Diary - Tuesday, June 9, 2009

It is a beautiful autumn day here in Jambiani and all of us on location at the Jambiani Wellness Centre and the Jambiani Tourism Training Institute hope that this latest update finds you all well and enjoying life to its fullest extent.

Our programs here continue to evolve and grow and with the upcoming graduation of our very first diploma students we are all very excited with this next milestone. It is a bit disconcerting that the time frame has passed so quickly but at the same time we are so proud of the students for their persistence and patience and for their choice to be a part of the school. The journey has not always been easy but then someone said once that the path of least resistance is not necessarily the best path. We’ve had glitches along the way as we have all learned together but for the most part it has been a fabulous experience and we are really looking forward to the process of working with more and more students. That said, our first year students are a great bunch of kids and they are really starting to shine as their confidence increases and their skill levels improve. We also have a complete roster of students ready to start in September so it sure looks like there is no turning back now. I don’t think Pat or I wanted to retire anyway. :-)

A big part of our personal experience here is greeting new volunteers and then having to say goodbye to strangers often turned friends. This certainly applies to Ms Sarah Christie who will be leaving us very shortly for a return to Canada. It really has been a pleasure to have Sarah with us and we’ll miss her positive and consistent energy, her proactivity and willingness to contribute anytime, her formidable teaching skills and last but not least her awesome baking skills. What are we going to do without your muffins, granola, peanut butter cookies and brownies Sarah? Anyhow, perhaps we will be fortunate to have her return one day, Sarah if you are reading this then you know, you would be most welcome. Here are a few words from Sarah:

What can I say about my time here in Jambiani so far? I arrived on Zanzibar almost a year ago on a fellowship with the Aga Khan Foundation Canada and lived for 8 months in Stone Town – alternatively with legions of rats and birds in one place (like having a live version of Planet Earth on your ceiling) and with no running water for almost 4 months in another.

As the end date of my first contract approached, and I still had a few months left on my plane ticket home, I decided to look into other options here in Zanzibar. I was put I touch with Pat through a mutual friend (who actually worked for the competition Tourism Training Institute) and after finishing my contract (and taking a week off to learn to dive – very fun) I made my way out to Jambiani.

Now don’t get me wrong, I really like Stone Town (I think that Alastair considers this to be one of my major character flaws) but arriving in Jambiani was almost a surreal experience… for one thing, it’s really quiet. But how can you complain about the only sound in the background being the waves on the beach?

I kind of got thrown head first into the teaching thing (something I’d never done before) but since that’s often the way I learn best, things worked out (I think…). I had a lot of fun (once I got over being terrified) teaching and working with the students – who are a total mixed bag of characters, but they’re all really interesting and fun and they’ve definitely challenged me to stretch my perceptions and assumptions in many areas. I can only hope that I’ve challenged them half as much!

I have also used my time here to improve my baking and cooking skills – I think my muffins already received an honorable mention in an earlier post on this site, but I also make some really good granola, brownies and peanut butter cookies…if I do say so myself. The lack of chocolate chips on this island (a staple in anything that I make at home in Canada) has really forced/encouraged me to expand my baking horizons.

And then, for whatever reason (I like to blame the heat), I decided one day that I needed more to do and I made up my mind to try my hand at some curriculum development (Pat was kind enough to humour my efforts here). Basically I wrote a small math book for the institute (a fact which often makes me want to bury my head in the sand) – but at least I now have something to leave behind after I depart… and I’m sure that all of the future students will also be appropriately grateful for this!

And now my time is almost done, I have to start thinking about packing up and going home, and I guess, at the end of it all, that what I can say about my experience with HABS is: what a way to end my year in Africa.

Thanks for that Sarah and good luck with your travels and future endeavors. I’m confident you will succeed with whatever it is you decide to undertake next. All good to you!!

Pat is organizing an open house for the JTTI coming up this weekend. This will see us play host to representatives from many of the hotels on Zanzibar and the usual Government officials, in this case from the Commission for Tourism. What a tremendous opportunity this will be for the students to make contacts in the industry and for those folks looking for skilled staff to meet first hand our graduating class and of course to tour the facility. This should be a fun day and then of course the following week will give way to the graduation ceremony and another cause for celebration. I’m planning to post a separate update to cover that event hopefully that will get out to you shortly after the 13th/14th of June.

My cousin Alex has arrived safe and sound and in fact is into his fifth week with us already. He is a very nice young man (it’s in the genes I guess :-) ) and he is settling into the routines here with ease. Alex has mainly been sharing his skills with computers with the students but I think Pat has plans for him overseeing some of the kitchen activities once the season begins in about one more week. I think you’ll look very nice in an apron buddy. :-) It’s so nice having family around and I’m sure we will continue our bonding process with long talks and the occasional cold beer on the front steps of the compound. Karibu sana Alex!!! Here are a few words from Alex:

So it’s been a whole month since I arrived in Jambiani and the time has really flown by. When I got off the plane I really didn't know what to expect, but my time here has been great. I think the number one thing I've learned while being here is that there are so many distractions in the world we live in that it's important just to slow down and observe what's really going on around us. Jambiani really is a great place to step back and get a new perspective on the events that are happening in your life, to figure out the things that truly matter and the things that are just fleeting.

It’s been a real pleasure to meet the students at the JTTI and be a part of their learning experience, many of them have a very bright future ahead of them and I hope to pass on as many skills as I can. Most of my days revolve around the computer lab, I've been trying to bring it up to the standard of a small office network. Now the students can develop their own documents and presentations, log onto specific student accounts and share their files with each other across the entire network. As we end the school year the role of the lab will shift from one where the computers are integrated into the tourism and hospitality diploma, to a much more IT central “short course”. In the short course I hope to delve much deeper into the role of a computer in business and everyday life, to better understand a computer's capabilities and to help the students who show a real interest in IT in deciding whether they could make a career out of it.

When I'm not in the IT lab or helping Pat and Sarah in the classroom, my days are filled with crash courses in the culinary arts, exploring the beach and village, movies, reading and relaxing. I've burned through a few books now, spent many a day napping in front the ocean and trying not to embarrass myself in the kitchen.

I think in the next few weeks things will begin to ramp up a little as the short courses begin and Sarah heads back home to B.C. I'm looking forward to seeing the restaurant in full gear and meeting some new students that are taking part in the IT program. Anybody back in Toronto who's reading this, keep up the emails and facebook messages, and I'll be home in a few months.

Thanks for that cousin!!

At the Wellness Centre we have just recently welcomed Dr Kate Andrews who comes to us all the way from Queensland in Australia. It looks like Kate will be with us for two months so we are also really looking forward to getting to know her better. We already have spent a couple of days together in the clinic together going through some of the basic orientation so she should be ready to fly on her own very shortly. Karibu Kate and welcome to Jambiani.

So on that note, I’ll finish this off and as I said, I’ll report on the graduation ceremony and open house when that is completed after next weekend.

Enjoy the summer if you are in North America and until next time lots of love from all of us here in the “Jam”