Sultans, Suicide Alley & Serengetis

Good Example of Famous Stone Town Doors 

This past weekend I stayed overnight in Stone Town, the old part of Zanzibar City (the capital of Zanzibar), which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  For over 2000 years, merchant ships from Arabia, Persia (Iran), India and Portugal traded with Zanzibar.  The Sultan of Oman took over from the Portuguese at the end of the 17th century and by 1840, Stone Town had become so important as a trading town (particularly for the slave trade) that it became the seat of the Sultan. In 1890 Zanzibar became a protectorate of Britain, and this lasted until independence in 1963, when the last Sultan was expelled.  A revolution shortly afterwards in 1964 led to the massacre (genocide) of thousands of Arabs and Indians, with thousands of others having to flee overseas (shades of Idi Amin's Uganda).  The Islands joined the mainland to form United Republic of Tanzania in 1964, and has remained relatively peaceful and a semi-autonomous part of this federation since - although VSO does recommend that its volunteers leave the island for about an month during election time.

The weekend started off with the usually shopping for the school – fruits and vegetables, dry goods, fish, bottled water – in the bustling market area of Stone Town.  Learning from my mistake two weeks ago, I did not eat or drink in public (Ramadan finishes the end of the month inshallah) – instead, sneaking off to the Zanzibar Coffee House, with its shrouded entrance for coffee and my usual passion fruit tort.  Then it was off to Zantel to get my Blackberry service hooked up - but alas it does not work with my phone (maybe I shouldn't have bought this phone in Ebay).  I shall miss the Blackberry Messenger service immensely – so if anyone wants to get me a 40th birthday present in December a Blackberry Torch (unlocked) would do just fine.  Or a return ticket to Toronto – economy class is good  but exit row please and not on Ethiopian Airlines. After changing some US$ into Tanzanian Shillings (US$1 = TZN 1,617) - shop around for rates as they vary from one Bureau de Change to another - and shopping around for material for the students' new school uniforms, Pat (who runs the school)  and I went to the Zanzibar Coffee House (my second trip of the day) for some more refreshments - had the minced meat crepe this time which was good.

Local Artist At Work at the Back of My Hotel

I then got a quick tour of Stone Town from Pat, including a stop at the Radha Café, where they make great chappatis, samosas and spring rolls (4 samosas with a curried onion and a coconut relish sauce will run you about US$1.50).  Then checked in at the nearby Shangani Hotel in the Suicide Alley area - when you see the narrow streets and the crazy drivers (and wandering tourists) you will understand the nomenclature.  The rooms cost US$25  - the cheapest I have probably ever paid for a hotel room not counting my one time ever staying in a hostel in Brussels when I was a student in the UK (Brussels is bad as it is without having to slum it in hostels).  Breakfast was included, there was AC, good Cable TV (woo hoo!!), hot water and it was clean. It was actually an excellent deal - notwithstanding the creaky bed (not what you think!) and wardrobe doors, the 3 flights of stairs and the construction nearby.

I then headed for the rooftop bar at Africa House nearby, an old colonial outpost and expat hangout, for some cold Serengeti  beers (don’t drink Safari it is vile although Kilimanjaro is good) and the amazing sunset.  The place was packed with Italian and English tourists, and English Premiership Football blared on the televisions, while more appropriate Buddha Bar music piped in the background.  After watching Arsenal get mauled (give up Wenger), and one too many “buono seras” and “ciaos”, I moseyed to my hotel, trying hard for not to make Suicide Alley live up to its name on my Saturday night-on-the-town. And what a crazy night it turned out to be - a quiet dinner at a nearby restaurant (well except for the two cats fighting each other on the nearby table) and a couple more Serengetis and I was ready for some dodos (sleep - not the extinct bird).  Well first I had to get my US$25 worth of all 75 cable TV channels - watched cricket, football, something which I figure was the Arab version of The X Factor (there was no camel humping talent), some fish tagging on the Discovery Channel, some Nollywood shows (Nigerian equivalent of Bollywood), good old CNN and BBC, watched the Pope lose his skullcap in Spain during a freak storm, and for good measure, threw in some viewing of millions of people doing their Haj in Saudi Arabia.  One month without TV can do that to a person.

Beit El-Ajaib Museum - Former Sultan Palace

Slept in Sunday morning and after a breakfast of oily looking weak coffee and some fried eggs with jaundiced looking yolks (still no way near as white as yolks in New Delhi), did a walking tour of Stone Town and made another trip to Radha House (better coffee - more samosas).  Did some walking around – bought some postcards from Mrs. Patel (they are everywhere) from Memories Souvenir shop, and took some photos of the famed Stone Town doors.  After Pat and our driver picked me up after midday, we went shopping for plants for the school (I found a bird pepper tree in the nursery and promptly stole a handful of them) and to the Mtoni Marine Hotel to check on some of our students who work there and to also have a late lunch.  We passed on the philandering-named Tiger Woods Pizza and settled for another cheater-named choice in the Mr. Lance “I Never Doped-It's My Large Lungs ” Armstrong Pizza (hopefully there was no EPO, nandrolone in it).  It was quite good - next time I am going for the Ruud Gullit Pizza - god knows what will be in there.  On my way back to sleepy Jambiani I thought, it wasn’t a Vegas jaunt, or one of my feverish Toronto weekend getaways from my days in Cayman, when the last thing I would be interested in is watching some white South African tag a dark fish on TV (or maybe he killed it - maybe it was a new sport - apartheid fishing?). But it was great.  Old age does mellow one out a bit!

About JTTI and its Amazing Founders & Students

With some of my 2nd Year Students

It is amazing how much we take for granted our easy access to more or less free education in the Caribbean and North America.  Unlike here, where it is more of a privilege and a function of family priorities (boys favoured over girls), economics (most families are living hand to mouth and thus kids are taken out of school to work and support the families) and the ability to access the very limited amount of places for secondary and post secondary education.  Recognizing this fact, and also that many of the jobs in the tourism sector in Jambiani, Zanzibar were not taken up by locals but from persons from the mainland and elsewhere, Patricia Elias (Victoria, British Columbia native via Sri Lanka, England and elsewhere) and her husband Alastair set up the Jambiani Tourism Training Institute (JTTI).  This was sponsored by their NGO Hands Across Borders Society (HABS) and you can read all about their amazing story and financial and personal sacrifices to have the school  and a wellness clinic established on the HABS website. Students do not pay any fees to gain entrance but must show a commitment to learning. It provides free training to 350-500 students per year, 25 of which are enrolled in 2 year Tourism and Hospitality Diploma programme, and includes a wide range of courses, such as food & beverage service and production, food safety, HIV/AIDS, housekeeping, local tour guide, business & management as well as specific skill development in English, Maths, Keyboarding and IT. HABS operates by attracting volunteer teachers like myself, as well as donations from the public and also small grants from agencies such as the World Bank and CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency).  CIDA recently posted a short video on the school with an interview with Pat which you can view at CIDA Video on JTTI . It is such a pleasure teaching students who have this huge appetite for knowledge and learning.  And who, despite having to fast all day for Ramadan, cycle one hour to school, work the night shift before class the next day, or have to live in a room that goats are herded in, all show up more or less on time every day for class, neatly dressed and  cheerful.  When I do not give them Math homework after class- they plead for it - that alone makes it all worthwhile.    

The Congo Comes to Stone Town

Marie France and I outside the Livingston Cafe in Stone Town

On Saturdays we usually go into Stone Town (the de facto capital and about 60 km away on excellent recently paved roads) to do the food and supplies shopping for the school.  Just before we set out, I was chomping on a guava in the garden of the school, when this Indian guy shows up and introduces himself as Vivek.  He wanted to borrow a laptop or a USB cable to download his pictures, because his memory card on his camera was full.  Turns out he is a helicopter pilot with the UN peacekeeping force in Goma in the Congo.  I lent my USB cable and told him to throw it over the wall of the school when he was done as we had to leave . 

Stone Town is a 1 hour drive unless you take a Dala Dala (public "buses") which will take more like 3-4 hours, seriously test the strength of your anti-perspirant, and you may have firewood, chickens and a bunch of bananas in your lap and a baby to burp.  On the way saw some indigenous red colobus monkeys (indigenous to Zanzibar) and Umu (one of our ex-students) taught me some basic Kiswahili which I wrote on a piece of paper and laundered it by mistake (so now my blue khakis is covered in white paper fuzz balls).  While shopping in the public market I bought an orange and started eating it, forgetting it was Ramadan (month of fasting for Muslims) and got scolded for eating in public.  There was no way I was giving up this orange - so I hid between two vehicles and finished it off.  Sine then suggested that we go to the Zanzibar Coffee House for a latte, which turned out to be one of the best I've ever had and also the passion fruit tort. From there we walked a bit through Stone Town and headed for Archipelago - a popular restaurant on the waterfront where I was supposed to meet my good friend Marie France Guimond, who is currently working in the Congo with IRC.  When I got there, much to my horror it was closed and with no cell phone or way to contact her, I hung around the corner (trying not to look like a Jean and Dinah) for about 45 minutes (avoiding all sorts of souvenir sellers, boat rides and some offers which I am certain is still illegal in Texas).

Marie-France and I did our MA in International Affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa together and we had not seen each other in a couple years.  She did show up and we went to the Livingston Café nearby and had a drink and spent the next two hours catching up. I told her the story of helicopter pilot soon after on our way back to catch our ride home, we ran into him and one of his colleagues. Marie France sometimes hitches rides with the UN helicopters so who knows, she might invited out for some chappati and a tikka masala all the way in the Congo.  On my way back home I thought- I just moved to the other side of the world, I’ve been here barely one week and already I am meeting up with friends and making new ones.  Won’t be long now before I teach them about “liming” and “Sparrow” and of course “Jean and Dinah”!!

Dreamy & Friendly....

Local Women Mostly Sea Weed Farmers on the Beach

My first impressions of Jambiani……..dreamy and definitely friendly.  When I got to the Institute last Saturday, Sine gave me a tour of the school and the other facilities – the Wellness Centre (where I can get free chiropractic care from Alastair who runs the school with his wife Pat), the house that I will be living in, the makeshift fitness centre, the kitchen and store rooms and the grounds (laden with coconut trees which I have a plan for already).  All the buildings have Makuti (thatched) roofs –although the thatch rests on top of a hard roof in some cases.  Famished and jet lagged we decided to go out for an early dinner  at the Blue Oyster Hotel which is a stone throw away down the beach.  I had a great anchovies and sun dried tomatoes pizza and Sine dined on the curried Octopus which was really good, and we washed it all down with bottles of Serengeti beer (better than Kilimanjaro) .  From there we took a brisk 40 minute walk down the beach to a Beach Festival that was taking place – which had included a dhow boat race earlier in the afternoon and football matches.   There were lots of visitors and locals there enjoying music that ranged from East African to Reggae to Hip Hop and lots of  Rihanna (she seems to be a big favourite around here – I plan to acquaint them with some Sparrow soon).  I got introduced to quite a few people and everyone was incredibly friendly ….something which I have noticed wherever I have been over the past week.    One of our security guards was also at the Festival when he should have been watching the school.  He is a Masai and but with that kind of behavior I swear he could pass for a West Indian.  Just after midnight we walked back to school all along the beach and the skies were so clear that you saw tons of stars and even the Milky Way star constellation was clearly visible.  Very dreamy I thought.  Maybe that inspired me to sleep until 1230 pm the next day.  I got up in a haste and met up Sine for brunch at Kiddos Restaurant run by Lisa and Kiddo (German/local couple) located about 15 minutes down the beach.  It is a great place with good food and three cute rooms for rental.  Lisa was gracious enough to lend me an plug converter (as mine had gotten fried in the July 4th fireworks display at Econo “Hotel” in Dar).  So finally I could charge my Blackberry, IPAD, ITouch, Skype Phone, English Phone, Electric Toothbrush, Camera and my Laptop. Did I walk with too much stuff for this dreamy friendly place?

Habari Africa – the Journey Begins

After 2 consecutive overnight flights (thanks BA for the tasteless, stingy meals by the way) I arrived in Dar Es Salaam (commonly known as Dar) last Friday.  I was whisked to my hotel, Econo Hotel by my friendly driver,  with its charming green toilet paper and electricity outlets that can create a 4th of July fireworks show (and fried US$75 worth of chargers) and then to the VSO Office to meet the staff and volunteers and to get a briefing .  Lunch was at a little local place and consisted of cooked cassava leaves with grounded nuts (really good), some beans, rice, a stew of an unrecognizable vegetable and fried fish slices that could have done with some green seasoning (thank god they had pepper sauce).  Later that evening I got together with 4 other volunteers and had dinner and drinks at the Badminton Club near to the hotel.  Interesting place – open courtyard seating, large screen showing old Indian movies and videos, a superb cheap Indian menu, a playground for kids and of course a badminton court – an indoor glass walled one, which was your eating entertainment.   Saturday morning I took the ferry from Dar to Zanzibar....it was chaotic but the ferry was large and nice and there were two other Philipino volunteers on the boat as well.  Sine (Zeena) who is a German lecturer here and will be my housemate, met me at the port and got me through immigration quickly. We then drove around Zanzibar City (of which the famous Stone Town is a part of) as we had to pick up the shopping for the restaurant.   We then drove about 1.5 hours to the Jambiani Tourism Training Institute where I am working, which is in this quaint village made of stone houses and right on the beach.  The compound is great with incredible villa-type buildings with thatched roofs right on a huge stretch of white sand beach with turquoise water.  There are lots of nice villas, small hotels and bars (yeah!!) and restaurants within walking distance.  This will certainly be an adventure!!