Kangas: The Original Facebook Status

Last weekend, I took a little trip to the mainland. Mama Rahma has been sick on-and-off, so she had to go to Dar es Salaam to see a special doctor (not sure yet what her diagnosis is, but hopefully it's not too serious...she goes back for her test results this upcoming week). I arranged with the school to postpone our weekend field trip so that I could accompany Mama, and conveniently everyone else had business in Dar as well. The Zambians were arranging details for their return home at the end of the month, and Trisia had to go to the US Embassy to fix things with her passport. I went on Friday with Mama & Amal and we stayed at Mama's sister's apartment in downtown Dar. Not much to report on that night except for the Sunview+ crew who might be reading--I drove right by that less-than-awesome YMCA we bunked at, the ferry port to Mjimwema (the beautiful little island we went to, remember?), and the station where we caught that nightmare bus to Malawi. It was a weekend full of hilarious flashbacks!

Saturday morning I met up with Trisia and we used our excellent Last Minute Travel Planning skills to figure out a cheap way to Bagamoyo. It's a small town 72km north of Dar where some acquaintances had recommended we go for a short getaway. Bagamoyo means 'lay down your heart' in Swahili, and it's rumored to be named that because it was an important stopover for traders on their way to and from Zanzibar in the 18th and 19th centuries; they could 'take a load off' aka 'lay down their hearts' in Bagamoyo before continuing about their business. It was the capital of German East Africa before it got moved to Dar es Salaam, and was therefore quite important a couple hundred years ago. It fell into disrepair for a long time, before recently becoming known as a budding center for youth art initiatives. There's a well-known art college there now, as well as numerous training workshops for sculptors, painters and woodworkers. With less than 24 hours there, we stayed by the beach, but enjoyed long walks to see the various ruins and fishing ports. It also happened to be the weekend of the Miss Bagamoyo contest, so there were tons of visitors from elsewhere in Tanzania, mostly teens and 20-somethings, and we came across lots of games and music that had spontaneously popped up along the beach.

Last week was quiet in Zanzi, especially with Trisia still in Dar; she is usually my companion for anything I do after morning classes. My mwalimu arranged a special field trip on Wednesday to visit a local midwife, with whom I spent 2 hours discussing her work and various aspects of reproductive, prenatal and antenatal healthcare here in Unguja (all in Swahili, I'm proud to say!). I was pleasantly surprised to learn that ARV treatment for HIV+ citizens is free and easily accessible, which could be part of the reason that HIV prevalence is so low here. She was also willing to talk about access to and attitudes towards abortion. Again, I was surprised to learn that abortions are provided here legally, even if it's only when a doctor recommends it for the health of the mother. That's more than I expected. We discussed the issues of child- and teen-pregnancy and whether youths receive any sexual health education. And I got an idea of how different pregnancy and delivery care is for women in hospitals and clinics here than in the US. Overall, I was pretty impressed with the services Bibi Fatmeh described to me. It seems like healthcare in Zanzibar is way better than what I've generally witnessed in Kenya. She invited me to visit the clinic she works at and meet with other nurses and midwives and observe their work. I'm very very excited for that possibility.

Friday night I went to a Zanzibari wedding with Bibi (my grandmother). I borrowed an appropriate dress from Mama Rahma (pictures are up in my picasa album!) and spent a slightly boring 2 hours observing this event. First of all, it was women only; I never even saw the groom. Secondly, they were all dressed to the nines in blinged-out matching dresses and hijab or other head coverings, and so much makeup they could barely blink or move their faces at all! Any drag queen could make a FORTUNE here by opening a wedding beauty shop. Third, there was some dancing, but it was isolated to a corner of the room and was...subdued, to say the least. Finally, when the bride finally arrived and made her way awkwardly down the aisle in her humongous, pouffy white dress, suddenly everyone started getting up to leave! I sort of wondered to myself if she was having any fun at all, and how did it feel to see this mass exodus of people the minute she took her Barbie pink throne at the front of the room? Relationships, weddings, and married life here certainly are different than anything I've seen before.

Saturday we had our postponed field trip to a beach on the east coast called Uroa, which got semi-rained out, but we enjoyed the gorgeous stormy sky, collected seashells, and took a walk through the surrounding village. And today I ventured to Darajani market so I could take pictures of kangas and their 'methali' (Swahili proverbs), which was part of my homework. It was a lot of fun translating the various sayings, which range from spiritual: 'Inshallah Mungu ataleta kheri' = 'God willing He will bring blessings', to romantic: 'Mapenzi ni maua popote huchanua' = 'Love is a flower that blossoms anywhere', to snide: 'Sina shida waladhiki naona mnapata tabu' = 'I have neither problems nor distress, but I see you all have received difficulties'. One must be careful when giving a kanga as a gift or wearing one around, because the proverbs are meant to transmit a message. As Trisia tactfully put it, kangas are the original facebook status.