Dispensing

I undertook a day trip to Stone Town in Zanzibar as a friend is holidaying on the island, and I wanted to hang out. It has happened twice before that friends have been on holiday in Zanzibar and work travel has scuppered my ability to get to the island. So today was a raging success.

Skirmishes at the ferry terminal in Dar es Salaam as I caught the morning sailing and went to the waiting area at the dock. The guy checking tickets tried to usher me past around fifty rows and hundreds of waiting passengers to a strange holding pen at the front that was essentially populated by white people. I tried to plonk down in the general seating area, behind people who’d arrived before me. He attempted to get me to move, saying that foreigners deserve the privileged waiting space because they pay in dollars which is good for the economy. I explained I am a resident who’d paid for the basic ticket in Tanzania shillings. He eventually got bored of my obstinate nature and allowed me to dodge the pen. ‘These are our principles’, he protested, in defence of the holding pen.

I think the principles perpetuate an us-and-them mentality which is very colonial in its logic. If I had walked through the hundreds of people to plonk down in the white person’s pen I imagine there would have been a large number who would have sat there angry at the differing treatment, but unable to voice it.

Or it could be that by overriding the ferry guy’s request and dispensing my own principles, I am perpetuating colonialism by thinking a foreigner knows better.

What a world. One of these days I may learn to go with the flow.

Stone Town was utterly delightful. Quieter than usual and with lots of establishments shuttered because of Ramadan, nevertheless I found some delicious Ethiopian food. I also strolled the streets and checked out the architecture. This is the beautiful Old Dispensary.