In September 2012 Karen
Patrick walked part of the Great Wall of China for Dementia Care.
Her story is related in her book 'Scaling the Dragon's Back'
which is available from Amazon for Kindle, Barnes and Noble for Nook,
on Kobo and on all other formats from theendlessbookcase.co.uk
Her book is sold in support of Dementia Care.
Sun, turquoise sea, beautiful beaches of white sand; and yet there is something about Zanzibar which feels sad and sits uneasy…
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| Approaching Zanzibar from the air. |
I had been excited and filled with expectation on the flight from mainland
Tanzania to Zanzibar. What I found on
landing was an island not at ease with itself haunted by its past associations
with slavery and struggling to marry its predominantly Muslim population with
the tourist trade and the much needed income it brings the islands economy.
The Slave Trade
The
Slave Market in Zanzibar closed in 1873.
In 1907 the last slaves on Zanzibar were freed. Blacks
were brought to the island to work as slaves in the clove plantations; or they were
sold on to provide slave labour on other Indian Ocean islands and sent to the sugar and coffee plantations of Cuba and Brazil. An
islander I spoke to told me he did not know his roots i.e. tribe, as his
ancestors had been brought from central Africa to Zanzibar as slaves. He told me his grandfather had been able to remember
there being slaves on the island. The main crop of
the island is the spice ‘cloves’ from where Zanzibar is often called the spice
island. The islander explained earlier generations of his family had been slaves on one of the islands clove plantations.
Stone
Town Slave Market
A church stands where the slave market once was alongside
the preserved slave chambers which serve as a continuing monument to the islands history.
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| Sculpture 'Memory of the Slaves' made by Clara Sornas 1998 |
A sculpture of four slaves stand in a ditch,
clasped by iron neck collars replicating how slaves were sold to potential
buyers.
Trees were used as whipping posts one still stands in the middle of what was the slave market. Slaves were tied to the trees and whipped those who did not cry
brought a higher price as they were perceived as stronger. Also, in order to
obtain a better price men and boys had their skins oiled, women were dressed in
smart clothes and wore jewellery.
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| One of the two remaining slave chambers. |
Two of the original 15 slave chambers remain, the
larger one for women and children (holding up to 80 slaves) and the smaller one
for men (holding up to 50 slaves). Many
of the slaves died of starvation or suffocated from overcrowding in such a
cramped space. Then there was only one
small window to give light and air. Standing, well bending over, in each chamber I could just not imagine such numbers of people crammed together in such a small place.
I was very moved and affected by my visit here.
I was very moved and affected by my visit here.
Tourism
I
visited Zanzibar in 2013 a few months after the acid attack on the English
students as a consequence of which I was told bookings to the island were
down. I found the
atmosphere, particularly in Stone Town somewhat strained and certainly very
different to that of the Tanzanian mainland.
The
tourist trade seems to sit uncomfortably on Zanzibar, there is in some quarters an uneasy co-existence of locals and tourists. Tourists are tolerated but are not always welcomed. The island is 95% Muslim.
I was told many Muslims choose not to work in the tourist industry, not wishing
to work in hotels serving none Muslims, or serve alcohol and having to touch a glass
which has had alcohol in it. Consequently, many Tanzanians from the mainland come to Zanzibar, the island being easily reached by boat, to work in
the tourist industry; a good source of jobs and income for them.
I feel there is no easy answer to this dilemma? Perhaps more of the tourist money spent on the island going back into the economy of the island and being used on projects to improve the lives of the islanders?
The
Case for an independent Zanzibar goes on…
Zanzibar was for many years a British colony until it became independent in 1963. Following the revolution of 1964, when the minority population Arab government was ousted, there followed union with Tanganyika in the same year creating the country of Tanzania. The union was not a natural one and relations have always been strained. There is still a desire from many for Zanzibar, together with the island of Pemba, to be independent of mainland Tanzania. I
was told the general view is that Zanzibar could not exist independently from
mainland Tanzania as it is not self-sufficient.
The island cannot support its population with most crops, including
the mainstay maize, which has to be imported from the mainland.
If
you have visited Zanzibar would you agree with the title of this blog:
Zanzibar, the Indian Ocean ‘spice’ island haunted by its past and
struggling with its present?
