One man's trash, another man's treasure...

Explore the things you feel you do not want. Give away things you don't need, not everything needs to be trashed.

This is what I've learned over the years: one man's trash is another man's treasure. It is no surprise when we look at current world trends. Vintage is the "new" thing, everyone is rocking it now. And if you really think about it, someone must have given up their personal clothing believing that it was "trash" (outdated perhaps) and others are now enjoying these treasures.

We see this trend in many parts of the world. If you walk into charitable shops you can pretty much buy anything from a fur coat to silverware. Whether it's vintage or not, but it's definitely second hand.

On the flip side of it, it's clear that clothing is a huge consumer item and makes a significant environmental footprint. So, it's important to take measures to keep the environment in mind!. 

So, why not donate old clothing as a way to keep yourself eco-fashionable?

With this in mind and growing up having to clear my closet every summer, I naturally fell in love with the Charity Distribution organized by the Zanzibar Outreach Program (ZOP). A few months ago, I decided to then create an event under Grassroots Charity Collection, to encourage the local community to purge and donate their unwanted items to us. Grassroots Traveller then donates on their behalf to ZOP. The response has been overwhelming!

The charity wing of ZOP operates as both a distributor of donated charity items and in partnership with other NGOs around the archipelago. Charity donations are collected from many parts of the world including Oman, Dubai, the UK and Denmark, as well as locally in Zanzibar.

Several times a year, ZOP organizes charity distributions to different parts of the archipelago. People from all walks volunteer their time to help sort out the donations and later distribute door-to-door to people in need.

Grassroots Traveller joined the recent charity distribution which took place on 20th July 2013 in Kandwi, a village in the North East part of Unguja - main island of Zanzibar.

What a day it was...! Walking in the heat whilst carrying sacks of clothes, we were divided into groups with a team leader - we managed to cover 2 villages.

We finished the day feeling very grateful, had made new friends & certainly counting our blessings.

TIPS ON WHAT TO DONATE:

Set aside a few hours and make sure you're motivated because you're going to make some important (and difficult!) decisions.

A good philosophy is to follow the one-year rule: anything you haven't worn in a year should be tossed, donated or placed in storage as a potential hand-me-down.

A blessed month...

It's a period of positivity. Quality family time is encouraged, we tend to wish one another well, we give & receive gifts, we feed the poor, we care for each other etc.

Growing up, I would say that I took the month of Ramadhan for granted. It was merely a month of fasting, abstaining from eating and drinking between sunrise and sunset, nothing more really.

I must admit that it took a while before I realized and fully understood the fundamental reasons behind this act of worship. I am not going to elaborate on this since I am not a scholar or intend to give a lecture on fasting in Islam but I do believe that there is a phenomenal link between fasting and humanity.

As a child, I remember it being more of a "rewarding act" because my parents would gift me money for every day I fasted. I clearly recall this joyous feeling, receiving my golden 10kr coin for every fast. Some might argue that it was misleading because as young children we don’t always understand the “concept of God” but reflecting on this, I think it was actually quite encouraging.

Imagine being a young child, aged 6-7 years old who started fasting in a Nordic country with about 18 hours of daylight during the summer months. How do you explain to your child that fasting is “something” for God?

My parents were very tactical too, I only fasted weekends otherwise I wouldn’t have survived school. My few fasting days would be spent mostly indoors and with minimal movement especially towards the end of the day. I was basically being trained to fast. It began with quarter days of fasting that eventually turned into full days. It’s like training for a marathon, you don’t start with a 10km run but you train your body to do the 10km run.

A couple of decades later, I have learned to absolutely fall in love with Ramadhan. It has become that time of the year where I jump off the bandwagon of life and have some personal quality time to reflect on the past year. I get to examine myself; where I can improve mentally, physically and spiritually. It is also a precious time that I get to spend with my near and dear ones because our “normal” days don’t always allow that.

Having moved across the world and currently not having to fast 15+ hours, I now have the privilege to plan my days during Ramadhan so that I am at my granny’s for iftar (to break fast) and enjoy a nice meal surrounded with family (photos below are from the 1st day of Ramadhan)

We tend to forget how important it is to sit with family members and share a meal. Everyone comes together even neighbours' children, brings their dishes or whatever they crave and we all sit in a circle to eat together.  

Around the circle, you hear about the daily happenings, you laugh about family affairs, you see how some have grown and others have aged. It is a month of sharing, where charity of all types literally double or triple in communities. Most importantly you share moments that only come once a year. They come during a blessed month. 

Farewell 20's...

As the first day of July was about to come to an end and I was getting ready to go to bed, I realized that I had less than a month before I turned the big 3-0. Now I hadn’t thought about this in such a long time, being bogged down with work and other affairs, it somewhat slipped my mind. The surprising part of this is that I feel relieved and blissful!

During my early 20’s, I wouldn't have imagined turning pages into the new decade and be as content as I am right now, about to say farewell to my 20’s.  Up until this point, I would consider my 20’s to be the best time of my life.

At a tender age of 18 years old, I decided to travel across the world to down under, my first international travel without my family. It is from this experience that I decided that if it wasn’t possible to travel to every country on my bucket list, then the least I could do is to touch base on every continent. At this point, I still need to tick off South America and Antarctica.

                                          (Photo: Harbour Island, Bahamas)

Travelling is the most incredible investment one could ever make. It is the only thing you can buy and can get rich by it.  The return of this investment is not monetary but a type of freedom one can only imagine until felt. It is worth every single penny that I have ever spent and much more!

It is because of travelling that I have met incredible people. I have made wonderful and true friends.  I have laughed. I have cried. I have danced. I have worked out. I have loved. I have hated. I have lived. I have made a profession. I have moved across continents. I have made dreams into reality. I have challenged myself. And so much more - all in the name of travelling!

Above all, I have accumulated astoundingly unforgettable memories that would forever stay in my heart!

                                           (Photo: Mahe, Seychelles)

What I have learned all these years is that, it is through travelling that we grow: we learn who we are, what we want and where we want to go.

Travelling comes with a freedom that no one can deny you. It allows you to blossom like the flowers in spring. There are no boundaries yet it takes you places that challenge you.

Why do we travel? Personally, I travel because I see it as a learning investment, just like any other tangible investment. I need to insure my life with experiences that only I can create with the help of the universe. I need to infuse myself with tolerance, humility & empathy!

Because of that, I can proudly tell the universe today that I am ready to take on a new chapter (the big 3-0) and see where the winds will take me.

Island Life... (we missed you)

I started off this blog with the intention of showcasing the beauty of Zanzibar. I mean away from the stereotypical attractions of wooden curved doors and obviously your sun, sand & sea - a less touristic Zanzibar.

There is no denial that living or travelling to a tropical island naturally includes the 3 S’s but I honestly believe that there is more to this paradise on earth than what the media hoodwinks the unwary. With a passion for sustainable tourism development, I couldn’t help but dissect every aspects of this industry, which I have eagerly blogged in the past.

At some point, I felt it became too rounded, constantly looking at the good vs evil of tourism. It was as if I was in “war” against what I love, which ofcourse is quite the contrary of what I had imagined my blog to be.

It was time for a deep reflection, a little break from blogging and now I am back. I guess the question would now be for everyone reading this, what has changed?

I realized that I have no control over what happens in the industry but only what happens in my own backyard. I am no mother Theresa of the tourism industry and I could never "save" it all. What I do know, is that I love travelling and almost everything positive about it.

It suddenly hit me, why not share what I love about the archipelago without forgetting what harms it and what mesmerizes me. In hope that people would see the beautiful Zanzibar and its people I know are out there and yes, my passion for the tourism industry - experiences shared through an islander such as myself.

Speaking of sharing experiences, I went into town to day to get my printer fixed. It was quite a scene, sitting in this electronics repair shop, surrounded by cables of all lengths, computers of almost every international make, some printers dating over 10 years stacked on the top shelf and other random half open machines I couldn’t quite make out what they were. I sat there patiently starring at the “fundi” (guy who’s fixing it) while I am sneezing away probably from the dust lingering in the cubical room when I suddenly hear the sound of chickens!

I thought to myself, has the dust gone so far up my nostrils that I’ve started hallucinating? But no, I was not going crazy there were suddenly chickens in that room.

An elderly man dressed in an off white shirt and dark brown capris stood by the entrance selling chickens. I thought to myself, this is not what I had expected to witness when I walked in here a few hours ago.

Two kinds in the baskets, with their legs secured - the black and the brown chickens sat calmly, rolling their eyes at us. Now, that is not something you expect in an electronics workshop but who am I to judge? I was told this man usually walks around town selling his organic chickens every day, and you can get them for a good bargain too, the fundi added.

Suddenly the adhaan started (prayer calling) and the elderly man asked us while posing a big smile that we each choose a chicken to take home and make a delicious  soup. He was going to leave them there, head to the mosque for prayers and when he returned we could discuss the price.

The man suddenly got me hungry and I was simply in awe. I think for a few minutes, I even forgot my sneezing!

Sadly, there was no chicken soup for me today (at least not this time around) but I managed to snap a few photos of the chickens. Drawing out my camera from my bag and snapping away photos, made the fundis look at me funny and ofcourse giggle a bit J. To their surprise, I found all of it quite amusing so I just laughed along.

The best part is that my printer now works again! I am tempted to go back there to see what other random things would pop up while getting something fixed.

I’m telling you - island life is just the best!