week thirty seven- debrief/zanzibar

monday we said farewell to the hospital and its staff. it was a bit emotional and some of the staff even cried... which is very huge because Africans do not show their emotions very well. then tuesday we had debriefing things as we do as a team and individually and wednesday morning we left for Zanzibar! its an island off the coast of Tanzania which we took a two hour ferry to get there. the ride was a little grueling as i am very prone to motion sickness so after the first hour i went outside the lovely air conditioned room where our seats were and sat on the deck with one of my staff. and sitting there i saw in the distance fins... then they were jumping! yes dolphins!!! i was so very excited!!! i stood up and watched as our boat drove right over them as they played beneath the clear blue water! it was so amazing, i have never seen them in the wild and have always wanted to!

we got to our ‘hotel’ and we’re very pleased to find we had a/c in most rooms! (mine does!) we’re staying right in the city so its loud but its also in walking distance to many restaurants and shops. Stone Town is what they call it here, its kinda like a southern france//italy feel. the windey streets made of stone and Arabic style buildings and doorways make it feel very quaint. other areas are still very african!

they have a night market where there are different street vendors selling different things, one thing being ‘Zanzibar Pizza’ its kinda like a calazone with ingredients inside and fried over a fire. i of course got a nutella/banana one! delicious! we also met these guys who told us a few things to do while we’re here. one of them has his own driving company so the next day a few of us went to this beautiful little resort, very quiet in the jungle that had a pool basically right on the beach. we pay around four dollars (CDN) to stay the entire day! it was a really nice day just to sit, swim, and hangout with one another before we split to different countries.

the next day (for those of you who know my ‘goals in life’ list) was one to check off that list! we got up really early and headed out to the coast on the other side of the island where we got to swim with the dolphins! we got out in a small boat and when we spotted one nearby we’d all jump out and ‘try’ not to scare them off! i was actually really scared at first cuz, well their big, and their animals. but it was really fun. while i was watching a mom and her little baby under me two came up right beside me! it startled me at first but then i just stared at them! just like the movies! haha! it was really fun!

napped the rest of the day and walked around ‘stone town’ had lunch and then decided to go for a sunset swim! it was short lived but still nice to go for one last dip in the ocean before i leave. we had dinner as a team which was nice apart from the three hour wait for our food. but still i enjoyed it!

we left saturday on the early ferry and i slept most of the way home and then me and naomi did some last minute arrends in the city and now we’ve just been packing and trying to get things together to leave tomorrow (sunday)!

i’m excited but nervous, part of me is just done with outreach but the other part still wants to keep going and deliver more babies, learn more and just keep trucking along!
thanks for your prayers as i head into this last leg of the race! i also don’t know what internet will be like, so i may or may not be able to update.

till next time...