Worlds Apart

There's nothing profound about this post, or this picture for that matter, but I came across this shot the other day when I was organizing some files and it made me think about the fact that in little more than six weeks I'll be back in Zanzibar.  It's the picture of the wall of a hut in a village in southern Unguja that Steve and I passed when we were out bicycling.  More importantly, however, it reminded me of why we put in all the hard work in planning and carrying out these student trips.  We're trying to change the worldview of our students, to open their minds to a bigger universe.  This is not a picture of an exhibit in the museum of how village huts used to be constructed, but an actual wall of an actual hut in an actual village where actual people live.  It can be a jarring moment - and should be a jarring moment - for Americans coming from gated communities and who are deeply immersed in unquestioned white privilege.

I don't think you can go to Zanzibar and not be be transformed.