Some of you may know (and some of you may NOT know) that today is a day of remembrance for all those young gay men and women who have killed themselves to fight off hate after being forced to be scrupulous about how they are portrayed and who they are and how they were born. These people in particular, Tyler Clementi, Asher Brown, Seth Walsh, Justin Aaberg, Raymond Chase, Billy Lucas Jeanine Blanchette, and Chantal Dube are not the only stories like these; stories of young men and women being bullied for being gay to the point of suicide... But these are the stories that have been so public and so available for the last couple months that many people have started to take a stand against those who commit to this type of bullying by wearing purple today in a sign of remembrance and recognition of the problem our society still faces today.
It is absolutely crazy to me that this type of thing is still happening in this country, and in many others, but particularly here. We've come a long way with acceptance of people and their beliefs here and have even been able to combat really ridiculous old-school practices like Don't Ask, Don't Tell and gay marriage and had significant wins in both of these stances in major court rooms around the world. All of that is wonderful and the fight is still being fought, but none of it will matter if children who are born gay do not feel comfortable going to school because they're afraid of what the "straight, jock kids" will say to them as they try to get to their classes. Everything would be a waste if children continue to take young men and women captive and beat them senseless for something they cannot control. All of these things still happen today, and it is because of two things:
1. These bullies have intense issues with their own lives and use someone who is "different" than them to reflect the hatred that they have in themselves.
and 2. The parents of these children are not being the non-denominational, moderate beings that children need to look up to enough to know that even if their child is NOT gay, there was a possibility that he or she could have been and they would never want their children to be beaten, abused, and used the way these children are on a daily basis.
So, here's why I'm wearing purple today. Because I am a fighting advocate for equal rights of everyone. Black, white, Asian, Indian, Muslim, Christian, Gay, Straight, Right, Left. Everyone.
I do not have children yet, but when I do, each one of them will have equal rights distilled into their veins from birth just as I did. They will have friends from all walks of life and of all races, religions, cultures, and sexual backgrounds. They will know that it is wrong to discriminate against anyone no matter what they feel about the issue. They will learn to stand up for someone who is weaker than they are, no matter what the consequence, because that's what I was taught. They will learn to be strong, loving, and caring in spite of those children whose parents did not teach them the manners that they were taught. They will love everyone.
I am not the only one who pledges this today. There are many others fighting for the chance to tell their kids the same thing. The problem is, there is just not enough of it. There is not enough strength in high enough places to get this stuff rid from our lives. The government is lackluster at best when it comes to standing up for the rights of American people who happen to have been born homosexual. Our own President, who since he graced us with his cleverly read scripts on those teleprompters that spoke about change and equality and a revolution for the American people has been close-mouthed about everything in terms of any kind of change for people who have no voice. The government, in their attempt to continue this lifestyle of being "politically correct" has ultimately become a coward for the things that matter. Keeping our nation safe and free of ridicule. Of being safe and free, which is what I thought this country was founded upon.
I thought about something today while driving to school and fussing with my purple hair ribbon. We condemn terrorists for taking an airplane and crashing it into a building of Americans who were completely innocent; it isn't their fault that they were born in America, and they were just living their lives based on who they were. There is outrage everyday against these evident terrorists and any other people who try to take away our freedom by killing, injuring, and scaring us.
Why, then, are we not in outrage over these bullies... these, terrorists? As far as I'm concerned, these bullies are civil terrorists, causing enough havoc and turmoil to our own people to cause them to jump out of the metaphorical building of their lives and take their own life before someone else does. I have just as much disgust and contempt for those who bully innocent gays as I do for those who bullied the innocent Americans working for a living on 9/11, and I feel like everyone else should too.
They were born this way, and it's about time people come to that realization.
So, today I stand for every one of my gay friends, and everyone else who has ever been a victim of any kind of bullying. I will stand up, no matter the repercussions, because I am strong and I love you all more than I could ever put into better words than these.
Hopefully one day this note will be the start of a change worldwide, but until then, it's a change in me.
With all the love in the world,
Shannon.
ps. This is not how I would like to see the United States turn out.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/19/AR2010101903438.html
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010- Zanzibar day 24
I went back to Marnee and Davids room after I wrote the last blog and put some more of that yellow goop in my eye with their help and they were so grossed out. It hurt like hell and I ended up finding my visene while I was packing so I put some in, grabbed my eyeshades and called it a night.
Ive heard that malarone has been making people have really crazy dreams and I haven't really experienced that yet until last night.
I can't remember what dream I had but I remember waking up screaming and my heart was racing like crazy. It felt so real! Lily ans Jessica didn't hear me I guess but it was crazy nonetheless.
And, yes, Denice (my only avid reader from what I can tell ;) ) the meds seem to be working. I didn't take the pills because I didn't know what they were kind of sketch and I don't know what they were but just two applications of the yellow cream of death has taken the symptoms down incredibly. I stuck to wearing my glasses today and applying it three times so far and it seems to be doing okay.
I slept in today and it felt amazing! Now I want to let you know what time I qualify as sleeping in on this trip: 8:30. AM. :) the California me would die if she heard that.
So I got up, ate breakfast and we all decided to lay out by the hotels pool in the morning. David, Marco, Steven, and Andrea decided to go fishing with Soodi today but with my eye issues and a desperate need to make my back side match my front side in tanning capability, I opted to stay with the girls. Alivianna, Marnee, Selina, and Mary had a really great time laying out and getting in the pool. Around 10:30 we decided to do some drinking since we didn't have to teach today. We started with the rest of Selinas Konyagi, which is pretty much the grosest thing ever. We did Konyagi and coke with a beer. Then another beer. Then another. And another. Pretty soon it was 1 and we were drunk, tan, and starving. The hotel once again didn't make enough food for us so we finally did what we've been threatening to do for the last couple weeks: we decided to go to the hotel about a mile away for food.
We all went to our rooms to drop stuff off and some of the girls did laundry and I napped in a hammock. David came home from fishing and came with us as we went down the beach to walk toward the hotel. We were excited to get to the hotel and see an amazing huge pool with a bar in the middle of it and an amazing looking hotel. Nothing like kichanga. We couldn't imagine how much it cost to stay THERE because kichanga charges 250 dollars a night.
We walked in to find a restaurant and we saw a really nice bar area that I felt bad for walking in without clothes other than a bikini top and shorts. We sat down next to a tv that was playing the Argentina vs. Korea world cup game. The menu was amazing. And! Unlike kichanga they had EVERYTHING on their menu available. (kichanga has a menu that they put out everyday and the only thing they have on it consistenly is pasta.) we ordered a couple drinks and burgers. It was a huge burger that came with fries and a salad fiiiiilled with cucumbers. We hung out and had a really good time. Selina wanted to go to the village but we couldn't because we were all wearing bikini tops so she decided she was going to go alone and come in the dark, which I thought was stupid, but I'm not her mother so there's not much I can do.
We met up with Clara, Estella, and Yao an we left Selina with them. They told us the tide is too high for us to take the beach but we figured we'd be okay if we hurried. We were really wrong.
We were fine for the first couple minutes and we got to the first of three little coves and the water got so high it took my shorts over which I immediately regretted not putting them in my bag. The water got more and more furious and we were holding cameras and electronics high above our heads and praying we wouldn't fall. The rocks everywhere on the ground didn't help because every time we stepped on a rock we'd trip and half fall in the water. It was hilarious but also scary as I was carrying my new pride and joy of a camera.
Alivianna was ahead of us and we saw her face the ocean as a huge wave came to protect her backpack that had her journal in it, and the water basically took her over, getting both sides and splashing all over her. We finally made it home with safe electronics, bruised feet bottoms and wet clothes. Aliviannas journal was surprisingly dry and we were all exhausted.
Ive heard that malarone has been making people have really crazy dreams and I haven't really experienced that yet until last night.
I can't remember what dream I had but I remember waking up screaming and my heart was racing like crazy. It felt so real! Lily ans Jessica didn't hear me I guess but it was crazy nonetheless.
And, yes, Denice (my only avid reader from what I can tell ;) ) the meds seem to be working. I didn't take the pills because I didn't know what they were kind of sketch and I don't know what they were but just two applications of the yellow cream of death has taken the symptoms down incredibly. I stuck to wearing my glasses today and applying it three times so far and it seems to be doing okay.
I slept in today and it felt amazing! Now I want to let you know what time I qualify as sleeping in on this trip: 8:30. AM. :) the California me would die if she heard that.
So I got up, ate breakfast and we all decided to lay out by the hotels pool in the morning. David, Marco, Steven, and Andrea decided to go fishing with Soodi today but with my eye issues and a desperate need to make my back side match my front side in tanning capability, I opted to stay with the girls. Alivianna, Marnee, Selina, and Mary had a really great time laying out and getting in the pool. Around 10:30 we decided to do some drinking since we didn't have to teach today. We started with the rest of Selinas Konyagi, which is pretty much the grosest thing ever. We did Konyagi and coke with a beer. Then another beer. Then another. And another. Pretty soon it was 1 and we were drunk, tan, and starving. The hotel once again didn't make enough food for us so we finally did what we've been threatening to do for the last couple weeks: we decided to go to the hotel about a mile away for food.
We all went to our rooms to drop stuff off and some of the girls did laundry and I napped in a hammock. David came home from fishing and came with us as we went down the beach to walk toward the hotel. We were excited to get to the hotel and see an amazing huge pool with a bar in the middle of it and an amazing looking hotel. Nothing like kichanga. We couldn't imagine how much it cost to stay THERE because kichanga charges 250 dollars a night.
We walked in to find a restaurant and we saw a really nice bar area that I felt bad for walking in without clothes other than a bikini top and shorts. We sat down next to a tv that was playing the Argentina vs. Korea world cup game. The menu was amazing. And! Unlike kichanga they had EVERYTHING on their menu available. (kichanga has a menu that they put out everyday and the only thing they have on it consistenly is pasta.) we ordered a couple drinks and burgers. It was a huge burger that came with fries and a salad fiiiiilled with cucumbers. We hung out and had a really good time. Selina wanted to go to the village but we couldn't because we were all wearing bikini tops so she decided she was going to go alone and come in the dark, which I thought was stupid, but I'm not her mother so there's not much I can do.
We met up with Clara, Estella, and Yao an we left Selina with them. They told us the tide is too high for us to take the beach but we figured we'd be okay if we hurried. We were really wrong.
We were fine for the first couple minutes and we got to the first of three little coves and the water got so high it took my shorts over which I immediately regretted not putting them in my bag. The water got more and more furious and we were holding cameras and electronics high above our heads and praying we wouldn't fall. The rocks everywhere on the ground didn't help because every time we stepped on a rock we'd trip and half fall in the water. It was hilarious but also scary as I was carrying my new pride and joy of a camera.
Alivianna was ahead of us and we saw her face the ocean as a huge wave came to protect her backpack that had her journal in it, and the water basically took her over, getting both sides and splashing all over her. We finally made it home with safe electronics, bruised feet bottoms and wet clothes. Aliviannas journal was surprisingly dry and we were all exhausted.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010- Zanzibar day 23
My eye never got better.
In fact, I had tried to sleep in this morning to no avail because the swelling in my eye was so intense. I got up, ate breakfast and asked the hotel for some eye drops but they just didn't help. I took a nap out on one of the patio couches in the common area and hoped to be fine when I woke up. I wasn't.
When I woke up from a couple hour nap I checked my eye out and looked at my upper lid and there's a huge bump inside my eye way in the back where it comes in contact with my cornea when I blink. I tried to figure out what was wrong with a little web md, and I self diagnosed myself with a Chalazion, a lump caused my a clogged oil gland under the skin, and figured I should go to the clinic just to get it checked out.
Everyone is worried about me, but Jessica told me that Mohammed knows of a hospital in the michamvi pingwe village that I could go to so me, Alivianna and Mohammed went through the beach walk to the village. Alivianna joked that her journal is filled with me, David and Shannon talk and I laughed and noticed that mine is basically me, David, and Alivianna as well. We joke about being a three partner couple and it's pretty awesome.
Mohammed told us a story about how he used to be a street salesman around kichanga during the high season and told us such crazy stories about dealing with the police and many other things. It was really nice to talk to him because I haven't really this entire trip.
We arrived at the hospital and there were two women sitting outside of an empty building and a man at a house across the street walked over and greeted us. As I went in to talk to him he greeted me in swahili and asked where I wa from and why I was in Zanzibar. I told him I was a teacher of HIV and AIDS and he talked to me about that for like 10 minutes before asking me why I was there. I showed him my eye and he hardly looked and started showing me malaria tests. I immediately thought there was a miscommunication and he thought I had malaria and was going to give me a test. He then handed me a little package that said oxytetracycline hydrocortisone that I later learned is an antibiotic that I am supposed put inside my eye and he told me to go to the Duka and pick up some medicine.
We went to the duka and they gave me two little folded envelopes with a bunch of pills in them and I couldn't help but think Id be shelling put a couple thousand shillings for them. I only paid 500 shillings for two bags of antibiotics. That's less than 35 cents!!!! And I didn't be to pay for the hospital visit!
We went from the duka to mohammeds house where we found tatu and mohammeds family sitting and eating and preparing to sell some egg plants. We sat on the floor and watched his mother weigh some octopus they caught that day and talked to tatu and Mohammed about different cultural and political differences between our hometowns. Thabit came later and we had a hilarious conversation about how he is in love with tatu but she'll never love him like she loves David.
Tatu really does love David but David is gay. He hasn't told her yet, I don't think because she is very Muslim and homosexuality is really looked down upon. He told thabit and kessi because he is really close to them and they accepted him but he worried about her.
We talked for a long time until it was time for some of the people to teach.
I decided that my eye was bugging me and I couldn't wash my hands in the village so I was gonna walk home. Apparently the tide was too high to take the beach route so I had to walk the jungle-eque route which is not exactly what I wanted to do alone. The kichanga stray dog was with me and we began walking. One of the kichanga beach boys walked most of the way with me and tested my Swahili. We talked about soccer and a couple things before I got to the hotel safe and sound. I showered and put this stuff in my eye that burned like hell and then did a little cleaning up before dinner. This is the first time all trip I've been caught up on my blog and it's the end. I guess that means that I have been busy busy busy.
We have one more day before I head to the airport and I don't really know what to make of it.
On one hand I'm ecstatic to go home but on the other I am not ready to leave. I feel like there's so much more to do here and I'm not done connecting with the 13 people I'm here with. It's going to be a sad day on Saturday. :(
In fact, I had tried to sleep in this morning to no avail because the swelling in my eye was so intense. I got up, ate breakfast and asked the hotel for some eye drops but they just didn't help. I took a nap out on one of the patio couches in the common area and hoped to be fine when I woke up. I wasn't.
When I woke up from a couple hour nap I checked my eye out and looked at my upper lid and there's a huge bump inside my eye way in the back where it comes in contact with my cornea when I blink. I tried to figure out what was wrong with a little web md, and I self diagnosed myself with a Chalazion, a lump caused my a clogged oil gland under the skin, and figured I should go to the clinic just to get it checked out.
Everyone is worried about me, but Jessica told me that Mohammed knows of a hospital in the michamvi pingwe village that I could go to so me, Alivianna and Mohammed went through the beach walk to the village. Alivianna joked that her journal is filled with me, David and Shannon talk and I laughed and noticed that mine is basically me, David, and Alivianna as well. We joke about being a three partner couple and it's pretty awesome.
Mohammed told us a story about how he used to be a street salesman around kichanga during the high season and told us such crazy stories about dealing with the police and many other things. It was really nice to talk to him because I haven't really this entire trip.
We arrived at the hospital and there were two women sitting outside of an empty building and a man at a house across the street walked over and greeted us. As I went in to talk to him he greeted me in swahili and asked where I wa from and why I was in Zanzibar. I told him I was a teacher of HIV and AIDS and he talked to me about that for like 10 minutes before asking me why I was there. I showed him my eye and he hardly looked and started showing me malaria tests. I immediately thought there was a miscommunication and he thought I had malaria and was going to give me a test. He then handed me a little package that said oxytetracycline hydrocortisone that I later learned is an antibiotic that I am supposed put inside my eye and he told me to go to the Duka and pick up some medicine.
We went to the duka and they gave me two little folded envelopes with a bunch of pills in them and I couldn't help but think Id be shelling put a couple thousand shillings for them. I only paid 500 shillings for two bags of antibiotics. That's less than 35 cents!!!! And I didn't be to pay for the hospital visit!
We went from the duka to mohammeds house where we found tatu and mohammeds family sitting and eating and preparing to sell some egg plants. We sat on the floor and watched his mother weigh some octopus they caught that day and talked to tatu and Mohammed about different cultural and political differences between our hometowns. Thabit came later and we had a hilarious conversation about how he is in love with tatu but she'll never love him like she loves David.
Tatu really does love David but David is gay. He hasn't told her yet, I don't think because she is very Muslim and homosexuality is really looked down upon. He told thabit and kessi because he is really close to them and they accepted him but he worried about her.
We talked for a long time until it was time for some of the people to teach.
I decided that my eye was bugging me and I couldn't wash my hands in the village so I was gonna walk home. Apparently the tide was too high to take the beach route so I had to walk the jungle-eque route which is not exactly what I wanted to do alone. The kichanga stray dog was with me and we began walking. One of the kichanga beach boys walked most of the way with me and tested my Swahili. We talked about soccer and a couple things before I got to the hotel safe and sound. I showered and put this stuff in my eye that burned like hell and then did a little cleaning up before dinner. This is the first time all trip I've been caught up on my blog and it's the end. I guess that means that I have been busy busy busy.
We have one more day before I head to the airport and I don't really know what to make of it.
On one hand I'm ecstatic to go home but on the other I am not ready to leave. I feel like there's so much more to do here and I'm not done connecting with the 13 people I'm here with. It's going to be a sad day on Saturday. :(
Tuesday, June 15, 2010- Zanzibar day 22
Late to bed early to rise seems to be the mantra of this trip for me. I got up at 6:30 and David, Alivianna and I did some pilates on the beach before breakfast. That alone makes me want to move to the beach when I get home. We showered, ate, and got ready for my last teaching ever at michamvi pingwe with my standard 6 kids, ages 13-15. The walk was hot as hell and I kept thinking about how I juuuust wanted to change into the shorter skirt I brought for our trip that Alivianna, David, and I would take to stonetown.
The kids were fine but some of the girls were begging me for candy and it really irked me. I spent most of my time here working to make sure they know that I am not some typical white person who gives them candy to shoo them away, and who genuinely wants to talk to them, and they revert back to the begging and annoying street stuff that I cannot stand. They really put a damper on the day for me, Mary, and Estela. But we had fun having them come up with their own play or song about vvu and ukimwi (HIV and AIDS) and said our goodbyes.
I was so hungry and dehydrated after class that David, Alivianna, and my plan to walk to a dalla dalla and go to stonetown without eating was seeming like a terrible idea, especially because it had to have been a hundred degrees where we were walking. I finally stopped us at a tree and waited in the shade, snacking on the last of my American candy, a bag of skittles and waiting about 10 mins for a dalla dalla. I changed into my shorter skirt on the street while David changed out of his khakis and into some shorts, which was a lot more revealing for the road we were on than my skirt under skirt change. Davids not only an adorable gay man who knows exactly who he is, he also has no shame from what I can tell.
We hopped on a dalla dalla and took the fastest ride to Stonetown I've ever been on. It had to be close to 45 minutes. We were going so fast and dust was flying everywhere getting into my eyes like no other! This will be helpful information for later. When we got there our first mission was to find an ATM for David and Liv because they were both closely out of cash. We went to our regular ATM and it wasn't working. We tried Barclays. Not working. We tried CDM. Not working. We thought that was weird but we shrugged it off and I told them Id buy lunch if we went somewhere sit down with American food. We wandered and wandered and got lost a couple times until we saw signs for a place called the Palace restaurant. We thought we'd check it out, and I'm soooo thankful we did.
An old Indian man greeted us at the door wearing very traditional muslim head wear and a suit with a smile under a thick graying mustache. "Jambo!" he exclaimed. "Karibu!!! Welcome, welcome. Please come in." he shuffled us inside as we looked at a menu and he chatted with us about where we were from and what we were doing in Stonetown, and we drooled over their American AND Indian food options. We all agreed to sit and he came and say with us in the middle of an empty restaurant seated in the middle of a three story building that looked like it came out of a Spanish villa. He handed us the regular menus and a coffee/smoothies/ice cream menu that made us die with excitement.
Alivianna ordered a Indian chicken dish that the owner of the restaurant said,"I prefer you to have with coconut cream sauce", to which she said, " okay sure!!" David ordered a beef burger and I opted for a spaghetti and bolognaise sauce. Liv and David ordered a smoothie and an iced coffee respectively and I held out for some ice cream.
They made everything from scratch and took forever but everything was so fresh and amazing that we didn't care. Liv's cool breeze smoothie was a delicious mangoey sensation and david's iced coffee was so good it almost wasn't there when he got back from the bathroom. The food came out about an hour later it seemed but everything looked amazing. Davids burger came out first and not only was it the biggest bun Id ever seen, the meat had veggies cooked into it and it was topped with cucumber and carrots and a little but of secret sauce that was to die for. It was the most incredible burger I've ever had. Liv's food came next and tasted amazing too! Last was mine and I was expecting just a little pasta and was more looking forward to the ice cream until heaven on a plate entered my line of vision. My pasta was piled onto a huge plate with chunks of meat an tomato cooked in with a bunch of other veggies in a really spicy sauce and cheese was melted all on top. Around the sides of the plate were sliced cucumbers, my all time favorite. It's like they knew.
We opted for a quick ice cream as headed out to try an ATM. We walked all the way to an ATM on the other side of town and it was STILL broken! We began to freak out because they literally had no money and we began to see that the whole day was shot. We were sitting in our despair when one of the street sellers tried to sell David a Zanzibar t-shirt. He was so tired of telling people he literally had no money that he told the guy," if you can find us a working ATM I will buy a shirt."
This guy took us all over town to find an ATM. He led us through every village and every road in town and didn't find one. We sat down where we began the day and David shared a cigarette with him and tried to get him to give him a shirt for 2 euro. That didn't work so we parted ways and david became the cigarette distributer with the other people around and we went and bought some tea and wandered around. Suddenly we had no money, we were lost, and no ride home and we began to think of how weird it would be to beg for money so we could get a taxi home. We were starting to walk down some really sketchy roads when we saw one of our teaching partners, Tatu in the distance. We nearly jumped her when she told us she knew of a ATM that works. She brought us to it and told us that Mary and Selina were at the park where the street food is and so we went to meet up with them. We ordered some sugar cane juice and looked at our watches knowing that it was 6:30 and all the stores were closing so all the shopping we needed to do wouldn't happen.
Selina and Mary urged us to go check and see if anything was open so we went and found one amazing store that we manage to get everything we needed in and for a pretty good price! I haggled the hell out of everything and after 2 hours in the same store we met up with Jessica, Lily, Mary, Selina and the other girls who had done a spice tour and mr. Mohammed drove us back home.
On the way home my eye started to get really itchy and I thought the dirt from the dalla dalla had gotten in it, but apparently that wasn't the case that I learned later. I tried to take out my contacts and my right eye burned like hell! I headed to bed after some blog writing and hoped it would feel better in the morning.
The kids were fine but some of the girls were begging me for candy and it really irked me. I spent most of my time here working to make sure they know that I am not some typical white person who gives them candy to shoo them away, and who genuinely wants to talk to them, and they revert back to the begging and annoying street stuff that I cannot stand. They really put a damper on the day for me, Mary, and Estela. But we had fun having them come up with their own play or song about vvu and ukimwi (HIV and AIDS) and said our goodbyes.
I was so hungry and dehydrated after class that David, Alivianna, and my plan to walk to a dalla dalla and go to stonetown without eating was seeming like a terrible idea, especially because it had to have been a hundred degrees where we were walking. I finally stopped us at a tree and waited in the shade, snacking on the last of my American candy, a bag of skittles and waiting about 10 mins for a dalla dalla. I changed into my shorter skirt on the street while David changed out of his khakis and into some shorts, which was a lot more revealing for the road we were on than my skirt under skirt change. Davids not only an adorable gay man who knows exactly who he is, he also has no shame from what I can tell.
We hopped on a dalla dalla and took the fastest ride to Stonetown I've ever been on. It had to be close to 45 minutes. We were going so fast and dust was flying everywhere getting into my eyes like no other! This will be helpful information for later. When we got there our first mission was to find an ATM for David and Liv because they were both closely out of cash. We went to our regular ATM and it wasn't working. We tried Barclays. Not working. We tried CDM. Not working. We thought that was weird but we shrugged it off and I told them Id buy lunch if we went somewhere sit down with American food. We wandered and wandered and got lost a couple times until we saw signs for a place called the Palace restaurant. We thought we'd check it out, and I'm soooo thankful we did.
An old Indian man greeted us at the door wearing very traditional muslim head wear and a suit with a smile under a thick graying mustache. "Jambo!" he exclaimed. "Karibu!!! Welcome, welcome. Please come in." he shuffled us inside as we looked at a menu and he chatted with us about where we were from and what we were doing in Stonetown, and we drooled over their American AND Indian food options. We all agreed to sit and he came and say with us in the middle of an empty restaurant seated in the middle of a three story building that looked like it came out of a Spanish villa. He handed us the regular menus and a coffee/smoothies/ice cream menu that made us die with excitement.
Alivianna ordered a Indian chicken dish that the owner of the restaurant said,"I prefer you to have with coconut cream sauce", to which she said, " okay sure!!" David ordered a beef burger and I opted for a spaghetti and bolognaise sauce. Liv and David ordered a smoothie and an iced coffee respectively and I held out for some ice cream.
They made everything from scratch and took forever but everything was so fresh and amazing that we didn't care. Liv's cool breeze smoothie was a delicious mangoey sensation and david's iced coffee was so good it almost wasn't there when he got back from the bathroom. The food came out about an hour later it seemed but everything looked amazing. Davids burger came out first and not only was it the biggest bun Id ever seen, the meat had veggies cooked into it and it was topped with cucumber and carrots and a little but of secret sauce that was to die for. It was the most incredible burger I've ever had. Liv's food came next and tasted amazing too! Last was mine and I was expecting just a little pasta and was more looking forward to the ice cream until heaven on a plate entered my line of vision. My pasta was piled onto a huge plate with chunks of meat an tomato cooked in with a bunch of other veggies in a really spicy sauce and cheese was melted all on top. Around the sides of the plate were sliced cucumbers, my all time favorite. It's like they knew.
We opted for a quick ice cream as headed out to try an ATM. We walked all the way to an ATM on the other side of town and it was STILL broken! We began to freak out because they literally had no money and we began to see that the whole day was shot. We were sitting in our despair when one of the street sellers tried to sell David a Zanzibar t-shirt. He was so tired of telling people he literally had no money that he told the guy," if you can find us a working ATM I will buy a shirt."
This guy took us all over town to find an ATM. He led us through every village and every road in town and didn't find one. We sat down where we began the day and David shared a cigarette with him and tried to get him to give him a shirt for 2 euro. That didn't work so we parted ways and david became the cigarette distributer with the other people around and we went and bought some tea and wandered around. Suddenly we had no money, we were lost, and no ride home and we began to think of how weird it would be to beg for money so we could get a taxi home. We were starting to walk down some really sketchy roads when we saw one of our teaching partners, Tatu in the distance. We nearly jumped her when she told us she knew of a ATM that works. She brought us to it and told us that Mary and Selina were at the park where the street food is and so we went to meet up with them. We ordered some sugar cane juice and looked at our watches knowing that it was 6:30 and all the stores were closing so all the shopping we needed to do wouldn't happen.
Selina and Mary urged us to go check and see if anything was open so we went and found one amazing store that we manage to get everything we needed in and for a pretty good price! I haggled the hell out of everything and after 2 hours in the same store we met up with Jessica, Lily, Mary, Selina and the other girls who had done a spice tour and mr. Mohammed drove us back home.
On the way home my eye started to get really itchy and I thought the dirt from the dalla dalla had gotten in it, but apparently that wasn't the case that I learned later. I tried to take out my contacts and my right eye burned like hell! I headed to bed after some blog writing and hoped it would feel better in the morning.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010- Zanzibar day 21
Monday was the best day I've had here so far.
We woke up around 7 and did the normal breakfast and preparation for class thing. I had my post migraine scramble to make a poster that I needed for class and then we walked in the hot hot sun Michamvi for our last day with our standard 4 10-12 year olds. I was pretty bummed because they are the cutest kids in the world but the class went by easily and we played some games and had a good time with them getting photos and hugs when we left.
We walked back home and once again there was not enough food for everyone so I stuck with my crackers and nutella and ordered a coke to wash it down. Obviously I am going to be suuuuper healthy when I get home. Alivianna and David and I sat around and chatted until everyone was done with their food and the entire program group gathered in a circle to talk about the program and our last week in the village. Jessica asked us to each talk about what the most important thing we've learned so far was, and it really got me thinking hard. I realized although this program hasn't exactly been what I expected, it's taught me more than I could have ever thought about before. The first couple people brought up the obvious "I didn't think Id be able to not eat American food" kind of things that are true for everyone but not as life changing as some of the things I thought about.
David then talked about how upset he was that we hardly think about the kids or the communities outside of our teachings and how he himself and all of us never really got that connection to the village. He talked about how he wishes he could just do something or give something to them to change their poverty status and inevitably change their lives, but we just can't. Even giving them a little money or some candy is not going to change their lives.
I immediately thought about how upset I was that the program is over in a couple days. As much as I am yearning to go home and be in my bed without a mosquito net and to eat the things I want when I want them and to hug and kiss my boyfriend in person and to do the same to lis ;) none of that matters when I think of these children that walk on the beach picking shells and fishing for food or their families instead of playing and learning and being a kid. I have never wanted to make an impact more than when I see kids in my classroom not wearing shoes because they can't afford them and must wear a uniform and walk to and from school on the hot cement with no protection. Sure, shoes can always be given and money can be transferred but what really counts is this question: how can we get the entire village to lift it's head above the sinking water of poverty and despair and be able to live in an apartment like mine, or to have a laundry facility like the orphanage does on site, or to allow the children to go play and be kids instead of learning to cook and clean and take care of infants!? The answer is something I thought I'd come up with while I was here like it's so easy to figure out. Obviously there are so many things that weigh that down.
The governments corruption and devotion to strict religious affiliation often tears down the availability of social progress (for instance, we aren't allowed to teach about condoms in schools), the lack of real farm land for cash crops makes it hard to facilitate income other than tourism and when they are not in a tourist season, Zanzibar struggles to attain any kind of cash flow. Not to mention the fact that not being educated about the repercussions that come with having money and what things to look out for and to protect themselves from is not happening here.
Lily was upset about this too and we talked about how we all have so much more than the people who are here, yet people in general in the US do not want to give any of it to anyone else. It's completely false to think that this mentality is anything new, nor is it anything about just Americans thoughts and actions. The wealthiest families in Tanzania practice the same kinds of neglect of their roots when a little cash is thrown their way. Many of the Arusha people are staying in home stays with incredibly poor families but a few have the wealthiest families in the whole village and they found that the wealthier families are less willing to give of anything; food, warmth, love.... And the poorest families give all they have. That's incredibly shocking to me. Id love to know why that is. I have yet to figure that out.
When it was my turn I said I was mad at myself for not trying to establish a better connection with the village. I mean I had gone to Arusha for 3 days and knew every kids name in the house but I lived in Zanzibar for 3 weeks and don't know one. It makes me sad that I spent a majority of the time thinking about myself and not taking the time to better the situation of another persons life, although I forget that teaching the curriculum of HIV and AIDS awareness is really a great way to start.
Jessica said something that really affected me: " this is going to sound hokey but we really can't give them anything tangible except the love we have for them. Anything else we could ever give them was given to us from someone else, but only love is something you can give to them that no one else can."
That statement is not only true for here in Zanzibar but also in my life as a whole. Money, food, clothes, candy.... All of that you get from somewhere else. There's nothing in the world as pure and original as the gift of your own love to someone.
That was our focus for the afternoon. We'd finished teaching but decided to go to pingwe to have some fun arts and crafts time with the kids. I had a lot of paper and fun things to donate and David had some markers so all of us headed to the village where no children were around. We spread the word to a couple and all the sudden we were swarmed with children on every side wanting to draw and color and play an dance with us. We didn't have enough pens because so many kids came to play but we had a lot of fun with them. We gave them these stickers that I was literally mobbed for but overall everything was fun and something that they never get to do. I hope they think back at the day they got paper just to color with and are excited about the memory someday.
I just noticed that while typing on the iPhone some of my grammar and spelling gets changed without my conscious knowledge so I'm sorry if things are spelled wrong. I'll change it all when I get to my computer.
Anyway. I learned my first child's name in the village. Salama is a 10 year old girl from my michamvi school standard 4 class who has the brightest smile and calls me Shannonii. While we were drawing she drew a flower that said "I love you shannonii" and each of the other people in my group on each petal in english. The girl can hardly speak the language yet she says she loves me. It made my whole trip.
We woke up around 7 and did the normal breakfast and preparation for class thing. I had my post migraine scramble to make a poster that I needed for class and then we walked in the hot hot sun Michamvi for our last day with our standard 4 10-12 year olds. I was pretty bummed because they are the cutest kids in the world but the class went by easily and we played some games and had a good time with them getting photos and hugs when we left.
We walked back home and once again there was not enough food for everyone so I stuck with my crackers and nutella and ordered a coke to wash it down. Obviously I am going to be suuuuper healthy when I get home. Alivianna and David and I sat around and chatted until everyone was done with their food and the entire program group gathered in a circle to talk about the program and our last week in the village. Jessica asked us to each talk about what the most important thing we've learned so far was, and it really got me thinking hard. I realized although this program hasn't exactly been what I expected, it's taught me more than I could have ever thought about before. The first couple people brought up the obvious "I didn't think Id be able to not eat American food" kind of things that are true for everyone but not as life changing as some of the things I thought about.
David then talked about how upset he was that we hardly think about the kids or the communities outside of our teachings and how he himself and all of us never really got that connection to the village. He talked about how he wishes he could just do something or give something to them to change their poverty status and inevitably change their lives, but we just can't. Even giving them a little money or some candy is not going to change their lives.
I immediately thought about how upset I was that the program is over in a couple days. As much as I am yearning to go home and be in my bed without a mosquito net and to eat the things I want when I want them and to hug and kiss my boyfriend in person and to do the same to lis ;) none of that matters when I think of these children that walk on the beach picking shells and fishing for food or their families instead of playing and learning and being a kid. I have never wanted to make an impact more than when I see kids in my classroom not wearing shoes because they can't afford them and must wear a uniform and walk to and from school on the hot cement with no protection. Sure, shoes can always be given and money can be transferred but what really counts is this question: how can we get the entire village to lift it's head above the sinking water of poverty and despair and be able to live in an apartment like mine, or to have a laundry facility like the orphanage does on site, or to allow the children to go play and be kids instead of learning to cook and clean and take care of infants!? The answer is something I thought I'd come up with while I was here like it's so easy to figure out. Obviously there are so many things that weigh that down.
The governments corruption and devotion to strict religious affiliation often tears down the availability of social progress (for instance, we aren't allowed to teach about condoms in schools), the lack of real farm land for cash crops makes it hard to facilitate income other than tourism and when they are not in a tourist season, Zanzibar struggles to attain any kind of cash flow. Not to mention the fact that not being educated about the repercussions that come with having money and what things to look out for and to protect themselves from is not happening here.
Lily was upset about this too and we talked about how we all have so much more than the people who are here, yet people in general in the US do not want to give any of it to anyone else. It's completely false to think that this mentality is anything new, nor is it anything about just Americans thoughts and actions. The wealthiest families in Tanzania practice the same kinds of neglect of their roots when a little cash is thrown their way. Many of the Arusha people are staying in home stays with incredibly poor families but a few have the wealthiest families in the whole village and they found that the wealthier families are less willing to give of anything; food, warmth, love.... And the poorest families give all they have. That's incredibly shocking to me. Id love to know why that is. I have yet to figure that out.
When it was my turn I said I was mad at myself for not trying to establish a better connection with the village. I mean I had gone to Arusha for 3 days and knew every kids name in the house but I lived in Zanzibar for 3 weeks and don't know one. It makes me sad that I spent a majority of the time thinking about myself and not taking the time to better the situation of another persons life, although I forget that teaching the curriculum of HIV and AIDS awareness is really a great way to start.
Jessica said something that really affected me: " this is going to sound hokey but we really can't give them anything tangible except the love we have for them. Anything else we could ever give them was given to us from someone else, but only love is something you can give to them that no one else can."
That statement is not only true for here in Zanzibar but also in my life as a whole. Money, food, clothes, candy.... All of that you get from somewhere else. There's nothing in the world as pure and original as the gift of your own love to someone.
That was our focus for the afternoon. We'd finished teaching but decided to go to pingwe to have some fun arts and crafts time with the kids. I had a lot of paper and fun things to donate and David had some markers so all of us headed to the village where no children were around. We spread the word to a couple and all the sudden we were swarmed with children on every side wanting to draw and color and play an dance with us. We didn't have enough pens because so many kids came to play but we had a lot of fun with them. We gave them these stickers that I was literally mobbed for but overall everything was fun and something that they never get to do. I hope they think back at the day they got paper just to color with and are excited about the memory someday.
I just noticed that while typing on the iPhone some of my grammar and spelling gets changed without my conscious knowledge so I'm sorry if things are spelled wrong. I'll change it all when I get to my computer.
Anyway. I learned my first child's name in the village. Salama is a 10 year old girl from my michamvi school standard 4 class who has the brightest smile and calls me Shannonii. While we were drawing she drew a flower that said "I love you shannonii" and each of the other people in my group on each petal in english. The girl can hardly speak the language yet she says she loves me. It made my whole trip.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010- Arusha Day 4/ Zanzibar day 20
We woke up later than the rest of this trip and packed our bags to head to the site with John around 9. He was late so we finished off most of our food and waited around. John nearly gave me a heart attack when he said he would be running really late but by some miracle he made it there and we piled all of the arusha girls stuff into their safari land rover and we piled all 6 of us into a three seat backseat. We made it to the airport with just enough time to order a quick sandwich and get huddled onto the plane for another tiny plane ride back to Zanzibar. I fell asleep as soon as the plane took off and didn't wake up until we hit the ground in Zanzibar.
We called the girls taxi contact and got food while we waited. He showed up and we took our to go order and ate in the van kn the 2 hour ride back from the airport to the kichanga hotel. We chatted with the driver and heard all about his family and his driving life and all of that. I got a migraine on the way home which wasn't helped by the humid weather and extreme mile of bumpy road to get to the hotel. I nearly puked in the car but held it together until we got out.
I saw alivianna immediately and ran and hugged her saying I was so excited to see her after being with 5 other girls the whole weekend. Liv said she had a surprise for me and I saw David come up and saw that they had shaved his head into a Mohawk. Haha. It looks amazing and it makes his dancing that much more FIERCE. ;)
David and I did laundry together and I recounted the weekend with them and they did the same. Apparently they went to tatus cousins wedding and had a really crazy time. We ate dinner and I was supposed to work on some posters we used we teach first thing in the morning but my migraine never subsided so I headed to bed ( apparently talking in my sleep) and trying to wake up unhurt in the head.
We called the girls taxi contact and got food while we waited. He showed up and we took our to go order and ate in the van kn the 2 hour ride back from the airport to the kichanga hotel. We chatted with the driver and heard all about his family and his driving life and all of that. I got a migraine on the way home which wasn't helped by the humid weather and extreme mile of bumpy road to get to the hotel. I nearly puked in the car but held it together until we got out.
I saw alivianna immediately and ran and hugged her saying I was so excited to see her after being with 5 other girls the whole weekend. Liv said she had a surprise for me and I saw David come up and saw that they had shaved his head into a Mohawk. Haha. It looks amazing and it makes his dancing that much more FIERCE. ;)
David and I did laundry together and I recounted the weekend with them and they did the same. Apparently they went to tatus cousins wedding and had a really crazy time. We ate dinner and I was supposed to work on some posters we used we teach first thing in the morning but my migraine never subsided so I headed to bed ( apparently talking in my sleep) and trying to wake up unhurt in the head.
Saturday, June 12, 2010- Arusha day 3
Waking up in arusha is amazing because the weather is just like LA. It's freezing in the morning and warm in the afternoon, so after using a couple of my premoistened bath towels I was off to the second day of the safari in a great mood.
We headed toward the crater at Ngorongoro and it was so hazy that we couldn't see anything. Saba stopped and had us get out to take pictures next to the crater but all you can see is some fog and trees and it was freezing trying to get put of the car. We continued driving and we all pretty much fell asleep on the way down into the crater where all the animals are. Pretty soon we saw a couple zebra and the day officially began. I ended up smashing the screen of my iPhone on the ground when it fell out of the safari car on one of my stops so it's cracked but thankfully still functional. I think I get my update when I get home though so maybe it's good timing.
We saw a million animals on the second day too. More baboons and giraffes and buffaloes and elephants, but also zebras, a cheetah, warthogs, hyenas, monkeys, hippos, and of course a bunch of lions. It was so cool to just see them all so close to the car. We drove around all day and then made the trek back to Arusha for our last night there.
We ended up staying in mt meru inn, another hostel that we weren't planning on staying in instead of going to the site, which made me really upset because I just wanted to see the kids one more time before we left. The girls were adamant about the hostel though so we got our stuff got a room for the six of us with 3 twin beds to share, awesome!!! Not!
I showered and we ran to dinner and I realized I had lost my camera. I freaked out for all of 10 minutes until one of the arusha people had the safari guys phone number and he came back to bring it to me. It hasn't left my side since. We had dinner at this place that served American food which we were all really excited about. I ordered a cheeseburger and French fries with a vanilla shake that was amazing although the shake tasted just like slimfast. We ate with the arusha people who took the other safari car and tried to talk to them a bit but didn't go out like Marnee and I had planned that night because we were sontired and the food was so heavy on our little malnourished stomachs. We went back to the room and crashed pretty hard.
We headed toward the crater at Ngorongoro and it was so hazy that we couldn't see anything. Saba stopped and had us get out to take pictures next to the crater but all you can see is some fog and trees and it was freezing trying to get put of the car. We continued driving and we all pretty much fell asleep on the way down into the crater where all the animals are. Pretty soon we saw a couple zebra and the day officially began. I ended up smashing the screen of my iPhone on the ground when it fell out of the safari car on one of my stops so it's cracked but thankfully still functional. I think I get my update when I get home though so maybe it's good timing.
We saw a million animals on the second day too. More baboons and giraffes and buffaloes and elephants, but also zebras, a cheetah, warthogs, hyenas, monkeys, hippos, and of course a bunch of lions. It was so cool to just see them all so close to the car. We drove around all day and then made the trek back to Arusha for our last night there.
We ended up staying in mt meru inn, another hostel that we weren't planning on staying in instead of going to the site, which made me really upset because I just wanted to see the kids one more time before we left. The girls were adamant about the hostel though so we got our stuff got a room for the six of us with 3 twin beds to share, awesome!!! Not!
I showered and we ran to dinner and I realized I had lost my camera. I freaked out for all of 10 minutes until one of the arusha people had the safari guys phone number and he came back to bring it to me. It hasn't left my side since. We had dinner at this place that served American food which we were all really excited about. I ordered a cheeseburger and French fries with a vanilla shake that was amazing although the shake tasted just like slimfast. We ate with the arusha people who took the other safari car and tried to talk to them a bit but didn't go out like Marnee and I had planned that night because we were sontired and the food was so heavy on our little malnourished stomachs. We went back to the room and crashed pretty hard.
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