Week 3: Zanzibar to Nairobi to Jinja

What a week! From beaches to beauty pageants, I didn't think it was possible to see so many different types of places in so short a time. Monday began on a beach in Zanzibar, Thursday was spent with a friend's family in Nairobi and Saturday finished up while watching the Miss Uganda Central Region contest. It sounds very strange thinking about that, but in any case, lots to write about this time!

Zanzibar began with some pure R&R. Between the wet season rains, there was plenty of sunshine to enjoy by the pool, at the beach, or in the restaurants. Highlights included tasting melt-in-your-mouth graved barracuda, seeing snails as big as my fist, and running into people I'd met bungee jumping at Victoria Falls the prior week week! The final highlight, though, was dashing out of the terminal at Zanzibar's tiny airport to greet a bunch of fellow '07 Columbia grads who I saw walking off their plane as I waited for my flight to leave . Unfortunately, I couldn't talk too long because I was in violation of Tanzanian law by exiting the terminal...but well worth it!

View of the pool in Zanzibar:
My midweek stop, Nairobi, was a great opportunity to spend some time with my friend Nimeet's parents, and to get to see Kenya from a local perspective. I've met his parents several times and they are always the nicest, most hospitable people. And this time proved no different. An employee of his dad's company came to pick me up right as I left the plane. Given that he knew everyone at the airport, this made clearing immigration and customs a breeze. But the most amazing part was seeing the work in the community his family is doing -- from providing running water to schooling to jobs for the town of Ruiru (pop. 50,000). Though his mom's cooking and dad's eye for art were a close second!

Mr. Dodhia's art gallery:
On Friday, I arrived at my final stop (for now) in Jinja. The flight from Nairobi was a great opportunity to get a sense of Uganda from above, with Lake Victoria dominating a lush tropial background...it is really a sight that has to be seen! At the airport, I met our program coordinators and the other 7 volunteers. They seem like a great group and we have been going through our Lusoga language training, getting a sense of what we'll be doing this summer, and seeing the town of Jinja and the surrounding areas.

But the highlight was definitely seeing the Miss Uganda concert. We had a few beers and watched the contestants as well as some popular local artists and musicians performing on stage. The 2 finalists included one woman who was about 5'2" and another who was at least 6'5". Very cool seeing them standing next to each other...the 5'2" contestant won just as the rain started pouring down. This made for an interesting time leaving, with people using chairs as umbrellas as we squeezed through (or were pushed through in most cases) the very small exit. Our awesome program coordinator Jenn got us a taxi pretty quickly though and we were out of there without incident. Actually, despite the crowd, people were very friendly as they have been everywhere here. I think it will be a great summer!