Juma's BFF

Juma's BFF (best friend forever) here in Zanzibar is Franklin, a 6-year old son of good friends of ours. We've known his parents since before he was born, and that somehow instantly bonded the two boys when they met here. They had met in Connecticut and Zanzibar before, but they were both quite little then and don't remember it. Now, the intensity of their relationship is amazing.

Here, they were pretending that they would be cursed if they looked directly into anyone's eyes. They had just had a sleepover at our place, and we were on the street waiting for everyone to arrive so we could take a boat to a sandbank.



These ones are from another sleepover, when I was finding ways to entertain the two before the public waterfront playground opened up. (The playground is only open in the evening and charges about 30 cents to get in. We also discovered by experience that they station a guard within the playground to shew away any unsuspecting kids who think the playground looks inviting.) These were taken at the Old Fort on the waterfront; we had just climbed a steel staircase that once had wooden boards for steps, but was now just thin, rusted bars. Something I would completely avoid in the US, but in Zanzibar the sense of risk is somehow completely different...