Zanzibar

I visited the island paradise of Zanzibar last weekend. I knew very little about the place before going there:

1. Zanzibar is the name of a restaurant in Ann Arbor. I have yet to meet someone who has actually eaten there.

2. Zanzibar is spelled with two 'Z's, instantly multiplying its fun factor by ten times any other place. If a place is that fun to pronounce, it can only be an amazing place to actually travel to.

Knowing only that, I packed my bags, skipped work on Friday, and boarded my super sophisticated commercial air jet on Fly540 Airlines (in reality, the plane was a thirteen seater that looked like the one Baloo flew on the Disney cartoon TaleSpin).



Over the next two and a half days (two days of which were dampened -- only in the literal meaning of the word -- by constant rain), I experienced the following:

1. The whitest beaches I have ever seen. The water was so warm and clear that you could see down to the bottom almost everywhere.

2. Songs being sung by the "entertainment" during dinners at the hotel (www.bluebayzanzibar.com). It sounded like really bad asian kareoke (even though the singers weren't asian). A favorite was a song that repeated the words "jambo" and "hakuna matata".



3. Snorkeling with this guy....

We took a small motorboat to Mnemba Island where the coral reef is supposed to be the best. Despite the never ceasing rain and cloud coverage, we were able to see some amazing fish.

4. Fishing village children. While waiting to get change to pay our snorkeling guide, curious little kids came up to us. All I could understand was "jambo," and therefore, meaningful interaction with them was limited. They were highly entertained by us taking pictures of them and showing them their faces on the digital camera. Either that, or they were laughing at the mzungus (swahili for 'foreigners') for thinking they can be so easily entertained.

5. Stonetown. This is what I think of when I picture a typical muslim-african city -- narrow alleyways, kids singing verses from the Qu'ran, women (and some men) with kajjal-lined eyes, huge doors with the most intricate woodwork I have ever seen, and expansive spice markets with cloves, cinnamon, pepper, saffron, cardamom, and cumin.

According to the guide we paid $10 to walk us around Stonetown for an hour, Zanzibar is most known for being a center for trade. During the 11th-15th centuries, the economy was almost exclusively run by trade in spices, slaves, and ivory. Between the 15th-17th centuries, it was colonized by first the Portugese, next the Omani, and finally by the British. The island gained independence from the British in 1963 and shortly after joined the former colony, Tanganyika to become the United Republic of Tanzania.

5. Henna tattoos. They mostly use black henna here which goes on black and dries black. It took the girl at least 20 minutes to apply a small flower on the palm of my hand. Someone should really introduce the concept of plastic bag cones to Stonetown.

6. Though we didn't actually experience it first-hand, we were able to see Changuu (Prison Island) from afar. This island is where rebellious slaves were supposed to be housed but instead became a quaratine for yellow fever cases. Now it has become a tourist resort and home to Aldabra Giant Tortoises.

Elephant Orphanage and Giraffe Sanctuary

In an effort to relax during my first weekend in Kenya, I went to see some local sites around Nairobi on Saturday. My first stop was an elephant orphanage. The orphanage has elephants that have been rescued from wells and other places where they were left to fend for themselves because their parents were killed by poachers or predators. Somehow we were lucky enough to get to the orphanage at the exact right time because we ended up having to wait only five minutes to see the baby elephants come out to play. All I have ever seen are adult elephants in zoos or carrying heavy loads on their backs so it was great to see what they do "in the wild". Mostly the babies just used their trunks to throw mud on themselves to keep cool. The caretakers also bottle fed them milk. I learned that human baby formula is the best milk for them because it is vegetable based. It was quite possibly the cutest thing you could watch. You can also “adopt” a baby elephant for $50 and then come whenever you want to tuck the elephant in for bed.

Next, I went to the Giraffe Center. According to my Lonely Planet guide, this is a “vitally important breeding center” started by the Kenyan grandson of a Scottish earl. He and his wife started the center after having raised a baby giraffe in their home. The center has released several giraffes into Keyan national parks since then. I also learned a few interesting facts about giraffes while I was here:

1. A giraffe’s heart can be as large as 1ft by 2ft
2. A giraffe never lies down. It sleeps with its head resting on a tree branch or while sitting with its neck straight. They also only sleep for anywhere between 12 minutes and two hours a day. I couldn't be a giraffe.

Young Women in Enterprise

The project I am working on – Young Women in Enterprise (YWE) – is amazing to say the least. After two years of piloting, TechnoServe is now wrapping up its first year of the program. The girls recruited for YWE are either high school girls or girls from the community. Girls are recruited from two large slums in Nairobi – Mathare and Kawangware. The life cycle of the program is six months of intense training in entrepreneurship, employability, financial literacy, and life skills followed by practical business experience, a business plan competition, and aftercare once businesses are set up and running. I will be helping with the aftercare component and also with marketing efforts, monitoring and evaluation, and redesign.

I was lucky enough to go on my first field visit last week to visit two of the businesses that have been established by girls from the YWE program. The experience was very inspiring. I first visited two girls, Tabitha and Helen, who have set up a group business called the Norway Café. Why Norway? Because they liked the sound of it. Fair enough.

The café is a small shack that was put up by Tabitha’s cousin within the compound of the car garage he manages. The menu includes ugali (sort of like idli), chai, chapati, sardines, beef, and intestines. I stuck to just having some chai as the other options all involved some sort of red meat (I’m not sure if intestines counts as red meat but I’m going to err on the side of caution). It was great to see two girls, both of whom live in the slums and have dropped out of school, doing something to give them financial independence. I think that Helen said it best when she said “I can see poverty leaving us.” They are great entrepreneurs and keep records of everything. Looking at their balance sheet brought me back to the days of Accounting 101. I hope their business does better than I did in that class.

I love the fact that I get to participate during the phase of the project where you can see all the hard work these girls have done materialize into something live changing. The girls have developed more than just business skills. They have gained confidence and a chance at a better life in the future than what they have had to experience thus far. I read a statistic that when girls and women earn income, they reinvest 90% of it into their families, as compared to 30-40% for men. You can take this statistic with a grain of salt but I think the idea is that investing in girls is just a more sound business investment. No offense, boys.

girleffect.org

Transitions

I spent most of this past week awake. The jet lag has never been worse. Normally I can adjust to time zones within two nights, but for some reason it took me a whole five days to recover. While I was not sleeping, I did the following:

1. Read Eat Pray Love. I am now on the part where the author is in India (“praying”). I really enjoyed the “eating” part. “Praying,” not so much, but maybe after I am done, I will be inspired to try to find some inner peace myself. Nah...I'd rather just eat.

2. Watched Season Six of Entourage. I know what you’re thinking--Entourage Season Six is not on DVD until June 24. In Nairobi, however, it has been on DVD for months. Most likely since the day after the season finale aired on HBO. Piracy is neither covert nor penalized in any way. In fact, Kenyan “pirates” display their contact information on the DVDs proudly.

3. Started learning Kiswahili
• Jambo = Hello
• Karibu = Welcome
• Sawa Sawa = OK
• Asanti Sana = Thank you very much

4. Watched the World Cup. It’s World Cup fever here, especially because it’s taking place in Africa for the first time. Let’s just say school kids had a half day on Friday which seems to be too coincidental considering it was also the opening ceremonies of the World Cup. I went to a bar called K-1 to watch the USA vs. England game where a tent with bleachers and three big screen projection TVs had been set up. There were people blowing super loud horns (which frankly should be outlawed), plenty of USA cheering, and people dancing to Shakira over and over and over…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRpeEdMmmQ0

5. Listened to the sounds out of my window. Because I have been warned by people about mid-day shootings, bombings in church groups, and what is referred to as “Nairobbery,” I have been confined to my apartment after sunset unless accompanied by a chaperone. Due to this fact, I have spent my sleepless nights listening to an annoying woman washing dishes on her balcony at 5:30AM, more annoying C-Grade Himesh Reshammiya music playing from one of my neighbors’ houses, and dog howling competitions.