New Destination: Montpellier, France

Well, it's happened again. I've decided to collect another stamp in my passport.

From January 2, 2012, to May 18, 2012, I will be studying abroad in Montpellier, France.

Study abroad is something I've wanted to do for many years, so it's a bit surreal that I'm actually following through with this plan and participating in what I see is a true rite-of-passage for University students. I couldn't be more excited.

So, some details about Montpellier:


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Montpellier is France's sixth largest city. Located in the South of France (just a few hours from Spain and Italy!) the city is one of France's fastest growing cities. There is a lot of history in Montpellier, especially concerning the Universite-Paul Valery, the university where I will be taking some of my classes.

I considered several programs, but I chose the UNC in Montpellier program because I wanted to become fluent in French. All of my courses will be taught in French and I will stay with a French host-family. I am going to do my best to immerse myself in the language and culture: Au revoir anglais!

I'll try to post regularly about my travels and insights.

Time runs Pole Pole...

Pole Pole: That's swahili for "slowly, slowly." As in, everything in Zanzibar runs pole pole.

I've been thinking a lot about time, especially since I reading one passage from Barbara Kingsolver's "The Poisonwood Bible." In this lovely piece of fiction, in which an American missionary family moves to Congo during the 1960 Independence from Belgium, one of the protagonists describes how time and creation are intertwined. She says, "trust in Creation,which is made fresh daily and doesn't suffer in tanslation. This G-d doesn't work in especally mysterious ways. The sun here rises and sets at six exactly."

This observation about time is particularly relevant to Zanzibar, where the sun rises and sets between 6 and 7 daily. The days and the nights are about 12 hours long, which is due to Zanzibar's location near the equator. I think this evenly divided day gives rise to the Swahili system of time.

In Swahili time, 7 am is counted as 1 or "moja." The days are still the same here--Friday will turn into Saturday during the night--but it actually makes more sense that time would be dependent on sunrise and sunset here. If the days are so regular without any need for Daylight Savings time, then why should the time correspond with an unfixed night marker like midnight?

This reminds me of how the Jewish days and holidays startat sundown because I would think that during the days of the bible, the third star int he sky after sunst was more reliable than the time-keeping systems of contemporary societies (like the Egyptians, who used water clocks). The Muslim calendar, like the Jewish one, is a lunar calendar. The dates of the two calendars don't corresond year to year because of how each religin assigns leap years (Muslim holidays get about 11 days earlier every year, while Jewish holidays are more fixed within a period).

The issue of time has crept into some of our cultural interactions. We've had to specify morning and afternoon with many of our contacts here, especially since they use 24-time when talking to tourists. Let's face it, between 24-hour time and Swahili time, am and pm mean nothing. It's all just very confusing.

The first time I went to Streeter's, the students were tested on time. I couldn't even begin to udnerstand at the time how hard this task was forthem because I didn't know about Swahili time. At the time (ha!) I thought the teacher was testing the students' knowledge fo time words like "o'clock" and "quarter after four." But I know know it was also an exercise in converting Swahili time to Western time. I feel so bad for those students.

I had not really considered before how the system of time used inicats a lot about the culture and the enironment in which that culture exists. In the Western World, we have artificial mechanisms called watches and clockes that reliably keep track of of time. People are expected to always be aware of the time. Our lives function in both day and night ecause of reliable, widespread electricity. Time in our culture is a paradox: It matters to us, but it doesn't affect us.

In Zanzibar, the spread of electricity came much later than in the United States, and for most Zanzibaris, it's neither widespread nor reliable. Zanzibari businesses can only really functino between sunrise and sunset, so does it matter what time of the night it is? No. Only the time between sunrise and sunset really matters. Many restaurants here clse early and open early, corresponding with this idea of daylight-dependent time. Time runs pole pole here, or as people might say about the Caribbean--"island time." If you're late for an appointment, someone will wait if they're not running late themselves. The transportation systems and other forms of infrastructure are not reliable, so people learn patience. Time is very straightforward in this sense. If it's light, then it's time.

Time is more than just how we keep track of the hours, but it's also how we manage our calendars. As I mentioned above, the Jewish and Muslim calendars are based on lunar cycles. In the society Kingsolver describes in "The Poisonwood Bible," the week was only five days long because it could be counted on one hand...1,2,3,4,5. I have read primary source documents from early civilizations that say things like, "it was 200 years and five days since Joe Bob's rule ended by flames and forty-five rotations since..." This is how these sources recorded time, and while they create headaches for historians trying to piece together dates, these time-markers meant something to the people who lived through them or lived in that society. They recorded time and history based on common memories. It was probably very reliable and accurate for them. Other calendars are marked by the harvest and the seasons.

When you get down to it, the American and Western systems of time seem downright unreliable and fake.

Zanzibar Cuisine

What are we eating in Zanzibar?

The food in Zanzibar reflects the island’s many cultural influences. For many centuries, Zanzibar was a thriving port city for Arab and Indian traders. Between the 12th and 15th centuries, Zanzibar was a porwerful city-state, supplying slaves, gold ivory and wood, while importing spices, glassware and textiles. During this time period, Islam became established in Zanzibar: today, 95% of the population is Muslim. The Portugese and British briefly controlled the island during the 16th century, but the Omani Arabs came to power by the early 17th century, establishing a trade in ivory and cloves. The visitors also brought crops like maize, cassava and pineapple to the island.

The result of this long history of trade is a vibrant array of foods. The island is no longer one of the world’s main sources of spices—government privatization of the clove industry, in particular, has made the business unprofitable—but aromatic spices still season the food.

There are many choices for food in Zanzibar. We usually start off with fruit and bread for breakfast, or we walk to a small shop on Gizenga Street (that’s where they sell souvenirs and art) and buy breakfast from the food on display in the case. Glass cases full of food are everywhere in Zanzibar, but we have our favorite vendors. After we buy breakfast, we often eat at Forodhani Gardens, a public park that overlooks the Indian Ocean and the port. It’s very picturesque.

We also eat often at a place called Lukmaan’s Restaurant. We’ve become good friends with the staff because we go nearly every day. The restaurant is definitely a local haunt, and the food is pretty traditional and cheap! We love it. Most meals are under $2.

We’ve tried some of the fancier restaurants like this great Italian place called Amore Mio and a Chinese restaurant called Pagoda, but our favorite dinner place is at Forodhani Gardens. At night, the park comes alive with street vendors selling fish and Zanzibar pizza (see below). We also get great brownies from this café in Forodhani, which are chocolatey and gooey—perfect when we want to eat something American.



Common Foods Eaten in Zanzibar:

Sambusa: Also called samosas, these are triangular fried pastries filled with meat or fish, vegetables, and chilis. They cost around 400-500tsh (1564tsh = $1). This is one of the foods we eat for breakfast.

Andazi: Andazi are similar to doughnuts: the dough is made with coconut milk so they have a slightly sweet flavor. They’re fried and have a light, fluffy texture. There is also something called Shketi, which is like Andazi but they’re braided before fried and covered in a sweet sugar coating. Andazi are everywhere, but we’ve only seen Shketi a few times.

Naan: This Indian bread comes plain, with sesame seeds, or covered with crushed garlic.

Chapati: This is a classic Zanzibar bread, and I plan to learn how to make it before I leave. The dough is simple: it’s made of flour, salt, oil, and egg. The dough is twisted, browned and fried to make a flaky, flat pancake. When we’re trying to be healthy, we eat the whole wheat chapati—but it’s kind of grainy. We eat this a lot at Lukmaan’s.

Coconut Curry: Curries are made with samaki (fish) and/or vegetables. The curry is pretty mild compared to Thai curry or Indian curry, but it’s still very flavorful.

Fish and Seafood: There’s so much fresh fish here. The best are the mahi mahi, tuna, and kingfish. There’s fresh mussels, octopus, calamari, crabs, and lobster, too.

Zanzibar Pizza: I am in love with Zanzibar Pizza. Zanzibar Pizza is not like regular pizza. It’s a fried concoction made with chapati dough and filled with meat, salt, mayonnaise, soft cheese (cream cheese), chili, onion, lettuce, tomato, and oil. There’s also a sweeter variation that’s filled with mango, banana, nutella, and chocolate. YUM! We only buy Zanzibar Pizza from one vendor in Forodhani, a man nicknamed Nutella. Nutella teaches us English and jokes with us. We are among his best customers, so we always get a discount on the pizza, which is usually 2000tsh.

Rice: We eat rice at EVERY MEAL!!!

Pilau: Pilau is a special rice dish that is normally eaten only on special occasions. Pilau is rice cooked in beef or chicken stock and seasoned with cinnamon sticks, cardamom, fresh ginger, raisins, cumin, potatoes, garlic, and black pepper.

Biryani: Biryani is a tangy sauce made with carmelized onions, chili, and beef stock. It’s usually paired with rice.

Fruit: The fruit is delicious. We’ve tried new fruits with names that I can’t pronounce. The mangos taste like candy: I think they’re my new favorite fruit. The bananas and oranges are also delicious, but they don’t look like American bananas and oranges. The oranges are often green—not orange. The bananas are only a few inches long—very tiny. And fruit is really inexpensive compared to the US: You can buy a mango for 300tsh and a dozen oranges for 2000tsh.

Chai tea and coffee: These drinks don’t taste anything like the American versions. Both are heavily seasoned with cinnamon and ginger. I rarely drink tea at home because I don’t like it, but I’m addicted to the chai tea here. We put sugar in the tea here, but the sugar is made with orange juice—this flavor combination complements tea really well.

Zanzibar Soda: I really like the Stoney Tangawizi soda, a type of ginger ale (Tangawizi means ginger). It has a spicy after taste because it’s made with real ginger, unlike the Canada Dry version I know from home. There’s also Krest soda, which comes in both soda water and bitter lemon varieties. Apparently, the bitter lemon is supposed to prevent mosquito bites, but we haven’t been able to try it because there was a problem at the bottling factory, and there hasn’t any Bitter Lemon in Zanzibar. But the soda water is very good, too.

Busy Busy Busy

Everything is still going very well in Zanzibar. It’s hard to believe that I’m almost halfway done with my trip!
We just finished selecting the 8 new scholars. We delivered their acceptance letters to them today, and their smiles were so bright and excited when we delivered the good news. A few girls got teary, and when I saw their reactions, I felt like we all understood the magnitude these scholarships have to change their lives. It was difficult for us to choose the scholars: we went on home visits to each of their houses and met their families before making our final decisions. While going to their houses meant that we understood each girl’s situation better and gave us an opportunity to have a more candid conversation with each girl and her family, the home visits made the decision much more personal and difficult to make. Out of 10 finalists, we gave out 8 scholarships. The two girls who did not get the scholarship were still very deserving and intelligent. I hope they continue to work toward their goals. Even among the girls we fund, we walk a fine line between empowering the girls to create their own change and reinforcing the image of the patriarchal white foreigner who can help them succeed. I do not want to discourage girls who do not get the scholarship from pursuing their goals because our decision is not a final ultimatum on their ability to become a leader in this community. But all this aside, I really feel very good about the girls we chose and the organization’s presence in Zanzibar.
Despite the fact that it’s supposedly the dry season, it rained buckets last night and late into the morning. The rain is very noisy here because the roofs are made of metal. The sound of the rain combined with the regular sound of the call-to-prayer over the loud speakers of 7 competing neighborhood mosques creates quite a cacophony. The call-to-prayer really does happen five times a day here: at 5:30, 9:30, 12:45, 6:30 and 8:30. You can’t miss it. If you’re in the market, business stops as all the men rush to the mosque to prayer for a few minutes. The women don’t seem to observe the call-to-prayer in the same regimented way: they don’t go to the mosques, so they’ll pray at home between cooking, cleaning, and taking care of their children/siblings. But when it rained today, things kept going around Zanzibar. We walked for about 30 minutes in the rain, and the roads became rivers of sewage and cloudy water. We were already soaked when Kathleen—one of the girls I’m traveling and working with—fell into a pothole that was concealed by the deep water and became drenched and dirty from the waist down. At least the rain cools down the temperature: it’s been in the mid-80s for the past few weeks, and there’s no air-conditioning anywhere. That’s Zanzibar for you!
On Sunday we went over to the home of one of our scholars, a girl in Form IV named R (I’m not going to use her full name because I want to respect her privacy). She’s about six months older than my brothers, but she’s living alone in a house adjacent to her brothers’ house. Up until a few months ago, she lived with her family in a different house, but now the family is split up. It was sobering for us to spend time with R, who is an effervescent, chatty girl. Her English is very good, and we enjoyed talking with her about her aspirations, school, and her observations about Zanzibari culture. She taught us how to cook pilau, a spicy rice dish. What we realized after talking to R and going on home visits is that there is so much need in Zanzibar, even among people who are considered “middle class” by Zanzibari standards. We also have a better perspective of how difficult life is here, especially for women. Women are responsible for cooking, cleaning, taking care of the family, etc. Most women cook outside over tiny charcoal stoves. Washing machines are non-existent, and most people don’t even have easy access to clean water with which to clean the clothes, to cook, and to bathe(cholera and malaria are big problems here). The distances between work, school, and home are vast, and many cannot afford to take the dala dala—the public bus that costs about 20 cents a ride. Men are less encumbered, and they exercise clear power over the women in politics, home life, and in religious circles. While some women are educated—leading more independent lives—and some men are more egalitarian in their thinking about gender issues, life here is exhaustive for women. We are worried about R because she’s living alone. She’s nearly 18, but she’s very small—we think she’s been malnourished for a long time. We worry she will be stigmatized for living alone and will be vulnerable to violence. Even in the US, her lifestyle would be lonely and difficult. But still, we were so impressed by her character and commitment to her studies: we are proud to sponsor her.
We’ve also started teaching at Streeter’s Class, one of the tuition schools I mentioned before that teaches English. We’re volunteering about 3-4 times a week for three hours each time. When we went last time, they had me listen to dialogues that groups had written to practice the past tense, and after each group presented, I corrected some of the grammatical mistakes and pronunciation errors I heard. Katie and Kathleen helped with grammar lessons with intermediate and beginning learners. The students were really grateful to be able to listen to a native English speaker. We’ve also helped with reading lessons, where we would say a passage aloud and the students would repeat it. It’s crazy because there are 36 students in a room that’s 15 by 13 feet, with one teacher and a chalkboard. No desks. But every student is incredibly attentive and driven to learn, and so they do learn a lot. I don’t American students would be nearly as attentive under the same circumstances.
We’ve also been doing some networking around Zanzibar. We made contact with the local Rotary club, and we’ve attended two of their weekly meetings. Through them, we’ve learned about a cool non-profit out of New York City that works with Zanzibari students to teach English through self-written plays. They’re called Global Empowerment Theatre—check them out online! We’re going to attend their show in the next few days. The Rotary club has been a valuable contact for us, and we hope that we can continue to learn more about them and teach them about our work. We also met with the Commissioner of Education this morning, which was really neat. Her name is Bibi Maryam Youssuf (Bibi is a title of endearment used for older people, which means grandmother). She was the person who connected S4Si to our partner, FAWE, about seven years ago. She answered lots of questions about how the education system works here and how we might improve our organization’s partnership with the public schools system. We’re going back next week to get more statistics about achievement levels and more.
Finally, we’re busy planning the all-scholar event that we’re going to have on July 2. We’re going to take the girls to a local organization to educate them about agriculture in Zanzibar. When we posed the idea to the girls about having a fun outing with all the girls, they were really enthused about getting out of Stone Town and learning about volunteer opportunities or new aspects of the environment. While tourists get to experience the beauty of Zanzibar’s beaches and forests, these girls rarely have the opportunity: we think it’s a great opportunity to learn with them.
We’re busy figuring out the rest of the summer’s logistics. We’re looking at a calendar and going week by week to figure out what we want to accomplish. We have so much time, but we know it will run away from us if we don’t get ourselves together. I can’t believe I’m almost halfway done. Time flies when you’re having fun. Speaking of fun, the annual Zanzibar International Film Festival is going on right now. We're going to a movie about albinism tonight called White and Black, which should be really interesting. Zanzibar has a surprisingly large albino population, and Rotary works with them to collect unused sunscreen and hats from tourists. We're also going to see Shaggy perform on Friday night! He's headlining. I don't really love his music, but it should be a fun experience. All the events are in the Old Fort, a historical site in old Stone Town.
I’m busy drafting a post about the effects of race and gender on the island, which I hope to have finished in the next week or so. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about it, and I look forward to hearing your feedback or reactions. If there’s anything else you want me to discuss this summer, please let me know. I welcome questions and insights!
For now, Kwaheri!

Anna

Zanzibar Education system

Jambo Rafikis! (Hello Friends!)
We’ve been hard at work for the last week, and I’m proud to say that we’ve made a lot of progress. We finished interviewing the prospective scholars yesterday. Over the course of the last week, we interviewed 28 girls at three schools—Lumumba, Ben Bella, and Zanzibar Commercial School. The girls we interviewed are currently in Form II, which is roughly equivalent to eighth grade; however, many of the girls are fifteen and sixteen years old. From those 28, we have selected 10 girls to be finalists for the scholarships based on the strength of their application and interviews, as well as their demonstrated need and academic achievements. In the upcoming week, we will conduct home visits to those 10 girls’ homes in order to better determine their financial need and to meet their families. After the home visits are finished, we will select 8 new S4Si scholars, whom we will begin funding next year when they start Form III.
The schools with which we work are the best in Zanzibar. At the end of Standard 7—the last year of primary school and equivalent to sixth grade—all Zanzibari students take placement tests to determine if and where they might go to secondary school. School is only compulsory through Standard 7, and the selection process for secondary school, while they are still public schools, is very competitive. The students with the top scores overall are assigned to Lumumba. Students who score the best in Math and Science subjects go to Ben Bella. Students who with the strongest scores in Business subjects go to Zanzibar Commercial School. The secondary schools in Zanzibar are much smaller than in the US—there might be only 90 students in a grade—so there are many schools throughout the island. Based on our observations, we think that some of the schools are split between a magnet-type program and a neighborhood-school program: Half the population is made up of high-achieving students who pursue specialized curriculum at the “magnet” program within the school, and the rest of the student body is made up of lower-performing students drawn from the nearby neighborhoods.
The school day is also very different from the US. Most schools have two sessions in order to accommodate more students. Some students go in the morning from 7 am to noon, and some go in the afternoon from 1 to 6. Often, students are not able to get through the required curriculum during the regular school day, so most students will try to scrape together enough money to attend “tuition” classes in subjects like English, Math, Chemistry, and Biology; without these extra classes, it’s nearly impossible to pass the national exams. Students must take exams at the end of Form II, Form IV, and Form VI. If you fail the Form II or Form IV exams, you cannot remain in public school. If you wish to continue in secondary school, you must pay for private school for a year and re-attempt your exams. Because private school is too expensive for most Zanzibaris, failing one of these two exams means the end of one’s education. When students take exams in Form VI, they receive results in one of five divisions: Division I, Division II, Division III, Division IV, or Fail. Very few students score Division I or Division II, but if a student receives those results, they may get scholarships from the government or private sponsorships to attend university.
There are other costs associated with education, even though public school is technically “free.” Schools will only provide textbooks for the teachers, so students must purchase their own. Uniforms, transportation on the public bus, and school supplies also cost a lot of money. The transportation issue is often what causes students to miss school because there are no public buses and many students live far away from their schools: without money to pay the bus or without a bus, you can’t get to school easily. There’s a saying here that school is “free” for the teachers, but not for students: it seems like this might be an ironic statement, but it’s true here. In the US, many of these costs exist, but at least there are social service agencies and programs set up to assist struggling families. In Zanzibar, there are very few—if any—organizations or government programs that can assist Zanzibaris with these costs because if they did, the demand for these services would be too much for the organization to handle.
Given the number of obstacles in place which could halt or end a Zanzibari student’s formal education, it’s amazing to me that anyone is able to pass. The more time I spend learning about the schools and the national exams, the better I understand how the cycle of poverty is affected by education. If students don’t receive proper instruction and are not able to pass their exams, then the country experiences a dearth of qualified doctors, teachers, lawyers, businessmen and politicians. Without these community leaders, the society will suffer and the amount of education among the population will fall. Without teachers to teach the next generation, without doctors to treat the sick, without politicians to design and implement important policies, the next generation cannot become educated and enter into these skilled professions. Thus, the shortage of doctors, teachers, etc. continues: The cycle seems never-ending. I believe that S4Si’s methods can be very effective within this society. By identifying high-achieving girls, we can combat the gender discrimination that exists in this society, as well as spread education. Many families, when forced to choose between educating a son and a daughter, will choose the son because men are valued more than women in many families and are thought to have a greater chance at success. It is extremely important to educate the women because they are typically the primary caregivers to the next generation: research has shown that educated women wait longer to get married, have fewer children, and are more successful at instilling in their children the importance of education than uneducated mothers.

I’m thoroughly enjoying the work we’ve been doing so far, and I’ve learned a lot about myself and this culture. The people here are really welcoming and eager to show us their world and to learn about ours. We hope to finish the scholar selection process in the next week, and then continue with other S4Si business that we must complete this summer.

Badaye! (that’s Zanzibari slang for “later.” It’s pronounced ba-dye.)
Anna

Our First week is almost over

We've been very busy in the last two days since Katie got here. We have been making arrangements to start the scholar selection process after visiting FAWE on Wednesday. Yesterday, we met at FAWE with Salha--she's one of the three mentors we employ in order to help keep in touch with each one of the current scholars--and Bibi Asma--our FAWE contact. Salha's reportwas very encouraging to us. While there's definitely a lot of things we need to fix this summer in terms of the mentorship program, she expressed such joy in her job and really loves the 16 girls she mentors. It sounds like we could give a little more thought to restructuring her salary, which is understandable given the immense amount of work her job has turned out to be because she does it really well. We have a meeting with Salha and Sophia, one of our other mentors, tomorrow night in order to check in on her progress with her 16 girls, many of whom just graduated and are awaiting their exam results before they can apply to university.
Yesterday we also visited Ben Bella school, one of the three schools we work with, and gave out applications to the top ten girls in form II, which is equivalent to eighth grade, though many of the girls are a little older than american eighth graders. Their joy was evident when we said the word "scholarship." They had been reserved, but each broke into a smile. It's a great reminder of the power of our work, and I hope we do it well. WE took the dala dala, the public bus, to Zanzibar Commercial School this morning, and handed out applications to the top 6 girls in form II at that school. The scholar we select at that school is sponsored by Delta Sigma Pi, the business fraternity at UNC. The school is not as strong as Ben Bella and Lumumba--the other two schools we work with--so that's why fewer scholars usually come from there. The dala dala was actually a really positive experience. We had to travel out of stone town to get to the school, and the dala dala was filled with local people trying to get around. It was a bit scary to get on it because we had to make sure we were on the correct one, but we'll definitely do it again. It only cost 1000tsh for all three of us to go each way, which is SO much cheaper and probably more reliable than a taxi.

Last night we went to Forodani Gardens for dinner, eating Zanzibar Pizza from a stand run by a guy named Nutella. (He told us his real name is Lula.) I bargained for the pizza, getting the price down from 2000tsh to 1500tsh each, and after we talked to him for a while, he promised us an even better price next time. He taught us a lot of useful swahili phrases--he had great english--and it was fun chatting with him. Katie is fairly fearless, and she has been able to get a lot of the people we meet to chat with us.

Our group dynamic is working out really well. We are all on the same page in terms of safety and risk taking, and we seem to make decisions really well as a group. I'm glad that we get along well, because it would be very hard if we didn't. We're going out for a real meal tonight at likely a restaurant called Archipelago. We are craving meat and a real menu and someone to serve us food. We've been eating at Lukhmaan's and Al-Jabry's for most of our meals so far, and we want to try something else.

It's been hard being "mzungu"--white people--here. There's some tourists, but in the area where we live and work, not really any tourists. I can't decide if I like the local areas or the touristy areas better. In the local ones, people are starting to recognize us and we can blend in a bit better (but let's face it, we'll always stand out). But in the tourist areas where all the hotels are, it's nice seeing other tourists, but I don't feel like we fit in because we're not tourists. It's really amazing the clothes people are wearing. We're not completely covered, but we're not wearing shorts either.
We also get hassled more by vendors and locals when we're in tourist areas because they don't distinguish between us and the rich people who are staying in fancy hotels. I think it will get better as we're here longer--and make friends with more vendors so they give us fairer prices--but it's just rather annoying right now.

Exploring the winding streets of Stonetown

Hi Everyone!

My last few days have been spent trying to get acclimated. Kathleen arrived yesterday, so we went exploring a little--I feel so much more comfortable having a buddy to go out with, so I now feel safe walking around. Yesterday we went to the bank and just hung out with Zakiyah talking late into the night. Today we went to visit FAWE, our partner NGO in Zanzibar. We met with a woman named Bibi Asma, who is a great friend to S4Si. She helped us set up logistics at the schools we work with. Once Katie gets here tonight, we will get down to work. We have appointents with the schools the rest of the week and Monday.

Kathleen and I also walked around today, trying to get our bearings. We wandered the winding streets and ended up next to Mercury's (my dad's been fixated on this place since he read about it in the Lonely Planet guide) the restaurant with Freddi Mercury memorabilia. We then went to Foragani Gardens, which overlook the port and the water. Holy Indian Ocean! It was gorgeous. We went to the market and bought oranges, which we peeled at home as per the health suggestions we received. We went to the photocopy place and made copies of all our documents: for about 275 pages, it was 13,500 tsh (that's about $6?!?!). Everything is cheaper here. Lunch at Lukmaan's was curried vegetables and rice, all for 3000 tsh, about $2.

We're back at an internet cafe now just trying to check in with the world. It's an internet cafe called Azzurri's on Mkunazini street: is it on google maps? Let me know!

I made it!

I got to Zanzibar with my self, psyche, and stuff intact. Unfortunately, Kathleen's flight from RDU to JFK was canceled, so I made the journey alone. It was not the preferred method of traveling for me, but my experience traveling helped me out. I made it here safely.

On the ferry ride from Dar es Salaam to Zanzibar I met a girl named Ahlem who is 18. She saved the day for me, lending me her phone to call Zakiyah, the woman with whom I'm staying. She also rode in the taxi with me and helped me get through immigration. She was really kind and I am indebted to her for helping me out. I got her contact info, so I hope we'll meet up again while we're here. It's cool that she's my age.

I can't write any more for now because I'm running out of time on my internet clock (I'm at an internet cafe). But everything is good here.

Kwaheri (Goodbye in Swahili)

Anna

Countdown to Takeoff!

In just a few days, I will depart for Zanzibar! I am so excited.

Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous island off the coast of Tanzania. The island has its own government and generally takes care of its own affairs, even though it is part of Tanzania. We will be staying in Stone Town. I'm told the woman with whom we're staying lives "in the apartment across the street from the baobab tree." So far, that address doesn't register on google maps.



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While in Zanzibar, I will be working to administer Students for Students International's scholarship for high school girls. Students for Students International (S4Si) is a UNC-based not-for-profit that is entirely student run. I have been involved with S4Si for a few months, and in addition to assisting their "delegation" in Zanzibar this summer, I am the incoming S4Si co-Director of Outreach for 2011-2012. S4Si provides comprehensive scholarships to high school aged girls in Zanzibar so that they can finish their education and improve their community. S4Si believes that women's education is critical to fighting poverty, hunger, the HIV/AIDS epidemic and many other crises in the developing world. Their scholarship takes a focused approach to improving girls' access to education, by identifying high-achieving scholars at three Zanzibar secondary schools and giving them resources and support necessary to succeed. They're a great organization, and I am lucky to be able to work with their scholars.

This summer I will assist in the scholar selection process, along with two other S4Si delegates. We will choose eight new scholars, whom S4Si will fund for the next four years through fundraising efforts back at UNC. I am also focused on improving the mentoring program S4Si provides for its scholars, communicating with the three mentors S4Si employs in order to better support the scholars. If we have time, I will also teach English at Streeter's Class, a school that teaches English to students of all ages so that they might participate in the growing tourism industry on the island.

So, that's eight weeks. During my ninth week, I am going on safari in southern Tanzania.

But in the meantime, I'm trying to get through my long To-Do list: I'm sewing long skirts (with the help of my handy mother) to wear while I'm there, I'm catching up with my friends, I'm laying the groundwork for my sophomore year at UNC, I'm cleaning up my room, I'm enjoying family time, and I'm making more To-Do lists. But boy! I am so excited.

I know I am going to have a great time in Zanzibar, and I hope to be able to post on this blog about once a week. You can also follow a blog by Kathleen Hayes, one of my travel companions. You can also reach me via email, anna.bobrow@gmail.com. I would love to hear from you. After all, even though I'm goin' to Zanzibar, I'm always going to have Carolina in my mind...

How was your trip?

School is now back in session and the number one question on every student's mind is, "How was your break?" For me, that question is particularly significant.

During Spring Break, I traveled to Nicaragua as a participant on an American Jewish World Service (AJWS) program organized by UNC Hillel.  AJWS has an extensive curriculum on social justice that it uses during its programs to provide context for discussions on Judaism.

Our final group learning activity in the AJWS curriculum involved how I will teach others the lessons we learned during our program. We practiced role-playing the question, "How was your trip?," in an effort to develop a concise, clear, effective statement that would inform and inspire.

By the end of the week, we had finished the first stage of construction

Mine goes something like this: "I had a great time in Nicaragua over the break. We helped to build a school building in a rural Nicaraguan village, and we learned about sustainable, organic agriculture. The village we were in, San Carlos, is part of a cooperative that uses sustainability to promote education, political and economic empowerment. We loved meeting the children and the community we were impacting, especially by chatting with local government workers."

When we started, the walls were only three feet tall.

And then, I "neglect" to ask about the other person's break activity...a bit harsh, I know. I just hate drawing the focus away from the poverty we witnessed.

I'm trying my best to be diligent and to avoid giving the lazy answer of "it was great" because I know we have a limited window in which to promote this cause. The opportunity raised by this social situation now that we returned is too valuable to waste, especially if we start a new fundraising or awareness effort.

My mind is teeming with ideas on how we can bring our experiences back to campus. Our group has decided to meet regularly to continue our social justice learning and to work on advocacy efforts. As I think about my summer plans, I see great potential for this curriculum and for my experiences in Nicaragua to carry over to the work I will do in Zanzibar.

But enough about me. How was your trip?

One Sunny Day in February

If you haven't heard the news yet, it's over 70 degrees in Chapel Hill today: Nothing could be finer! What a lovely Friday treat.

Apparently I'm not the only one celebrating the arrival of warm weather. Carolina students turned out en masse to show their February Fever. Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" was blasting from the walls of Lambda Chi Alpha, but what they should have been playing was James Taylor's  "Carolina in my Mind." (where are the Clefs when you need them?)

Ah, the glory days of February. Though I must admit, I wish this weather was coming a bit closer to Spring Break, which starts in two weeks. Not only am I now consumed with visions of singing birds, breezy Carolina blues, and blooming daffodils, I must now figure out how to stretch my winter wardrobe into the spring weather--I exchanged all my summer clothes for sweaters in November. Shorts and skirts were out in full-force today: white shorts, cotton dresses, and t-shirts. Carolina t-shirts, for the BC basketball game is this weekend. It may feel like spring, but it's not quite March Madness, yet.

Go outside and soak up the sun.

The sundial outside the Morehead Planetarium (Photo by Anna Bobrow 2/18/11)

Fraternity Houses on Franklin (Photo by Anna Bobrow 2/18/11)

Students playing volleyball outside Craige Dorm (Photo by Anna Bobrow 2/18/2011)

Photos taken with my iPhone.

Introduction

This blog, currently untitled, is an exercise in writing. I have always enjoyed writing--I'm a journalism major, after all--but I rarely write with any frequency. Whenever I read novels in which the protagonist maintains a diary or read diaries as primary source documents, I always think to myself that I would enjoy writing on a daily basis.

This summer, while on a 30-day NOLS course in the Absaroka Mountains of Wyoming, I journaled daily. It was hard for me to write in the beginning: I was self-conscious of my word choice, my thoughts, and my depiction of events. But as I continued throughout those 30 days, it got better, easier. And just the other day, I re-read my journal...it all came flooding back. The events I had recorded reminded me of those I had not. I am so glad I took the time to scribble down a couple of daily events.

With this blog, I hope to record my thoughts about events and issues. It is not intended to be a substitute for a personal diary--I will not attempt to share my innermost thoughts on the internet--but I hope it will be a record for my friends and family, especially as I go on trips, adventures, and tangents (well, maybe more like tirades). So here is to an exercise in writing.