I have been very busy having fun and working with my colleagues at SUZA. I am going to try to catch up with a series of blog posts on a few different topics.

On Friday of last week, I worked hard during the day to make some additional changes to the curriculum document that outlines the new Early Childhood Education diploma program so that the following week the faculty and some outside stakeholders could review it. I also planned a training for the following week for Monday and Tuesday. During the workshop, we were also going to review the curriculum.

This trip has been so helpful to learn about SUZA and their work, but also about early childhood education that currently exists in Zanzibar. My brain is always working thinking about comparisons and contrasts of the university and early childhood settings to those on the mainland. I have really learned on this trip about the differences between Zanzibar and the mainland. It is fascinating to me to notice the differences and to think about how the different colonial history, the different government and that Zanzibar has some of its own laws and policies and makes its own books for use here that are different from those on the mainland. I would also argue that the incredible Middle Eastern influence particularly from Oman and UAE have changed the landscape and the culture.

I would be really curious to see what Zanzibaris think of the places and people in Lushoto and Moshi where I have lived and if that impression is different based on their heritage. Just some thoughts.

On random things I learned yesterday: Always where slip on shoes when going to new places. We visited several early childhood settings in and around Stone Town and I had to take my shoes off multiple times. It was not the day to wear the sandals with the buckles and that were tight and seemed impossible to pull on and off multiple times. One of my favorite things to do here is watch the sunset. I will leave you with some photos of the sunset and dinner from a few nights ago. That is meat lasagna and salad and an iced coffee.