Students, Safaris, and Soulsearching...

Well, I suppose here I am...going into my third month of being amid the culture of Tanzania. Of course, it is dawning on me that time is flying drastically, and soon I will be on a plane flying back to America and diving back into my own culture.  But lets not think about that yet.

So, lately I have been working alongside the Arusha Society for Protection of Animals, or ASPA (a non-governmental organization, non-profit too), to help teach children of all ages about animal welfare. I am also involved in writing proposals and designing brochures and all that for the company, which is new to me since I have never truly been in the business sector of a company. However, I hope to get the opportunity to participate in dog, cat, and donkey vaccination clinics soon. 

Truly, though, my internship couldn't teach me more. I work hard every day with this job with the hopes that I am constantly getting better at communicating in Swahili, or understanding the mindset of the people, or doing business things. The ASPA also has volunteer work for anyone who is interested. A neat fact about the ASPA is that it partners with "Roots and Shoots", the Jane Goodall Institute here in Arusha, which means we have a big opportunity to work within their institution and gain experience, as well as working for the very famous Chimpanzee researcher and conservationist herself. If you don't know about her, she truly is an ambitious and amazing character. 

Recently, my colleague, Chris, and I got to go in and teach about animal welfare to a class 12-year olds.  Let me tell you that the education system here is very different. It's very restrictive and disciplined. The students have to raise their hands every time they want to talk, have to stand up when they talk, and always have to behave because people are watching always.  Critical thinking isn't a thing within schools; it's memorization. From a teacher's standpoint I can imagine how having well behaved children is the ideal, but I can feel how suppressed sometimes the children feel, even if they don't know what they are capable of. One thing people may not like is that they still beat the children with thin wooden sticks for punishment. We witnessed five young boys being forced to bend over, and each time the stick would strike their backs we could hear their faint pathetic squeal. Whether this is right or wrong is a great controversy among American parents. Is punishing using pain and fear the right way to go? I'll leave it for you to think about. 

Otherwise, the lesson went very well, even though we couldn't entirely teach in Swahili. We had a wonderful translator to help us, but the children were very involved and very excited. We had about 50 kids in the class, which was more than I was expecting, but I am slowly learning that Tanzanians may have a very very VERY wrong rough estimate about 95% of the time. We were thankful with the opportunity and now, we will see where the rest of our internship takes us.

As for the moment I, and most of you, have been waiting for, we have experienced our safari to its fullest. We stayed in some of the nicest places that I have ever stayed in and may ever stay in again. We stayed in a "tent" with a queen sized bed and beautiful wooden floors... I am sure everyone could camp in that fashion, but believe me it will forever be the nicest tent I will ever stay in. It was so nice I wanted it to be my house one day. The hotels were absolutely gorgeous sitting atop mountains to look out upon the miles and stretches of the east African scenery. It was unbelievable. 

Swimming pool at the lodge on safari

We saw many types of animals; from all the animals on Lion King, except Timon, even a BABY LION, and then some. As my friend, Ruthie, would say, "I basically died from happiness..." and I felt that happy in that moment. Most of the animals came within 2 feet of our car, except the rhino. It was so majestic and magical that the scenery reminded me of many places I have hiked back home with the addition of so many diverse animals. I am making it a priority to go see those places when I get home, and, in essence, I can sort of carry Tanzania back home with me by hiking those beautiful places. 

We saw many baby animals, which is everyone's dream to just fall into a haze of baby animals, but I will let my pictures do the talking, and then you can feel as jealous as you'd like. If you ever go on safari, check out Africa Untamed for your company (also keep note that prices of things to me are unknown because we also got resident pricing) because our guides were hilarious and personable, and they know their stuff.  It is easy to get caught up in seeing all the big animals like lions, elephants, wildebeests, etc. But try your best to really dive into knowing the little animals, like the birds and the lizards because they have a lot to teach us too.  As for me, I felt so drawn to these sorts of areas. Of course, that isn't a shocker since I love animals, but my heart has a place for these conservation areas, the animals, the country, and the peace found within God's creations. 

A wonderful person I have met on this trip is actually the owner of the safari company, whose name is Elphas. Elphas is originally from Nairobi, but he was such a wonderful and understanding passenger guide. He came along with us to get updates about the company and learn of our own experiences, which is quite amazing customer service, and surprising because I have never had any African ask me about what I have learned about African culture and what I have learned from my host families. His idea is he might begin a safari tour where people can come in and dive into African culture and live with local families to live a life in their shoes. He truly finds value in people knowing the culture of Africa, and he is proud of where he comes from. Isn't that interesting?! He is also very interested in American culture and asked so many questions about where we come from. 

Coming from a business that attracts international people, Elphas taught me about ways on how to communicate to people cross culturally, even to high maintenance tourists. He remains understanding and it also becomes one of the best parts of going on safari with clients. He has taught us so much Swahili, and we have shared so many laughs. He actually reminds me a little of Samuel L. Jackson by the way he talks. However, he has insisted that I come back to Kenya to come visit his family and go to the Serengeti. He has even said he would do research about what it takes to work at the national parks we have been to, which would be just one more option among many for possible careers. 

As for all the things I have learned, it is one new thing everyday. I will say after conversing deeply with my peers I just begin to realize what type of person I want to be. We have students who have their own ministry, who volunteer everywhere, who are camp counselors and singers, and future politicians and brainiacs. They are people who were just born to make an impact on life with ambition and passion and do things you could only dream of. They have so many traits that  I would love to aspire to be and learn from, whether it is more patience, be a better listener, more organized, more involved, or more confident, but, you know, characteristics you just can't force. Even if you think it is such a wonderful thing to start your own ministry, maybe it is just something you weren't meant to be good at. Even if you want to be that daredevil who tries everything in the world, sometimes you just know it isn't for you. People want to be that person that others say "she/he is such a force of nature, a down to earth, ambitious, super smart, beautiful person that it's intimidating because you want to be just like them." But it is okay. You shouldn't feel the need to be more involved, or start ministries, or do daring things that don't make you happy just to feel awesome, because it is okay to just be comfortable with what you enjoy even if it means you aren't doing other people's definition of awesome. You are awesome for being comfortable with who you are. Be who you want to be in the world. That is something I am learning to tell myself every day.

Commitment: Be who YOU want to be in the world. Experience how you want to experience it. Not how you think people want you to experience it.

Love from Africa,

Jax

Zanzibar - Kwa Heri (Farewell)

Do you ever ask yourself why it always takes the last minute to realize something has grown on you?  I will say that my time here in Zanzibar has been a well spent time. I have learned more about culture here than I have anywhere else in the world. There so many things I have done over the last few weeks, and while you must forgive me (nisame), I don't remember everything. 

All my female fellow travelers in our conservative garb

However, I will let you in on a secret...I have waited to explain this until this day I am leaving the island, because it is up for a high amount of debate and conversation in America. Recently, Zanzibar has experienced bombings at the Anglican church and Mercury's, a tourist bar. Now, before you freak out, no one died and no property was severely damaged. The motive is in question, but it is said that the bombing was in response to Zanzibarian locals not wanting to work with the mainland of Tanzania anymore. 

But let me reassure you all...never have I felt persecuted here for being a Christian. Nobody looks twice about my religion. I get hassled more for being a white woman than being a Christian, and even then, I walked around the market, and no one took a second look at me. I was more one of them because I could speak a little Swahili, and I knew how to survive there. For the first time, I felt I was the closest I would ever get to being a part of the culture. 

Sure, at first when I heard the news, I was slightly nervous. I wore my head scarf for a day, but life went on here in Zanzibar. The streets did not change. People went on with their lives trying to survive this world with what God put in front of them. It is a lot less then what we have, and no, I don't miss my h&m clothes, or my nice foam mattress, or my car, or all my stuff that somehow managed to work its way into my life, but being here you learn to miss the freedom you don't realize you have in America (especially as a woman), or drinkable water, or healthy food, or the privilege to workout in our nice air conditioned gyms that people might have the money to spare for memberships. 

In America, we have fallen back on the idea that all Muslims hate Christians, or Americans. We are told to believe that we are the victims, but let me tell you that even though a Muslim and a Christian are seen differently in the way they live their lives, or how they express their faith, we believe in the same all powerful, merciful, gracious one God. As seen in the 6 articles of Muslim faith, there is only one God, and one God alone. 

On that note, a few convicting things about Swahili is that in Swahili they have two different versions of praying; omba and sali. Kuomba means to beg. This is the prayer that is said to lift up all requests to God: "I pray for a new job, a new car, a significant other, more money. I pray for stuff." Or... "I pray for peace, love, patience, stability, etc." However, kusali just means to pray. This is the recited prayers as well as the type of prayer that praises God in all his glory. So just ponder to yourself, why begging and praying are two different types of praying.

Mama Salma and me on graduation day.

Two things that are frustrating as well as interesting, is that "like" and "love" are the same word in Swahili (penda). Your love for coffee, or chocolate is the same kind of love you share for you spouse, your child, or your friend. In English, there is a very distinct difference between all these kinds of loves. Another frustrating thing is that in English we have all these filler words like "really", "too", "so", etc. that feel like you are truly explaining how you feel. For instance, as I wrote my host mom her thank you letter, I tried so hard to explain how awesome and how much I REALLY appreciated her as my host mom, and how she was SUCH a great mom... but there is no way to say that in Swahili as you can in English, so saying she was a good mom will have to do. 

As for the other Swahili, I graduated from the State University of Zanzibar on February 28, 2014, with a certificate of achievement in the intermediate high level with an excellent score. It was officially signed by the head of the foreign student department and the Dean of SUZA himself, and I felt like I was back in high school again. Might I add that we had to do skits in Swahili, and while I am a terrible actor, we had one of the funniest ones. We had everyone laughing and rolling on the floor. 

Beach at Matemwe

The best thing we did in that time was we drove to the north tip of the island to a small town called Matemwe. I will say right now, everyone needs to go stay in Matemwe if they come to Zanzibar.  It is right along the coast line where the Indian ocean is a beautiful shade of blue and is warm. People are always seaweed farming in this water, so wait until later to swim, but there is a peace in watching the people do what they know best. The resorts there are very nice, with very cheap, but very good massages, or spa type things. They have amazing food that you can easily get to right along the beach. The sand is so white it looks like snow, and the sun glares off it like no other. The village around this area is so peaceful that even if you know nothing about Swahili, they will come up and say hello to you, or they will stare as you walk by, but with a smile. It is the most laid back and least stressful place in all of Tanzania. It was truly a great chance to relax, enjoy good food, and good company with Grant, Allie, Ruthie, Andrea, Hannah, another Hannah, Alex, my french flight attendant friend, and Young John.

Matemwe Resort

The daladala ride to get there was even more exciting. We waited for 30 minutes for a dala to show up, while many passed fuller than I can imagine and still calling people in. They should definitely make a roller coaster ride called the daladala because it is the exact equivalent. It was the most eventful daladala ride I have been in. We had up to 37 people in the back at one time, with two women breast feeding, a bicycle, and a flat tire. It was probably one of the greatest adventures out of that whole day, even if my butt fell asleep after a two-hour ride, feeling claustrophobic, and the possibility of getting car sick. Sometimes you just have to toughen it out for the sake of the adventure!

We are making the pirate hook sign to send good luck
wishes to our Whitworth Pirates basketball teams
back in the states.

As I was just getting to know my way around the maze of Stonetown, and as we say Kwa Heri to Zanzibar, we can only hope that one day we will come back to visit, or see the people that we have met over the period of a short month here in Zanzibar. So far, I have been blessed with so many wonderful adventures I will never forget, as well as the wonderful Mama I was blessed with, and the many people I have come to know as my friends. I hope that one day you all come here to see for yourself the beauty and history and culture it has to offer. You may or may not like what you see, but just always remember that this world isnt always about ourselves. 

Sending love from Africa            

Jax