Matemwe

Saturday was, hands down, my favorite day since I left home; potentially my favorite day in my twenty one years of life! Per the scholars’ request, the delegates planned a field trip for everyone to Matemwe, a beach on the northeast coast. Sophie (mentor) has connections with local non-profits there, and so we made it an educational adventure! The most challenging part was finding transportation for everyone…since Alison and I had no idea who to ask for a bus! As with everything that is beyond our knowledge here, we asked Star for help! The day after our request, Star shows up at Lukmaan’s as Alison and I are having nostalgic S4Si discussion with Amit and Priyanka (Yu-Jin was there too), and he was like, “I got you a bus!” Suddenly, out of nowhere on Mkunazini Street a huge 30-passenger bus appears behind Star and parks so that we can make plans with the driver! It was hilariously unexpected! On Saturday, everyone met at Ben Bella Secondary School and piled into the bus…and we had just enough room! We had nearly thirty girls attend, and all three mentors! The ride was about 45 minutes, and when we arrived we followed Sophie to MCAEE (Matemwe Control AIDS/HIV Education and Environment. We all sat down inside and listened for about half an hour to the directors talk about…well, I’m not specifically sure since it was 100% Swahili, but I think their name gives some indicators to their work. Katherine joined us shortly after that, since she was on Zanzibar (from Dar) one last time this summer; many of the girls were elated to see her two years after she was here as a delegate! We explored the village some and then headed to the beach! There is a great deal of seaweed that is harvested by the residents of Matemwe, and so there are rows and rows of sticks that indicate where it is. Surprisingly, the girls decided to venture into the ocean and explore even more! What began as a few girls wading into the low tide soon became almost everyone holding up their long skirts and exploring the sea life around them! There were many laughs, and good opportunities to talk to the girls! Eventually we all gathered back to the shade and enjoyed lunch. The rest of our time there was relaxing, more ocean wading, talking amongst each other, laughing, and even a game of nage (the game for girls here). Of course, there were many pictures taken; especially of the new scholars after we officially welcomed them into the S4Si family! We were at Matemwe for about four hours, and then we returned to the bus and headed back to Stone Town. On the way back, the girls sang some songs, many of which I could sing along to: Waka Waka, Wavin’ Flag, Oh Africa, Down (by Jay Sean), and even Om Shanti Om!! It was incredible to be with the girls enjoying themselves and talking/giggling with each other; it truly did feel like an S4Si family that day!

So, I have a solution to the transportation problem that I presented last week; I actually thought of this while walking to Rahma’s home during our home visits. S4Si should start a fund in order to raise money for a bus! It would be big enough to hold all fifty scholars and the mentors and some guests, and it would serve as daily school transportation along with occasional field trips. And it would be free! And who would drive it? None other than Star himself (though he’ll need to change his sleeping patterns first)! We could paint it red with white lettering, and along the side its name would be placed: (since it is a dala dala for scholars) The Skala Skala!! Sharing this idea with Alison, Yu-Jin, Amit, and Priyanka; our laughter filled Lukmaan’s Restaurant as we all posited the steep plausibility of this awesome bus! You never know: in five or ten years there may just be a Skala Skala!! Ha!