Volunteering - the final verdict

Alas folks, my volunteering experience is over. I still remember the moment I decided I come volunteering in Africa. I’d gone through several miserable months [in fact years] of working and knew I wanted a break to go traveling, a desire my parents vetoed, completely in awe of this unfounded wanderlust and genuinely concerned that it would be unsafe for me to do it alone. Ever the respectful daughter, I went away and tried to think of a “safer” option that would allay their fears. In said moment, I recalled a conversation I’d had with one of my favourite people one summer’s day in a friendly Nando’s restaurant in London many moons before, where we’d had a detailed, thought-provoking chat about our longer-term life goals. It was truly one of those light-bulb-lighting-in-my-head decisions - automatic, firm, pleasing to my mind and heart AND incidentally to the family. Deciding where to go and who to volunteer with took some research but were fairly straightforward decisions. The enormity and finality of it all didn’t hit me till the day I handed in my notice at work, when my boss expressed dismay and surprise at my decision. But it was short-lived. Doubt and insecurity didn’t rear their ugly heads till about the week prior to my departure, when all of a sudden, I could think of a basketful of reasons why this was an absurd, impulsive, childish pursuit of God-knows-what. I was assured that it was just last moment jitters…it didn’t feel that way, especially not when I had to say my goodbyes or when I was all checked in and watched tears gather in my mother’s eyes…all that feels like such a long time ago…

Nearly 7 months later, I can say, in a rather clichéd way, that this is one of the best things I’ve done with my life. The memories I’ve gathered and documented here will be with me forever and for my friends, brace yourselves, my stories are bound to bore you in years to come :D. Some said it would be great, I underestimated how great; some said they knew people who didn’t like their experiences, how could they not?

I’ve received several emails, comments on facebook and on some of my posts here, applauding my efforts. I’m grateful for all these and if there was ever a time I doubted myself, those encouragements obliterated that feeling. I’ve met so many wonderful people in all the countries I’ve visited who were supportive and encouraged what I was doing, which more than compensated for the few who viewed what I was doing with some scorn, prejudice or somehow thought me unqualified for the role

I’m especially grateful to my best friends and family without whose support, I probably would have buckled somewhere along the way. From the thought-provoking interactions that led to the decision to embark on this journey, to the encouragement that it was the right thing to do and the right time to do it, to the suggestions of what to name the blog, what to take on the journey, travel tid-bits, kind words, those who offered me a place to sleep, those who faithfully read and commented on the blog; words really cannot express my gratitude. I’m also thankful for my faithful battalion of blog followers; hope you’ve enjoyed reading my stories and managed to live vicariously through me! :D

Midway through my journey, I started receiving emails asking questions regarding what I’d enjoyed so far, what hadn’t worked so well, the best country I’d visited, best volunteer experience, etc. Thought I’d wait till the end of the volunteer experience to express a fair opinion on these questions. Would start with this caveat though: each experience was unique and rewarding in its own way and if I had to do the trip all over again, would definitely not exclude any of them. So, on that note here goes

Zanzibar
You’ve seen the pictures and I’m sure cannot deny that Zanzibar is beautiful by any measure! The white sandy beaches, perfect sunrises and sunsets, [usually] friendly dolphins, great snorkeling and scuba diving opportunities, just to name a few. It has to get 5 stars for aesthetics…note that this vote in my mind is marginal to Mozambique and Cape Town. The volunteering experience, while not the most challenging, was perfect for the start of the trip. It had the right level of intensity and challenge and taught me a few valuable lessons that perhaps helped enrich my other experiences

Kenya
Hands down, should receive 5 stars for the most challenging volunteer experience. I was forced to step out of my comfort zone, focus on the job at hand and more importantly, think about the best way to apply myself. Also have to say that I admire the fact that Kenyans are reaching out to their own and it was great to note that Kenyans run all the NGOs that Fadhili works with. Kenya, like many an African country, is plagued with many problems and it’s refreshing to see that some can rise above the mayhem and show love and care for others. These NGOs may not be perfectly run but their efforts are definitely a step in the right direction

Mozambique
Receives 5 stars as a holiday destination. I’m talking about the total package here: beautiful scenery, a host of activities to indulge in: horseback riding, snorkeling, scuba diving, surfing, island hopping, etc; delightful cuisine and prices that offer good value for money. Getting there by plane is expensive but for me, it was worth every penny. If you ever had to travel there, would highly recommend flying to Jo’burg and driving or busing it to Moz. I admit that my volunteer experience there was ever so slightly soured by some of my sentiment toward the management style but it was still a good experience. I think the project has a potential for expansion and could definitely be improved on a few grounds – reaching out to the medical community, more widespread HIV education, liaising with the schools for reading and art clubs, etc

Zambia
I really enjoyed my Zambia experience because it exposed me to a very wide range of things and showed me what a well-run project can achieve. I’ll give it 5 stars for breadth and impact on the community. I was always on my toes in my time there: be it teaching, building, working with the old folk, farming, etc. While I didn’t get involved in all aspects of the project, I know that the other volunteers who did get to work on the parts that I missed, had a lot of positive things to say about their experiences

St Lucia, South Africa
I shall give a 5 star rating for its HIV education efforts. It had the most structured effort and the impact of AI’s efforts here were the most far-reaching. Overall, the project was also well run and offered an abundance of good experience to all the volunteers. It was also the first project that exposed me to working with very young children, an experience I didn’t expect to find quite as enjoyable as I did

Cape Town, South Africa
I considered CT my best city experience in the whole trip. It had the amazing combination of perfect scenery and modern convenience. I’d recommend it as a stop for all you city lovers out there. While I didn’t experience any of the more negative aspects of what city life tends to offer, I’ve been told that CT can be unfriendly. Though for the more savvy amongst you, this should almost not be a problem for you. If I managed to survive unscathed, I’m sure many others can. The volunteer experience on the other hand was not as challenging though I have to give a 5 star rating to the young ones I worked with here. They were the most fun and interactive: from their fervent hugs and kisses each morning when I walked through the school gates, to their inquisitive and intelligent questions and their love for all things fun! I even learnt a thing or two from them

For the other countries I visited: Uganda gave me the opportunity to do something daring and adventurous; if anyone had told me 8 months ago that I’d try bungee jumping at any stage in my life, I would’ve laughed them in the face. Though I will not be paying anyone money to terrify myself that much again, I’m glad I tried it. Swaziland was very picturesque and exposed me to some beautiful aspects of African culture. If anyone finds themselves in SA, would definitely recommend making a stop there, if even for a couple of days, just to check it out

The trip has no doubt taught me a lot of things and to list them all here would be near impossible. But I just want to shed some light on a few of the personal and other “revelations”
o I love children and being around them. I think they represent everything that is real and beautiful in this life: innocence, the ability to give unrequited, unconditional love, unbridled trust, fearlessness [admittedly, likely backed by naiveté], being non-judgmental, the ability to forgive AND forget, youthful exuberance, the ability to experience joy in its purest form, the ability to dream and remain undeterred in the belief that they can come true, etc. In them I’ve seen ghosts of myself; shadows and memories of who I once was, now dimmed by the lull of adulthood. I’ve relished my time with them and while I have no teaching ambitions, have thoroughly enjoyed the teaching experience
o My experiences exposed me to so many issues on our dear continent that I was hitherto ignorant about. I have managed to garner a full appreciation of some of these issues and ways in which we can help. While I’ve worked hard in the last few months, there is still so much more to be done. I will certainly be attempting to brainwash my African friends [at least] to chip in their two cents of help. More than ever, my belief that the solutions to some of the problems in Africa will only emerge if we start to effect changes at a micro level, has been confirmed!
o Wanderlust is a great thing; how dull, ignorant and unimaginative life is if we don’t travel and see; experience the way of life of other people; get to appreciate what a beautiful world we live in. I have become its humble servant and will definitely be doing more traveling in the years to come, contingent on good finances and a healthy, long life of course

I’m off to Namibia and Botswana now, so you haven’t heard the last from me. I will be in touch as soon as I can with news of my experiences traveling around these countries. Can’t believe that in approximately two weeks, I will be back in England again!

Zanzibar pictures up...finally!!!

I know you guys will be proud of me [i certainly hope you will be] for getting my act together and setting up a website for the Zanzibar pictures [yay!!!!]. The plan is to set up webpages for all my pictures as i go along. Unfortunately, i managed to mess up the videos i took in Zanzibar so there are none but i've learnt my lesson and promise to have the videos for Kenya and Uganda (including one of my bungee jumping!) up when i get those two sites up and running

Click here to get to the pictures and feel free to leave comments as well!

ps. I'll leave the site open for public view for a short space of time so if you want to maintain access to the site, please drop me an email at: obnahil@gmail.com and i will add you as a member

Kwaheri Zanzibar, Jambo Kenya!

Saying Goodbye (Kwaheri in Swahili) isn’t usually fun for me so I try to avoid it as often as I can. Leaving Zanzibar is not exception; instead I’ll say: “see you later” because I think I will be back someday. I have thoroughly enjoyed my stay on this island, even the “worst” parts of it. I think its set a pretty high bar for the rest of my trip and I will miss it!

I will miss the white sandy beaches; the beautifully turquoise ocean; the brilliantly starlit nights (especially those nights when the moon shone bright and cast its light across the ocean); the exquisite sunrises and sunsets; I will miss the bike rides (oh I will miss the bike rides and all the bruises and scrapes that came with it), the befuddled stares of the villagers that soon turned into welcoming smiles, the students at JTTI (especially the ones that kept me well humoured), the kids at the nursery schools (especially the devilish ones that were usually up to no good but still laughed and wriggled around when you tickled them); I will miss being covered in paint and the fun discoveries that came with it (like learning that insect repellent is a great paint remover!); I will miss the food, though I should be able to live on chapatti and spicy rice in Kenya but then again it might not be the same

That said, I’m pretty excited about Kenya. I think one month of village life has had me craving for a bit of a more city-like experience and Nairobi is just perfect for that. I’ve heard a lot about it and just can’t wait to see it for myself. I’m excited about the placement I’ll be doing out there as well. This time round I will be working in an orphanage for 6 weeks. The setup for accommodation will also be different; I’m ditching the big brother-esque experience for a live-in with a local family which I think could be quite fun. I’m hoping that it will prove better at least on the food front. I also happen to have a few friends in Kenya so will be a good opportunity to catch up and get good advice on the dos and don’ts.

So my flight is all confirmed and I head out tomorrow afternoon. Once I’m settled in, I will be in touch to let you guys know how it’s all panning out. I’m crossing all the crossable parts of my body, praying that the internet situation will be as good as I expect so I can finally, finally post some photos.

And on that note, I say Jambo (Hello in Swahili) Kenya, hope you are as ready for me as I am for you!

Fun, Fun, Fun!

I’ve been rather mute recently on my non-work activities so thought I should give you guys a full update. In my first weekend in Zanzibar, I made a trip to Nungwi and Kendwa, on the north coast of Zanzibar (may well have mentioned this in passing a few posts ago). The first stop was Nungwi, which is 2 hours away from Jambiani by car. I’d heard a lot about this place: how beautiful it was and the myriad of fun activities like snorkelling, diving, etc that one could indulge in. So expectations were pretty high. First off, I went along with what turned out to be a very bad hotel recommendation. I mean I’m working off a budget and all but this place that I ended up staying at was somewhere far below budget accommodation; it goes by the name: Jambo Brothers. The room looked like it needed a good clean, the sheets were stained, someone sighted a maggot on one of the beds, the bathroom needed a scrub and on the first night I felt a roach crawl up my leg in the dead of night. It was THAT bad. It was therefore refreshing to find out that the rest of the experience lived up to expectations. Spent the Saturday with a group of tourists and volunteers on a snorkelling trip to a nearby island called Mnemba, which is meant to be some sort of celebrity getaway place, so we, being the non-celebrities that we are, were forbidden to go there. Lunch was excellent: grilled tuna (pretty well seasoned with garlic, ginger and other spices) and rice (now got to say, Zanzibarians know how to cook rice; I’m yet to eat badly cooked rice here). We part-sailed back to Nungwi and appreciated a lovely sunset.

Spent that evening at Kendwa, a nearby village where a full moon party was ensuing. Think I may have mentioned this already, but it was just not as good as I expected and it seemed to be fertile ground for gropers and creeps to do their business. I was very happy to leave at a decent hour if even to a bed in a cockroach-infested hotel. The journey back to Jambiani was a very welcome one the next morning

Partially scarred from the Nungwi-Kendwa experience, the decision was made to stay in Jambiani the following weekend. Got some swimming done; ate good food at a local restaurant (Zanzibarians also make a mean chapatti; I think I’m actually addicted to it now) and just enjoyed good conversation and relaxation time with the other volunteers and some tourist friends I’d made in the village. There is a local bar that I spend a fair amount of time at each week because it’s the only place in Jambiani with wireless internet (plus its FREE), the owner and his staff are very friendly and its always buzzing with people and good music. By the end of this weekend, Nungwi was but a distant memory

The other volunteers wanted to go swim with dolphins the following weekend, which sounded like a good idea and I tagged along even though I thought we were being charged an outrageous price. How often does one get to swim with dolphins? Figured it was worth the sacrifice. We were up at a very unfriendly hour of 5.45am on the Saturday to embark on our adventure. The taxi picked us up at 6.15 and must say that I’m probably right in guessing that the driver had not showered for at least a week. He also thought it wise to keep the windows up and turn on the fan. I started to have a bad feeling about the whole thing immediately. Anyway, we endured the B.O. for the half hour ride it took to get to the beach at Kizimkazi, another village. The weather wasn’t looking too good either, it was cloudy and the sun was nowhere to be found even though it was past sunrise at this stage. We got into a boat that looked more like a canoe and set off on what ended up being a very bumpy ride. We were in the boat for a good 45 mins before we got anywhere near the dolphins. I felt seasick the whole time; the dolphins finally emerged but apparently were not in the mood for swimming with people so the others got in the water for a whopping 5 mins (I was frankly feeling too sick to even go near the water) and our guide announced that it was time to head back to shore! Once on shore, we were treated to breakfast consisting of tea and chapatti sprinkled with sugar (they almost had me there) but the venue was someone’s living room. We were supposed to pay the driver once we got dropped off. Given the unsatisfactory nature of the experience we were unwilling to pay the quoted price and we negotiated it down to something we felt was slightly more reasonable. A few hours later, the coordinator for the volunteer project comes searching for us (we’d retired to a nearby pool to chill and try to put the experience behind us), demanding to know why we didn’t pay the full price that was agreed. Apparently our negotiating was worthless cause we had to pay the headline price regardless of how bad the experience was; but more interesting to note was that she was up in arms about the whole thing and wouldn’t back down on this point. Anyway, we soon found out that African Encounter, the mother organisation for our volunteer project gets a cut on the fees we pay for the various expeditions that are organised for us, hence the ridiculous prices! Needless to say, we were not planning on booking anything else through them

So last weekend, with mixed feelings and expectations, the other volunteers and I got on the dala-dala (local bus) for a trip to Stone town. Now, I’m sure variations of dala-dalas exist in every African country; in Ghana we call them tro-tros. For those of you not in the know, let me try to explain what a dala-dala looks like: imagine a moving van but with the rear part, shaped like a rectangular box, made out of wood instead of metal. The long side of the rectangle (which lines up with the tires) is partitioned wide enough so one could stick one’s head out; the seats also run along this long side facing each other. The drivers try to fit as many people as possible into this space so the ride is often nice and cozy. Stonetown is an hour and a half away from Jambiani and it was quite a bumpy ride. Being used to this sort of mode of transport, I was able to chuckle quietly at what must have been quite the experience for the other volunteers

Once in Stonetown and very keen to not repeat the hotel fiasco of Nungwi, we went in search of a decent hotel. Again, we’d been given recommendations; our first stop was far too reminiscent of Jambo Brothers so we politely declined and enroute to the second recommendation, we found a gem that we thoroughly enjoyed staying at. We spent most of our time in the central part of Stonetown; the layout of this part was an eclectic mix of meandering streets (which actually looked more like alleyways); the buildings had kind of a Spanish feel to them and each street was lined with hotels and shops (which were storey buildings that had homes on the top floors) and people roaming these streets in a quest to sell their wares. It wasn’t particularly clean but had such a good vibe to it: women sitting around chatting, men playing board games, children playing football in the street, motorbikes and cycles zooming past at full speed (which got a bit scary at times), people hollering out their wares, etc. We spent some time shopping, which involved a huge amount of heckling, and retired to the infamous Africa house for cocktails and a rather disappointing sunset (which was a minor cause the atmosphere was pretty cool). We had dinner at the night market where the food was just excellent; imagine a garden turned square, right by the beach, the tiny orange glow of what was left of the sun in the distance juxtaposed by palm trees; chefs (appropriately attired) selling all kinds of grilled meats and seafood, chapatti, chips, drinks and something called Zanzibar pizza (which is kind of a stuffed crepe that can be of the savoury or sweet kind; I had the sweet kind for dessert, it was stuffed with bananas and had a chocolate topping). I was in food heaven. Fully stuffed, we made our way to a local bar for some live music, very cheesy live music, which made it all the more fun. And of course, we did a sing-along!

We did the spice tour on the Sunday. Zanzibar is famous for being a leading producer of spices; we visited spice farms and fruit farms, saw first hand how most spices are grown and ate very good fruit. We had spicy pilau rice (a totally scruptuous speciality in Zanzibar; I’ve got the recipe and will be trying my hands at it as soon as I get the chance), chapatti and curry for lunch. We checked out the Mangapwani slave caves and nearby beach (which was apparently used during and after the slave trade by the Arabs to illegally trade slaves).

Exhausted from the trip, we retired for some quality Italian ice cream, near our hotel, which was perfect in the heat and was just an apt way to end the weekend. :)

3 weeks already ?!

Can’t believe that this much time has gone by! I’ve now got just over 10 days left in Zanzibar and I know I’m going to miss it

Its been raining a lot recently, in fact for most of the last 2 weeks and I do like the rain here. Its torrential and comes full on for hours at a time; you could just sit and watch it fall but of course that is not what I spend my time doing. Earlier this week we had to walk through the rain to get to and from the schools, which wasn’t exactly fun. The breeze was significant in strength so even though we used umbrellas and raincoats, we still got fairly wet. The rain also tends to leave in its wake, a nice collection of puddles (more like ponds in some cases) scattered around the village, which makes for fairly treacherous bike rides. Thankfully I have so far managed to escape any atrocity in that regard but one of the other volunteers tried dodging a kid running across the road on one such day and wound up flying into one of these puddles. She was not impressed! She did not suffer any major injuries; only a few cuts and bruises and of course a nice coating of mud to complete her attire for the morning

Teaching remains enjoyable and I always look forward to it. We teach the kids from Monday through to Thursday for a couple of hours each day. They are usually great to work with: full of energy (its quite exhausting at times actually), eager to learn and play games (they love lego and playing duck duck goose or red light, green light) and are all very friendly. At one school, they’ve lately become really frisky, partly I think, because they are used to us and the novelty of impressing us has worn off. They especially like to run around and play versions of catch-me-if-you-can amongst themselves whilst screaming and hollering. Some of them also have a great way of balling up in a corner to pretend they are crying, just to get attention, which was cute at first but quickly became irritating! There is also usually quite a scramble for pencils with erasers; apparently the ones without erasers are just not good enough. Its quite funny watching how the girls behave vs the boys when lego pieces are being handed out. The boys just get on with making something whilst the girls hide whatever pieces you hand out to them and ask for more; spend half their time seeking more lego pieces than actually using them to create something. The language barrier of course makes organising/controlling them quite the challenge (though my Swahili vocab has expanded somewhat to deal with these situations) and coping with their shenanigans this week has sapped a fair amount of energy from me.

Working with the older students has been brilliant and since we split the class by competence, things have been working rather splendidly. I think I will miss teaching them the most

We’ve done a decent amount of painting at the local high school though we are still far from finishing it all. Don’t think we will get there before I leave but its felt fairly rewarding seeing the transformation our work has effected. Our bodies also undergo some transformation each time we paint, being the professional painters that we are; we often emerge from the school smeared in paint (white or blue) or limestone! We’ve also been planting trees at one of the local schools (to provide some shade and aesthetics) and it would be interesting to see if they remain standing in a few years’ time. I hope I will come back to Zanzibar someday, if even for a short holiday

In other news: on Wednesday, I miraculously lost my phone on a bike ride! Well, it wasn’t a miracle but I was silly enough to leave my phone in my pocket and forgot to take it out as I left the house hastily for school (do I ever learn?). I realised I’d lost it when I arrived there and was clearly distraught. Luckily, and this is truly unbelievable, someone in the village found it and after trying to contact the number several times (with the help of a local Maasai guy), we got hold of him and he returned the phone. I have concluded that when riding bikes I should only be allowed to carry one thing: myself, ‘cause clearly adding any other “load” proves problematic

I have now given up on trying to upload photos anywhere whilst in Zanzibar. The internet situation here is just not compatible for that sort of activity. So I’ve decided that seeing photos of my escapades so far will have to wait till I get to Nairobi next month, sorry guys! :(  I do have some good shots though so hopefully you will not be disappointed once you see them

Wish me luck for my last 10 days! :)

 

 

 

The Others

I think I’ve made mention in my last few posts about the divas that joined the volunteer project about a week or so ago. Thought I’d do a full piece on them cause frankly, they are that insufferable!

Just go give a bit more colour on the characters in question: they are Persian, obviously very wealthy (as in more money than sense, as one of the other volunteers put it) and its difficult to see how they were taught anything about courtesy and good manners. They are studying in London at the moment (university level) and for some reason (more on that later) they decided to spend 3 weeks out of their summer holidays volunteering (read: holidaying) in Zanzibar

Their attitude has just been appalling: they turn up to work if and when they feel like it; take part in lesson preparation if they feel so inclined; spend more time taking “me and the African kids” photos than actually teaching them anything; complain incessantly about everything (hello, which part of volunteering in Africa has 5 star treatment plastered all over it?); think our Swahili lessons are the best time to get on their blackberries; think its okay to get drunk and consequently turn up to activities late even though its been made explicitly clear that our attitude as volunteers is watched closely by the villagers (who incidentally are staunchly Muslim) and impacts the way AI is perceived and ultimately affects the work it does around here; would rather spend time tanning, listening to their music loudly, talking (well more like bragging) about their outrageously expensive lifestyles to each other than doing anything else

I do not have a problem with what they do with themselves cause I honestly could not give a hoot about it, but once their attitude starts to affect the whole volunteer project and acts as a demotivator to those of us that actually want to be here and do the work, then I think it becomes a problem, a big one I might add

All of this of course begs the question: why are they here? They are wealthy enough to book a swanky holiday to Zanzibar and do whatever the hell they please, so why would they sign up to a volunteer project? As I understand it, it was this over an internship in London. So they’ve kind of been forced to be here which defeats the purpose of the whole idea of volunteering in the first place.

The second question one might ask is: what is being done to put them in their place? We (the other volunteers who actually want to be here and are dedicated to the work) have been told that they receive a strong warning and if they mess up one more time after that, they will be chucked off the program. My sincere wish is that it comes to that

The sad thing is that having them here means that they’ve taken the spots of people who could have been more committed to the program, cared more about the work that was being done here and actually wanted to make a difference. Thinking about that really infuriates me!