pass the baby and other games

I came back to Stone town today in a Dala Dala. It was so full its more like a game of shuffle your buns and pass the baby. First the mama hands her baby to the person nearest the door. She climbs in the back of the truck hunches over walks to the back of the truck bed and sits down. Of course there are no seats left so she is sitting on someone else. This is where the shuffle your buns part comes in. You sit down wiggle back and forth and eventually your butt is wedged between to people. Once mama's butt is firmly wedged in. Its time to play pass the baby. Her baby gets haned down the aisle person by person until reunited with its mommy. Its a fun game. You should play sometime.

Elections

Its election time next month in Tanzania. And happily the giant rallies for the two opposing presidential parties are being held outside my hotel! This is not Republican or Democratic national convention. This is screaming cheering, dancing, partying, drinking rallies. MMMMMMM I don't know what its going to be like but all morning I've been seeing trucks and buses and things brimming with people dressed in yellow and green or red and blue pouring out of the city and to Jambiani the city where I'm staying. And when I say brimming I mean the people are sitting on top of the buses, and packed like sardines into the back of semi trucks. This is going to be a long loud and colorful night.

How Could They?

The reason Zanzibar has haunted me for so many years is the slave fortress on prison island. I remember when I was 17 years old I swear I could hear people crying in the wind outside the beautiful ruin of the fortress. It was overun by trees growing form the walls and vines covering the past. Inside all those vines my friend Jen and I found an iron neck shackle a link to the ruins gahstly past. So you can see why my romantic visions of this place are what prompted me to come back this island and make photos of historic slave trade here. Now to the bad part.

This morning I had hired a boat to take me out to the island before dawn so I could photograph the fortress in the red morning light. We arrived on the island and to my surprise some freaking @#%^(&^*(%*& built a hotel on it. He "fixed" the fortress as the construction crew informed me. So I found the site of my dreams swallowed in concrete, painted some hideously bright orange and blue, and partioned into neat little rooms for tourists. I planned to spend the day on the island in stead I asked the boat driver to take me home and nearly cried.

Sunset

I think this one speaks for itself.

Church

I had an interesting time trying to get to church this morning. Selona who I met at the Sultan's palace the other day invited me to come to her church. She gave me directions and which dala dala's(public transport) to take and said she'd meet me where the dala dala drops off in Karyako. While I was walking to the market where the dala dala picks up I ran into the cab driver who brought me from the airport to my hotel. So I decided to take a private cab ride. Why not for $2. The problem is he dropped me off on the wrong side of the Karyako. So I waited where the dala dala's drop off until 8:20 when the service was supposed to have begun at 8:00. I realized Selona wasn't coming. So I wandered around the village asking people where the church was. Someone finally showed me where the Assemblies of God church was but told me their service started at 10am. Inside the assemblies of God church everyone who was there early huddeled around and tried to decide where the crazy white girl was trying to go and who would take me there. Finally a young man named Robert recognized the name of the pastor I kept repeating. And walked with me to Selona's church. Whiched happened to be as Robert described it "just a stone's throw away." Thank you Robert! When we got there it was about 8:40 and true to African time the 8:00am service was just starting. I caught the tail end of the pastor chastising everyone for being late. I knew I was in the right place because the pastor was speaking english, but Selona wasn't there. Before the service began I was invited to stand at the front of the church and tell everyone my name, where I'm from and if I was saved. When I said I was born again everyone cheered and clapped and shouted amen. It made me think this is what it must be like when the angels rejoice in heaven every time someone is saved. As the service was ending Selona walks in and sits next to me and said sorry I'm late. How did you find this place? Before I could answer her the pastor asked me to pray for the end of the service. No time to be shy I guess. As everyone was leaving and the Swahili service was beginning Selona gave me directions to find the dala dala home. No more taxi's for me. As the dala dala dropped me off about 5 minutes from my hotel it started to rain. I started laughing. It was only 9:40am what else lay in store for today.

The Palace and the Pilauf

I'm having such a good time. I'm staying at the Florida guesthouse in Stonetown. Today I walked around and photographed the Sultan's palace that is now a sad sad museum. There are some priceless works of art in there and omani carpets that are rotting away in the humidity. But there is something to be said for the fact that they let you wander around unacommpanied. I spent hours taking pictures through the lattice work of the stairs. The intricate carving of the wooden furniture, doors, and windows is one of the things Zanzibar is famous for. When I see the detail I can't help but wonder how long it took men to make. Did someone sit there for years carving one ebony chair?

My new cell phone number is 0787155884 of course you have to dial 011. So you can contact me any time if you need to or just want to cause in Africa recieving calls is free! I met a christian lady today at the sultan's palace. She told me that her church has the only english service she knows of. Its real early in the morning but I'll probably give it a try. She's going to meet me at the Dala Dala (minibus) station her name is Selona. So that should be interesting. I also got to share some pilauf with an old man today who begged me to buy him some food. I felt bad for him because I'd just watched him get hit by a car. The roads here are very narrow. He got back up unscathed, but I realized when he was eating and trying to hold his spoon he has some sort of muscular disease. He was shaking and couldn't keep a grip on his spoon. I know I can't feed everyone who holds out their hand when I walk by but this man had tears in his eyes when he said thank you and I got to tell him Jesus loves him so that was the highlight of my day.

I'm itching like crazy though. I keep waking up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Jetlag I guess, but everytime I go from the mosquito net to the toilet and back I swear I get 10 new bites.

Airport

It's finally over... the packing is done, the trash is safely stashed away in a landfill, my cat is being taken care of, I found a place to park my car. My poor father probably slept for 12 hours, and I'm in the Amsterdam airport with an 8 hour layover taking some time to reflect on the last week. The first thing that comes to mind is my Dad. I'm so proud of him. I saw that the tenderest, humblest, and most patient side of my father is winning the battle. My father is a wonderful example of how God has a plan for each of us and he is faithful to bring that plan to completion. I'm also thinking how strange it is that I can go so long without seeing my family but I still feel that same emptyness driving home from the airport with an empty passenger seat. I miss having a family. I miss you Dad. Thank you for loving me enough to spend 2 days lifting couches, and boxes for Lauren and I.

I started editing some of the pictures I took at Paul and Jamie's wedding while I was on the airplane. It seems like a whole other world already. Now I can check photographing a wedding off my list of 100 things to do before I die. I can also check dancing with my friends after the wedding off my list of rocking fun things to do on a Saturday night! What a beautiful Bride

Trash

I haven't laughed so hard as when Lauren and I ran around our neighborhood at 2:30 am trying to fill up the empty space in our nieghbors trash cans with our own overflowing trash. Sure is good for a giggle.