While most people in my office seem pretty aloof about the far-reaching implications of the overnight change in American politics, the rest of the world seems pretty thrilled... Well at least according to "the world" polled by CNN.
Other catchy titles this morning? Slate definitely hold its own:
The Rich Aren't Republican Anymore
Hey, it was a huge day at the Supreme Court, too!
While the Economist was so harsh as to be humourous with its "the Vultures Gather" cover story, which included the following gems:
-"Republicans deserve to get clobbered next week."
-The midterm elections will serve as a referendum on a "simultaneously incompetent and cavalier" administration.
As ever, The Onion still has the best headlines:
Rumsfeld: 'My Half-Assed Job Here Is Done'
Republicans Blame Election Losses On Democrat
Politicians Sweep Midterm Elections: Resounding Victories In All States, Counties, Cities, Towns
Even though, Comedy Central/the Daily Show seem to have predicted Rumsfeld's ouster before anyone else... "Fake news"? I think not...
In other election news, let's give a warm round of 'welcome back' applause to our former-Marxist friend, Daniel Ortega!
And, *drumroll* we are pleased to welcome the new President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo! Oh wait, we need like a month to count all the ballots of the run-off round. The UN is spending millions of dollars a year on MONUC, whose sole mission at this point is the election, but c'mon! Give us a break here! You try to do the counting in a country the size of Western Europe with only 300 miles of paved roads! Besides we kinda think some people cheated and
we're kind of nervous either way about announcing a winner because of all those angry mobs hovering on our doorstep...
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Feeling blue
Well, the overnight political reveral in the US has pushed this blog into uncharted territory: commenting on US politics. I won't bore people with my opinion and predictions, mainly because they would be semi-articulate and largely uninformed. Actually that probably puts me on par with most people blogging on this subject...
Just to clarify my position though, I generally don't adhere to strict partisanship because I find that the polarization of American politics undermines mature political dialogue and progress. However, if pressed to define myself, I'm a Democratically-leaning moderate, who happens to be pretty thrilled about the current blue-ing of America.
Anyway, a couple of things about the current elections stand out for me:
-We have our first woman Speaker of the House. This is exciting mainly because Pelosi is now 3rd in line for the Presidency, just in case you-know-what happens (oh shush you're all thinking it).
-Massaschusetts has it's first black governor, Deval Patrick, who happens to be only the second black governor in US history.
-The first Muslim congressman ever elected: Keith Ellison of Minnesota
- NY had a series of historic Democratic victories, including taking back the governorship. I have a lot of respect for Eliot Spitzer and welcome him to a tough job. Not quite sure what to think of Andrew Cuomo. His father was a great politician (and one of the best public speakers in US history) so he has some big shoes to fill.
- Continuing with NY, I'm encouraged by Hilary's landslide win, including her victories in traditionally Repulican districts of the state.
- Ohio and Florida are looking blue, which is promising for 2008.
-Unfortunately, as always, women and racial minorities are still seriously underrepresented in the American political scene. I guess I'll have the French presidential elections to look forward to...
...Anyway I'm holding my breath for MT and VA, as I head home under the misty evening rain. Just remember, this isn't a victory, it's an opportunity.
Just to clarify my position though, I generally don't adhere to strict partisanship because I find that the polarization of American politics undermines mature political dialogue and progress. However, if pressed to define myself, I'm a Democratically-leaning moderate, who happens to be pretty thrilled about the current blue-ing of America.
Anyway, a couple of things about the current elections stand out for me:
-We have our first woman Speaker of the House. This is exciting mainly because Pelosi is now 3rd in line for the Presidency, just in case you-know-what happens (oh shush you're all thinking it).
-Massaschusetts has it's first black governor, Deval Patrick, who happens to be only the second black governor in US history.
-The first Muslim congressman ever elected: Keith Ellison of Minnesota
- NY had a series of historic Democratic victories, including taking back the governorship. I have a lot of respect for Eliot Spitzer and welcome him to a tough job. Not quite sure what to think of Andrew Cuomo. His father was a great politician (and one of the best public speakers in US history) so he has some big shoes to fill.
- Continuing with NY, I'm encouraged by Hilary's landslide win, including her victories in traditionally Repulican districts of the state.
- Ohio and Florida are looking blue, which is promising for 2008.
-Unfortunately, as always, women and racial minorities are still seriously underrepresented in the American political scene. I guess I'll have the French presidential elections to look forward to...
...Anyway I'm holding my breath for MT and VA, as I head home under the misty evening rain. Just remember, this isn't a victory, it's an opportunity.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
For sale, my dream car
(Read description, then scroll down to see picture)
A good friend of mine from Nairobi, has requested my help in disposing of his vehicle. He urgently needs the money to enable him complete building his residential house in Maswa Know anyone who may be interested? These are the details and a picture of the vehicle:
*TOYOTA HILUX FOR SALE*
-Metallic blue
-5 Passengers
-6 Cylinder power
-Customised Suspension
-Engine Noise completely harnessed
-Efficient fuel consumption 10ml/bm
-Quick sale ~ USD. 4,500.00 only
(Remember: First come first served!)
A good friend of mine from Nairobi, has requested my help in disposing of his vehicle. He urgently needs the money to enable him complete building his residential house in Maswa Know anyone who may be interested? These are the details and a picture of the vehicle:
*TOYOTA HILUX FOR SALE*
-Metallic blue
-5 Passengers
-6 Cylinder power
-Customised Suspension
-Engine Noise completely harnessed
-Efficient fuel consumption 10ml/bm
-Quick sale ~ USD. 4,500.00 only
(Remember: First come first served!)
Monday, November 06, 2006
40min to freedom
The rain streaks horizontally across the office windows. The wind blows perilously sharp sticks against the large glass panes. Every hour or so, there are 15min of deluging monsoon... Just enough time to start gathering the animals 2 by 2, and then it all stops. The sun briefly reappears from behind the thick haze of clouds. No I'm not home in NYC; it's the 'short rains' season here in Tanzania. I suppose that refers to the brief time of each downpour as well as the length of the season itself (about one month).
*Sigh* only two and a half weeks ago, I was on the beach in Zanzibar on a getaway with some friends for the long weekend. What, you didn't get a 4-day weekend 2 weeks ago? You mean to say that you culturally insensitive bastards worked during Eid-el-Fitri, the end of Ramadan? Golly I love working for the UN and getting the holidays of every major religion off, plus half-day Fridays ;-)
Anyway, as usual, Zanzibar was glorious... especially after over a month of confinement to my barnyard of an office. It’s just such an easy trip from Arusha--40min on a cheap little puddle jumper flight and you land on an island paradise, where the white sand beaches are dotted with cheap little bungalow-style hotels and thatched roof bars complete with hammocks, bonfire pits and reggae music squeaking out of the ancient stereo systems.
This time around I was in Kendwa on the North-West tip of the island with a bunch of guys from work for three days of relaxing, tanning very carefully under the hot tropical sun, being that corny tourist girl that picks up seashells along the beach, and wowing the beach hawkers with my Swahili skills. Then I was joined by my Romanian/Canadian co-intern/friend/housemate Catinca (she fills a lot of categories) and her very funny quasi-Mafioso father who generously sponsored the rest of the weekend. On the last evening on the beach, we hired a boat taxi to take us to Nungwi at the very Northern tip of the island and our whole group set off for a sunset 'cruise' and decadent dinner. On our way back, as the lights of the beach bars glittered along the coast, a different light appeared under us in the water. It was a bioluminescent algae bloom, glowing ghostly green. The phosphorescence is caused when the water is agitated around the algae, so our little skiff looked like Tinkerbelle, leaving a trail of fairy dust in its wake.
The next afternoon, Catinca and her father dragged me off the beach kicking and screaming, after I had embarrassed myself by begging every bar/restaurant owner on the beach to give me a job so I could stay there forever… Ok, I didn’t actually do that, but it certainly crossed my mind. If I’m not back in NYC by Christmas, you know where to find me…
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Diary of a super important legal intern
I sincerely apologize for the rather long interruption in my regular stream of updates. Here are some long overdue snapshots from my *new life* as a Legal Intern in the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) at the UN Intl Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania:
Scene 1:
I'm settling into the pace in the overcrowded intern office on the 7th floor at the ICTR . There's a lovely view of Mt. Meru out of our panoramic window, not that I can see the view because I got stuck at the desk near the door. There are 12 people in my office, representing 11 different nationalities, usually chattering back and forth in a mix of the two official languages here, French and English.
It's day 3 at work and I finally get my computer, a nice Dell Pentium 4. Unfortunately I need a surge protector/extension cord to be able to plug it in. After 20 minutes of asking various people, calling around different offices, and promptly being handed off to others, I finally get the correct extension and am able to speak to a guy at the Building Management Services office (BMS).
-Hi, I'm Eve, a new intern in OTP. I would like a request an extension cord for my office computer.
-Ok, have you filled out a request?
-Um, no. That's why I'm calling.
-No no no no no, you cannot simply call the office. You must fill out the online request form.
-Right, but I can't get online because I can't plug in my computer yet.
-Yes, but you must complete the special form online and have it signed by your supervisor.
After a full 5 minutes of this verbal circumnavigation, I sigh and hang up the phone. But no, I am not yet defeated by the complex absurdity of UN bureaucracy. I march down to the BMS office, conveniently located down the block, outside the UN compound, and I find my telephonic interlocutor. After a 10-minute conversation about his family, health, kids etc, he hands me an extension cord! Victory is mine!
I happily trot back to my office, plug in the computer, start everything up, click on Internet Explorer and then… realize my Internet connection is not working…
Scene 2:
It's the end of my first week at the ICTR. After several days of translation work, photocopying and other tedious assignments, I am called down to the courtroom during an afternoon session. I try to conceal my excitement as I put on my suit jacket, smooth my hair, kick off my flip-flops (office norm) and slip on my heels. I grab my shiny new security ID badge and proceed down to Trial Chamber 1 where my case, Military 1, is being heard. I scan my ID and the light switches from red to green as the door clicks open. I push past the heavy curtain, appropriately colored "UN blue," and pause by the simultaneous interpreters' booths to bow to the judges. I pull up a chair next to Kartik, the assistant legal officer, and he hands me a stack of important confidential documents. I look eagerly down at the papers, waiting for my assignment. And then Kartik asks me to make 15 collated copies so we can distribute them as exhibits in court. Oh, more photocopying… Yay.
Scene 3:
Late afternoon on Friday, the end of my second week at the Tribunal. I'm already here much later than most people on Friday, a half-day of work here. Dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt (it's casual Friday, aka "cultural attire" day at the UN), I walk down the clinical hallway to the office of Rashid, one of the trial attorneys. I hand him a thick witness binder, containing confidential protected witness information and certain background searches I had performed as preparation for this witness taking the stand the following week. As I walk back down the hall, gearing up to leave, I pop into the office of Greg, another trial attorney on the Military 1 case, just to wish him a nice weekend etc. We get to talking and he asks what I'm working on…
What I'm thinking: I'm working on finally getting out of here so I can go meet my friends for happy hour.
What I say: I just finished preparing the Higaniro binder for Rashid.
Greg: Oh so you're done? How would you like to work on one of my witnesses?
What I'm thinking: Cool beans, I'd love to do some more substantive work. Let's talk about in on Monday cuz I need to get outta here.
What I say: Sure, no problem.
Greg (passing me a huge thick binder): Oh great. Here's all the info. Go ahead and read through the documents, do an analysis of his statements, translate the Belgian immigration documents, and draft some questions for cross-examination.
What I'm thinking: Oh my God, I am totally unqualified for this job. I'm just going to back out of this door s-l-o-w-l-y.
What I say: Yup, I got it.
Greg: Oh and it'd be great if I could get this by 10pm tonight before I leave for Nairobi.
What I'm thinking: 10pm?! Are you nuts? It's already past 4pm on FRIDAY, aka 3 hours after everyone else has already gone home! Find some other sucker buddy, I'm outta here!
What I say: No worries, I'll get started on that ASAP.
Welcome to my life :-)
Scene 1:
I'm settling into the pace in the overcrowded intern office on the 7th floor at the ICTR . There's a lovely view of Mt. Meru out of our panoramic window, not that I can see the view because I got stuck at the desk near the door. There are 12 people in my office, representing 11 different nationalities, usually chattering back and forth in a mix of the two official languages here, French and English.
It's day 3 at work and I finally get my computer, a nice Dell Pentium 4. Unfortunately I need a surge protector/extension cord to be able to plug it in. After 20 minutes of asking various people, calling around different offices, and promptly being handed off to others, I finally get the correct extension and am able to speak to a guy at the Building Management Services office (BMS).
-Hi, I'm Eve, a new intern in OTP. I would like a request an extension cord for my office computer.
-Ok, have you filled out a request?
-Um, no. That's why I'm calling.
-No no no no no, you cannot simply call the office. You must fill out the online request form.
-Right, but I can't get online because I can't plug in my computer yet.
-Yes, but you must complete the special form online and have it signed by your supervisor.
After a full 5 minutes of this verbal circumnavigation, I sigh and hang up the phone. But no, I am not yet defeated by the complex absurdity of UN bureaucracy. I march down to the BMS office, conveniently located down the block, outside the UN compound, and I find my telephonic interlocutor. After a 10-minute conversation about his family, health, kids etc, he hands me an extension cord! Victory is mine!
I happily trot back to my office, plug in the computer, start everything up, click on Internet Explorer and then… realize my Internet connection is not working…
Scene 2:
It's the end of my first week at the ICTR. After several days of translation work, photocopying and other tedious assignments, I am called down to the courtroom during an afternoon session. I try to conceal my excitement as I put on my suit jacket, smooth my hair, kick off my flip-flops (office norm) and slip on my heels. I grab my shiny new security ID badge and proceed down to Trial Chamber 1 where my case, Military 1, is being heard. I scan my ID and the light switches from red to green as the door clicks open. I push past the heavy curtain, appropriately colored "UN blue," and pause by the simultaneous interpreters' booths to bow to the judges. I pull up a chair next to Kartik, the assistant legal officer, and he hands me a stack of important confidential documents. I look eagerly down at the papers, waiting for my assignment. And then Kartik asks me to make 15 collated copies so we can distribute them as exhibits in court. Oh, more photocopying… Yay.
Scene 3:
Late afternoon on Friday, the end of my second week at the Tribunal. I'm already here much later than most people on Friday, a half-day of work here. Dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt (it's casual Friday, aka "cultural attire" day at the UN), I walk down the clinical hallway to the office of Rashid, one of the trial attorneys. I hand him a thick witness binder, containing confidential protected witness information and certain background searches I had performed as preparation for this witness taking the stand the following week. As I walk back down the hall, gearing up to leave, I pop into the office of Greg, another trial attorney on the Military 1 case, just to wish him a nice weekend etc. We get to talking and he asks what I'm working on…
What I'm thinking: I'm working on finally getting out of here so I can go meet my friends for happy hour.
What I say: I just finished preparing the Higaniro binder for Rashid.
Greg: Oh so you're done? How would you like to work on one of my witnesses?
What I'm thinking: Cool beans, I'd love to do some more substantive work. Let's talk about in on Monday cuz I need to get outta here.
What I say: Sure, no problem.
Greg (passing me a huge thick binder): Oh great. Here's all the info. Go ahead and read through the documents, do an analysis of his statements, translate the Belgian immigration documents, and draft some questions for cross-examination.
What I'm thinking: Oh my God, I am totally unqualified for this job. I'm just going to back out of this door s-l-o-w-l-y.
What I say: Yup, I got it.
Greg: Oh and it'd be great if I could get this by 10pm tonight before I leave for Nairobi.
What I'm thinking: 10pm?! Are you nuts? It's already past 4pm on FRIDAY, aka 3 hours after everyone else has already gone home! Find some other sucker buddy, I'm outta here!
What I say: No worries, I'll get started on that ASAP.
Welcome to my life :-)
Monday, August 21, 2006
"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens"
These are a few of my favorite things...
I thought I’d share my summer reading list in case any of you are interested in learning more about any of the issues I’ve mentioned over the past three months. I won't bore you with the list of fiction that I've read to keep me relatively sane. Besides, I haven't really read much non-fiction at all because, as you know, once I’m in something, I tend to just keep digging deeper and deeper... Anyway, over the past few months, I’ve mostly been reading Africa/development/conflict related non-fiction, in this order:
1- Dark Star Safari by Paul Theroux—famous novelist travels overland from Cairo to Cape Town; great descriptions of the continent and interesting insight (though I don't 100% agree with his conclusions)
2- Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda by Gen. Roméo Dallaire—memoirs of the UN force commander in Rwanda during the genocide; sometimes a little too "I talked to him, then to him, then I went here, then I went there..." but terribly informative and a great insider's perspective
3- We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families by Philip Gourevitch—journalist’s investigation in Rwanda one year after the genocide, heart-breaking stories and terrific insight
4- The Zanzibar Chest: Life, Love and Death in Foreign Lands by Aidan Hartley—young journalist working in African war zones intertwines his narrative with a family history; prose is a little heavy at times, but a great read
5- Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures): True Stories from a War Zone by Heidi Postlewait, Kenneth Cain, and Andrew Thomson-- 3 UN workers share stories from Cambodia, Somalia, Haiti, and Rwanda; interesting and fun read
6- Guns, Germs, and Steel: A Short History of Everybody for the Past 13,000 years by Jared Diamond—the Ultimate history book, the researcher explains scientifically why human societies ended up so differently on the various continents; loooong and a little dense at times, but fascinating thesis and v. well demonstrated
------------------------------------
Additionally, I've seen several films (mostly documentaries) that are relevant to the above issues... All are highly recommended:
1- Invisible Children, 3 young Americans travel to Uganda, and almost by accident make a documentary about the war-affected internally displaced children in Northern Uganda
2- Soldier Child, about the abduction and indoctrination of child soldiers in the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda
3- Sometimes in April, fictional film about the Rwandan genocide--better than Hotel Rwanda
4- Ghosts of Rwanda, PBS documentary about the genocide and Western inaction
5- Life and Debt, case study of Jamaica and the noxious effects of the World Bank policies on its development; great interviews, music, camera angles etc... beautiful example of documentary film-making at its best
I thought I’d share my summer reading list in case any of you are interested in learning more about any of the issues I’ve mentioned over the past three months. I won't bore you with the list of fiction that I've read to keep me relatively sane. Besides, I haven't really read much non-fiction at all because, as you know, once I’m in something, I tend to just keep digging deeper and deeper... Anyway, over the past few months, I’ve mostly been reading Africa/development/conflict related non-fiction, in this order:
1- Dark Star Safari by Paul Theroux—famous novelist travels overland from Cairo to Cape Town; great descriptions of the continent and interesting insight (though I don't 100% agree with his conclusions)
2- Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda by Gen. Roméo Dallaire—memoirs of the UN force commander in Rwanda during the genocide; sometimes a little too "I talked to him, then to him, then I went here, then I went there..." but terribly informative and a great insider's perspective
3- We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families by Philip Gourevitch—journalist’s investigation in Rwanda one year after the genocide, heart-breaking stories and terrific insight
4- The Zanzibar Chest: Life, Love and Death in Foreign Lands by Aidan Hartley—young journalist working in African war zones intertwines his narrative with a family history; prose is a little heavy at times, but a great read
5- Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures): True Stories from a War Zone by Heidi Postlewait, Kenneth Cain, and Andrew Thomson-- 3 UN workers share stories from Cambodia, Somalia, Haiti, and Rwanda; interesting and fun read
6- Guns, Germs, and Steel: A Short History of Everybody for the Past 13,000 years by Jared Diamond—the Ultimate history book, the researcher explains scientifically why human societies ended up so differently on the various continents; loooong and a little dense at times, but fascinating thesis and v. well demonstrated
------------------------------------
Additionally, I've seen several films (mostly documentaries) that are relevant to the above issues... All are highly recommended:
1- Invisible Children, 3 young Americans travel to Uganda, and almost by accident make a documentary about the war-affected internally displaced children in Northern Uganda
2- Soldier Child, about the abduction and indoctrination of child soldiers in the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda
3- Sometimes in April, fictional film about the Rwandan genocide--better than Hotel Rwanda
4- Ghosts of Rwanda, PBS documentary about the genocide and Western inaction
5- Life and Debt, case study of Jamaica and the noxious effects of the World Bank policies on its development; great interviews, music, camera angles etc... beautiful example of documentary film-making at its best
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Back on the banks of Lake Victoria
Just a quick "jambo" from Kisumu on the banks of Lake Victoria in western Kenya. I'm settling here for the next couple of weeks to help out at Africa Now, the NGO I interned for last summer in the UK. Despite being exhausted after my first long day in the field, I wanted to share some sad news with you guys: unfortunately, I somehow managed to sweet talk my way into an internship at the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which means that I'll be going back to Arusha, Tanzania in a couple of weeks and staying there until XMas. (*pausing here to give you all a moment to grieve my prolonged absence*)
But, in all seriousness, I am psyched about this opportunity to intern at the Office of the Prosecutor and help work to put the big bad masterminds of the genocide away in some desolate jail cell forever and ever and ever. I've already been in contact with most of the other incoming interns and they seem like a really interesting, multicultural, international group of people... So more good times ahead for Eve in Africa!
Anyway, to keep your minds off of your imminent depression, I finally took some time to upload some more pics! So scroll back to past posts and check out my links :-)
But, in all seriousness, I am psyched about this opportunity to intern at the Office of the Prosecutor and help work to put the big bad masterminds of the genocide away in some desolate jail cell forever and ever and ever. I've already been in contact with most of the other incoming interns and they seem like a really interesting, multicultural, international group of people... So more good times ahead for Eve in Africa!
Anyway, to keep your minds off of your imminent depression, I finally took some time to upload some more pics! So scroll back to past posts and check out my links :-)
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Masai on the beach and other tales from Zanzibar
Last time I had a chance to sit down and devote some time to an update, I was in Arusha, Tanzania sitting under beautiful Mt. Meru (spitting distance from Mt. Kilimanjaro) and doing research at the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). I'll write more about Arusha some other time (For now, the pics are here: http://smith.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010862&l=339a4&id=5902101 ). They seem very distant from me now as I sit in this small internet cafe hearing the evening call to prayer echo through the streets of Stone Town on the island of Zanzibar.
The formal academic program ended about 10 days ago and since then I've had some much needed vacation time. Last week I was in Nairobi with my Kenyan friend Muthoni from Oxford. She showed me around town a bit--and by town, I mean the suburbs, since downtown Nairobi is notoriously crime-ridden, thus the moniker "Nairobbery." We quickly got tired of the dreary weather and decided to head to the coast. Transport in Kenya, as in most of the continent, is quite challenging, but we decided to brave the roads and go from Nairobi to Mombasa by bus... The bus wasn't exactly your air-conditioned Greyhound, but at least there weren't any goats or chickens in it. I was, as usual, the only mzungu on the bus, which the gaggle of veiled women thought was just about the funniest and strangest thing they had ever seen.
The 500km over the bumpy pot-hole ridden highway through the Kenyan plains only took 9.5 hours, which includes the fact that a) we left 30min late, b) had a 45min rest stop, and c) stopped for another 45min to change a punctured tire. For most of the ride, I napped and between dosing enjoyed the beautiful scenery... Lots of little villages, really just glorified groups of shops and street vendors, squatted along the highway in the ever-changing scenery of hills, sharp escarpments, and plains dotted with cattle and their young Masai herders. As I sat there thinking about the Kenyan landscape and the artificial and imperialist creation of the national park systems, I saw some zebra along the side of the road... Who needs national parks, which just dispossess local populations, when the whole country is basically a big national park? Oh goodness, my last semester of college is haunting me (thanks Prof Newbury).
Anyway, we finally got to Mombasa and installed ourselves at Muthoni's flat at the Tamarind on the North coast, about 15min from the city centre. Sitting on the balcony, in the evening warmth, hearing the soft laping of the Indian Ocean below me, I was in absolute heaven--except for the mosquitoes which quickly smelled out their sweet new prey. After a couple of nights in Mombasa, we flew back to Tanzania down to Zanzibar to meet up with Page, an American friend from the academic program.
Zanzibar is an island in the Indian Ocean that historically served as an important trading centre between Africa and the Middle East. For hundreds of years, ivory and African slaves sailed one way on the monsoon winds, and spices and silk went the other. In the meantime, lots of Arabs settled in the Zanzibar archipelago (including, rather famously, the sultan of Oman who decided to relocate his capital here in 1832) and intermarriage between Arabs and Africans ensued, which gave rise to a coastal community with distinctive features, and a unique hybrid language derived in part from Arabic and the local Bantu dialect... That language is now known as Swahili, a name which comes from the Arab word sawahil which means 'coast'.
Skip forward a hundred years or so: Zanzibar finally gained its independance in 1964 and together with the mainland (Tanganyika) formed the nation we know as Tanzania (look at that clever little word melding ;-) ).
Anyway, sorry for that historical digression, but the history is absolutely fascinating and still very visible, most notably in the architecture and the predominantly Muslim population (97%). When I arrived, the light cloud cover over Stone Town could not mask the beauty of this UNESCO World Heritage Site... Traditional dhow boats float on the bright blue harbour waters that suround the bustling little bazaars, cobblestone streets, narrow alleys, and white-washed houses with dark wood carved doors--oh just see for yourself: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=zanzibar%20stone%20town&sa=N&tab=wi
After an overnight in Stone Town, we drove out to the south east coast to Paje, a miniscule fishing village on one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. The quiet palm tree-lined beach extends for miles; silky soft white sands trims the Indian Ocean; and the sun glistens in gold and silver flecks on the surface of the warm and shallow turquoise waters. We just tanned, read (I'm rather appropriately in the middle of the Zanzibar Chest), ate freshly caught seafood, got pekoe (black henna) tattoos, watched fishermen come in with the daily catch, dodged some tiny jelly fish, did a little souvenir shopping (with the random local Masai who roamed the beach), and went for long walks down the deserted beaches. We must have been among only 50 or 60 other tourists (mostly Italians and some Brits), and we felt like we had the place to ourselves as we lay comatose on the beach for 4 days.
But that mini-escape from reality is over, as I'm back in Stone Town this evening before flying back to Mombasa early tomorrow mornaing. I have about 5 more days of holiday before moving out to Kisumu in Western Kenya to do some volunteer work with Africa Now, the NGO I worked for last summer.
Anyway I'm off to enjoy my last evening in this little island paradise (I seriously recommend it--check out the link to my pics)...
The formal academic program ended about 10 days ago and since then I've had some much needed vacation time. Last week I was in Nairobi with my Kenyan friend Muthoni from Oxford. She showed me around town a bit--and by town, I mean the suburbs, since downtown Nairobi is notoriously crime-ridden, thus the moniker "Nairobbery." We quickly got tired of the dreary weather and decided to head to the coast. Transport in Kenya, as in most of the continent, is quite challenging, but we decided to brave the roads and go from Nairobi to Mombasa by bus... The bus wasn't exactly your air-conditioned Greyhound, but at least there weren't any goats or chickens in it. I was, as usual, the only mzungu on the bus, which the gaggle of veiled women thought was just about the funniest and strangest thing they had ever seen.
The 500km over the bumpy pot-hole ridden highway through the Kenyan plains only took 9.5 hours, which includes the fact that a) we left 30min late, b) had a 45min rest stop, and c) stopped for another 45min to change a punctured tire. For most of the ride, I napped and between dosing enjoyed the beautiful scenery... Lots of little villages, really just glorified groups of shops and street vendors, squatted along the highway in the ever-changing scenery of hills, sharp escarpments, and plains dotted with cattle and their young Masai herders. As I sat there thinking about the Kenyan landscape and the artificial and imperialist creation of the national park systems, I saw some zebra along the side of the road... Who needs national parks, which just dispossess local populations, when the whole country is basically a big national park? Oh goodness, my last semester of college is haunting me (thanks Prof Newbury).
Anyway, we finally got to Mombasa and installed ourselves at Muthoni's flat at the Tamarind on the North coast, about 15min from the city centre. Sitting on the balcony, in the evening warmth, hearing the soft laping of the Indian Ocean below me, I was in absolute heaven--except for the mosquitoes which quickly smelled out their sweet new prey. After a couple of nights in Mombasa, we flew back to Tanzania down to Zanzibar to meet up with Page, an American friend from the academic program.
Zanzibar is an island in the Indian Ocean that historically served as an important trading centre between Africa and the Middle East. For hundreds of years, ivory and African slaves sailed one way on the monsoon winds, and spices and silk went the other. In the meantime, lots of Arabs settled in the Zanzibar archipelago (including, rather famously, the sultan of Oman who decided to relocate his capital here in 1832) and intermarriage between Arabs and Africans ensued, which gave rise to a coastal community with distinctive features, and a unique hybrid language derived in part from Arabic and the local Bantu dialect... That language is now known as Swahili, a name which comes from the Arab word sawahil which means 'coast'.
Skip forward a hundred years or so: Zanzibar finally gained its independance in 1964 and together with the mainland (Tanganyika) formed the nation we know as Tanzania (look at that clever little word melding ;-) ).
Anyway, sorry for that historical digression, but the history is absolutely fascinating and still very visible, most notably in the architecture and the predominantly Muslim population (97%). When I arrived, the light cloud cover over Stone Town could not mask the beauty of this UNESCO World Heritage Site... Traditional dhow boats float on the bright blue harbour waters that suround the bustling little bazaars, cobblestone streets, narrow alleys, and white-washed houses with dark wood carved doors--oh just see for yourself: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=zanzibar%20stone%20town&sa=N&tab=wi
After an overnight in Stone Town, we drove out to the south east coast to Paje, a miniscule fishing village on one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. The quiet palm tree-lined beach extends for miles; silky soft white sands trims the Indian Ocean; and the sun glistens in gold and silver flecks on the surface of the warm and shallow turquoise waters. We just tanned, read (I'm rather appropriately in the middle of the Zanzibar Chest), ate freshly caught seafood, got pekoe (black henna) tattoos, watched fishermen come in with the daily catch, dodged some tiny jelly fish, did a little souvenir shopping (with the random local Masai who roamed the beach), and went for long walks down the deserted beaches. We must have been among only 50 or 60 other tourists (mostly Italians and some Brits), and we felt like we had the place to ourselves as we lay comatose on the beach for 4 days.
But that mini-escape from reality is over, as I'm back in Stone Town this evening before flying back to Mombasa early tomorrow mornaing. I have about 5 more days of holiday before moving out to Kisumu in Western Kenya to do some volunteer work with Africa Now, the NGO I worked for last summer.
Anyway I'm off to enjoy my last evening in this little island paradise (I seriously recommend it--check out the link to my pics)...
Friday, July 14, 2006
A little expedition south
Last week our group went on a little 3-day excursion to Butare, a region in Southern Rwanda that borders Burundi. Butare (the town) is a mid-sized university town that suffered some of the worst atrocities during the 100-days of the genocide. We didn't have the opportunity to visit any of the sites down there, as we spent most of our time at the Center for Conflict Management at the University, hearing a rather interesting "reinterpretation" of Rwanda's role in the geopolitics of the Great Lakes region. In order to vent some of our frustrations about the blame shifting/evasion tactics/blatant lies we heard at the Center, we decided to go on a nice long drive South. It was possibly the most beautiful drive I have ever been on, zooming along the roads that wind through the hills, revealing jawdropping views at each turn and breathing in the fresh mountain air. Along the roads, women in brightly colored wraps walked along, swaying gracefully under the impossibly large loads they balanced on their heads; schoolchildren waved and chased after our van screaming "bazungu!!" (plurual of muzungu); and men laboriously tried to navigate their rickety bicycles up and down the hills, sometimes latching on the back of our van to get themselves pulled along.
The hour drive went by in an instant, and suddenly we were at the border of Burundi. A couple of us (yeah, including me) didn't have our passports, so we just sort of snuck into Burundi illegally... and then promptly turned around because after a few minutes the border guards somehow noticed 3 white kids tiptoeing around. But anyway, I just feel pretty badass having illegally snuck across an international border. It also just reinforced my feelings about the absurdity of some of these borders in the region. In the actual area where we crossed, the border between Rwanda and Burundi is just a narrow little stream, maximum 6 feet across and 3 feet deep--one side Rwanda, one side Burundi.
Anyway, after about an hour of sketchily hanging around the border area, we drove back up to Butare, and then onward back to Kigali the next day...
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