DCMA

One of my favorite things about Zanzibar is the Dhow Countries Music Academy (DCMA).  It’s on the beach right around the corner from our apartment (or, rather, a short zigzag through the narrow streets).  

It’s in a gorgeous old building—the former home/

mansion of a young married couple from the early 1900s, and it’s designed in the old Zanzibar style, with walls made of coral cemented together with lime.  Like most of the old buildings here, it’s painted mostly in white, with painted floors in bold colors.  It has little nooks and crannies that were probably used to display prized possessions during the mansion’s heyday.  Best of all, it’s breezy and cool, even on hot days, because it’s designed with a large courtyard and with windows that open to cross-ventilate with the cool sea breezes.

The mission of DCMA is to make music—and especially traditional Zanzibari music—accessible to the people of Zanzibar.  Musicians from the DCMA do outreach performances for schoolkids, offer affordable music lessons to people of all ages, and present monthly concerts to the public on various themes. 

We’ve spent quite a bit of time at DCMA since March, when Oscar and Calvin started taking traditional drum lessons there.  People in our neighborhood are now used to seeing us traipse through the streets with drums under our arms.  The boys love their lessons, and Brady and I both look forward to going twice a week and watching and relaxing in the beautiful setting.  Their drum teacher, Kheri, is relentlessly positive and has taught the boys several traditional songs over the course of the past few months, gradually working from one to two and now to five drums apiece.  There is no printed music, no metronomes, no explicit teaching philosophy (anything as complex as a teaching philosophy would be difficult to convey, given that Kheri’s English is about as good as our Kiswahili—which is to say, fine for getting a basic point across, but not so useful for the fine points).  On a few occasions, Kheri has had Oscar and Calvin practice with dancers—dance being part of the normal ensemble with traditional drums. 

The building is always full of music and musicians of all ages, and the monthly concerts now feel like cozy salon evenings with a mixture of friends and people we know by face and instrument if not by name.  Oscar and Calvin are going to be taking home a drum apiece but, somehow, it’s not going to be the same.

Lesotho and Swaziland

(This post was written by Calvin.) Swaziland and Lesotho are both countries next to South Africa that are not part of South Africa because they fought off the Zulu tribes and stayed independent.  You have to go through immigration and customs to visit them because Swaziland and Lesotho are both their own countries even though they are much smaller and are nearly surrounded by South Africa.

In Lesotho, there are pretty much only villages, snow, sheep, and good bread.  We got there by going up a very steep road called Sani Pass. If you go to the top of Sani Pass and you’re cold or thirsty, you can get hot chocolate and tea. You should bring a coat in wintertime as it 30 degrees F. We were going to hike up a peak called Hodgson’s Peak, but it was way too cold and was too snowy to see, so we just went to Sani Top, visited a hut, and came back down.

Swaziland is much more interesting than Lesotho and it has rock art from San bushmen and a waterfall hiking trail.  Oscar and I liked climbing around on rocks on the trail, but people who mind getting hurt should be careful. I got a scratch on my face when I hiked there but I don’t think other people would get hurt unless they try to polevault on the rocks with a big stick like I did! There are lots of antelope there that are called blesbok, and we also saw a wildebeest and zebra. If you’re a birdwatcher, you can see a bird called a mousebird.  It’s called a mousebird because it’s a primitive bird that has very soft, thick feathers and it looks kind of like a mouse with a long tail. They’re not very good at flying.

Snapshots of South Africa: Vuvuzelas

The unofficial symbol of this year’s Cup is the “vuvuzela.”  Whether you can say its name or not, you will recognize its sound if you have watched any of this year’s World Cup matches on TV.  That humming, buzzing sound in the background is the sound of thousands of vuvuzelas resonating with the crowd’s excitement. 

Vuvuzelas are long, plastic trumpet-like tubes that became popular in South African soccer.  They are loud, they are large, and they are sacrosanct at these games.  Although we heard murmurings in South Africa about the possibility of a vuvuzela ban, FIFA’s long official “Stadium Code of Conduct” for this year explicitly states in its fine print, “Unbranded vuvuzelas are not considered Prohibited Items.” (I know because I checked before we packed Oscar and Calvin’s vuvuzelas—and four sets of earplugs!)  The annoyance of occasional buzzing in your ears—manageable.  Being part of the creation of new tradition in a country that’s trying to start anew—priceless.

Snapshots of South Africa: Ayoba!

It would be hard to be in anywhere in Africa right now and not to be aware of the World Cup.  In South Africa, that enthusiasm is multiplied by about 500.  There, there are billboards and commercials all over the place, welcoming visitors and supporting South Africa’s team.  There are flags from all of the countries in the Cup flying in every conceivable size and place, from miniature flags on cars to full-size ones at businesses and homes.  The most creative show of support we saw was at a local grocery store, where the bakery had made “breads of the World Cup,” representing national breads of the World Cup participating countries.

The aura in South Africa is of pride and optimism. South Africa is justifiably proud to have transformed itself into a country that is supported rather than boycotted by other nations, and into a country that has the infrastructure necessary to support visitors from all over the world.  The message in South African media is Ayoba which I’ve most often heard translated as “excitement” and the charge is to support Bafana Bafana, “our boys” of the home team.

This year for Africa!!

Snapshots of South Africa: (Re)visiting Friends

We weren’t anonymous all of the time in South Africa—and thankfully so. 

On our first morning in South Africa, we met up with my friend Shelley, who was an exchange student and friend of mine in high school.  I hadn’t seen Shelley since she made a return visit to the US when we were in college, but we were able to pick right up where we left off—with the delightful addition of the first bagels and good coffee that we’d had in months!

And, since my parents visited South Africa in 1979 and met a nice family with a daughter my age, I have been writing to my pen pal, Brigitte.  We’ve compared our experiences, we’ve exchanged recipes, we’ve sent birthday greetings and little gifts, and we’ve generally kept in touch on and off for the past 30 years.  I’d met Brigitte’s older sister when she visited us in the 1980s, but I’d never actually met Brigitte face to face until last week. 

Brigitte is married now and has a son who is in between Oscar and Calvin’s ages. We had a great day with our families, mostly chatting and catching up, but also playing a bit of soccer, both in their backyard and—when the boys wanted a bit more of a challenge—in a kids-versus-adults match at the local soccer pitch (the adults put forth a good show, but could not match the tricky ball handling skills of the kids).  It was an experience of a lifetime to get to “meet” someone I’ve known for so long.

Snapshots of South Africa: Revisiting Autonomy

When we’ve done tourist things in Tanzania, we’ve worked mostly with tour guides because that mode is the norm in Tanzania’s national parks, museums, and historic sites.  We’ve certainly learned a lot from the guides we’ve worked with, but we’re used to more autonomy.

In South Africa, we rented a car (a TINY car, as it turned out) and were able to get off the beaten track a bit—sometimes a bit farther than we would have liked, given that South African roadways have been changing at a pace too fast for print and virtual mapmakers to keep up with!  Most nights, we stayed in “self-catering” cottages, and we enjoyed the chance to be anonymous and autonomous for a while.

Snapshots of South Africa: Revisiting Modernity

For 10 months, we’ve been in Zanzibar, where there are no freeways, specialty grocery stores, or well-stocked libraries and bookstores.  While other World Cup visitors were worried about things like the availability of electricity in South Africa, we were getting back to our roots as people who drive on freeways, use credit cards, drink tap water, and make decisions about what brand of peanut butter to buy. 

The modern convenience we appreciated most was grocery stores.  We spent a total of probably 3 hours of our trip in various grocery stores—partly because we were a bit like deer in the headlights with the array of goods available (including South African novelties like bacon spread), but partly because we enjoyed and were entertained by being able to pick and choose exactly what we wanted to eat.  What luxury!

Snapshots of South Africa: Revisiting Apartheid

Like many World Cup visitors, Brady and I were interested in contrasting post-Apartheid South Africa with what we knew of the country from our formative years, and on our first full day in South Africa, we visited the visually, emotionally, and intellectually stunning Apartheid Museum.  The museum includes lots of photos, artifacts and commentary, as well as two films—one of the history of the country up to Apartheid, and one focusing on anti-Apartheid activism in the 1980s, including memorable footage of the Soweto uprising (which was commemorated in a national holiday while we were there: Youth Day, on June 16). 

It was with that context in mind that we drove through the countryside to the Drakensberg Mountains and in the Afrikaaner Voortrekker country, and as we listened to people conversing in the eleven official languages of the country.  It was with that context in mind, as well, that we traversed the areas around Johannesburg, saw the legacy of the old townships, went to Soccer City in Soweto, and stayed in housing in the mostly white enclaves that are still considered the safest places for foreigners affluent enough to visit.

In visiting the country and driving through countryside that looked to us remarkably like parts of the American West, we were struck by our countries’ parallel histories of white privilege, stubborn independence, activism, and religious diversity.  It was as though we were visiting our own country, but with several crucial differences at key points in history.

South Africa still has a ways to go to overcome the history of what several people we talked with called “the bad old days,” but it has made really remarkable progress.  

Prelude to Snapshots of South Africa

It would take more time and space than we have remaining here in Tanzania to do justice to last week's trip to the World Cup, so I’m going to give a bit of context here and move on to a few snapshots.

We were in South Africa for a whirlwind tour from June 12-21, in which we saw 3 countries, 2 friends, something like 1400 kilometers of countryside, snow, heat, and a World Cup match (Argentina 4: Republic of Korea 1).  There’s no way I can do the trip justice, but here are some snapshots.

Father’s Day

This post comes a day late because we spent Father’s Day in South Africa, celebrating the World Cup and joining in the worldwide support of South Africa as it continues to recover from Apartheid and to build a new democracy based on ideals of equality and respect.  

Being in South Africa was a fitting way to celebrate Father's Day, as I'd first become interested in visiting Africa when Dad and Mom went to South Africa in the 1970s, while my brother and I--too young to make the trip--stayed with relatives in Oregon and Washington.  Dad was doing research on Apartheid and its sociopolitical context, and his modeling of intellectual curiosity and his commitment to social justice made a lasting impression on me. 

Dad and Mom came and visited us here in Zanzibar this year, and some things were very familiar to Dad, as on the trip he and I made to the University of Dar es Salaam and to various government offices from which I needed research permits.  Some things, though, were new, such as Calvin's taxonomies of crabs and Oscar's intricate "paper video games."

I want also say happy Father’s Day to Brady.  We’ve had some really wonderful family times here this year, and I can’t imagine a better partner to have shared this time with, or a better father to help the kids enjoy and get the most out of this year.  

Brady has modeled curiosity and has shared his knowledge of many things, from Premier League Soccer to little insects and other critters we've encountered.

Out of love for our boys, he has unselfishly given--among other things, the watch off his wrist and the limelight after he caught his first deep sea fish.

And he has enjoyed and played with our boys, helping them to grow into the fun, curious kids that they are.

Happy Father's Day!

Dear Kitty,

My title is the salutation with which Anne Frank began each entry of her now-famous diary.  Like many other girls of my generation, I read the diary when I was in elementary school (along with Corrie ten Boom’s The Hiding Place).  I remember these as early books that awoke me to idea of evil in the world on a large scale, but I also remember liking the coziness of the hiding places that Frank and Ten Boom describe and the odd intimacy of Anne’s imaginary addressee, “Kitty.”  In the midst of horrific violence and prejudice, these stories show that people are capable of creating places of calm.

I’ve revisited Anne Frank’s diary recently, while reading it aloud to the boys at night for the past couple of weeks, in preparation for our visit to the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam on our way home from Tanzania in July. I wasn’t sure how the book would go over.  It is, after all, about a girl, and even though my memories of it were vague, I thought I remembered it including quite a bit of talk about her first romance and her experience of puberty and teenage angst.  So I was skeptical, but I wanted the boys to have some context for our visit to the historic site.

This bedtime reading—like all of them this year—has been successful beyond my wildest dreams.  In a year that’s been full of new and foreign experiences, our long-established bedtime routine has been a welcome constant. And to our delight, the boys have been up to reading Anne Frank—and Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn and other classic texts that we’ve turned to after reading (and rereading independently) Harry Potter and all of the other children’s fiction we brought with us to Zanzibar.

What’s more, we’ve had some terrific discussions of these books: How could Anne survive without ever getting to play outside? Why did anyone listen to Hitler or carry out his plans? Why do teenagers act so weird? How could people with religious faith be so mean to other people?

As an English professor and literacy scholar,  I’m not unfamiliar with the power of the written word, but reading with Oscar and Calvin this year has given me a new window on how powerful books can be.  Our world here is pretty small: Our apartment is tiny (around 800 square feet), and the entire island of Zanzibar is only about 50 miles long and 20 miles wide.  Many people here don’t ever go more than a few miles from where they are born.  But we’ve been able to expand our horizons considerably beyond the here and now, thanks to the boys’ school library and the packing habits of tourists (most of the books that are available are used, and they include quite a few classic novels: I imagine the optimistic tourist packing, say, Bleak House with the hope that it will finally get read on vacation).

Our experience of reading in Zanzibar has been very different than most people’s.  Books are expensive and hard to come by, but, based on the interviews I’ve been doing with adults here, I think there is a hunger to know more about life outside this island.  Many adults report reading their children’s schoolbooks—not to help with homework, but simply for pleasure reading.  The vast majority of literate people I interviewed read newspapers, explaining that they want to learn more about the world and to educate themselves. 

As I have been so many times this year, I’m grateful for the books that I do have, and for the freedom to travel and learn more about what I’ve read about. 

Dear Kitty, I can’t wait to see where you lived in Amsterdam, and thank you for sharing Anne’s secrets with my family.

Lizards of Zanzibar

(This post was written and typed by Calvin.)

In Zanzibar there are four main types of lizards: daytime geckos, nighttime geckos, brush lizards, and coral rag snake-eyed skinks.

Both the gecko species are closely related but they are different species. The nighttime geckos are lighter brown while the daytime geckoes are pretty dark and speckled.  I’ve seen the daytime geckos at our house but not the nighttime ones.  You can see them the best if they’re outside on the balcony and are on our windows.  That way, you can see their little hearts beating and their suction feet.

Brush lizards are the largest lizards and they live in Mbweni. We tried to catch one, but they’re hard to find.

Coral rag snake-eyed skinks live on coral rag (rocks made from ancient coral) and go in the holes.

I’ve also seen blue and yellow striped lizards at my school in Mbweni.  They are very fast and pretty small.  The reason I didn’t feature them in the top paragraph is that I’ve only seen them at my school.

Keeping Entertained in a Low-Tech Environment, Part VII: STAR WARS-THE KIKOI ALIEN WARS

(This entry written and typed by Oscar)

Calvin and I have been making a movie where a red alien covered in clothes-pins (to make it look more like an alien) sneaks onto an astronaut’s spaceship and comes to earth. The alien plans to take over earth. But the same astronaut gets help from a blue alien with four eyes from Jupiter. Can the blue alien and the astronaut save the earth? Will the red alien persuade the squats from Pluto to help in his evil plot? See the movie and find out!  

Astronaut-Oscar

Red alien-Calvin

Blue alien-Calvin

Squats-Calvin

Props and costume maker-Oscar

Photographer-my mom

Lighting-my mom

Director-Oscar

PROPS:

• Rocket ship (made out of a chair)
• Alien ship (made out of table)