This semester, IEDP student Princess Adeyinka is completing her internship with Milele Zanzibar Foundation (MZF)! She’s gaining hands-on experience across foundational learning, research, and social entrepreneurship in Zanzibar. Princess has been busy developing a curriculum for youth in the Green & Blue Economy, navigating power outages, discovering local food, and learning Swahili!

Please share a little bit about your internship!
I am interning at Milele Zanzibar Foundation (MZF) working on various projects spanning foundational learning, research, and social entrepreneurship. Right now I’m working on building out a curriculum for the Green & Blue Economy under the Future Pathways Pillar at  MZF. The goal is to create a 3-month guideline for youth ages 17-25 who want to create a business within the Green or Blue economy, such as seaweed farming. I’m also supporting a community survey that’s being done to better understand how MZF can improve gender related programming issues.

What’s been one of your favorite memories since starting the internship?.

The power goes out somewhat frequently in Zanzibar and when that happens there isn’t much that can be done about it. During those times I find myself sitting outside under a passion fruit tree with my coworkers and it’s been lovely getting to know each of them. They also love to quiz me on Swahili words and I have not passing these quizzes yet but I will one day!

What’s been your favorite food so far?
Urojo! Urojo is also called Zanzibar mix. It’s a popular street food here. It’s a tangy & sometimes spicy soup made of citrus, tumeric, and mango and it’s mixed with boiled potatoes, cassava chips, spicy potato balls, meat, and vegetables. I’ll add tamarind sauce and extra chili paste to it because I love spicy food!

What was something you learned early on that helped you get the most out of this experience?
Whenever I travel, I only go there with the expectation to learn and that stayed true for this trip as well. I’ve been to a few East African countries before, and I know things move at their own pace. Understanding that and intentionally seeking out any learning opportunities has been helpful.