And It Only Gets Better!

Soon, the teaching portion of the Sauder Africa Initiative will begin—and to be quite honest, I’m pretty nervous about it!  While I’d like to pretend it’s a form of nervous excitement, it’s really just nervousness.  Then again, if you told me a month ago that I’d be able to navigate Kenya and Tanzania without planning anything in advance, I would have told you that you’re talking to the wrong person.  Traditionally, I’m a friend of preparation and enemy of uncertainty, but we truly don’t know what we’re capable of unless we push ourselves outside of our comfort zones.  After all, they say “The worst shot is the one you don’t take”, right?

And take that shot I have, as I’ve made every effort to approach new experiences with an open mind.  As I mentioned, I’m a naturally risk averse person—I like to understand the outcomes and consequences of the decisions I make before I make them, so you can probably guess how anxious I was when leaving Vancouver only knowing these three things:

1.      My destination was Mombasa
2.       I had to be in Nairobi by August 3^rd
3.       My return flight is on August 26^th

There were also a couple other things that made this trip different than any other.  For starters, this was the first time any Shivji child had left home for more than three or four days (no one has ever moved out of the house), and I was on a mission to see where my parents and ancestors grew up.  On July 5^th, I landed in Mombasa, Kenya, also known as “Coast”.  I was lucky I wasn’t jetlagged upon arriving into Mombasa (I had slept for about 90% of my travel time).  As soon as my friend picked me up, we headed to get some fresh coconut water and settle in.  I stayed in Mombasa for 10 days, and had a chance to see a city that is in fact quite comparable to Vancouver.  After Mombasa, I headed to the country just south of Kenya, Tanzania! 

I landed in the capital of Tanzania, Dar Es Salaam on July 15^th, and was greeted by my aunt and cousin that I had never met before (you can imagine how this can be nerve racking for someone that doesn’t like to take risks), and stayed at their house for 8 days.  While in Dar Es Salaam, it was my first chance to see a “big city” in East Africa, but because Dar Es Salaam is also considered a Muslim city, and it was actually the time of Ramadan the city wasn’t “alive” during the daytimes because people were fasting.  While in Dar Es Salaam, I got a chance to take a one day trip to Zanzibar (the coast of Tanzania), and visited the likes of Stone Town and the Slave Caves (a very eye opening experience).  After Dar Es Salaam, I headed to my father’s hometown of Mwanza.   For me, this part of the trip was particularly special, because I actually stayed in the same house my father grew up in for 3 days (one of his friends had coincidentally moved in after he left), and got a chance to visit my grandfather’s grave (who I never met).  I found Mwanza to be particularly interesting, because of all the development potential it holds (random fun fact: Mwanza only has 1 traffic light in the whole city).  After Mwanza, I headed back to Dar Es Salaam just for a night, so I could grab my suitcases and head over to Nairobi!

Upon landing in Nairobi, I quickly discovered that I actually had a case of food poisoning (it’s not that fun to find out you have food poisoning WHILE you’re eating).  I didn’t have much time to rest/get better because the next morning I had to leave for my Massai Mara safari!  About 3 days and 500 pictures later (and yes, elephants remain my favourite animal), I had a couple days to meet some new relatives and see some friends in Nairobi.  It is now the day before I need to head over to the LMS Guesthouse and see my colleagues from the Sauder Africa Initiative.  I haven’t seen them since May, so I’m definitely excited to see them again!  I look forward to spending time in Nairobi, and having a chance to see where my mother grew up!

While the thought of teaching still has me a bit nervous, one thing I’ve learned is that it can be fun to be a bit spontaneous!  It’s important to be able to go with the flow, and I need to be sure to trust my abilities, as well as the abilities of my team!  I can’t wait to meet our program participants!   I’m sure if they love to laugh and have a good time, we’ll get along just fine J.