Helen's Blog

For those of you who protested when I had my last little foray into the footie world, I am giving you plenty notice via the title of today's piece. I'm going to talk about the world cup. Normal service may be resumed tomorrow although I'm not promising because I think the last match is on 11th July.

On Friday night I and my friends just happened to be in Livingstone's bar when the South Africa/Mexico match was on. Neither Beth nor Cathy are remotely interested in football so we were out on the terrace with me having the occasional trot to the door to check progress on the big screen. Then there was that first goal and the place erupted! It was fantastic! I saw all the reruns and the crowd atmosphere was brilliant. How fantastic for the first goal of the SA WC to be scored by a boy from Soweto!

Then yesterday Beth, who is American, got a text from one of our male English VSO colleagues asking if she was planning to watch the US/England match last night. She wasn't really interested but since I was dead keen, she thought she might take her laptop to Livingstone's to pass the time as there is free wi-fi access there. The match didn't start till 9.30pm here which is a very grown-up time for us, normally by that time we're shut in with the covers over our cages to stop us squawking. However off we went, and once again it was a brilliant time. I was texting the Wunderkind, and my brother, and another footie VSO fan who couldn't come out to play, with my erudite observations and it was great fun. When England scored in the fith minute it was such a buzz. Somewhere around the thirtieth minute some people climbed in the window from the terrace and yanked on a cable which meant we lost the picture for about ten mins, which was most annoying. Back home I think there might have been a riot but the crowd - dozens of nationalities - was pretty good-natured. Beth had decided against bringing her laptop and was gratified to discover how good-looking some footballers are, so she wasn't bored after all. She and I thought that the 'Man of the Match' title should go to the American goalie because he seemed to be constantly in action and saved loads of goals in various clever ways (unlike the English goalie who will probably have flashbacks till his dying day). Besides which (back to the US goalie here), as Beth said, he had a very fetching dimple. The Wunderkind disagreed with our assessment.

I would have liked to sample the fabled pie and bovril at half time but alas it was not in evidence. We got home at midnight and I had a cup of tea and crashed out. Surprised myself by being awake and fresh in plenty time for church this morning, and was really glad I went because there was a visiting choir - four young men - whose harmonies and rhythms just lifted me to the rafters. It was fabulous. There was also a visiting preacher from Ely in England who produced some loaves and fishes from the market in illustration of his sermon, and made not a single mention of the WC! I bet every pulpit in the UK manages to slip in some kind of WC ref this morning. Anyway his sermon was good and helpful to me as I'm off to Dar tomorrow to discuss my placement with my VSO supervisor. Ferry this afternoon so need to go soon. Oh we're no awa tae bide awa...

Hopefully this one will go through. It's been a frustrating week on the internet. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't; and sometimes it looks as if it's working but then you discover it isn't...

Here's the view from my living room window:


So - a busier than average week at work, I'm glad to say. Our hospitality and tourism students are at the end of their taught course and start the week after next on their internships. It was only three months, but they have formal exams, and have been doing them all this week; I feel for them. The education system here in general seems to be heavily overloaded in terms of assessment, to the extent that most of them fail. It must be very dispiriting. Anyway our students all seem terribly patient. Sometimes there are classes and meetings scheduled seven days a week - I've been strenuously resisting getting sucked into weekend working but not always successfully. It seems crazy when half the time during Mon-Fri I don't have enough to do. I had to type up an Italian exam paper (in Italian!) the other day because the Italian tutor didn't know how to use a PC, and didn't appear to have access to an admin person. I got three hours notice to do this, ie the job was given to me three hours before the students were due to sit the exam! When I called him in to check the paper, and sat him in front of my PC to do so, he wasn't even able to scroll down the pages - he really didn't know the first thing! You'd think in his position he'd have taken some initiative. I must admit I had a little rant to my colleagues who just shrugged; 'get used to it' was the message. I know the systems are terribly bureaucratic, but it's a disappointment when people's individual sense of professionalism doesn't rise to the surface. So here I am, ranting again. Sorry.

This afternoon I'll be helping invigilate the Life Skills course and it'll be interesting to see how they perform. It's all in English which is difficult for them, and for us; you don't know whether they have learned the material but just can't express it in English, or whether it just went right over their heads. A good standard of English is of course necessary for hotel work.

And tomorrow we start introducing the students, in groups, to the hotels they're doing their internships in. That'll be good. Yesterday I drew up the draft lists. I had to get someone to mark against each name whether they were male or female - I know some names but not all by any means. You would think gender would be irrelevant in this exercise but alas, some hotels have specified that they want women in the housekeeping jobs and men as waiters/bar staff. You can just imagine how it grieves me to oblige them! It really is a big deal here for the young women to get a start in a career that takes them out of the family home so I'm rooting for them. It's a good deal for the men too, in terms of jobs, but I think it's usually easier for them to fly the nest. The first meeting with hoteliers is in the best hotel, and one with great HR standards - the Serena - let me just do a little bit of product placement. I've given them the best students so here's hoping.

Hello all, I'm sorry it's been such a long wait for a new posting. I've tried every day this week but our connection from the office was really dodgy and I just couldn't get through. So this is a Saturday catch-up.

It was an interesting week, workwise. I was with a colleague at an Italian NGO, just out of town, on Mon and Tues, working on a survey for the tourism industry. Very pleasant indeed to spend a couple of days with two dashing Italians; Lynda's old question 'I wonder if their dads are single?' came to mind! And I'm back on the hotel trail, placements nearly finalised. And have been writing exam questions for the Life Skills module, and discussing an Enterprise Development programme with a VSO colleague working in an organisation for disabled people.

Socially also very pleasant. Beers on seaview terraces and things like that. Last night a live band and a half-share in a kilo of roasted goat (chew chew chew chew spit. Chew chew chew chew spit). And a long conversation with my landlord who claims to have worked in Russia as an intern during the cold war, on a project involving nuclear warheads... I'm not sure I believe him. I was wishing the Wunderkind was there to interrogate him as he'd have known the right questions to ask. But it was very entertaining. He (Landlord) then worked in Japan for many years; was offered a job in Libya but declined; and eventually came back to Zanzibar to care for his ageing parents, thereby giving up an interesting and highly lucrative career. He now teaches a bit, and dabbles in various business ventures. He told me an interesting story about how one of the ferries - a catamaran - came to Zanzibar: it was built in Japan but they didn't think it would survive the journey if it sailed independently. So he arranged with some Russian sailors buddies from his old nuclear warhead days to put it on board their North Pole explorer vessel, and they brought it here for a tenth of the price that had been quoted commercially. And of course the Russians had a wonderful time...

No photos today as I'm nervous about putting my memory stick in an internet cafe PC - even such a nice one as I'm in right now (twice the price but have given up on the dodgy one next to the church). Hopefully will be back with a more regular service next week. Enjoy your weekends, everybody!

Last night I went to a concert. There is a building along the road from our office – in the ‘safe’ direction, i.e. away from things that fall down (cross fingers), facing the water. It seems to house a range of different organisations and one of them is the Dhow Academy of Music. You can have instrument lessons there, very cheaply apparently – a woman who goes to my church is having violin lessons there and says they are excellent. The state of education in Zanzibar is – well – underdeveloped; so I suspect there isn’t a nice thriving music scene emanating from the schools. I guess the Dhow Academy must get its funding from some other sources, and I imagine they are one of the few signs of life in the cultural sphere here (but of course I’m probably wrong.) Certainly, ‘going to a concert’ is a rare and exciting experience here. They do it on the last Wednesday of every month; I meant to go to the last one but I was ill at the time so this was my first.

Well, it was lovely. Joanne, if you’re reading this, I thought of you, conducting your wee heart out with Carmina Burana a couple of years ago. There was a ‘violin’ theme which got less obvious as the programme wore on. First they had a couple of groups of beginners doing simple pieces accompanied by their teacher; then they had a piano/violin Bach piece (new to me) by the violin teacher and a high-end piano student. Then there was a piece written by the violin teacher called ‘Zanzibar Nzuri’ (lovely Zanzibar), arranged for violin, cello, sittar or some other kind of flat triangular stringed instrument, mandolin, flute, and a wonderful array of drum-type things. It was a jolly, cheerful piece, with great rhythms. Then the teachers and top students got together in a big group of strings and percussion and voices, and did some ‘Taarab’ music – again, great rhythms, fast and intricate and feel-good. Towards the end, a belly dancer got up and strutted her stuff – no belly on show of course, this is Zanzibar, but those hips! Amazing. I’ve heard it said that belly dancing is not meant to be sexual (but you could have fooled me), but an expression of women’s power in that it strengthens your pelvic floor after your fertile years are over… Can anyone enlighten me on this? Rhona?

So… it was good for the soul and I can’t wait for the last Wed in June. A dhow, in case you didn’t know, is an Arab boat used for fishing. There are loads of them here – here’s a picture I took down at the beach last Sunday.

Yesterday we ran a simulation exercise with the EEZY students (Empower and Equip Zanzibari Youth - these are the hospitality and tourism students for whom I'm seeking internships). As simulation exercises go, it was quite straightforward, with a list of rules and some jobs that had to be achieved within a set time - most of them pretty silly but of course it's all in the post-match analysis. I doubt whether any of the students had gone through a similar exercise before, given that the education system here is terribly formal and old-fashioned, but they took to it with good humour, broke all the rules, achieved about 20% of what they were supposed to have, and pronounced themselves well satisfied! Then they had the good grace to receive the feedback, review their learning, and recognise the value of various things like 'Listen to the insructions'! Here's a photo:



My own learning point was that you miss a huge amount of understanding re the dynamics when you aren't au fait with the language the participants are using. Body language is certainly quite revealing but it has its limits. Normally I really love simulation exercises and find them very energising, with loads of small details in the group dynamics to unpick and discuss afterwards with the participants. But sadly I had to let my colleague Mohamed do most of that. He is very good to work with and includes me to the hilt; but I couldn't do it without him. I guess this is another learning point for me; you can't always do things on your own or, as I should have learned at age three, 'it's good to share'!!

Today is a special day in the life of the Wunderkind, my nearest and dearest: it's his last exam. Unless he has to do a Viva. His last exam! I can't believe it - the memory of seeing him off on the midnight train from Inverkeithing barely three years ago, and sobbing all the way home, is so fresh in my memory. Come July I will be home for his graduation, and a very proud mother I will be that day. So good luck to you in your last exam my dear, may the force be with you!