"It's a Small World after All"

After snorkeling, I hopped a cab to Mangapwani, where classmate Derrick Rainey has spent the past ten weeks doing his IPSP.  Well, my original intention was to take a dala dala (public bus) up there for a mere 1300Tsh ($.88), but the cab driver that was taking me to the station talked me into riding up with him after bargaining him down by about $12 for the round trip.  Turned out to be a good decision because he was fascinating!  Born in Stone Town, his father left the family, leaving him to live with his mother and grandmother, both of whom had no income.  In order to help his family he started working and saved up to put himself through English school and then driving school, which allowed him to become a taxi driver.  Eleven years later, he owns his own cab (very clean!), a taxi business that contracts with other cabbies, and has bought his own house for his wife, two children, mother, and grandmother…cool story! He was fascinated with the projects that we do for IPSP and Capstone, and I think we have inspired him to start an NGO in Zanzibar assisting villages with their lack of clean water.

Anyway, I was able to visit Derrick in his village and received a full tour of his IPSP partner, Creative Solutions, an organization that provides education in English, art, carpentry, sewing, cultivating, and now thanks to Derrick, music, to young adults and pre-schoolers in Mangapwani.  The complex is fascinating as every structure is artistic, colorful, and utilizes local resources.  It seems like he has really had a great time and been very successful.  With the help of our friend, Margret, one of the students at CS, we went to the famous slave chamber, where Arab slave traders would hide slaves after the trade had been outlawed in the area.  The chamber was protected by the cliff on which it sits.  After the chamber we headed to the beach for a swim in the west coast waters, a bit different of an experience but a beautiful sunset.  It was great catching up with Derrick and hearing about the upcoming wedding that I will unfortunately miss.  Congrats to Derrick and Lonnie!

Turns out my day with Derrick was his last full day in Zanzibar, and coincidentally our flights off the island were only fifty minutes apart, so although we did not realize it until he showed up to the terminal and saw me standing in the gift shop, I was able to be Derrick’s last familiar face before heading back to the states! 

My next story of connections occurred at the Dar airport in the security line to get back into the airport (no matter whether domestic or international, all those flying into Dar must exit the terminal and re-enter the airport).  I was standing in front of two Americans and as all mzungus in Africa seem to do, we started talking.  They tell me that they are graduate students from Berkeley who spent the summer doing graduate research in Kampala, Uganda (where two of my classmates are).  I excitedly tell them that I’m also doing graduate work and that two of my classmates are also in Kampala.  As soon as I tell her that I’m a student at the Clinton School of Public Service, she says, “oh yeah, isn’t that in Little Rock?”  I’m incredibly impressed/surprised that she knows this, and she quickly explains that she met a guy at an internet café in Kampala who went to CSPS...Andy Lewis, my guess is you’re that guy.

Finally, I landed early evening in Mwanza and was picked up by none other than Ben Mwangi*, an old family friend of CSPS classmate, Shamim Okolloh.  We had only met through Facebook, so it was an interesting waiting period outside the airport, wondering if he was actually the guy standing right next to me, but we easily found each other thanks to cell phones.  It was a great time getting to know such a close friend of Shamim’s and Mama Shamim’s, my two favorite Kenyans, and I think that I’ve almost talked him into coming to Little Rock for our graduation next May, so we’ll see if he follows through.

Finding Nemo!

So Wednesday was to be our touristy day of snorkeling, souvenir shopping and touring the town.  We set up for a fisherman to take us out to Prison Island, just off the harbor of Stone Town, and after about an hour ocean ride in a small fishing boat floating through crystal clear turquoise water, we arrived.  There were about six of the same boat hovering around the expansive reef around the island, so we took the back edge of the reef and had a field day.  As wonderful as snorkeling in Costa Rica was, this far surpassed it.  The fish swam around us as if we were one of them.  Oh! And I found Nemo!  I was following this really pretty black and gold fish (obviously a Sigma Nu fish) when I saw a clown fish hanging around an anemone.  Although the clown fish here are more black and orange with a little white, they’re unmistakable and upon a closer look, I found Marlon and his wife (who was not in fact eaten by the shark) and then in the back corner of the anemone there was little Nemo, a baby clownfish no bigger than the size of a small paper clip.  Anyways, the aquatic life was amazing, and I can’t wait to get a book of tropical Indian Ocean fish so that I can be a dork and identify all the fish I saw.  Finally, I was amazed by the urchins.  All the urchins that I’ve experienced are an ugly brown color but these were jet black with a button-like middle that was neon orange encircled by five white dots.  It was terrifyingly beautiful; I still stayed far away.

The Fish Market (F.A. Post for Week 7)

This might be the definition of food heaven on Earth.  Every night in the Fordhani Gardens, tens of vendors set up tables, grills, and presses for 5-6 hours of food, drink, and fun.  I have a feeling that it’s mostly done for tourists, but I don’t care; I’m amazed!  Each fisherman table is covered with skewers of kingfish, tuna, barracuda, lobster, squid, octopus, prawns, shrimp, mussels, scallops, beef, and chicken.  Then there was chipati, coconut naan, regular naan, massive lobster claws, whole octopus tentacles, potato cakes, fish cakes, sambusas, fried plantain, ALL on a 6’ X 2’ table, and all mostly under 5,000Tsh (~$3.33) except for the lobster claws.  You point to all the different skewers you want, they load it onto a white Dixie plate and then take it to the grill.  When cooked, they load it back onto the plate with a backup plate and cover it in this chili sauce that although it practically makes you cry, it has the perfect sweet taste to compliment the seafood.  Our first vendor was a man named Mr. Polite, and boy was he!  My friends made fun of me for dwelling on this, but after two hours of eating, I went back to Mr. Polite for one last lobster skewer as he was packing up.  With only two skewers left, he laughed at my love for the lobster and gave me the last two for the price of one! 

Mr. Polite's Fish Stand

In between the fisherman tables, there are stands with sugar cane juice flanked by big mechanical presses that siphon the juice squeezed from the sugar cane into a basin that is then emptied into a bowl and sold.  It’s fascinating the preciseness of the way the men fold the cane over and over to get all available juice out of each stalk.  Finally, there is Zanzibar pizza.  Much like a crepe, it’s thin dough fried but with toppings cooked into the dough.  My first attempt was with a chicken pizza and unfortunately I saw the massive amount of mayo that they spread on it, so although good, it wasn’t my favorite. But THEN I had the mango pizza and it was divine: just the right amount of sweet but with light dough that reminds me of a good ol’ peach cobbler.  Needless to say, we went back the next night and although I did not spend too much time at Mr. Polite’s table, I found a guy with comparable food who even had fresh lemon juice.  Needless to say, food coma ensued.

Something off of a National Geographic

Bwejju Beach - Indian Ocean to your left

That is exactly what Zanzibar is: National Geographic or Travel + Leisure, their cover of “history meets culture meets beauty” or “most beautiful beaches in the world”.  A quick lesson about Zanzibar: located on the east coast of Tanzania, it has a long history of being a stop on the Arab slave trade corridor and so has an incredible blend of Arab, Indian, African, and oddly enough Italian culture and food.  It is the “zan” in Tanzania, since the merging of Tanganyika and Zanzibar in 1964 and has its own Vice President.  Told by a local, Zanzibar is like looking at the palm of a hand: the main part of the island is the palm and four fingers together and the east has a thumb with a bay in between the thumb and pointer. 

Bwejju Beach at low tide - Notice how far out the waves are and the numerous "clam diggers"

Bwejju is on the outside of the thumb; Stone Town is at the bottom of the pinky.  So, we got a taste of the inlet between the island and Dar AND the east coast of the Indian Ocean.  The beaches in the east are like something off of a poster.  The land is lined with palm trees growing out over the beach, the sand delicately gives underneath your foot, and the shellage is diverse and abundant (my mom would be lost for HOURS!).  The crazy thing about this coast is the low tide literally recedes for about a mile leaving a marsh-like space in between the regular beach and the water.  I tried trekking out to the water during low tide and made it about 30 feet before being totally stuck in the muck.  The view, however, is incredible.  Hundreds of women are scattered from beach to ocean, dragging big bags and filling them with what I would guess to be sea life that didn’t make it out with the tide, hanging out in the small puddles that make up the barren ocean bottom.  However, when it’s high tide, there’s barely any beach or sand at all, and when we were in Michamvi (at a hotel with a GREAT bar and restaurant that should be visited by all) the tide actually came onto the hotel property and up to the deck.  This part of the island is surprisingly very isolated and quiet, few tourists, and incredibly peaceful, a great place to get away.