Yay for Rotary!

This week so far has been fairly uneventful compared to my past weeks, but don't worry, I still have lots to share! First and foremost, I am an official resident of Tanzania for 2 years and it is stamped in my passport! Whoohoo! Even though I really resent the man working at the school who handles all the permits...he has a serious attitude problem. But I also finally met Stephi Said who is the lady that started the Rotary Club in Zanzibar. She is also the one that was supposed to pick me up at the airport when I arrived, but she forgot and still feels terrible about it despite how many times I have told her it was no big deal. We went to have coffee on Tuesday at the nicest hotel in Zanzibar because she said they have amazing coffee haha. Her story goes as follows...When she was my age, she and 2 friends traveled around the world, starting in Australia and ending in South Africa. But when they arrived in Zanzibar, she decided to stay for the remainder of the trip to take language courses. Then, after graduating from college she came back and started her life here, met her husband, and she now has a 2 month old baby boy. She is really down to earth and will be a big help to be while I am here.

Stephi invited me to the Rotary meeting on Wednesday, and she got me really excited about it because she said I would meet some great people from all over the island. So on Wednesday, she picked me up and we went to the Zanzibar Resort Hotel for the meeting. There are only about 16 official members in their club, where as my club in Columbia has about 40-50 members. They are also extremely laid back and very nice--I guess you can attribute that to the fact that they live on an island. Also, about 1/2 of the club are locals and the other 1/2 are Western Euro-Americans that have lived on the island for years.

For about the first half of the hour long meeting, we talked about me haha! It was quite humorous, and they were all really excited that I was there and wanted to get involved. And Stephi was right when she told me that I would get some really great connections at the meeting. One lady owns a hotel in the southern tip of the island and owns a company called Safari Blue (scuba and snorkeling trips)! And another lady works a free-medical clinic on the Eastern part of the island, so I will most certainly want to visit there. And then another woman owns a hotel in the northern area of the island. All of them told me that I was more than welcome to come and stay at any of their places any time I want. One even said, "Even if you want to just get away for a day or two and take a hot shower, you are more than welcome." And the sound of that just made me soooo happy!

For the 2nd half of the meeting, we talked about different service projects that we want to get involved in. They already have one currently in the works... There is a tribe in the middle of the island who have to carry their clean water uphill about 1.5km from a well at the bottom of the hill. The Rotary Club bought pipes and dug tunnels so the tribe will have running water that will go up the hill. I thought that was an excellent project. Another project that they want to do is work with the local Blood Bank that is on the island. This blood bank has only been here for a year and they are so unorganized and have no idea what they are doing. For example, they do not have a vehicle, so if there was an emergency on the other side of the island, they would have to take the blood in either a taxi or a dalla dalla (local bus). This thought is absolutely absurd! And another example is the fact that a lot of the locals do not want to donate blood for fear of finding out if they at HIV positive! WHAT!! Before they do anything here, they need to educate the local community about health awareness and safety. Being so passionate about this, I have eagerly volunteered to help with this project and I am hoping to meet with the Blood Bank personnel next week. So I will definitely keep y'all updated on that.

Some other general notes on the week...last night as I was sitting on my bed doing my homework, when I received another lovely visit from my little rat friend. And I have decided to take Christine's advice in naming my little friend, seeing as though I will be coming in contact with him often. I have named his Panya, which is Swahili for rat or mouse. But as I was sitting comfortably on my bed, Panya ran along the floor board under my bed...I naturally decided that it would be safest for me to simply remain on my bed. Then he ran back from the way he came and scurried behind my suitcase! But luckily Panya wanted to go in the closet that does not have any of my belongings in it, so I then just ignored it and actually slept quite well. But what was even funnier is that last night I was watching the travel channel (which I watch often) before I went to bed. The episode was about India and there is a Jain Temple there that has rats everywhere! But they are believed to be priests and elders reincarnated...haha! Luckily I am not a member of the Jain religion, so I do not have to be reverent to my friend Panya!

And the other thing is that since I am hanging out with people who are from Europe and the fact that all the locals who know English have a British accent, I am afraid that I have started to pick up on a few "British" words. So when I return home in December, y'all will have to inform me if I am speaking with a different English accent haha! But it is now time for me to go but I will of course be bringing y'all more Zanzibar tales soon! I hope everyone is doing well at home!