Trevor in Tazania, Week 4

The weekend of the 12th began with us volunteers taking in the Sauti za Busara Music Festival. The buzz around Zanzibar was that this music festival is one of the best put on in all of Africa, and judging from the crowds of tourists we encountered throughout StoneTown, this was true. After enjoying our dinner of Zanzibar Pizza in the night market, we arrived at a fort, where the event was being held. I walked in first and asked the man at the door the admission price for the night. He responded, “Are you from Zanzibar, or just visiting?” I thought the answer was fairly obvious, but appreciated his politeness. If I was a resident, the price was 2500 shillings, or about $1.70, as a visitor to the island, the price was 25000 shillings, or about 17 Canadian. I tried to explain that I shouldn’t have to pay the visitor price, as I confidently told him I am not just visiting, rather living and working here (everything is up for barganing here). I asked for a deal and he agreed to a two for one price. I grabbed the closet volunteer friend I could find, Alysha, and tried to bring her through the gate with me. After a hand shake that saw 25000 shillings transfer hands, we were in, half price! We entered at about 6pm and danced and enjoyed the music until midnight. We watched three bands onstage and they all put on quite a show. A variety of unique instruments were used, and the dancing was spectacular to watch. It was such a great time that we went back on Sunday and took in another few bands. My weekend was action packed with great music and new friends surrounding me, I even managed to get up on stage during the Sunday show to show off some of my dance moves. Don't worry, there is a video of that episode that I am sure I will share when I get back home!

The volunteering for YCI has been going really well, and we have reached the half way point in programming. Kanny, Fatma and I had our third practical session on Monday and challenged the participants to create an exact copy of a Word document we made for them. Their delimmas are still present, but we didn't have to show anyone how to open Word, and there wasn't any issues using the mouse either, so progress is being seen! Business computers has been a fun and interesting class to teach as well. We are learning that although the materials we are teaching are somewhat advanced, the process of teaching the professionals remains slow. Many people have brought their lap top computers to class and it is nice to have them follow our actions we put on thoverhead projector. That is when the overhead projector works, as power outages and connection problems remain an element to overcome. The class is very shy, but once we show new ways to use a program they have been using for years, they become excited and ask a lot of questions. The participants hold high positions within local NGO's and it is exciting teaching a room filled with the people that are working hard to create positive change on the island. Environmental programming has been comming along as well and Alysha and I have created a draft proposal for YCI to work with local partner organizations. We used composting as an example of how YCI volunteers would like to spread awareness and educate citizens on Zanzibar about environmental issues. We have researched the benefits of composting and have begun addressing many of the current issues surrounding waste management on the island. So many days here I find myself feeling a little off, and it is mostly because of the poor air quality. Plastics, papers, and anything that could burn gets burned here. There are days where the burning is really bad and Alysha and I are really eager to leave some programming behind that may begin to change the way in which people handle their garbage. Next Thursday, we will be visiting a few partner organizations to find out more specific environmental needs, and will determine the governments position of waste management on the island. It is really easy for me to tell people not to burn all their garbage, but it's not about telling them what not to do, it is about providing plausable alternatives and at this point I certainly don't have those answers. I do look forward to meeting the partners however, and hope to begin finding some of the answers that are desperately needed. I only have a month remaining so, for now, it's more about leaving something behind for the next group of volunteers to take to the next level.

Monday night had me with Mr. Victor, as he wanted me to call him, is Nyla's school teacher and he invited me to attend one of his night courses to interact with his students. Nyla is Damtu's daughter and lives at my homestay. Nyla wouldn't be in this class, and I was truly on my own to attend this meeting. I didn't know what I was getting into, but Mr. Victor tried to calm my nerves and helped me feel comfortable. We rode the Dala Dala together and arrived at a small language school in a nearby village. I entered the room and was greated by the class that was just getting out of session. They asked me where I was from, and then didn't waste any time getting to the more difficult questions. I was asked about the issues I saw facing Zanzibar, and was questioned about HIV and AIDS staticistics as well as why the European Union wasn't contributing enough to the development of Africa. I certainly didn't have all the answers, and selected my words very carefully. One participant, George, caught my eye. He was more of the funny guy in class, but his english was strong and he wanted to chat more with me one on one. He explained his struggles with pursuing further education, and talked about the difficulties obtaining employment on the island. He told me he was registered in the night course to learn enough english to work for a hotel in StoneTown. He told me he was lucky because he knew the owner of the language school and didn't have to pay to attend the classe. His fear was that regardless of learning english and aquiring job skills, there simply isn't many jobs for him to apply to. I enjoyed my time with him, as it seemed he has a lot of drive to do what is needed to move forward here, but he does have an uphill battle ahead. Later, I took his phone number and was able to connect him to Shaib so that he can possibly register for a basic computer course ran though YCI the next time a group of volunteers is here. He was excited for the opportunity and hopefully it will help him continue to fight for what he wants out of life. Mr. Victor ended my time with George and brought me back to the classroom that was now filled with about forty participants. He introduced me to the class and I was welcomed by having two students sing to me. The first was a boy, and he sang about half of what I thought was a hip hop song. The next was a girl, and she sang Celine Dion's Because You Love Me. She did her best, but it was a very difficult song to sing, but I appreciated the effort never-the-less. This class continued with the questions the first class had. They asked me what I truly thought of Zanzibar and questioned the education system in Canada. They wondered what history of Africa I was taught and asked a lot of questions about the support a Canadian girl would receive if she became pregnant in high school. Here, she would be expelled from school. I was questioned about condom use, and one guy in the back stated that they are just a piece of rubber that doesn't actually work. It was an overwhelming experience, but I feel that I handled myself very well. I have been struggling to know if my answers were helpful to them, but as Mr. Victor told me later, it was more important for the class to be able to ask questions, hear my accent, and mimic the english I used. These were strong young Tanzanians and although I was put in a tough situation, I learned so much about their issues and ours.

I have been enjoying myself here too, and it hasn't been all volunteering and attending meetings. Wednesday was a holiday here so we had the day completely off. I went for lunch at an Italian restaurant and enjoyed a plate of pasta. All the volunteers joined Charles and I at our homestay for the movie The Hangover, which had about 40 minutes cut out due to sensorship. Saturday the 19th was a great day as we booked a spice tour. I met a tour guide when I was at the music festival who simply named himself as Mr. Octopus. I had heard that past YCI volunteers have used his services and took his number down. He gave us a good price and he extended what would have been a 4 hour spice tour into a 7 hour trip that had us exploring a slave cave and the beach along with providing lunch at the spice tour. I took about 100 photos through the day and learned a lot about the various spices grown here on the island. The cinnamon tree was my favorite! Looking forward to our weekends ahead include an opportunity to scuba dive or snorkel, as well as taking a trip to Prison Island where slaves were once held before being sent to european and north amrican countries. There is a lot of history in Africa, both rich and poor in nature. I love the learning process I am going though here and am excited for Prision Island and all the other history lessons. Plus, there are giant turtles I will get to meet close up on the island! The beach is always beautiful and the volunteers hope to continue to explore those on the weekends as well. Only four more weekends before I lose the group though, so we are trying to pack it all in! I try my best to capture the past weeks adventures into the blog, and hope everyone is enjoying it. I miss Canada a lot, and to be honest, mostly miss the food! I will continue to take many photos and post them on Facebook or the blog when I get a chance. It takes about 20 minutes to upload a photo under the best situation, and sharing the internet with five other volunteers makes it difficult to get them online. I miss you all and thank you so much for reading my blog and supporting me!

Love, Love, Love

Trevor!