Expat Woman Living in a Muslim 3rd World.

Zanzibar is 99.99% Muslim. Mainland Tanzania is mostly Christian. It's just a religion, right? No. This is a way of life, that weighs heavier than laws in Zanzibar.

The Muslim community in Zanzibar can be very challenging. I have adjusted the way I dress, out of respect for them, but the thing is, they do not respect women in return. It is not part of their culture.

Women are considered to be below men. in fact, at the Mosques, the women are never allowed to enter thru the front doors, only the side doors.

I have learned to speak Swahili, to show respect to the citizens. But this does not matter much in Zanzibar. They will only speak with Ryan when we go places. And he doesn't speak Swahili.

When we meet with our lawyer to finalize on legal obligations, he will only shake Ryans hand, not mine. My voice, my opinions do not matter.

When we go to the veggie stand down the street, they hand me the basket and only speak to Ryan.

this is not an adjustment i take lightly. It infuriates me, still. But then I can go to mainland and it is an entirely different world.

What infuriates me even more is going on facebook and seeing people in America of all places, bitch about the government and acting like they have it the worst in the world.

Being the minority, by FAR (less than 1%) has been an incredible experience. It’s eye-opening on so many levels. It’s truly amazing what is has done for our mindsets.

There are some expat women here that handle it so well, I actually admire them for how well they embrace these challenges. Our friend Kim from Vietnam, owns multiple restaurants on the island, one of which she has had to move the location of 3x since we have been here... For multiple reasons, but mostly because she is a successful woman expat. So instead of the local reaping the benefits of her renting their location and having a stream of business coming in; they grew greedy and bitter, which in turn forced her to move locations, again and again. While I see her frustrations, I see her struggles, she handles it with more ease than most of us expat women here struggling to keep our sanity. She does voice her anger and frustrations of dealing with the locals and the workers online quite a bit, but overall, she handles it so well.

I can safely say that as much as I LOVE Africa, Zanzibar is our LEAST favorite part.