We’ve been in Zanzibar 5 days now, and it’s been super busy but good. Zanzibar is a two hour ferry ride from Dar es Salaam, for foreigners (me) it cost $35 for regular and $40 for business class which gives you a seat and air conditioning – no brainer, I’ll take business please. Below are some views from the ferry.

The VSO office is situated in an Old Dispensary in Stone Town directly across from the ferry terminal. We popped into the office to briefly greet the local staff and ICS (International Citizen Service) students, checked into the hotel to drop our bags, and then hit the ground running. ICS students are youth volunteers, mostly from the UK but also from all over Tanzania. They’re a bit different than Corp. Volunteers as they live with host families, have a 6p.m. curfew, can’t swim in the ocean, aren’t allowed on boats or to travel. YIKES, definitely not my kind of party – although, I would have loved to live with a host family as opposed to my own apartment.  Also, I don’t think I mentioned that my specific role has changed twice since the initial start of the VSO process. My role is now to document how VSO works with private sector to improve livelihoods of marginalized people. What does that mean? Yea I know that was my initial question too, it will make more sense as you continue to reading.

Our first field visit in Zanzibar was to a local vocational school that trains students from villages throughout the island on different trades like food production, hospitality services, electrical work, painting, tailoring, etc. VSO partners with several vocational and technical schools to connect students with private sector opportunities (ding ding!), assist in entrepreneurship, and career guidance. Part of my role is to speak with the partners (hiring managers, government officials, instructors, etc) and find out what is working well, how we can improve, and make recommendations on future processes. I had to the opportunity to speak with a couple students and an instructor in the food production department, and received some really great feedback about the work VSO is doing in the community.

Next up on the way back to town, we stopped in to visit some local tailors that VSO assisted in starting up their business. They graduated from the vocational technical school, did some internships with local tailors, and then VSO was able to grant them needed supplies for their startup – 3 sewing machines, some fabrics, and the first 6 months of rent for their work space. By utilizing these grants they were able to create sustainable businesses to help support their families.

Friday and early Saturday were filled with various meetings with hotel managers, employment agencies, schools, and government partners. My favorite visit had to be visiting the ICS students at a local school for Community Action Day (CAD). The topic for CAD was environmental sustainability and the students focused on recycling; they organized a community trash pickup day in a local park and had some informational speakers with various educational activities to keep everyone engaged. Unfortunately there is a lot of trash on the streets here, but the ICS students are doing great work by educating locals on the importance of recycling and taking care of the environment.

Saturday afternoon we had off work and I wondered around the labyrinth that is Stone Town visiting shops, restaurants, historical sights, and eating as much food and fresh juice as possible, obviously.

Sunday was also a day off, so my volunteer partners and I hopped on a little boat and headed over to Prison Island (properly Changuu Island). A former British Prime Minister had a prison constructed here in the late 1800s to house rebellious slaves from East Africa, however it was never actually used as prison; it ended up being a yellow fever quarantine center, which much later was turned into a resort. I think the resort has since been abandoned because we didn’t see any guest. There is also a tortoise sanctuary for Aldabra Giant Tortoises which are listed on the vulnerable species list; feeding these guys was the highlight of the trip for me.

We have just 2 more days in Zanzibar before we head back to Dar for a week, then onto Mwanza and Shinyanga… at least that’s the plan for now, but plans change really quickly here and nothing ever starts on time. Haha, we’ll see!  

Also, just to give you an idea of the internet here – it took me 3.5hrs to transfer these pics from cell to laptop and to upload to this blog and even longer to post it. Yes, I was connected to WiFi. Insert frustration emoji here, and you’re welcome 😉