The Average Day In Kairo, Zanizbar

What a typical day looks like for a GIVE volunteer in Kairo, Zanzibar.

All the volunteers stayed in a house called 'Lazy Beach.' We were split into three rooms. I shared a room and a bathroom with five other girls. Upstairs was a common room with chairs and pillows to hang out.

Every morning I woke up between 6-6:30 and went down to journal on the beach and enjoy the sunrise, while others would go for a quick swim. Then I would head back to the room and put on my clothes for construction and a sarong over my shorts to be conservative.

We would all meet for breakfast on the beach around 7:30. All of our meals were prepared by Anwar, an incredible chef from Stonetown. The meals were amazing and each one was unique. Pictured are a few of my favorites.

After breakfast we had a ten minute walk through the village to the school. As we walked all of the locals would wave at us and say Jambo. This was my favorite part of every day. The people we met were so kind hearted and welcoming of us into their community and their kids were adorable and loved giving high fives.

Once we got to the school we split in half. One group would start with teaching and the other did construction. I was in the morning construction crew. We did a lot of mixing cement which was hard, but rewarding. Then at 11:30 we walked back to Lazy beach and I would either rinse of the cement in the shower or the ocean, if the tide was in.

Next was our Swahili lesson which took place upstairs. One of the five boys from Tanzania that were volunteering would teach us. After lots of learning it was finally time for lunch. Once we settled our appetites we had about an hour before we walked back to the school for the afternoon session.

We would get a briefing by MC then all split into our different classes. We would then create a lesson plan for the day, then teach our students once they arrived.

Once the afternoon session ended we would head back to Lazy Beach where we would have about 2 hours to do whatever we wanted before dinner. Sometimes I would swim, walk around the village, journal, or hang out upstairs. It was nice to have some downtime where I could do what I wanted.

We then would head to dinner. Afterwards we would pass around tiny pieces of papers and write good vibes. Good vibes are ways to give a shout out to someone who was working hard or to something fun that happened that day.

After dinner we went upstairs and would take turns reading them. After good vibes we would have a discussion. Every night we talked about a different topic and we all got to weigh in and share our opinions on it. It was a smart way to share the goals of GIVE and how we can change our lives to be more beneficial and impact those around us to do the same.

The rest of the night we typically hung out, played games, went to the beach to see the stars, or went to bed early.

My time in Kairo was amazing and I met some of the most incredible people. I am looking forward to coming back one day and visiting with everyone I met on the island.