Jaws Corner

(a few days after the last one - these are actually really old, i'm doing a bad job of updating these)


Zanzibaris have a pretty traditional idea of gender roles. Mama and Farida cook and clean all day while Baba works and the boys go to school and the Madrasa (Quran School). I occasionally see Farida going to school, but not every day. As well, the men eat first, then mama, the boys and finally Farida. And of course, you eat with your hands.
There’s almost no alone time. If your entire life isn’t unfolding in front of the whole family’s (and neighbours’) eyes, then you must be sick and that’s why you’re in your room writing a blog. The kids play with the neighbours’ kids and they rotate houses (which helps to give mama a break). The front door is essentially left open all day long, because so many people from the area will visit for just a few minutes. Come to think of it, nobody seems to have a job. Even in town, people just walk around for hours meeting all their friends. (Edit: Since I wrote this, I've read a book that talks about how most people spent a few days every week visiting the palaces and government offices as part of their obligation to the Sultan. If people didn't show up regularly to talk and have chai, they would lose their trading rights.)


Maybe they spend so long walking around because they keep getting lost. When people go out for a walk, they say they are going 'Kutembea.' Instead, I've started saying I'm going 'Kupotea,' literally to get lost. This is a major problem for me so I thought navigating deserved a post of its own.
There are no maps. People have tried. But it would take a lifetime before you could walk every street and alleyway. The roads all intersect at arbitrary angles, at random times and occasionally never at all. I've noticed the locals aren't too concerned with the fastest or shortest way - they usually just walk to a place they know and then go from there. Most people choose the same spot as their reference point - Joe's Corner. It's appropriately named because you meet every average joe here. (There's even a few tables set up in the middle where you can get a cup of joe and play Bao, a Swahili game that I'll try to explain later.) For some reason it's written Jaws Corner and there's a painting of a shark on the wall just in case you weren't confused yet. It's the only 'intersection' with almost perpendicular streets and so acts as a sort of Zanzibari compass.
I too have my reference points for the route I take to work, and surprisingly it doesn't go through Jaws Corner (which saves me lots of time I would spend saying Salaam to everyone). There are no street names, but to give you an idea my route passes the Ice Cream shack, 'Bra St.,' Darajani Market, Spice St., the Fake IKFL (Its a shack called the Institute of Foreign Languages and Kiswahili, IFKL, that tries to imitate the university I study at.), Jewellery St. and the Old Fort. For a Toronto boy like me, working without a perfect grid and transit on every corner is definitely a new experience.