ILLEGAL ETHIOPIAN IMMIGRATION

Illegal Ethiopian Immigration is a very complex and serious problem in Djibouti. John and I have seen many Ethiopians walking together in groups along the backroads near our compound and on our way into Djibouti City. Most of the walkers are young men. Sometimes, you will see a young woman or two. They always carry water bottles wrapped in burlap or jerry cans (yellow plastic containers originally used to house cooking oil) filled with water. It takes 9 days to walk from near the northern border of Ethiopia across the hot, barren Djiboutian countryside to Obock, a small village on the northeast coast of Djibouti. North of Obock, where the mangrove swamps are, they hope to find a smuggler's boat that will take them across the narrow passage of the Gulf of Aden to Yemen. Then from there, they make their way to Saudi Arabia.

The promise of a better life, jobs and money in Saudi continue to lead many of these Ethiopians to risk their lives. And, many perish in their attempt to make this passage. Many more are rounded up, put into cattle trucks and taken to the Djibouti and Ethiopian border and released with no water, food or transport back to their original homeland.

They are vulnerable and mistaken in their beliefs of a better life on the other side of the water. Guest workers, in Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, are not treated well. As many billboards picture around this country attest, illegal immigrants can become household slaves, prostitutes, unwilling kidney donors and worse. But, still, they come even in the hottest part of the year.

Since June, the Gendarmes in our area have rounded up hundreds of illegal immigrants daily and taken them back across the border. These immigrants steal the precious water of the local nomads and villagers. They bring infectious diseases like TB. These roundups in the countryside appear to be very humane. The Gendarmes are gentle with them and feel genuinely sorry for them. The roundups that are done in Djibouti City tend to be quite inhumane. There documented and undocumented Ethiopians are extorted from by the local police, mugged and treated like animals. This happened to one of our legal documented Ethiopian mechanics, Samuel. Once he was thrown over the border, it took him 5 days to get back to his home in Addis. A truck driver, with the promise of money when he got to Addis, gave him a ride. This we learned is how many of the myriads of truck drivers who carry freight from the port of Djibouti to Addis make money on the side.

During the first two weeks of June, Salt Investment used our backhoe to bury eight Ethiopians who died near us. Most of the bodies were found by nomads walking with their camels or local goat herders. We always use our heavy equipment to help the villages dig graves in this impossibly rocky environment. But, to bury so many poor souls who died anonymously in this harsh environment in such a short period of time, was very sad.

I am told that most of these Ethiopians come from small villages on the barren, northern border of Ethiopia. They continue to receive money and encouragement from Saudi businessmen to make the trip. Djibouti is just a country caught in the middle of their immigration. But, because of this, Ethiopians have a difficult time in Djibouti. If you are an Ethiopian child, you are not allowed to go to public school. Most of the street children here, and there are many, are Ethiopian or Eritrean. A friend of mine who runs a Catholic charity here that gives help to the street kids, tells me how exploited they are. The police take advantage of their vulnerability. Many of the girls are raped and many of the boys sent to clean the prison. All Ethiopians, legal or not, must be careful about what they do, where they go and always be on the lookout. It is a difficult situation.

Pictures: The Gendarme truck filled with illegal Ethiopian immigrants picking up more illegal immigrants in front of the Salt Investment compound at Lac Assal, Djibouti (June 2010).

ZANZIBAR, TANZANIA Part III

Stone Town, Zanzibar is a very special place. It is a World Heritage Sight and deservably so. The city itself is the oldest continuously inhabited ancient city in Africa. The people of Zanzibar are mostly of Bantu African origin with a smaller minority of Indians and Arabs. They speak Swahili, which I think is a wonderful sweet sounding African language made up of a mix of many languages, mostly Bantu. Many also speak English. Most of the inhabitants of Zanzibar settled in the west coast around and in Stone Town. Those who live in the countryside farm and fish.

While mainland Tanzania is a mix of Muslim and Christian, Zanzibar is predominantly Muslim. The architecture of Stone Town is striking with it's beautiful carved and studded doors, narrow curving alleyways and mix of mostly Indian and Arab architecture. John and I really enjoyed our wandering inside the city. Our guide explained to us that the East Indians built porches in order to catch the afternoon breezes off the ocean; while the Arabs built enclosed courtyards to keep their women from outside view. He also explained that even the shape and style of the beautiful carved doorways is different depending upon the builder's ethnicity and when it was created.

We visited the House of Wonders, now the Zanzibar National Museum of History and Culture. It was the first building in Zanzibar to have electric lighting and the first building in East Africa to have an elevator - hence the name -"House of Wonders". Inside Stone Town there is the outside shell of the old Arab Fort. The Anglican Cathedral - Church of Christ - stands where the Slave Market used to be,built in 1873, a combination of elements of Gothic and Islamic design.

We walked for hours within the narrow-streeted marketplace (much like the sooks of Dubai) where vendors in small shops sold everything from leather sandals to household goods, foodstuffs and clothing. We had to contantly step aside for scooters, bicycles and the occasional cart. Some streets were so narrow, two people could not pass at the same time without stepping into a doorway. We also went to the night market, held near the harbor in a new park area. There seafood vendors,cooked their fresh shrimp, lobster, king fish and squid to order by the light of kerosene lanterns. They also sold the fresh squeezed cane juice we saw everywhere in Zanzibar.You could also get dessert crepes, made fresh. Quite a sight!

ZANZIBAR, TANZANIA PART II

We had many adventures on Zanzibar. The first adventure began on the second day of our visit to the island, it was pouring down rain, but we decided to venture out on a private tour of a spice plantation. Zanzibar is known as the Spice Island. The Sultan of Oman brought both the spice trade and the infamous slave trade to Zanzibar in 1873. All of the spice plantations are located in the interior of the island.

We really enjoyed our trip to the Kizimbani Spice Farm, a 200 acre research farm run by the Tanzanian government to study aromatics. Our guide was Babuu, a native of Zanzibar, who knew every different spice and fruit tree grown on the farm and all of their medicinal and gourmet food uses. An awesome man and an amazing place. He even gives cooking lessons using the locally grown product. Did you know that "spinach" can be made out of a number of different spice and herb leaves? We enjoyed a wonderful lunch at the farm of vegetable curry and Zanzibar rice filled with many of those spices and aromatics. So yummy!

The land is so fertile, that you can stick in a cutting of anything or throw in a few seeds and within 3-6 months a full grown plant ready to harvest is there. We have never seen such lush farmland. Growing everywhere were spices - nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, licorice, tamarind, mace, tumeric, pepper and others interpersed with fruits of all varieites - papaya, many types of bananas, dorian, 24 varities of mango, breadfruit, oranges, giant grapefruit, lemone, limes, and staples like taro root and rice. We purchased many spices at the farm to bring back to Ali, our Salt Investment compound chef. That is our gift to all of our employees.

The amazing thing about Zanzibar, is that no one there should ever starve. Just walking down any street or road, the fruit and greens are everywhere and the sea is ripe with fabulous seafood. And the Zanzibarians love to fish.

Eddie, the Imani Beach Villa's boat guy, took us snorkeling and to Prison Island to walk among and feed the giant land tortoises at the sanctuary there. Another day, one of the drivers arranged by the Imani took us on a trip to the east side of the island, where the broad, white sand beaches are with many kite surfers and sun worshippers. On our way there, we took a walking tour of the Jozani Natural Forest Reserve and viewed the rare Red Colobus Monkeys, endemic to Zanzibar. We also visited the mangrove swamps and the small sea turtle preserve where we fed the turtles seaweed and watched them swim. Another day we drove to the north end of the island where we saw the larger, expensive resorts and visited a small, local reptile farm. There we especially enjoyed our up-close encounters with their resident python.

The countryside is lined with lush fruit, lumber and spice trees of every variety. Bicycles, scooters and uniformed school children are everywhere. There are fruit and vegetable stands along the roadside. The country homes are built of mud sandwiched in between strips of wood with thatched roofs. The people are friendly and welcoming. Zanzibar loves its tourist trade and is a very safe place to be.

Pictures: Banana blossom; Ann and the python; John, Babuu and helper at the spice farm, Red Colobus Monkey; Our guide in the mangrove swamps; Zanzibar school girls; typical Zanzibar roadside.

ZANZIBAR, TANZANIA PART I

The last part of June, John and I enjoyed a wonderfully relaxing and adventure-filled 8 days in Zanzibar, Tanzania. There were so many wonderful pictures and activites to share, that this blog is only the first of three about our time on this very interesting island. At the recommendation of our dear friends, Wanda Wood and Bill Damour, we stayed at the Imani Beach Villa - a charming 9 room guest house about 20 minutes north of Stone Town. Young British owners, Simon and Kristen Bennett, really know how to run a beautiful, service-oriented and relaxing place. Their staff members were accomodating, helpful and all had great personalities. They have a flexible meal plan with a menu of delicious items, ranging from hand-made somasas to chicken in coconut curry sauce and squid salad. One can order anything on the menu from 7:30 am - 9 pm at night and eat anywhere you would like. Half and full-board is available, depending upon your day's activities. Their new Tree House Bar is breezy and has a great view of the water.

The Imani is located along the water front on the west side of the island. It's beach is rocky and not really a swimming or snorkeling beach. It is covered with fisherman, their boats and nets. A very lively place.

We spent many hours reading, watching the World Cup Soccer games, responding to emails and otherwise getting to talk with their other very interesting guests. One such guest was a young East Indian engineer, currently working in Nigeria, on holiday with his parents. It turns out that in 2007, he had lived and worked in Poulsbo, WA. Each Saturday, during market season, he would meet his friends at the Poulsbo Farmers Market. He just raved about how much he loved the market. I think he probably bought tomatoes from our Smoke Tree Farms booth. What a small world!

We took advantage of many of the excursions offered by the Imani and also went reef and wreck diving with a great Dive shop (OneOcean). Although we are both certified PADI Open Water Divers, we had not been scuba diving since the late 1980s. So, the OneOcean Dive Master gave us a great little refresher course and we were on our way. It was like riding a bicycle.

Pictures above: Imani Beach Villa entrance; Imani Beach Villa Tree House Bar; fishermen's boats near the Imani;view of the sea in front of the Imani with one of the two house dogs; Simon and Kristen Bennett, owners of the Imani Beach Villa.