Divas, I’m home! Back from 3 weeks in Tanzania, Zanzibar and Dubai. Wow! First of all, let me say that if you haven’t been to the Burj Al Arab, you haven’t been to Dubai. The world’s only 7-star hotel did not disappoint. And what a relief after camping out in the bush with lions!
My Spark delegation trip started out in Dar Es Salaam, where we fanned out to small villages to meet with local women and learn about their businesses as well as visit grade schools to learn how we can help more girls both attend and STAY IN school (for instance, pregnant girls get kicked out of state schools, and many of the girls we talked to traveled for HOURS every day to and from school on dangerous roads).
The weather was hot, our resolve was strong, and the obstacles facing women and girls seemed almost insurmountable. Yet we forged ahead, and forged connections across cultures and borders. Sounds like a Hallmark card; felt like ten furnaces of heat and 3 bushels of I’m-not-worthy. We came away taking more from the women and girls than we felt like we gave them!
And last but not least a safari followed by some royal R&R in Dubai. I swam in both the Persian (Arabian) Gulf and the Indian Ocean, saw the Big 5 (Cape Buffalo, elephant, lion, leopard, rhino), and did both no star and 7-star accomodations. More details to come, but I just wanted ya to know that I made it home safely.
Oh, and ‘dada’ means sister in Swahili, so hello to all my Diva Dadas! :)