It's been forever since I've posted, so even though I haven't been on vacation in awhile, I'll take this time to share my most recent one with you. Unfortunately during this vacation my digital camera was stolen for the second time so my pictures are gone but fortunately Joy took some also so I have a few memories and you know blog entries are far more interesting with photos than without...
In the beginning of September I took a trip to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to visit my soror and special little sister Joy. She was doing a fellowship and experiencing the Motherland for the first time.
Tanzania is an interesting place for many reasons, one being that it is one of the few countries where the national language is not one of the colonizer but of KiSwahili. Their first president after independence, Julius Nyerere, insisted upon an African tongue being taught in schools and spoken as the national language. You can get lost in Tanzania without knowing Swahili. Swahili is a language many African Americans use in celebrating our heritage, naming our children, etc. One particular celebration, Kwanzaa, uses Swahili as the seven principles of the Nguzu Saba where each day you celebrate a different principle. Here is our Nguzu Saba with the Swahili words:
UMOJA (UNITY) - To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.
KUJICHAGULIA (SELF-DETERMINATION) - To define ourselves, name ourselves, and speak for ourselves instead of being defined, named, created and spoken for by others.
UJIMA (COLLECTIVE WORK AND RESPONSIBILITY) - To build and maintain our community together, and make our sisters' and brothers' problems and to solve them together.
UJAMAA (COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS) - To build and maintain our own shops, stores and other businesses and to profit from them together.
NIA (PURPOSE) - To make our collective vocation the building and development of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.
KUUMBA (CREATIVITY) - To always do as much as we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
IMANI (FAITH) - To With all of our hearts, believe in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.
That's one of the things I'm proud I learned in my youth and it even helped me a tad bit in Tanzania because I knew a few words instead of no words. I actually wanted to take Swahili in college but Wellesley didn't offer it and they wouldn't sponsor me to take it at another university. Anyway, that's history, but Tanzania is a great country.
As many of you know, Ethiopian food is one of my favorites so we had to go to Addis in Dar, an overpriced but tasty Ethiopian restaurant in Dar es Salaam.
We also went to Zanzibar for the weekend. It reminded me of the Caribbean islands. Zanzibar is also known as the spice island because they produce lots of curries, corriander, peppers and other tantilizing spices. It also has a gorgeous beach which was wonderful to sit along since Zambia is land-locked and I never get to enjoy large bodies of water while I'm here. Here I am throwing up my pyramid Delta sign, it was nice to be around a sorority sister again, it's been a long time.
There's nothing like an ocean sunrise, and this is my first time walking along the shore of the Indian Ocean!
Unfortunately we didn't make it to Kilimanjaro, but that just means I'll have to go back again.
Big shout out to Joy, thank you so much for hosting me, I had a great time! Ooo-oop!
