9/27

there are so many things i need to share and not nearly enough time. we were in mombasa for about four days, then flew in a tiny plane (TINY-- like, duck your head and suck in your stomach to get to your seat) to pemba, where we stayed in a guest house for one night. that night, hundreds of flying foxes flew over us while the sun was setting, with the beach in the background. it was beautiful, absolutely breathtaking, and i look forward to sharing those photos. pemba is very tropical, not what we imagined east africa to be like. it is more like the caribbean, except muslim and without the western influence. the next morning we drove via shaky truck/cab to tumbe, a small isolated village on pemba. this was a two night/three day homestay, and very difficult for us. the program is still in its pilot stage here, so the experiences we had are shaping how the program will be done next year. our two biggest problems were communication (three weeks of swahili lessons dont prepare you fully for living in a remote village with people who don't speak english) and authoritative younger men. 20-year old boys living in tumbe ruined the homestay for many of the women on this trip, because of their rude behavior, to put it bluntly. constant marriage proposals, innapropriate comments and questions, treating us more like a prize to show off to friends, and making fun of us in loud and fast swahili are some of the things we dealt with. the village was a disastrous example of patriarchy combined with misinformation on caucasian women. aside from this, i learned many great things. people on the island are largely self sufficient when it comes to water, food, building homes and structures, etc. i learned to use my swahili better and how to collect the insides of coconuts, prepare roots, pull water from wells, and.. well.... ward off unwanted attention. it was certainly a learning experience.

yesterday afternoon we said goodbye to our homestay families and boarded a ship to zanzibar. i bought sundried something (sea creature resembling mussels) on a stick (like fifty little shriveled things on one stick) for 40 cents and shared it with everyone while we were waiting in the port. i've been having some interesting snack experiences. the sundried shrived sea creatures were one, fake strawberry chocolate that tasted like bubble gum was another, "choco cream toffees" in fancy wrappers that were actually... bizzarre and not chocolate at all... was another. i have learned to share a lot... ha..
anyways, we rode the ship for two hours. our trip leader, david, asked one of us to speak to a man on the ship who did not believe that we knew swahili. so i spent some time conversing with him in swahili. it turned out he was a mathematics and physics professor at the university in dar es salaam, tanzania, so that was cool. we got to the hotel in the late afternoon. the rooms are spacious, so nice. we have running water and toilets and showers, did laundry last night, which was awesome. ate some great dinner and breakfast, and now i am here. today is a free day and i have a lot of journaling and essay-writing to do. i hope you are all having a great time in the states.

much love,
natalie