A Few Thoughts

First, new post about Nungwi, Zanzibar on the other blog.

Second, a few thoughts about the US election because I need to put them somewhere and the other blog isn't the right place.

I am not American, but I can see it from a park five blocks from my house. You can see it from all over my city.

I am currently on an island where the Muslim population is 99% in a country where they are the largest majority overall with 45%. Out of all of the countries I have had the privilege to travel to or live in, this is generally been the friendliest one - especially when you get away from the tourist trail. Donald Trump has said some pretty horrible things about Muslims. These were the people I had to look in the eye as we learned of the results on Monday morning. Beyond that, because of my time here, these people are friends, coworkers, and travel saviours.

I spent Wednesday lost in a What-The-Fuck fog, which was added to by the fact that I saw kofias and hijabs everywhere I looked. I couldn't make sense of where the election had gone so horribly wrong that a man with no political experience beat a woman who has dedicated her life to public service. A man who has spoken ill of pretty much every minority you can name.

I knew that racism and sexism and all those wonderful 'isms' used to describe his vile rhetoric existed in the world, I just didn't know how much of it existed.

Wednesday night, I watched the sun set from a cafe that overlooked a popular beach. Dhows passed by, palm trees waved, and local young men played a game of pick-up soccer. In the corner of all this, shortly after sunset, a young man wearing a kofia led his three friends in Maghrib, the evening prayer. Watching them was incredibly peaceful and calming. I began to feel that the world may be broken but we can fix it.

I also took solace in the words of Jack Layton, which I've shared on here before but I'm going to share them again.

To all my loving, hopeful, and optimistic peeps out there, may we stand up in the coming days, weeks, months, and years to protect those that need protecting and to change the world so this orange asshat doesn't get another four year term,

Did I just call him an asshat? Hmm, guess I'll have to work on that 'loving' part.