Sauti Za Busara

Looking back at my blog, I've realized that it's a somewhat skewed view of my life here.  If I have a fun weekend getaway, it tends to show up, embellished with pictures.  Maybe some of you are left thinking "geez, Peace Corps seems like a piece of cake!  Dave seems to spend most of his time hanging out on the beach and visiting safari parks."  Unfortunately work is harder to talk about than fun.  The challenges are nuanced and I don't want to gloss over the details; naturally I worry that a "work post" on the blog will end up being mundane.  I promise someday I'll write a post telling more about my projects.... but not today!  This post is another unabashed parade of East Africa fun.

This weekend I went to Sauti Za Busara (Sounds of Wisdom), a music festival on Unguja, the main Zanzibar island.  I also went to meet with some other volunteers to talk about an English training we're running, but this post is a work-free zone.  The music festival was too exciting to write about anything else!  Artists from all over Africa came to perform, with an emphasis on East African groups.  There's everything from traditional music to hip-hop.  It was SOOO GOOD to get to listen to live music; it's one of the things I've really been missing on Pemba.  I wish I could tell the story in audio files, but pictures will have to do:

I spent the weekend with Juanito, Les, and Elgin.  Elgin is a VSO volunteer like Les and Juanito, and she was kind enough to put us up at her house on Unguja.  Here we are walking around the narrow, mazelike streets of Stonetown:

The festival was held at The Old Fort, one of the historical waterfront buildings in Stonetown.  Between the fort and the shore is a park with delicious street-food in the evenings.  It's one of the few places that caters to both locals and tourists.

Zanzibar Pizza stand!  The ingredients are mixed with a beaten egg, wrapped in dough, and then fried.

A typical food stand at the park.  Mounds of seafood!  Mussels, fish, crab, calamari..... yum!

After dinner, into the fort for the festival!  One of my favorite groups was Ndere, a traditional group from Uganda.  They had really energetic dancing, colorful outfits, and very upbeat music with lots of percussion.  Lots of hip shaking (the pictures don't do it justice).  At one point the dancers stacked pots on their heads (some several feet high), and they kept shaking their hips and singing throughout.

There were lots of interesting instruments to be seen:

On our second day on Unjuga, Juanito, Elgin and I walked around Stonetown, had some coffee, and went to the market to stock up on food.  One of the most noticeable aspects of Zanzibar architecture is the decorative wooden doorways.  Juanito and Elgin are walking by a couple of them here:

Stonetown has a bustling market with tons of variety; I was jealous of all the food to be had!  Juanito is buying chicken for our lunch here:

I got visit my friend Mchanga.  She goes by MC (she lived in Seattle for a few months and found "MC" easier for Americans to pronounce, and she thought it was funny to have a name similar to MC Hammer).  She's the daughter of my neighbor on Pemba, but is now living on Unguja and going to nursing school.  I was very happy to see her; she was one of the first people to make me feel really welcome on Pemba when I arrived there.

Second night at the festival!  Les and I bumped into Mussa, a friend from Pemba who like Mchanga is living on Unguja to go to school.  We danced up a storm with him!

More great music to be had!  I want this guys pants:

Yes this guy is playing two flutes in harmony out of his nostrils.

There was a group from Zanzibar with amazing belly dancing skills (again, pictures do no justice):

The last group I saw was Tumi and the Volume.  They're a hip-hop group from South Africa with some awesomely funky bass and guitar lines.  Social justice was a big theme in their lyrics, and they also were obviously trying to break down traditional ideas about what hip-hop and rap are supposed to be about.  In one song, Tumi was saying rappers shouldn't be put on such a high pedestal, and telling kids they need to turn down the music, turn off the TV, and listen to their mamas.

All in all a great weekend!  I took the ferry back home yesterday morning, sat on the outside deck, and got to admire the fishermen out on their dhows.

Happy Day!

It's a good week.  When making the commitment to Peace Corps, volunteers naturally have the notion that they are exiling themselves from home for two years.  But contrary to that pre-departure anticipation of exile, I feel so very much at home.  My house, squat toilet and all, feels like my house.  Power cuts, water shortages, concrete floors and lumpy mattress be damned, this is home!  I get that familiar feeling of comfort, coziness and relief when I return at the end of a long day.  It's my happy place.

The neighborhood kids have warmed up to me somewhat since my arrival (they no longer shout "Mzungu!" at me; we know each others' names; I try to amuse them by saying silly stuff Kiswahili; they like it when I play my Ukulele).  But there's still been a feeling that I'm a bit of an outsider; some of the kids are curious but keep their distance.

Today, for whatever reason, that barrier broke down a little.  When I got home the kids were climbing the guava trees next to my porch, picking the fruit for an afternoon snack.  They gave me a few, and I sat down with them on the porch to chow down.  Ramla, a little girl from next door who has been shy around me, decided today was the day she would warm up.  She started by playing with my hair (lots of kids are intrigued by the texture of European hair), and this progressed to us making funny faces at each other and eventually her climbing all over me like I was a jungle-gym (as 3 year-olds are apt to do).  A few other kids caught on to the idea, and soon enough I had a small group of 3-6 year-olds crawling all over me.  It felt really good just to goof around with them.  Playtime and laughter breaks down language barriers like nothing else.

All the physical contact felt really good too- touching pretty much doesn't happen here unless you're shaking hands or crammed on a bus.  I miss hugs and being close with people.  A good dose of little kids climbing all over me was just what I needed.

Tonight I sat out on the porch with two of my neighbors: 13 year old Zuhura and 5(?) year old Yahia.  Zuhura's a riot- she's got a sassy sense of humor and is often poking fun at me. She's also a good singer.  We traded off singing- I played my Uke and she sang some songs from India that she knew.  Yahia sang along in gibberish English with my songs.  Zuhura told me that she got good marks on the exit exam from primary school, so on Monday she's heading off to start secondary school at a good boarding school an hour away.  I was proud of her and told her congratulations, but it makes me sad that my neighbor and singing buddy is going away.  At the same time, it was nice to realize that I've grown close enough to some people to miss them when they're gone.  I've made myself a home!

Just a couple of pictures this time, but I'm extra fond of them.  Quality over quantity!

Christmas part 2!  My family somehow fit all these presents in one box!  I laid them out, made a cup of coffee with extra sugar and powdered milk, put on some holiday tunes, and set about a late January Xmas.

Power outage = Internet by lamplight