Djibouti Jones recently mentioned her fear of becoming one of ‘those’ expats – the types who ‘struggle to communicate with people in the home culture because our tongues are tied and our minds so thoroughly exhausted after years of balancing cultures and world views.’ Every day I feel a bit […]
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
We’ve been planning with student leaders for an upcoming ‘semina’, like a day conference. One of the issues that came up was whether we should have a ‘sadaka’, meaning ‘offering’ or ‘sacrifice’. This is a collection, taken up at the end of a meeting. It happens at just about every […]
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
I’m now a month into my Swahili literature course at university. I’ve got some answers to the questions I had after my first week. For example, I know that Aristotle was only briefly mentioned in that lecture because there was more coming up on him, including some quite extensive readings. […]
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
I helped out at a day workshop for girls not long ago. The topic was relationships and dowries came up during the question time. After I’d sorted out the language (the word for ‘dowry’ sounds remarkably similar to the word for ‘place’, especially in an echo-y lecture theatre!) I was […]
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
One of my favourite blogs, and one I’ve linked to often in discussions about feminism here, is Andie Fox’s Blue Milk. She has a running series of 10 questions for feminist mothers. I’ve loved reading others’ responses so I thought I’d participate! Here goes: 1. How would you describe your […]
Estimated reading time: 10 minutes
One thing I love about living in Tanzania is the fashion and recently I’ve begun noticing some other great things about it, including… SCRUNCHIES!! Most Tanzanian women don’t have enough of their own hair to warrant wearing them but many have hair extensions. In my class at uni, I’d say […]
Estimated reading time: 1 minute
This question was put to me on Facebook by someone who is neither a Christian nor a feminist. After all, he said, the primary authority figures central to Christianity (those of the Trinity) are all male; males occupy virtually all church roles; the image of the Father is strongly invoked; […]
Estimated reading time: 11 minutes