Final Thoughts - The End of A Journey

So it's the end of my trip to Tanzania - I really can't believe I'm already at this point. These past 8 weeks have flown by faster than I ever thought they could have and I don't want it to end. I saw Masai villages and giraffes walking around in the Serengeti, the tide come in and out in Zanzibar, and made a huge difference in the lives of hundreds of people in Morogoro. Nothing was more rewarding than actually seeing a difference in the people I was teaching by the end of our sessions and especially seeing a difference in the kids with HIV. We are here for such a short amount of time but the impact we've had will effect their lives forever and I can't think of anything cooler than that. This experience has made me rethink my whole perspective on life and the paths that I want to take. I fully intend on coming back once my degrees are finished and even sooner than that just to visit all the amazing people I've met here. I've totally fallen in love with this country and its people, and more than anywhere else I feel like this is somehow where I belong.

I really want to thank everyone who's been reading this blog for supporting me both in the months leading up to this adventure and during my project. I wouldn't have been able to come here without the help of my friends, family, and even the kindness of strangers and this has been all that I thought it would be and so much more. 

Giant and Ancient Reptiles

This morning was our last morning in Zanzibar and we spent it on Prison Island. It was formerly a prison and the ruins are still there, but it is also a sanctuary for Aldabra Giant Tortoises. They are considered endangered and there are very few of them left in the wild - Changuu Island (Prison Island) being one of these places. Originally these tortoises were given as a gift be the Seycheles government to the British resident mayor in exchange for tropical plants from Zanzibar. Initially there were 4 tortoises but they turned into 50 tortoises. Living on the main land they were being killed or stolen because they are so rare, so they were moved to Prison Island in the 1920s and the sanctuary was established.

On to the fun stuff - I totally got to pet their heads and feed them cabbage :D. Their shells feel like wood and  some of them are the size of people if not larger. There was a caged in part with really young ones that looked like they were only a few years old and then there was a cage with BABIES. They're all so funny when they walk because their feet are turned in towards them and their necks can stretch out really long. It was amazing to see and awesome to actually get to touch them. It was a completely unique experience to Zanzibar and I loved every minute of it.

On the boat ride over to the island

TORTOISES!!

ME and tortoises!! :P

BABY tortoises!!!!

cute tortoise that thinks its a puppy sleeping!

Jelena and a tortoise making the same face!! :P

This guy is 128 years old and the biggest.. the oldest one in the sanctuary is 189.. soo ridiculous!

A Well Deserved Beach Day

I spent my day on a beach on the east coast of Zanzibar called Jambiani and it was absolutely gorgeous. It's much less busy than the north, where almost all the tourists go, and the beach was pretty much deserted besides locals and a mzungu here and there. On the way we seen some red monkeys at the side of the road which was really cool. When we got there the tide was going out so we hung out in the sun for a while then walked through the sand bars. We seen all kinds of little creatures in the pools that were left over - TONS of star fish, a little green fish with a giant tail that looked like a cross between a puffer fish and a frog, sea urchins, hermit crabs, and of course little minnows. The water is an amazing turquoise colour from all the life keeping it clean and it's super clear. The sand is really fine and we had a lot of fun walking into the deeper part of it an swimming. The Indian Ocean is by far the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Some mamas on the beach did some henna on my hand while we watched the tide come in around 3 in the afternoon and then we finished off the night with some pizza and beer - my stomach is cringing but it was well worth it. While we ate we watched all the people starting to wind surf and para-sail since the tide was back in. I fully intend on coming back and spending a week just in that spot doing absolutely nothing but drink and eat seafood.

Monkey!!!!!!!!!!

Picture at the water level... you can barely even tell there is water it's that clear

Heather doing some exploring with me as the tide was going out

These dam star fish were EVERYWHERE and you cant help but step on them and they stab your feet! uugghh!!

This is a test.... if you can find the fish in this picture then you win !!! I promise you there IS actually a fish here :P

Me getting my henna done by some mamas on the beach as we watched the tide coming back in.. it's so beautiful to stay there all day and see both worlds.

Night Market

The night market happens every night at the waterfront where all the fishermen bring their catches and cook them on skewers for you to buy individually. They range from 3,000 tsh to 15,000 tsh depending on what you buy. They also have soups, full cooked fish, crab claws and all kinds of treats for dessert like Zanzibar Pizza. That's basically fried dough with fruits and nutella in it an its delicioussss. We picked a spot that our friend Ben knows is always good an our new friend Eddy helped us choose which fish to eat. I ended up getting Octopus, King Fish, and Crab an the other girls got muscles, calamari, naan, chapati, etc. We all just shared to get a variety and it was all SO much better than anything you'd have at any restaurant. I'll never look at Red Lobster the same way again!! All the people cooking and selling things also take your paper plates for you and make sure you like all your food before you pay - its a great system for being in the street I think!  

Verrrrryyyy busy at the market. Full of wazungu and locals alike.

Eddy helping us decide what we wanted to eat... i wanted it ALL but i could barely eat what I did choose :P

Stone Town - The Maze

The majority of the day we spent walking in and out of Stone Town. It's a triangle basically that has no real sense to it and we were lost the majority of the time - all you do if you want to get out is pick a direction and follow it (generally, because the roads twist and turn) and you end up at one of the 3 main roads around the triangle. We stopped at a ton of shops and in the morning we had spiced tea at a coffee shop in the middle of the maze. I think part of the fun was knowing where we wanted to go and knowing it was somewhere in the maze but everything looks the same and you never have any idea where you are. The shops have everything from clothing to bags to jewelry to antiques and of course on the edge of the maze there's a market that sells spices, fruits and vegetables, meat, fish, and everything in between. It sounds a little intimidating but everyone is really friendly and the atmosphere is so light that we killed about 6 hours just wondering around getting lost and walking in circles. In between we walked along the water and seen some Dow boats racing. You can see other small islands in the distance and we will be going to one of them (Prison Island) on Monday to see a tortoise sanctuary. Overall the island atmosphere is completely different from the main land and even though its about 3 times more expensive than Morogoro it's more than worth it... lovin the sun!!!

Part of the roads winding through Stone Town. It's awesome to think that people actually live in these houses.

And here's an example that people live here ! :)

Linda and Jelena looking at jewelry at one of the many shops throughout the maze

Linda and I walking around by the water - there are dow boats, ferries and fishing boats everywhere around this area but on the beach people play soccer and swim a little. From what we've seen its all men because the women are so conservative here, which is pretty interesting.

Jelena bargaining with the owner of this spice stand - its actually not a pose :P

Me in one of my new shirts and Jelena's scarf since mine doesn't match it :P. We went out for a night on the town full of wine and awesome food.

Up on top of the Emerson Spice House to watch the sun set over the ocean. There are a few very popular restaurants to watch the sun set at over the roof tops of Stone Town and this is one of them - they have some pretty good red wine too 

Sunset shot :) soo beautiful

ZANZIBAR!!!! (day1)

We arrived in zanzibar today for our first day of vacation - it's totally amazing here!! The ferry ride was a lot of fun and we got to stand outside at the front of the boat and just watch the water. There were a ton of flying fish and there was a dolphin but I missed it. Watching Dar fall behind us and then Zanzibar unfold before us was really cool and we watched the sun set over the water when we got here. Our hotel is right at the beginning of Stone Town, which we will be exploring tomorrow, and its actually pretty decent for 12.50 a night :P .. gotta love exchange rates!! We had dinner at a restaurant called Monsoon and sat on the floor and ate Indian food (pictures will come - they are on Linda's camera) an then we walked around the night market a bit and ate Zanzibar Pizza. It's basically dough fried with nutella and bananas - there are different kinds but thats the one we picked an its amazingggg. There will be a ton more pictures to come but heres a little bit of a taste of our ferry ride and arrival.

The basic schedule is Stone Town, Ruins, and Night Market tomorrow to try all the fresh seafood and then the beaches on the east coast Sunday... watch for lots of pictures now!! :D

Some waves washing up on the shore on an island we passed.. those huts there could just be my house... hamna shida!!

The beauuutiful Indian Ocean

Meeeeeeeeee

Stone Town from the water :)

Our boat the Sea Bus 3

Watching the sun set over the ocean... dont worry i'll be a tourist tomorrow and take a million pictures :D

Last day of work - Partying!!!

For our last day we pretty much just had parties everywherrrre lol. I took about a thousand pictures on the way to Bamba knowing I wouldn't be seeing it again and I'll definitely be missing that drive. 45 minutes goes by like nothing when you have fields and baobabs and mountains and animals to look at. We brought everyone sodas and donuts for our last trip out there and we had a little graduation ceremony to give everyone their certificates. Bamba was one of the most rewarding experiences for me because the education we were giving them was benefiting their daily lives. They are effected by malaria especially on a daily basis and because many of the villagers rely on information from "people on the street" they don't have a lot of knowledge about facts about the diseases that are in their village.

The governance sessions were also extremely important because a lot of the times their leaders make decisions without talking to everyone else - most people weren't aware of all their rights under the constitution so they didn't think they had power to change this. Doing the sessions with them we could see the growth and change before our eyes and knowing that they understood and can be ambassadors for the community is really rewarding. I'm going to miss how active they were in their learning and how eager they were to learn more each day.

Finally got a picture of the BIGGEST tree on our drive.. look at the size of it compaired to the people.. its massivvvvvvvvvve!

Norbert carrying Naa - Rama's daughter came with us for our final session and she's adorable

Me and Naa sitting outside before the session started enjoying the scenery

Giving out our certificates to the participants - this is Asia, one of my favourite mama's that came to the programs. I'm going to miss everyone here so so much.

The whole class!

Me and Rama - He always asked at least 5 questions every class, sometimes two or three at a time!

the other Rama and his daughter.. she was too small to climb the rocks on her own.

We took all our students from ESL to Rock Garden for a graduation party for all their hard work. At first it was really overwhelming because there were 50 kids, mostly girls, running around and yelling and being excited. We sent them all down to walk around in the garden and they ended up swimming for an hour. We all had a blast and the girls especially had us take tonssss of pictures of them swimming. We gave them all their certificates in the restaurant and everyone got a soda to celebrate. Even though they really didn’t learn much English in the classes they learned a lot of work and life skills that they can take with them. Most of our students were from Girls Club and they also got a lot of gender training to empower them to face their society with more open eyes and to train others that women are equal to men. The chaotic day was well worth seeing all their smiling faces and watching how proud they looked of themselves and each other getting their certificates.

The hord coming up the stairs.. lmao so overwhelming at first!

The HBC kids at rock garden - i can't wait to see how they all progress in life. They're really bright kids with awesome personalities

Me and Zaniabu before she jumped in the water with everyone else :P

Some of the girls posing in the rocks

Swimming!!

The whole ESL class .. they did a fantastic job!

On the Dalas leaving... i'm gona miss everyone so so much!!!