Feeling This…

Over to you, Mr. Kiba.

Zanzibar: Paradise in Peril (Take that CNN!)

After a long day of touring ruins of royal palace, spice farms (in which most of the time I felt so damn touristy despite this being an educational tour as part of my study program) and a local NGO, I was more than happy to just sit and watch a festival movie. But before I could sit and watch a movie, I had to fill my stomach with some spicy food; in this case, a Zanzibari pizza and sugarcane juice sold outside the festival venue. Seafood dominates the long stretch of food vendors in front of Beit El-Ajib (or House of Wonders) and Old Fort (where most of the films in competition are screened). Here, one can find any (I do mean ANY) kind of poor sea creatures on display – ready at your disposal – to be prepared and eaten mercilessly. There are variety of foods to satisfy everyone but I settled for the Zanzibari beef and vegetable (one) and a vegetarian (one) pizza (yes, I did write a post knocking down vegetarianism last year….oh well!). It tastes great, yet it is cheaper than those mind-numbingly expensive restaurants that cater to mzungo (European) tourist, plus the opportunity one gets to have a good conversation with the indigenous population that reveals much more than the guides and tours. In fact, while waiting for my vegetarian pizza I managed to have an interesting conversation with the chef (who, after finding out that I’m Somali, tried to say the only two Somali words he learned while living in Mombasa, Kenya in the early 1990s) about the state of the island.

In particular, the positive and negative effects tourism has had on the island – a question that has been bothering me quite a lot since I have arrived on the island – over the years. Indeed, the answer he gave is exactly what I have observed myself; mainly that tourists come here, “have fun” the week or two weeks they’re here by exploiting young men or women eager to earn some money. Perhaps I should be more explicit about the nature of the exploitation tourists bring here. The disturbing fact is that many tourists (mainly from Europe – I don’t want to generalize but this is a consistent occurrence unfortunately) come here and rent “guides” who are nothing more than sex workers. Most of the sex workers, believe it or not, are young men, who have no good education or job prospect. And it is the women from Europe (mostly) who come here to have fun with these young, hungry men. If pedophile men from Europe and North America go to Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam to have sex with children, women from Europe and North America come here to Zanzibar to do the same (although technically consensual) thing. You know that shy woman (perhaps her name is Cheryl) sitting in the next cubical workstation who seems to avoid humanity is not so shy when she takes her vacation in Zanzibar.

If Zanzibaris don’t find a way to preserve their island’s uniqueness from tourist’s thrash, they are in a deep shit.

Zanzibari pizza being prepared

ZIFF Opening Night

Zanzibar International Film Festival opened here in Stone Town last night with the premier of a South African movie. The opening act of the festival was a traditional dance from the dhow countries, along with a searing poetry (slam poetry is what you would call in the US, I believe) by a guy named Mrisho Mpoto. Of course the poetry was in Kiswahili but from what I could gather, his poetry was deeply moving as he discussed about social and political issues (he even made the former prime minister of the island, the guest of honor, so uncomfortable by what he was saying that the ex pm had to get up and offer the guy a ‘bus’ to take him around the island – to which Mrisho replied at the end, “be careful PM, I will be using that bus to come visit you” ). Whenever Mrisho said something someone in the audience agreed with or liked, they would get up and put money in his hand to show their appreciation (it’s like clapping, cheering, whistling, or giving the two-thumbs up equivalent). This is a tradition that doesn’t exist in the West though…I did see few Europeans do it, however, as they started to understand the concept (not his poetry) as the performance continued.

Izulu Lami, or My Secret Sky, that opened the festival was absolutely fantastic. The story of the movie is about two recently orphaned siblings, Khwezi and Thembi, a boy and a girl. Directed by Madoda Ncayiyana, the movie has a lot of depth in terms of content and message. I also loved the many symbolism the director inserted throughout the film. It would be useful for someone to know a little bit about South Africa to understand some of these symbolisms but anyone paying attention will get the message. I liked how the film dealt with the taboo subject of men infected with HIV/AIDS trying to cure themselves by ‘having sex with a virgin.’ This is one of the terrible crimes have been plaguing, really, many parts of West Africa especially, where men with HIV/AIDS believe they will somehow be cured of their disease if they have sex with a virgin; children, unfortunately, have been the most victims of this terrible falsehood. I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I say this movie has a real shot at winning the best foreign film at the Oscars next year (I think, in many ways, Izulu Lami is better than Tsotsi, the previous South African movie to win the Oscar few years ago).

Opening Ceremony of ZIFF

Old Fort Amphitheater, where the feature-length movies are screened.

World Refugee Day

Refugees from Somalia and South Sudan

شخابيط على جدران بيت صديقى

 الى صديق راحل

الايام عندى يا صديقى  اصبحت متشابة الملامح

…اليوم متحلى بلباس غدا

والامس اضحى عاريا

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كيف تلمومنى بقلت زياراتى وكتاباتى

وانت تعلم فراغ ايامى

**

قد احرقت شمس الصيف مغامراتى

وبددت شقاواتى

وأذابت اوهامى

وبكل برود هدمت مشاريعى وخططتى

***

كيف لى الكتابه على جدران منزلكم وقد هجرتموه ورحلتم

من سيقرأ كتاباتى  ؟

من سيراجع اخطائى الأملائيه وإعرابى ؟

من سيثور لافعالى الطفوليه ويغضب ؟

ومن سيغسل اثار الفحم من بعدى … لاعود  بشغف و اكتب

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

بقلمى اسطر مأساة فراغى
هند

Nairobi “Ghetto”

The economic heart of Nairobi, and the most neglected one as well.

Intro to Dar es Salaam

Maybe it is the jetlag or the new environment. Maybe it is just me old self. Or maybe I just need time to readjust. Three days in Dar es Salaam already and I feel like I’m at home. There is a welcoming and peaceful atmosphere in this city as its name in Arabic suggests. The attitudes of its inhabitants are just as welcoming. What is most impressive about this city is its diversity and tolerance towards different peoples and their faith. Equally impressive is the diversity of the people here: Arabs, Maasai, Swahili people, other African migrants, South Asians (largely from Pakistan), East Asians (dominated by the Chinese). The most common bond between all these people is either religion or commerce.

View from the top - the coast of Tanzania. The visible island is Zanzibar.

Dar es Salaam

Random sky shot

Afternoon traffic jam in Dar. A motorist is angry at a blocking driver.

Islam is the most practiced religion here (all along the coast for that matter) and one can see the influence of Islam very quickly throughout the city. Likewise, commerce is a strong part of this city, often dominated by non-indigenous immigrants like South/East Asians and Somalis. I’m not sure I would classify the Arab population (locally known as ‘mwarabu’ – the bantuitized word for Arab) here as ‘non-indigenous’ people since they have been here since at least the 13th century. A large population of mixed people also exist here. What I’m surprised not to see here is the European population that colonized Tanzania. However, in the interior of the country I suspect there are still a remnants of colonial descendants – mostly the large estate owners.

Perhaps everything I’ve written here is b.s. but I’m not claiming my observation to be based on academia anyway.

Karibu!

Finally managed to find a working Internet since I have been in Dar es Salaam. Between 10 and 4pm, the electricity is conspiciously absent while before or after these hours it is always on. At least you know about the electricity routine, something I can’t say for the Internet. My trip was smooth and hassle-free, although it took us about 3 trys to land in Dar (not unusual I’m told). I just have to say this: if you ever have to travel overseas, I highly recommend Emirates Airlines (no, I’m not getting paid to plug for them). It is not like they are any more expensive than American or European airlines but those Sheikhs know what they’re doing there, I’m telling ya. Strangely though, Dubai has just an amazing airport but it is so empty (well, it is not fair to compare them to JFK) or at least it felt that way when I was there.

Observing Nature

I was feeling tired and worn out today, So I did something that I haven’t done for a very long time. After the sun was down, I took a chair and sat in the backyard. The weather was indescribable, but I will try. It was beautiful, sweet, and was densely full of memories. Memories of home and of the good old days. The sky was full of clouds, but the moon shined through. It lit up my heart and eased my weariness. How can we ever abandon such beauty . I think observing nature and the greatness of god’s creation is the best therapy and medicine to all wounds. Oh, I forgot to mention the little flies that lights up. I really do not know what they are called in English, but they are brilliant. These little delightful creatures presented me with the best light dances on earth. Then came a frog and scared me away. I have not see one in ages. Frogs are not my favorite creatures, but this one made me laugh. It just stood there staring at me for a while and changed its direction away from my chair.

Well, now I feel good. I will go back inside, drink some tea with the family, and watch the world through the television set.

Go Time

In two days I will be leaving for my study abroad program in Arusha, Tanzania finally. Not a fan of long trip but I’d take airplanes over any other mode of transportations. My flight is connecting through JFK via Dubai. Hopefully by Thursday I’ll be in Dar es Salaam (what a beautiful name for a city, eh?). A nice guy by the name of Adnan will be helping me out in Dar. Then off to Kenya for few weeks and back to TZ through Zanzibar, where I meet up with the rest of the group/faculty for the 12th Zanzibar International Film Festival and other touristy stuff (am really looking forward to Zanz!) before heading to our base near Arusha.

Stay tuned for more details, folks! And watch out for the daily tweets on the top right corner space of this blog once my cell is up and running (since the Internet is not as reliable as the SMS over there). A bon voyage is in order, no?