It is 8:00 a.m. I am seated at a table at Zanzibar View Hotel overlooking the ocean.
I just made instant coffee as I wait for my Spanish eggs to be brought. My eyes keep returning to the never-ending sea. Several boats speed away; others take their time. Crows are also having their fun as they jump from one boat to a docked ship. The sea is as beautiful as ever. That hasn’t changed. Thank the heavens.
One boat catches my attention. It has been there all along, but I wasn’t focused enough to notice it. Now it catches my eye because there are about nine people on it. What catches me is that everyone is doing something. One moves this. Another picks up that. Someone else shows another person where something should go. They are talking.
I keep looking at them, wondering what is going on in their minds. Maybe they are praying for the day to go well. Maybe they are hoping something exciting happens.
Then I think about myself. What do I hope this day brings me?
I hope for a good belly laugh. When I started this month, I hoped for more belly laughter.
So far, so good.
I think about how everyone is running off somewhere to do something to ensure that they get food on the table. Regardless of what one does, we all have the same goal: to earn a living. To clothe ourselves and the people we love. To have a roof over our heads.
To live.
I get up to leave the restaurant to head to my own hustle. I meet Elisha at the door. He tells me his name after I ask. I am curious about my friends. Yes, my friends. I spent my breakfast with them. I ask Elisha if he knows what they are doing.
He tells me they are getting ready to go fishing. “Wakiandoka sahizi wanarudi mchana. Kuna hao wengine wameenda saa kumi na moja ndio wanarudi,” he tells me as we both stare at the sea where my friends are.
It now makes sense. The boats I have been watching have just come back from fishing. Elisha tells me they get at least three drums of fish per trip, depending on fish availability.
After they come back, Elisha tells me they head to the markets, or sometimes people come here to collect their fish after placing orders with the fishermen. There is an entire system running here, and everyone knows who does what and when.
Everyone is hustling.
Elisha is a trainee at the hotel. He is from Arusha and studied hotel management. He hopes to get a job soon. He has been here for six months. He was the kindest person and the highlight of my day. He was interested in the conversation we were having. I really enjoyed talking to him and meeting him. I want to continue talking to Elisha, but I am running late and off I must go.
I give my friends on the boat one last look before I leave. They are still doing this and that. I hope their dreams come true. I hope joy finds them in their everyday hustling and bustling, on and off the sea. I hope their loved ones see them, and they see their loved ones.
And for you, my reader, I wish you all that, and the whims and wishes of the soul, as I wish them for myself and for my friend Elisha.
May that job find him.
Written from a breakfast table overlooking the Indian Ocean.
