Weekly Update #3

7:36, May 19th, 2019, Weekly Reflection

This week I learned about Ramadan because while being In Zanzibar, a predominantly Muslim place, I had seen all of these people fasting as well as when I was staying with Sula. I learned about the struggles of the farmers by the Masai Mara and how their farming and living interrupts how the animals in the game park live and migrate. The Masai have set up fences around their properties, and this has only started to happen in recent years. With the fences animals that are migrating get caught up in the fences and either hurt themselves or die. Sula told us of a story that happened recently where about 35 wildebeest entered a fenced in area but could not figure out how to get out, so they were all found dead because of the intense heat and no water available. I also learned about how the soil in that area makes travel very difficult, the earth is very loose so if a road is to be put in with asphalt and then it rains, the road very quickly crumbles away with the unstable soil. 

I had a lot of fun in the Mara and getting to know Sula and his family especially one of his two sons Izzy, he’s a very spunky little boy, so it was fun to talk to him. It was interesting to go to Zanzibar because it was extremely different from both Uganda and Kenya. There is a powerful middle eastern and Muslim influence that was evident in the architecture and the people which I did not see a significant amount of in Uganda and Kenya. It was a different aspect of being in a Muslim country because I have never been to one before. I felt the Muslim influence the most in Stone Town but then when we traveled to the beach, to Kendwa, there was deff of the middle eastern vibe, and more of just the beach feel with the bungalows and everything typical to an exotic beach.

The surprise which we kind of forgot about was that it was the rainy season, which we forgot, and so it rained a lot while we were there. We expected to have beautiful sunny days while in Zanzibar because that is what we had the weeks before in Uganda and Kenya but rainy season had come two months late in Zanzibar and the worst of it was just hitting the island now. So we had to cancel some plans because of the rain that would come on so suddenly.

This week I saw a very different aspect of the continent, which I think broadened my horizons as to how different the countries vary from each other even if the countries are right next to each other.

I gathered more of an awareness, and I saw and met more cultures which is one of my goals, cultural experience, I saw more landscapes and made more life long friends in Kenya with Sula so I know I will always have a place to go to in Nairobi if I ever need one. I immersed myself in the culture I think by hanging out and speaking with Masai warriors. 

Until tomorrow

Maria