"Revolutionary Girl"

I don't know if any of you remember my post that I wrote when I was in Zanzibar about how I had the opportunity to help translate a documentary. If you want to read it, look back to my post called "Mungu anaweza kufungua mlango" (God can open the door)

The documentary was central to topic of the education system in Zanzibar. It follows the life of a young girl named Samira, and shows a bit of her life and her struggles as a muslim woman within her society and the education system in Tanzania. I just recieved an email from the director today with a preview of the movie. Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csPcDiPUWF4

This whole process has been really interesting and exciting. If you had no idea what Zanzibar looks like, or where I was this fall, the video will give you a basic idea. Although the story of Samira is important, it is just one of the many stories of women who are trying to get an education and go to college; however, they are facing many obstacles. I also would like to clarify that these girls are not the first to face this dilema like the documentary says.

The video isn't finished yet, but I can tell you all what happens in the end. Samira has dreams of going to college and being a community leader; however, she barely passes her national exams, and doesn't get admitted into the State University of Zanzibar where she had dreamed of going to school. She ended up getting married to Mohammed. I like the documentary because it sheds light on how important these national exams are for these students, and how many are failing them not because they are not smart or ambitious, but because they cannot fully express themselves in English.

Anyways, just thought I would share a bit about the documentary and how it's been exciting personally to be a part of it through translation! I can't say I would have presented Samira's story or the issue in the exact same way as the director did and have a few minor disagreements, but apart from that I really like that it raises questions of using English as the language of instruction in classes and in the national exams.

Andao (Provision)

Can I start by saying that I am completely overwhelmed with blessing right now? I wrote a couple weeks ago about how I had no money for school and the Lord totally answered my prayers and provided a full-ride scholarship for me to study at Madison next year. Now I’m just learning that not only is my God a God who provides, but a God who provides abundantly.

Now let me explain. This summer I will have the opportunity to travel to Kenya with a select group of students from UW-Madison. We will be working through the NGO called “Health by Motorbike” that Araceli Alonso (the professor whom I am doing an independent study with) started recently. What we will be working in partnership with four villages in rural Southeastern Kenya of Lunga-Lunga, Godo, Perani, and Mpakani, to train women from these areas as “health promoters” for their communities. What this will look like is our team will go and partner with these women to teach about different health topics and concerns that their communities face and then equip them as leaders. We see the strength and ability of these women, and we want to partner with them to give them health leadership training, so that they may rise up as leaders who will educate their own communities and bring change. I have been blessed with an incredible opportunity to go with this group and serve primarily as a Swahili translator. I was so excited for this opportunity to take what I have been learning in the class room and to use my skills to bring change; however, I once again had no money to go. Up until Friday, I had no money to go, but I was still moving forward, trusting that God would provide.

At Madison they have a grant called “The Wisconsin Idea Fellowship,” which offers funds for students who have ideas for projects, which enhance student learning while working to solve issues identified by a community. The grant is open to all 44,000 undergraduate students at Madison and typically choosing around 7 groups. My friend Meagan and I decided to apply for this fellowship in hopes that it would provide us funds to do an additional project that would benefit the community as well as help to pay for our travel expenses.

Here is our idea: We proposed to build solar light bulbs out of plastic water bottles, which would illuminate many of the homes that are incredibly dark during the day. In America I know I for one take for granted the blessing of electricity. I can work or do my homework inside without having to worry about whether or not I will I be able to see or have light in my own home. However, not all people have these same blessings. Our project would implement Alfredo Poser’s Solar Bottle Bulb model. To build one you fill a one liter plastic bottle with water and 3ml of bleach to keep the water free of contaminants, and then you install the bottle into the metal roof, so that half is above the roof and the other half is down into the home. Once sunlight hits the top of the bottle it refracts and then functions as effectively as a 60 watt light bulb. The project is realistic, sustainable, and can be made from all local materials! We hope to train women from the community to be the leaders and sustainers of this project. It has great potential not only because it will bring light to very dark homes, it can also serve as a source of income for the women of these communities.

So I write this with more than the intention of sharing about our project, but I really want to share about how the Lord has proven again and again to me that He is real, He is faithful, and He answers my prayers. All of these huge obstacles such as not having money to go to school, or not having money to participate in this amazing opportunity this summer, have been overcome by God. Not only has He given me ALL the money I need to go to school next year, He has now provided money for me to go to Kenya and do this really awesome project!!! I am overwhelmed in the best way possible. My father’s words to me of “Rebecca seek me and I will provide for you” were true. I’m honestly just in awe; it seems too good to be true. Even though it feels hard for me to believe or accept God’s grace and provision, I am just reminded yet again that He hears my prayers! Not only does He hear them, He answers them! Bwana Yesu asifiwe!

Habari nzuri (Good news)

So let me begin my story by going back to the beginning of January. I had just come back from Zanzibar, and was planning my budget for the next semester. It was looking like I would barely have enough money to pay for my rent alone for this semester. This started a very bad train of thought about money. I knew I would be able to get a job and scrape enough money together to make it through this semester, but after that I would have no money to pay for the next year at school, and I was planning on spending the summer in Kenya working with a global health project, which meant I wouldn’t be able to work. I felt the weight of financial worries pressing down on me and consuming me. I wondered how I would come up with this large amount of money.

Now how did I respond to this? I spent the next two days researching online frantically for jobs, scholarships, grants, and selling organs (just kidding on that one). After a couple days, I just felt the Lord ask me, “Rebecca, what are you doing? I don’t want you to worry about this because I am going to take care of you. You have just wasted two days worrying and have gotten no further. All you need to worry about is seeking me with all your heart, and I will provide for you.” After that, I did what I should have done in the first place, closed my laptop and prayed and asked the Lord to provide. I had no idea what that provision would look like or how it would come, but I felt at peace because I know that the Lord keeps his promises, and He promised to provide.

From then on I have really just been trying to be faithful in seeking the Lord with all my heart, realizing that I don’t need to worry about the things of the world. If I am seeking God then He will provide all that I need in his timing. Anyways, I ended up hearing about this scholarship through the government for students who study less commonly taught languages, it’s usually only given to graduate students, but I decided to apply to see what would happen.

After applying for that scholarship (and a grant which I am still waiting to hear back from) I had to come to a point where I could put this at the feet of God. I had to come to a place where I prayed, Lord if this scholarship is going to be about glorifying myself and proving how smart or talented I am to others, I don’t want it. I want this so that I can go to school and use this example to tell others that you are real and that you provide for your children.

Throughout the journey, the Lord has really changed my heart so much, and this week I received an email from the scholarship…..Not only have I received a scholarship, I have a been blessed with a full-ride scholarship for next year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh and if that is not enough, they also offered me a $5,000 living stipend.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How crazy and awesome is that? Actual it’s not crazy, it’s real life. It’s another reminder from God that he is very real and working in my life even when I can’t see it and doubt it.

I feel so blessed and overwhelmed to receive this gift. It’s been so cool to just be on this journey of serving the Lord not because of what I can get from him, but just because I love him. He proves to me over and over and over through good times and hard times that he is faithful. I write this not to brag about myself, but to brag about the great God that I serve who keeps his promises. Let’s rejoice together because he is faithful and provides in huge ways!!! Bwana Yesu asifiwe!

Mungu, Nikupe Yote (Lord, I give you everything)

1 Corinthians 10:31: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

I can’t even count how many times I have heard this verse growing up. Whether it was in Sunday school, family devotions, or youth group, I grew up hearing quite often, “do everything as if you were doing it unto the Lord.” Like many things I heard growing up, it went in one ear and other the other. It just seemed like common sense, yah sure I should do everything like I’m doing it for Jesus, but it was never a reality for me. I never truly put what I learned into practice.

This past summer, many things changed in my life. After spending all year filling out the application for the Boren scholarship to go Zanzibar, I put everything in my life on hold and waited anxiously for months to hear back. In May I finally received an email from Boren saying that I had been put on a waiting list for the program…I just remember feeling so crushed and defeated. It all seemed so clear to me that I was supposed to go; however, the Lord neither closed the door nor opened it. He told me after months and months of painful waiting, to wait some more.

As I waited and waited, I still felt strongly that I was supposed to go, so I called the American Councils for International Education many times pleading my case and trying to convince them to let me go. No wonder people in Zanzibar like to call me “mjanja” (sneaky or clever). July 1^st, I finally found out that they had accepted me into the program. At that point I was in Door County working 12 hour days, and two jobs for a while just trying to make enough money to go. I didn’t want to ask people for money because I wasn’t going as a missionary I was going as a student. Anyways I worked more than I should have because I was so determined to go(and also single minded and stubborn) J

Around two weeks after finding out I had been accepted into the program, a serious relationship that I had in my life ended. I remember feeling incredibly discouraged and hurt after it happened and questioned a lot of things in my life. I felt how I think many people feel after a breakup, I felt like I wanted to prove to myself who I was as an individual again. I don’t think I ever found my identity in the person I was in a relationship with, but I just wanted to prove to myself that alone I have what it takes. I had a lot of talks with different friends and mentors and the common thing that I heard was “you need to go to Zanzibar give it your all and hold nothing back.”

I left America burnt out from all the work and still hurt by the changes that had happened, but I had the goal in front of me that I was going to go to Zanzibar and to give it my all. I had nothing holding me back, and everything pushing me forward. I wanted to become fluent in Swahili, I wanted to have fun, I wanted to do silly things like go snorkeling and take African drum lessons.

I told quite a few of the other students in the program about my goals in order to hold myself accountable, and then I went for it.

Being a student and living in Zanzibar, I think was the first experience in my life where I was so intentional about giving 100% of myself to where the Lord had placed me. It was really encouraging to have other students come up to me and saying things like “Rebecca you are just glowing, it’s so obvious how much you love it here and really have just given it your all.” Now I am back in America, and when people ask me about how my trip was I can honestly say, “It was the time of my life. I went with nothing holding me back and everything pushing me forward, and I gave it my all. I didn’t hold anything back and I accomplished all of the goals I had for myself, and I feel wonderful!”

But here’s what I really want to share, I spent so much of my life just going through the motions or ignoring today and living for tomorrow, that now after knowing what it’s like to give 100% and to live in the present, I understand why Jesus called us to live this way. He has given us all unique interests and put us in different situations for a reason. I really believe he wants us to use our interests and talents where he has put us and to do whatever we are called to do with everything we have. I see so many people I know who are so intelligent or have amazing leadership abilities wasting their talent and not going anywhere. Let’s not waste what the Lord has given us, but use it for his glory!

So friends, it’s a new year, find what you love to do, set some goals (not just serious goals but fun goals too), and I want to encourage you to give 100% to everything you do. See what happens, people notice and I think people living joyfully where the Lord has put them can sometimes be the biggest witness.

Nimebarikiwa (I have been blessed)

I know that towards the last month and a half of my time in Zanzibar, I wasn't very faithful about keeping up with my blog and apologize for that. The internet in Zanzibar is incredibly slow or not working, so it made doing anything on the computer really difficult and time consuming.

Anyways, as I was sitting in the airport waiting for my flight, I took some time to journal

and made a list of all of the highlights of my time in Zanzibar, and here is what I came up with:

• learning how to play African drums from a very enthusiastic expert teacher
• Snorkelling around the island, seeing everything imaginable and more
• Swimming with dolphins at Jambiani
• Going to 3 different weddings
  
• Working for Mwarabu and designing dresses at my internship at KIHAGA, which is a budding NGO teaching youth who have disabilities or are disadvantaged how to sew.
• Watching a meteor shower on the beach at Bwejuu with wonderful friends
• going to visit Unguja's sister island, Pemba and visiting a village there
• moving from intermediate to advanced high on my ACTFL oral language examination
• getting henna done
• many nights at Forodhani (an outdoor market where they sell fresh seafood at night)
• Meeting many new friends
• Interviewing local Bongo Flava (Tanzanian hip-hop artists) for a school research project
• doing a scavenger hunt around town with our language tutors
• Travelling to Dar es Salaam with my friend Cecelela for Swahili Fashion Week.
• Having Thanksgiving with the other students from my program, and having our Zanzibari teacher give us a duck stuffed with french fries and carrots.
• Listening to hours and hours of my host grandmother's stories
• Translating a documentary for an Italian film director.
• Dancing and drumming around a campfire at Bwejuu.
• Riding bikes on the beach.
• Eating delicious Swahili food.
• Getting all dressed up for the Muslim holiday Eid
• Maisara fitness club (the aerobics group I joined on the beach in the morning)
• Sailing on a dhau
• Celebrating my friend Rhonya's engagement
• Having bible studies with a few other students from the program
• Having a lot of opportunities to learn about Islam and to share about Christianity.
  
• Playing my ukulele for my host siblings/ cousins and having them dance and sing
• Becoming a member of a new family

All of these experiences were the highlights of my time in Zanzibar; however not everyday was easy. People love to see pictures of the glamorous aspects of life abroad; however, the day to day routine for me really involved a lot of long hours in a hot classroom. There were some days where things definitely felt hard, but even in those I felt at peace about being there.

Now I am transitioning into a new season in my life. I will be returning back to UW-Madison in a couple weeks. Truthfully, I am a little nervous about returning back to college and the American education system. I am hoping it all comes back to me, so be in prayer that the Lord gives me grace there. There is also a possible opportunity for me to return to Kenya as a translator for a global health project, so pray with me that the Lord will open the door.

Truthfully, I have been blessed with a wonderful experience. I just want to thank everyone who was praying for me and supporting me in this journey. Zanzibar was everything I had hoped it would be and so much more. It feels great to have accomplished all of my academic and personal goals, and to also be at an advanced level in kiswahili. It is so neat to see everything that the Lord blessed me with, I really feel like he just wanted me to go to Zanzibar and have the time of my life. Mungu ananipenda, nimebarikiwa! (The Lord loves me, I am blessed!)

Mungu anaweza kufungua mlango (God can open the door)

Hamjambo!

I just wanted to write a quick entry to share about a some exciting things that happened this week. A few days ago I went to a local restaurant for lunch with a few friends. The place was packed, and I couldn't find any open tables. There was a man sitting by himself at one table, and I asked if I could join him. He asked about where I was from, and I told him I was from America. He then proceeded to ask about what I was doing here, and I responded that I was here studying Swahili.

"Oh, you speak Swahili?"

"Yes"

"Pretty well?"

"Well, I am completing my advanced studies at the State University of Zanzibar..."

"I am here making a documentary about the education system in Zanzibar and the challenges that students face in classes and on tests because everything is taught in English. Do you do translating?"

"Yes....!"

We then met together the next day and did a trial run, and now I am helping to translate his documentary! I am so grateful to have this experience. I have been working through some of the footage the last couple days, and some of it is very challenging, but "Penye nia pana njia" (Where there is a will there is a way) It's been time consuming, but so rewarding.

I just feel so blessed by the Lord. He opened up the door for this awesome opportunity and I wasn't even knocking. I prayed before my interview with Nino Tropiano, Lord if me doing this work is going to bring you glory then open up the door. It's just so neat that the Lord would use somebody like me when I am sure there are so many more qualified people out there. Like I said before, I am very blessed and encouraged to see the Lord's hand guiding me even when I don't realize it. I am reminded of how much he loves me and has a plan for my life.

Kwaheri!

Rebecca

Maisha Yangu

Hamjambo Marafiki,

All I can say is that God is good and life in Zanzibar is good. I just feel so blessed to have the opportunity to be here and learn so much. I am going to do my best to give a brief overview of the last month.

My classes have been going really well. I am in the advanced Swahili class, and I will

be honest it's very hard. So much of the time I just feel like I am on language overload with 4-6 hours of Swahili class a day. It's been a lot of work, but I am starting to really see my Swahili starting to flow. One of the most challenging things has been reading a Swahili novel called "Kiu" it takes me so long to look up all of the words I don't know and try and decipher all of the idioms and metaphors, but I am just trying to really keep going and give it my all. The work has been really intensive, but I can't wait to see how much I have improved by the end. I can definitely say after one month, I have improved significantly and my love for the language and the culture has grown even more.

Apart from classes, I have been able to make a lot of different trips around the island to learn and study different aspects of Swahili culture. We went to a spice farm, a memorial for the slave trade in Zanzibar, we visited the "Waganga" aka traditional healers (sometimes known as witch doctors) etc. They have all been really great experiences, and I feel like I have learned so much from all of them. I would definitely say

that the most "interesting" was going to see the traditional healers, but those stories are better told in person.

I have also been taking African drum lessons, which has been a blast. It's been such an awesome experience and I pay around 6 USD for every 1.5 hour lesson! My teacher is hilarious and very experienced, having travelled all around the world preforming. We don't read any music in class, it's all playing by ear, but I have really been enjoying it. I am also still going strong with "Maisara" fitness club (what I like to call aerobics on the beach with awesome Zanzibari mamas). The other day when our instructor didn't show up, they asked me to lead the session, and I said yes. It was really fun. I love that feeling of getting in front of a crowd of people and having no idea what I am going to do or say and then seeing what happens. I seem to be doing a lot of that here, and it's been great.

I have attended 3 weddings so far in Zanzibar, which have all been very different experiences. I have loved every one for different reasons. In the picture above you can see my "dira ya harusi" wedding dress. I felt like I was pretty fancy, but the other ladies covered from head to toe in jewels and sequins put me to shame. My host family nearly cried tears of joy when they saw me in the wedding garb, which made it all worth it.

Just recently I have started an internship here. It's funny how it actually started. I went to a really great tailor with some kitenge (african fabric) and a design I drew. He was so blown away by my design/ ability to draw that he asked me to draw more and come back. I came back a couple days later with some more designs, and he loved it. I proposed the idea of doing an internship, and Mwarabu (the store owner) was really excited about it. I am going to help him design clothes and develop strategies to market his clothing to tourists. I am really excited about the opportunity because I feel like I have a lot of ideas to offer to help his business. This same store owner is trying to start an NGO helping local disabled children that have been abandoned. We have been talking about the possibilities of teaching some of the kids how to sew and incorporating the NGO and his business together. I am excited about the possibilities and grateful to practice language in the professional environment.

This past weekend I took a trip to Dar es Salaam (mainland Tanzania) and went to the US embassy to talk with different foreign service officers stationed in Tanzania. It was a very interesting experience, but also very strange. Going into the US embassy made me feel like I was back in America. My classmates and I were pretty excited about the wonderful clean bathrooms and being able to see a drinking fountain (and actually be able to drink water that's not out of a bottle). Being in the city was a nice break and a pretty big contrast from living on a little island. I stayed with my friend Cecelela's family, which was a blast. I was introduced to a couple different TV shows there, one called bongo star search (Tanzanian version of American Idol) and another was like so you think you can dance. Both were horrible and hilarious at the same time. I most enjoyed meeting a lot of really cool people my own age. The concept of being friends with a local guy who doesn't want to be your husband/ boyfriend has become foreign to me, so it was really refreshing to just have fun with young people.

I could really keep writing all day here, but I am going to be honest I am pretty wiped out! I can say in summary despite all of the changes and ups and downs God is so good. It's been a joy to daily surrender my life and all of my hopes and dreams to him. I have hard days sometimes, but I feel so at peace even in those times. I just know that the Lord wants the best for me in every area of my life. I am going to put my trust in him and rest in the fact that he his holding my life in his hands and he knows my heart. Because of that promise, I am finding joy and peace no matter the circumstance.

Kwaheri,

Rebecca