Zanzibar/Leaving Africa

After we left Zanzibar Town last Friday, internet access became a thing of the past, hence the silence.

We're now back in Paris awaiting our flight to Seattle. We were almost stranded indefinitely in Nairobi last night but by a major miracle in the form of 'mechanical difficulties' our plane to Paris was still sitting on the Nairobi tarmac, even though we landed in Nairobi 45 minutes AFTER our connecting flight was supposed to have taken off. Now we are really, really on our way home.

Sigh.

The melancholy set in yesterday afternoon. I've probably said this a thousand times in a thousand different ways over the last ten years, but I am completely and forever in love with East Africa. When it comes time to leave, I'm always saddened by the reality that life at home may lead in directions that don't lead me back here again. This time, however, I have the reassurance that Kristin is also hooked. She's already conspiring a return (the first American we've encountered since we left Kijabe turned out to be a young man from New York who is living for a year in Rwanda working at a children's home. He, also, is completely in love with East Africa and will be starting his own non-profit and returning to Rwanda as soon as he can. Kristin was rapt, listening to him.) In fact, Kristin has proclaimed that she thinks she might marry a Maasai man. If she ends up on this continent in any capacity you can be sure I'll be visiting.

Our time on the northeast coast of the island of Zanzibar has been lovely. We've had two brilliantly clear days and two days of clouds blowing in and out. Note this: if ever any of you desire a trip to the tropics in August, Zanzibar has the perfect climate. Warm, soft air--refreshingly cool in the shade of the palms or the overhanging thatch roofs and in the sun, hot enough to swim forever. The Indian Ocean warm and so clear and blue it defies reality--the shades of color do not seem possible.

Basically, we've just been relaxing--walking the miles and miles and miles of white sand beach, watching the dhows set sail in the sunrise, watching the local women gather seaweed at low tide, reading, and processing this adventure. One morning we hired a boat and motored out over the reef to snorkel off Mnemba Island. In the afternoons, I've been camped on our porch, doing a little writing while enveloped in the scent of cloves the locals have spread out to dry along the coral road through the village.

Once we hit Charles de Gaulle airport our world came crashing in. I cannot express how thankful I am to have had three trips to East Africa, to work here, to play here, to have the privilege of living among the beautiful people. Africa has a lot of serious problems, and so much need in so many areas that if you think about it in terms of the big picture it can crush you. And I certainly wouldn't want to be a woman in a burka standing hip deep in the Indian Ocean harvesting seaweed, my whole world as long as I live that one stretch of beach on the east coast of Zanzibar. But I admire these people tremendously, and respect them for their tenacity and their hope and their inextinguishable joy. As for us--one little step at a time, one person at a time. Support human rights. Work to end the exploitation of children, of women, of resources. Work for an accountable system of justice--these are the keys. All the while loving the landscape, loving the people.

Photos: gathering seaweed, Matemwe beach, Zanzibar; dhows, Matemwe beach; dhows at sunrise; drying seaweed; gathering seaweed, sunrise, Matemwe beach; Zanzibar road; bathing beauties; dhows fishing; Orvina, our housekeeper, Zanzibar.