A little more than 10 years ago, I had a rare moment of clarity.  I was sitting with my second child, who was 9 months old, on my lap while my 2-year-old danced and swayed around me.  Everyone else in the Mommy and Me class was singing – with gusto – the Barney song “I Love You”.  Glancing at the clock, I realized that the week before – at exactly this time – I was being interviewed live on national TV in Peru about that country’s truth and reconciliation commission.

The stark contrast made me realize that I had chosen a life in which there might never really be a “typical” day.   Setting aside the insipidity of Barney, I realized that these small moments with my young sons were as important and valuable as the other, more high-profile moments of my career, which often takes me to exotic locales.  I learned not to compare my days.  Not to sift through the experiences of each day and measure the worth of one against another, but to see them all as a whole.  To acknowledge that each endeavor for work and for family gives me strength for the other. To realize that I am fortunate to have these varied experiences, which, woven together form the rich tapestry of my life.

So for the Weekly Photo Challenge: A Day in the Life, I am choosing to share one day that I recently spent in Zanzibar for work.  As I write this, my daughter is sitting beside me, looking at the photos and talking about them with me.  One day in Zanzibar, one day of spring break at home. Days and experiences, knitted together – so many days to be thankful for!

Sunrise in Dar es Salaam

St. Joseph Cathedral, on the waterfront in Dar es Salaam

View from my in Dar es Salaam

On the ferry, waiting for it to leave Zanzibar Gate

Birds over the harbor

Commuters at the Kigamboni Ferry Terminal

Early March – on the brink of rainy season – brings sudden, dramatic rain that quickly ends.

Rainbow over Dar es Salaam Bay

Stone Town waterfront

View of Stone Town harbor from hotel terrace.

On the ferry to Zanzibar

Stone Town rooftops

Looking down on the roofs of Stone Town, Zanzibar

Old Fort in Stone Town, a World Heritage Site

Stone Town, Zanzibar

On the way to Zanzibar Town, the capital of Zanzibar.

Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania with its own government – known as the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar. A proposal to amend Zanzibar’s constitution to allow rival parties to form governments of national unity was adopted by 66.2 percent of voters on 31 July 2010.

Interviews with non-governmental organizations (NGOs)

This poster is part of a campaign to end Violence Against Women in Zanzibar

Coconut tree at the office of an NGO in Zanzibar Town

Children’s rights

Back to Stone Town

Lunch. A new discovery – Stoney Tangawizi, a most delicious East African ginger beer!

Forodhani Gardens during the heat of midday

Window

Intricately carved door

House of Wonders during a sudden rain shower

Gizenga Street, Stone Town

Stone Town manhole cover

Mosiac

On the way to mosque

School girl heads home from school.

Forodhani Gardens at sunset

Zanzibar sunset

Zanzibar sunset

Cooling off at the end of the day

(See more Weekly Photo Challenge entries here.)