As I anxiously pack (hoard) all my belongings into three suitcases and one very tattered carry on bag, I am reminded of how I got here. My love affair with East Africa goes back to the fall of 2013 in my History of Africa course. To be fair, all the regions of Africa amused me and I was compelled to research beyond the dry and antiquated textbook we were given. Yes, the ruins of the Great Zimbabwe were fascinating and I daydreamed of visiting them once and seeing what it would have been like to live during that time. And yes, the West African Akan kingdoms and the illustrious Mansa Musa were marvelous. The Saharan Salt Trade with its many players and highly intricate routes to avoid drought were brilliant. But, East Africa? The diversity, the details of Arab, Indian, African and Omani interactions were like a multi-faceted play I’d been dying to see the end of. How was it that a land that housed the cities of the Indian Coast also played such a major role into the lucrative Indian Ocean Slave Trade? I asked myself these questions in class and continued to ponder what life was like in these places now.
I continued to question and read about the Swahili city-states, pre and post-colonial Tanganyika. And when I studied abroad in 2014, it was a Catfish that went right. All the beauty of the mixing of cultures and religion were nothing short of textbook. Arriving in Stone Town and seeing the ports, the Arab-style Dhows and smelling the sea was romantic at best. I felt confident in my decision to live here for 5 months and possibly forever.
Meeting my host family, settling in as an intern with TGNP, and finding a place of worship were made my experience all the more full and truly solidified my love affair both with Tanzania and Swahili culture overall. While, it has been three years since I left for Tanzania, my love and passion for the freedom of the people, protection of the land, and reverence for indigenous values are all the more ardent.
mariahgoesabroad 