It's Baadaye, not Kwaheri.

Wow, it’s amazing that the internship is over. Last week was a stressful one; turning in last minute assignments/projects and making sure to get in all my goodbyes at the office. My mind has yet to process that this experience is coming to an end.

Something that I am most appreciative of is the fact that I absolutely am not ready to leave. This might seem like a cliché thing to say; I am on a beautiful island after all. However, with most people I know, internship experiences seem to be luck of the draw. I’ve heard of many negative internship experiences. I’ve heard people saying that they couldn’t wait to get out of their work environment. This was simply not the case with me.

In fact, it couldn't be more opposite. 

Wonderful co-workers

Group picture from a workshop confronting Gender Based Violence

Setting up an internship (or any job for that matter) can be quite nerve wracking. Until you really get in the environment, you don’t know what to expect. Setting up an internship abroad is even more of a gamble. I remember so many thoughts going through my head before I left for Zanzibar. What if my internship is a disaster and I have to come home? What will the environment be like in the workplace? Will I be able to effectively work within that environment? What if I don’t know enough Swahili to work there? Will people want to speak English with me? The list goes on and on. I soon found out that most of these questions were way over-dramatic for what the experience turned out to be. Sometimes you just have to trust that everything will be fine.

Last weekend, I skyped in with my internship class back in Denver. One of the requirements over the weekend was to submit a final critical reflection in which you analyze your experience, including the strengths/skills you gained throughout the internship. So, now I would like to brag to you all about a skill/realization that I gained here.

Personally, I tend to rely heavily on the advice/opinions of my friends and family (especially my sister, Courtney) when I am in sticky situations. Yes, this is good to a certain extent. But sometimes you have to embrace your fear and take a hold of a situation on your own. Usually, I do take on the situation, only after someone gives me the instructions.

Listening intently with my co-worker, Jamila.

Here, I learned to take more responsibility entirely on my own. Instead of running to get advice or support when I came upon a controversial situation, I instead would stop myself. I would think something like, You have to handle this yourself. You are here, in this environment. And friends and family are there. You need to trust yourself. Keep in mind, I wasn’t necessarily put in situations of tension all the time, but I did have to juggle miscommunications with the language and cultural barrier. Additionally, there will always be points of conflict in the workplace, so I confronted those as best I could.

Speaking at a workshop

One of my major learning goals I wanted to take away from this experience was how to be aware and respectful of the culture while also being clear about having my needs met. In the work environment, I am a yes person. I know that my passion and high standards to appear professional and able are responsible for thisx. However, being so willing can put me in a vulnerable position; one that allows people to take advantage of me. During my internship, I constantly though about how I wanted to be seen, which included a person who gives respect and also needs to receive it. I acted when I felt uncomfortable. I showed that I wanted respect by showing it first and also voicing my needs. Yeah, it was intimidating to do this at first, especially in a culture that was not my own. But I learned that I am capable of making tough decisions and ending on top.

My supervisor, Harusi, and I. 

The gang, interns and all. 

Yay for interns!

Up to three or four weeks before I left, my co-workers would tell me how much they would miss me. “What are we going to do without you?” they would say. My supervisor even told me she wished I could be on the working staff full time. This positive feedback told me that I had successfully shown respect and received it, and had also worked in relationships of solidarity. On the last day, my two co-workers, Jamila and Gabriel brought in a cake for me! It was beautiful. The kindness felt was a wonderful and rare one; the type that brings the water works.

I want to say thank you to Zanzibar Legal Services Centre for giving me such a wonderful internship experience; one that has left me wanting to stay here for much longer. Thank you for all of your support, patience, guidance and being so welcoming of me. I will miss you all!

Ninataka kusema Ahsante sana, Zanzibar Legal Services Centre. Ahsante kwa kila kitu ya internship. Ninatake kukaa hapa, na sitaki kuandoka! Ahsante kwa msaada, umuviluvu, mwongozo na kuwakaribisha. Ninakukoseni!

Siku kuu for me and you. (Eid Mubarak!)

My family and I on the first day of Eid. Me, Saeed and Naila. 

Wow, what an amazing, interesting and intense experience Eid has been here in Zanzibar. For those of you that may be unaware, Eid (Siku kuu in Swahili) is a Muslim holiday that celebrates the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Most of the heavily populated cities/towns of Islam followers in Africa and the Middle East usually only allow one day for the celebration of Eid. However, Zanzibar is different. Most businesses/organizations allow two days off work, if not four. Celebratory activities go on for more than four days though, even lasting up to 8 sometimes!

Naifeen adding her personal cooking touch. She is the niece of Naila and Saeed.

The days leading up to Eid included much preparation. Luckily I was able to help out a bit!

Celebrations are similar to that of Christmas in America, with some differences. During the morning of the first day, families wake up early, get dressed up, and eat a meal complete with special pastries with the family. Children also go door to door and are given money or candy from adults in the neighborhood, kind of like Halloween. 

The morning meal that my family ate together. Delicious pastries (aka carbs) galore!

Before and after breakfast, we took time to take pictures of us all dressed up. In Zanzibar, everyone  dresses up in their ‘Sunday Best’ as American standards would call it. Women go and buy new clothes before Eid begins and delicately pick out a stylish, matching outfit for each day. After learning this, I asked my host mom, Naila, if she could take me to get a new dress. It was totally last minute, but luckily Naila's sister owns a store with some really great clothes. She took me around 10 PM and I picked out a new dress and scarf. All the stores in the area were open and swarming with crowds, as people are doing their last minute shopping. Naila, who runs a clothing business traveling between Dubai and Zanzibar, had already bought all her clothes for Eid on her trip last month in the fashion-forward city. She looked drop dead gorgeous in each outfit (she often wore as many as four outfits in one day!).

Outfit #1

Outfit #2

Outfit #3

Close up of Naila and I before we went to explore evening festivities in Zanzibar. Naila bought all her beautiful clothes in Dubai! She looked flawless in every outfit.

Naila and Saeed

Babu Kassim (Saeed's father) and I. Doesn't he look spiffy?!

The whole fam.

Nadiya and I posing. She looked SO great in that outfit.

Nadiya loves posing for pictures. I probably took close to ten takes of her siting on this couch. But I can't complain, she is such a beauty!

Not only do Zanzibaris go all out with their wardrobe, many families also re-decorate their houses! During the week leading up to Eid, I would come home from work to Naila, Nadiya and Saeed repainting rooms/walls around their place. Additionally, the night before Eid, I came upstairs to find a newly furnished living room area! They bought a new rug, couch, pillow set, curtains, and a few other decorative items. It looked amazing. My mom would've loved how clean and organized it all looked as well - there wasn't a speck of dust to be found.

In Zanzibar and other places around the world, it is custom for people to visit many family members during Eid, so after the morning meal together we started the trek. We went to around four or five different houses to visit family. It was great to visit people that I hadn't met before. Everyone welcomed me with open arms, I felt like a part of the family. 

Wafaa and I amidst visiting family members.

Saeed and his cousin.

Naila's stylish sister.

People continue to visit family members following the first day. The second day of Eid, we went out to Saeed's uncles' house for lunch. It was like a big family reunion!
Zanzibaris also frequent popular areas during the day and mostly in the evening, including beach areas and Forodhani Gardens, where fisherman set up their catches of the day. It felt like a heavily populated concert; people were shoulder to shoulder! Everyone looks so stylish as well. I often felt far too underdressed, especially standing next to Naila!

Lunch at Babu's brothers' house.

Naila and I on day two of Eid. She looks like a queen, right?!

I can't get over those shoes.

Posing for the camera (and wearing the same dress as the day before, oh well!)

Wafaa (Naila's niece) na mimi.

Naifeen, mimi na Wafaa. 

Henna hands.

These girls, like Nadiya, love posing for the camera!

Caki ya Eid

I feel SO lucky to have been able to be here for the festivities, as I have never really experienced such a huge holiday in a different cultural setting (having Christmas on family reunions in resort areas does not count). Being here for Eid in this culture meant experiencing family traditions, food delicacies, vibrant clothing and pure happiness around the island. Additionally, it put into perspective the potential of what a celebration should look like in America. I really loved the emphasis of visiting as many family members as possible and spending the entire day with each other celebrating. The main point was not about gifts. Rather, it was about being with loved ones and expressing happiness for what people already have.

Looking out to Michanzani village in Zanzibar.

Until next time! Thanks for reading!

Solidarity in Swahili Land

Welcome back, everyone! It seems that much time has passed here. I’ve been keeping busy with work, school and exploration.

Lately, despite feeling constantly challenged (which is a good thing), I’ve been keeping in mind how lucky I am to be here. These thoughts will come at random, though they mostly occur when I am on a high, like after a morning run or at a workshop when I am greeted by welcoming community members. While I never will feel 100% comfortable here, I also think that being too comfortable is dangerous. It's easy to fall into a mode of not challenging ourselves or pursuing new limits, and we often are quick to criticize what we do have. 

Experiencing a new culture takes me outside my own. It also allows me to become aware again of the many great aspects about my life back home; a life where sometimes, I become too comfortable. Travel makes me realize who I am, and grow in ways that have never seemed possible.

While I have come to find a new appreciation for all the amenities back home, I am also realizing more and more my desire to be in this culture in a more long term setting. This brings up another topic that’s been on my mind recently: solidarity.

I took a class last semester from a favorite Iliff professor, Julie Todd, that was called Solidarity and Working Across Difference. This class really impacted my frame of thinking. Many of the major class take-away’s have been at the forefront of my mind here. For example, I feel solidarity when I go to a workshop with my internship site in a remote village and am welcomed by the participants. At first, I feel everyone’s eyes staring at the one white westerner in the room. It’s uncomfortable, but also a very humbling experience that I truly appreciate. This is because I know that back in America, I am the majority member who is never stared at because of my color. I usually sit there at the beginning of the workshop trying to comprehend the topics being brought up (usually one of my co-workers translates for me half way through). After a while during the question and answer period, I am asked to speak by co-workers. I attempt to speak Swahili, and then resort to English with translation. Afterwards, I always notice how the mood changes and people are smiling and introducing themselves to me by the end. Usually, it's not as if I've brought any new or revolutionary ideas up. Rather, it is the act of participation and interest in the community issue that people open up. That is solidarity. It is the process of being humbled by difference, and both giving and receiving a warm, inclusive welcome despite dissimilar backgrounds, races, ethnicities, ages, genders, sexual orientations, etc.

What makes me have the urge to come back here is to continue the experience and the successfulness of solidarity.

Another story I will share that involves solidarity occurred unexpectedly for me this past weekend while studying Swahili at a rooftop restaurant near the port. The customers were mostly all western, with a few Swahili-speakers here and there. My waitress, as well as all the others, was not wearing a headscarf. I decided to take mine off as well once I noticed this. After spending about 4 hours there, my waitress came over to request that I pay so she could leave work. I handed her money and then stood up to go use the bathroom. When I walked in, I saw a Zanzibari woman putting her headscarf on. We exchanged conversation in Swahili about Ramadan and afterwards I headed back to sit down. When I walked in to the restaurant, I saw my server, who was now wearing a headscarf. As I thanked her again, I thought in my head Oh my god. She's Muslim.

I felt appalled. It then occurred to me that the other woman fixing her headscarf in the bathroom must have also been a server. You might be wondering why I had this response. I was shocked and frustrated because these women had clearly been warned or asked to abandon their religious traditions for the work environment. And I am pretty sure that they were asked to remove their head scarves so that more money can be made and so that they won't make the western guests feel uncomfortable for eating, as I overheard a conversation from the man to my right discussing how the restaurant is desperate to make more money to maintain the building.

I felt glad that I had only spoken Swahili with my server as well as other help. I feel it is important to do this so as to meet the people of the country on their level and to further relationships in solidarity. So far, the western culture I’ve been exposed to here in Tanzania often expects to be met at their level by the locals. This often creates an unrealistic expectation placed on locals and certain categorizations placed on westerners. Still, I was frustrated that the whoever told these women to abandon their religious beliefs wanted to please western culture this much and in the mean time violate local religious rights.

However, I do know from my experiences here that solidarity, working across difference and being able to find balance among different levels of custom is possible. However, it does require having the humility to experience being humbled and uncomfortable. I’m not saying I am perfect at this in any way; it’s a constant process. Though there are things we can do to improve relationships with others and respect culture, like trying to speak in Swahili or listening to others before we give our input. I also know that the process of solidarity is one that is attainable and one that I hope to continue being a part of here.

Now, enough of the heavy language. Below are some pictures from the past few weekends:

Last weekend, I went with the Indiana students to an area in the South of the island called Bwe Juu. We visited a women's clothing co-op and a Seaweed farm in the ocean. It was incredible and really amazing to see the work that women do on the daily. Additionally, the co-op was created by two local women who saw a need for employment and textile opportunities in the community. 

Below are a few pictures from my internship workshops I've been able to attend. The first is a youth workshop I participated in that focused on increasing Zanzibari youth participation in politics and human rights. The next four are at the most recent workshop in a village up North of the island, where community leaders from many different communities came to discuss Gender Based Violence against children and received training on positive parenting skills. The final picture shows all the ZLSC interns (including myself!)

The last few pictures are ones I have taken around Stone Town, including a beach area called Mbweni Ruins. Also included are a few pictures of my family members whom I eat with every night. They go above and beyond to make great meals every night! Oh, and the last picture is of my beautiful house girl/sister Nadiya. I can't get over her beauty, inside and out! 

Until next time! Baadaye! (See you later)