wanted to blend in we couldn’t because all of the women here cover their heads. Also, we, and especially Iris, get much more attention because we are two white girls (Camryn and I) and one black girl (Iris) walking together. Everyone can tell that Iris is not from Zanzibar, but they will many times talk to her in Swahili, not realizing she is from America. The Zanzibaris are intrigued by her because she is African-American, can’t speak Swahili, and doesn’t know where in Africa her family is from. We frequently talk about this dynamic because we attract a lot of attention walking down the street and always get lots of questions.
Even here, there is a dynamic between the black Zanzibaris and the mixed (arab/black) Zanzibaris. Overall, those who are mixed are better off and make more money.
Word of the day:
Sasahivi - now
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Spice Tour
Today we took Remmy on a spice tour, which is another tourist attraction here on Zanzibar.
A lot of the spices were used in traditional and herbal medicine, which a lot of people, especially in the rural areas, turn to rather than going to the hospital. Also, a lot of them were used for their oils for massage, hair, and skin treatments (the elephant apple is not edible, but has gel inside the fruit, which they use for hair!).
We got to try a bunch of fruits and spices I had never heard of before and see how many tropical fruits grow
Some of the highlights include:
Eating jackfruit, which is a mixture between a pineapple and banana
Eating a quinine leaf, which is what they use in antimalarial pills
Saw a screw palm, which is native to Zanzibar and looks like a regular palm tree except the trunk corkscrews at the very top
Eating starfruit, one of my favorite fruits!
Word of the day:
Pia - also
A lot of the spices were used in traditional and herbal medicine, which a lot of people, especially in the rural areas, turn to rather than going to the hospital. Also, a lot of them were used for their oils for massage, hair, and skin treatments (the elephant apple is not edible, but has gel inside the fruit, which they use for hair!).
We got to try a bunch of fruits and spices I had never heard of before and see how many tropical fruits grow
Some of the highlights include:
Eating jackfruit, which is a mixture between a pineapple and banana
Eating a quinine leaf, which is what they use in antimalarial pills
Saw a screw palm, which is native to Zanzibar and looks like a regular palm tree except the trunk corkscrews at the very top
Eating starfruit, one of my favorite fruits!
Word of the day:
Pia - also
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Jozani Forest and Kizimkazi Bay
Tanzania isn’t the most impoverished African country, yet there is clearly lots of poverty here. Everywhere you turn people are doing what little they can to make a living. I have seen similar poverty in the slums of El Salvador and in the hutong areas/farm areas in China, but it seems that here it is much more widespread rather than in concentrated areas.
The widespread poverty is part of the reason that it is hard to pick scholars based on need, especially for three American girls who come from middle class families. In addition, because a community houses people from every socioeconomic sector, unlike the U.S. where it is more concentrated in certain areas, it is harder to use certain sections of town as an indicator of need. Of course, some sections certainly are worse than others and Stonetown is one of the “ritzier” places where even the poorest are probably better off than the poorest in a less established community. However, school is expensive for any family so almost every student has a certain level of need, and those that are EXTREMELY needy may not even be in school in the first place. There are certain metrics, such as finding out how much meat they eat in a week or how many of their siblings went to university, that we can use to assess who’s need is greater than others. Even the teachers agree that it is hard to assess their own student’s level of need.
Today we went to Jozani Forest and Kizimkazi to swim with dolphins! We could have taken a daladala but it sometimes takes 3 hours for a normal 45 minute trip, so we took a friend’s private hire. In the country there were still brick and stone houses, but there were much more thatched roof huts as well. It would be hard to build a brick or stone house in a rural area because there is much more manual labor involved. The scenery changed to more of a rainforest feel.
Our trip was awesome. At Kizimkazi Bay, we found Captain Abba, who took us out on his wooden motor boat. Because water got in the boat easily, Abba’s friend bailed us out the whole way with a bucket. We got to snorkel with the dolphins and see red colobus monkeys in Jozani Forest. We just walked up under a tree and watched the monkeys swinging above our heads.
We learned from locals that a ferry had drowned in the harbor and more than 200 people died. We almost put Remmy and her friends on the ferry that would have arrived at that time because it was much cheaper. I’m so glad we paid for her to take the fast ferry now. However, according to news reports, it was apparently a cargo ship and 3 people died. This is one of the only news reports I found referencing it, so I’m still not sure what the truth is. http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1009473
Word of the day:
pikipiki - motorcycle
gari - car
The widespread poverty is part of the reason that it is hard to pick scholars based on need, especially for three American girls who come from middle class families. In addition, because a community houses people from every socioeconomic sector, unlike the U.S. where it is more concentrated in certain areas, it is harder to use certain sections of town as an indicator of need. Of course, some sections certainly are worse than others and Stonetown is one of the “ritzier” places where even the poorest are probably better off than the poorest in a less established community. However, school is expensive for any family so almost every student has a certain level of need, and those that are EXTREMELY needy may not even be in school in the first place. There are certain metrics, such as finding out how much meat they eat in a week or how many of their siblings went to university, that we can use to assess who’s need is greater than others. Even the teachers agree that it is hard to assess their own student’s level of need.
Today we went to Jozani Forest and Kizimkazi to swim with dolphins! We could have taken a daladala but it sometimes takes 3 hours for a normal 45 minute trip, so we took a friend’s private hire. In the country there were still brick and stone houses, but there were much more thatched roof huts as well. It would be hard to build a brick or stone house in a rural area because there is much more manual labor involved. The scenery changed to more of a rainforest feel.
Our trip was awesome. At Kizimkazi Bay, we found Captain Abba, who took us out on his wooden motor boat. Because water got in the boat easily, Abba’s friend bailed us out the whole way with a bucket. We got to snorkel with the dolphins and see red colobus monkeys in Jozani Forest. We just walked up under a tree and watched the monkeys swinging above our heads.
We learned from locals that a ferry had drowned in the harbor and more than 200 people died. We almost put Remmy and her friends on the ferry that would have arrived at that time because it was much cheaper. I’m so glad we paid for her to take the fast ferry now. However, according to news reports, it was apparently a cargo ship and 3 people died. This is one of the only news reports I found referencing it, so I’m still not sure what the truth is. http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1009473
Word of the day:
pikipiki - motorcycle
gari - car
Friday, May 29, 2009
Zanzibar Commercial Secondary School
Today we took the daladala (first daladala ride for Iris and Camryn) to the Zanzibar Secondary Commercial School, which teaches commercial subjects (business, computer science, accounting, bookkeeping, etc). Delta Sigma Pi, the business fraternity at UNC, sponsors a scholar here. The school is in a town called Mchina chaka, named for the Chinese investment that went into building a lot of the structures in the town. There aren’t any Chinese people living there, just investment.
In terms of professionalism and command of the English language, the school was a step between Lumumba and Ben Bella. However, they did have a computer lab with 6 computers. Even though every computer has to have 6 people to it during class, this is the first public school we’ve visited that students even have access to them.
When we were setting up interviews with the top 5 girls in form II, the headmaster mentioned that when they sign up for interviews, we mean the time we say, so if they come hours late, we won’t be here. It was a great reflection of “Africa time”.
The headmaster also talked about some costs that the government and schools have begun to pay for. The government pays for part of the form IV national examination as well as some textbooks for a certain class. The school pays about 5000 TSH for school celebrations, including the Uhuru Torch celebration, which he assumed we knew about. Here’s a news article about it. http://thecitizen.co.tz/newe.php?id=12812
We then went back to FAWE, where we met with Bibi Asma again. We discussed the need for individualized costs for the girls. While it is much easier just to give everyone the same amount, it’s not fair to give one girl with less need the same amount as another girl with a lot of need. Because our metric is based on performance AND need, we really need to ensure that we are allowing every scholar to keep up their performance by addressing individual need. It’s fairer to ensure that between parent contributions and our contributions, every girl is receiving the same RESOURCES, which may mean receiving differing levels of money from S4Si. Everyone has some level of need, but there are such different levels and the levels are sometimes so vast that we need to focus on the individuals in order to be good at what we do.
We will meet with Bibi Asma again next week to have her go over a mentor manual that we will create for the hire of three mentors, which the S4Si board has approved. We told Asma that computer skills are one of our top priorities, so she wants to see if there are women students available at SUZA (State University of Zanzibar) to serve as mentors. Great idea.
Some reflections from the week: I am so proud of us for achieving everything we did this week. We still have a lot to do in terms of documentation, but we have a great schedule for the next few weeks. We really need to revamp the Delegation packet to include processes (interview, school visits, scholar visits) because the summer trips are one of the most important things S4Si does and serves as a very small window of opportunity. We need a set process that we can show to our donors but also pass on to delegations so that we are doing things consistently year after year.
SEWAGE: Later in the day, our friend Star took us on a walk to the Hundred Steps beach. We asked him about sewage and Star said they can’t afford to clean the water, so the pipes run into the ocean. We walked by the “poop pipes” and saw the “poop lines” (which are basically like ropes attached to buoys that separate where you are and aren’t allowed to swim. I’m still not planning on swimming in the designated swimming area.
To say thank you to Remmy for hosting me for a week in Dar, we treated her to a trip to Zanzibar, a place she hadn’t yet been. She was so excited to be here and I can’t wait to show her around Zanzibar, which is sure to be very culturally different from what she is used to.
Word of the day:
tafadhali - please
In terms of professionalism and command of the English language, the school was a step between Lumumba and Ben Bella. However, they did have a computer lab with 6 computers. Even though every computer has to have 6 people to it during class, this is the first public school we’ve visited that students even have access to them.
When we were setting up interviews with the top 5 girls in form II, the headmaster mentioned that when they sign up for interviews, we mean the time we say, so if they come hours late, we won’t be here. It was a great reflection of “Africa time”.
The headmaster also talked about some costs that the government and schools have begun to pay for. The government pays for part of the form IV national examination as well as some textbooks for a certain class. The school pays about 5000 TSH for school celebrations, including the Uhuru Torch celebration, which he assumed we knew about. Here’s a news article about it. http://thecitizen.co.tz/newe.php?id=12812
We then went back to FAWE, where we met with Bibi Asma again. We discussed the need for individualized costs for the girls. While it is much easier just to give everyone the same amount, it’s not fair to give one girl with less need the same amount as another girl with a lot of need. Because our metric is based on performance AND need, we really need to ensure that we are allowing every scholar to keep up their performance by addressing individual need. It’s fairer to ensure that between parent contributions and our contributions, every girl is receiving the same RESOURCES, which may mean receiving differing levels of money from S4Si. Everyone has some level of need, but there are such different levels and the levels are sometimes so vast that we need to focus on the individuals in order to be good at what we do.
We will meet with Bibi Asma again next week to have her go over a mentor manual that we will create for the hire of three mentors, which the S4Si board has approved. We told Asma that computer skills are one of our top priorities, so she wants to see if there are women students available at SUZA (State University of Zanzibar) to serve as mentors. Great idea.
Some reflections from the week: I am so proud of us for achieving everything we did this week. We still have a lot to do in terms of documentation, but we have a great schedule for the next few weeks. We really need to revamp the Delegation packet to include processes (interview, school visits, scholar visits) because the summer trips are one of the most important things S4Si does and serves as a very small window of opportunity. We need a set process that we can show to our donors but also pass on to delegations so that we are doing things consistently year after year.
SEWAGE: Later in the day, our friend Star took us on a walk to the Hundred Steps beach. We asked him about sewage and Star said they can’t afford to clean the water, so the pipes run into the ocean. We walked by the “poop pipes” and saw the “poop lines” (which are basically like ropes attached to buoys that separate where you are and aren’t allowed to swim. I’m still not planning on swimming in the designated swimming area.
To say thank you to Remmy for hosting me for a week in Dar, we treated her to a trip to Zanzibar, a place she hadn’t yet been. She was so excited to be here and I can’t wait to show her around Zanzibar, which is sure to be very culturally different from what she is used to.
Word of the day:
tafadhali - please
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Lumumba
Today we went to Lumumba, the best overall public school in Zanzibar, where we sponsor 3 girls. On our 30 minute walk we had to walk through a dirt field that had a bunch of chickens. The neighborhoods from Stonetown to Lumumba changed from the alleyway shops with flats above to standalone 1 room stone or brick houses that may have housed a family or two. There were still shops along the way, but they were intermingled with these standalone structures. These were definitely worse sections of town. In the shops, rather than selling tourist souvenirs, sold necessities such as soap, clothing, cell phones, etc.
There was a stark difference between Ben Bella and Lumumba. You can definitely tell that Lumumba is an excellent school. Everything was very organized and the headmaster seemed much more involved with the students and in touch with the school. He told me right away what the costs were. A lot of government officials graduate from Lumumba and it was named after Patrick Lumumba, a freedom fighter in the Congo in 1960. The school even has a sister school, Harbor University, in Los Angeles. Pretty cool!
One of the teachers, an English teacher, was an unofficial S4Si advisor for the three girls and helps them check their email regularly. She was incredibly helpful and she helped us with any communication barrier we had with the girls. We met with our three scholars, who were excited to see us. I realized that it’s hard to tell whether all of our scholars are Muslim because they wear uniforms that cover their heads. Every school has their own uniform, usually consisting of a black or blue dress and a white or yellow head covering. Boys wear black or blue pants with usually a polo type shirt with the school logo on it.
I almost got pick-pursed today. I felt a guy putting his hand in the front pocket of my purse and looked over and shoved him away. Our local friends were very mad because Stonetown prides itself on being friendly and not having thieves around. It’s sad because the pick pockets here aren’t doing it for fun, they are doing it because they are very poor and hope that whatever they can get will be better than what they currently have. All the poor guy would have gotten from my front pocket was chapstick and hand sanitizer.
We found that if we sit in a certain spot on our bed, we can pick up one bar of wireless, so some of you may get a skype call someday!
Word of the day:
skuli - school
There was a stark difference between Ben Bella and Lumumba. You can definitely tell that Lumumba is an excellent school. Everything was very organized and the headmaster seemed much more involved with the students and in touch with the school. He told me right away what the costs were. A lot of government officials graduate from Lumumba and it was named after Patrick Lumumba, a freedom fighter in the Congo in 1960. The school even has a sister school, Harbor University, in Los Angeles. Pretty cool!
One of the teachers, an English teacher, was an unofficial S4Si advisor for the three girls and helps them check their email regularly. She was incredibly helpful and she helped us with any communication barrier we had with the girls. We met with our three scholars, who were excited to see us. I realized that it’s hard to tell whether all of our scholars are Muslim because they wear uniforms that cover their heads. Every school has their own uniform, usually consisting of a black or blue dress and a white or yellow head covering. Boys wear black or blue pants with usually a polo type shirt with the school logo on it.
I almost got pick-pursed today. I felt a guy putting his hand in the front pocket of my purse and looked over and shoved him away. Our local friends were very mad because Stonetown prides itself on being friendly and not having thieves around. It’s sad because the pick pockets here aren’t doing it for fun, they are doing it because they are very poor and hope that whatever they can get will be better than what they currently have. All the poor guy would have gotten from my front pocket was chapstick and hand sanitizer.
We found that if we sit in a certain spot on our bed, we can pick up one bar of wireless, so some of you may get a skype call someday!
Word of the day:
skuli - school
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Wednesday Thoughts
We spent many hours at this touristy and westernized hotel called Africa House, where we took advantage of free wireless.
There are also Obama signs in a lot of places. I’ve seen a bunch spray painted around Zanzibar and there were Obama signs and pictures of him plastered on the back of some of the daladalas in Dar es Salaam.
We went back to Ben Bella to try again to get updated costs. This time, the numbers were different from the ones we had received on Monday. It’s really important to ask the right questions. We realized that we needed to inquire about each Form’s costs separately, otherwise we would get average costs across forms, which wouldn’t help us when we are funding girls from each form.
We also took two of our scholars, Ghaya and Fatma, out for dinner. They are both amazing young women – very vibrant and ambitious. It was great to meet with them outside of the school setting to get to know them a little better. It was also great because the two were from different schools so they could learn from each other as well. One of our goals is to connect scholars from different schools together so they can be a support group for each other.
Word of the day:
Nimisheba – I’m full (in response to all the food vendors harassing us on the street)
There are also Obama signs in a lot of places. I’ve seen a bunch spray painted around Zanzibar and there were Obama signs and pictures of him plastered on the back of some of the daladalas in Dar es Salaam.
We went back to Ben Bella to try again to get updated costs. This time, the numbers were different from the ones we had received on Monday. It’s really important to ask the right questions. We realized that we needed to inquire about each Form’s costs separately, otherwise we would get average costs across forms, which wouldn’t help us when we are funding girls from each form.
We also took two of our scholars, Ghaya and Fatma, out for dinner. They are both amazing young women – very vibrant and ambitious. It was great to meet with them outside of the school setting to get to know them a little better. It was also great because the two were from different schools so they could learn from each other as well. One of our goals is to connect scholars from different schools together so they can be a support group for each other.
Word of the day:
Nimisheba – I’m full (in response to all the food vendors harassing us on the street)
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