A Learning Experience

Prior to coming to Africa for this trip I had no idea what to expect as far as the trips we would take, what we would learn, or the type of people we would have the opportunity to meet. I knew this trip was going to be incredibly educational but I had no idea the amount of information I would be presented with over the span of one week that seemed to fly by. 

We've been on multiple informational and also entertaining trips to a spice farm, Jozani National Park, a mangrove forest, a local village, snorkeling, and a number of other visits. Even during the time we haven't been on trips we have had lectures on the history of Tanzania and Zanzibar and on the coastal ecology of East Africa from Dr. Ian Bryceson and also a guest talk with Dr. Saidi Salhina on what it is like to be a doctor on Zanzibar. 

Dr. Saidi Salhina started off by telling us the three most common diseases within local villages, which are digestion problems (to put it kindly), malaria, and under-nutrition (different from malnutrition) mainly among children. The main reasons for these diseases are a lack of medical doctors on the island, the fact that the medical doctors are primarily concentrated in towns and not villages, and a shortage of medicines that are not the traditional medicines in villages. If someone falls ill in a village they will most likely try traditional medicine before consulting a doctor, which they usually do when the problem becomes worse. It's very unfortunate to think that the three common diseases in villages could be prevented if only there were more doctors closer to villages as well as more access to medicine in villages. It is also a big problem in Tanzania as well as on Zanzibar that many students who go to medical school and become doctors decide to move abroad to find better work and more pay. 

When asked why he decided to become a doctor Dr. Salhina laughed a bit and then paused to think about his response. His primary reason was because his father was a doctor so he grew up surrounded by medicine. He added onto that saying he really enjoyed helping the people in the villages since they are so underprivileged. I found this amazing because he could probably move abroad and find a job that would easily pay more than what he is making now traveling from village to village. 

I believe Dr. Salhina is the perfect example of the majority of people of Zanzibar-they really prize helping others and I have been lucky enough to have experienced that firsthand during the scavenger hunt. We met taxi drivers and vendors who took time out of their day to help us when they could have easily turned the other way or said no to helping us. Since we encountered so many people constantly trying to sell us gifts during the first couple of days, it was hard to see another side of them, but the scavenger hunt was definitely an eye opening experience. It taught me a lot about being more accepting of new experiences. 

Since I am a political science major it is easy for me to relate my time here observing the people of Zanzibar to participant observation. I had never heard a whole lot about Zanzibar before coming so I don't have any prior expectations to relate my observations to. Because of what I have learned through this participant observation I am so excited to have the opportunity to stay for an extra month doing research. Hopefully I will have the opportunity to meet more warm hearted and kind people in the village where I will be staying. What an amazing learning experience this has been thus far.