Anna anna anna do!

I thought to add some fun anecdotes from children whom I have met in Zanzibar:

Fatma, a young girl in an adjacent alley way to the one in which I live, is the salesperson for her mom's chapatis. They sell fresh chapatis (as do at least half of the women in Zanzibar) every day, on the side of the, well road would be an over statement, on the side of the alley way. She is spunky and young and oh so funny to talk to, even though I speak kidogo (a little bit of) kiSwahili and she speaks no kidogo kidogo English.

She could never remember my name so I decided I was going to be called Khadija (Pronounce Hadija, but when you say the Kh sound, give it a bit of a phlegm-y growl in the back of your throat). Now I hear, most evenings when I walk past, "Khadija, mambo vipi?" (howzit, how are ya?) "Mambo poa! Habari za leo?" (I'm good/sweet/fine. How has your day been?) I reply to her. And then, these last few evenings there have been no chapatis, only and then I put my hands on my hips and ask "chapati waphi?" (where are the chapatis?) and she laughs a loud, confident laugh and says "Hamna chapati!" (No chapati). We're mates, us two.

*

The alley ways of Stone town are fantastic (and really, I mean FAN-TAS-TIC) to play hide a seek in. You needn't even try to hide, you get lost if you daydream for but a moment. But none-the-less, the children play hide and seek. A lot. And this is the little song that they use to choose who is going to be on (it's like Eenie, meenie, miney, moe), and it's in nonsense swahili:

Anna anna anna do,
kachanike basto,
ispiringi mitido,
anna kwa, anna kwa,
duku duku lemba kwa fuus!

Thus is the law of the children.