How spontaneous visit to Zanzibar led Julia Seifu to the love of her life

That was two years ago, and ever since, Julia Seifu’s life has been a rollercoaster of travel and adventure, and of basking in the love of Ismaili Seifu, a man she describes as a gentle soul.

The Florida resident has just returned from Tanzania, where she spent six months in the arms of her man, and she plans to go back in a few weeks.

It has become her second home away from her country, the US.

Two years ago, she was with her friend when they took a detour to visit Zanzibar, a detour from their original destination. The US Department of Health, CDC, had recommended a vaccine shot before visiting the Spice Island.

She was a little hesitant. She had a previous bad reaction to a vaccine, and she didn’t think she was ready for another shot.

They started looking for other destinations they could travel to. Costa Rica and Europe were more appealing at that time.

But they kept circling back to Zanzibar, as African Americans, they itched to visit the motherland.

“We wanted to touch soil in Africa,” she mentioned.  And the cherry top was a visit not only to Africa but to an island.

And she wanted to be in water. At the same time, go for a safari, see the wild animals, and enjoy the culture.

The image she had in her mind of what Tanzania would look like, all the videos and pictures that one sees online, can’t compare to seeing it in person.

It was completely different. “There is nothing like seeing it with your own eyes. Feeling the air on your skin, the sand between your toes when you walk,” she explained. She felt very peaceful and enlightened walking with people in the communities.

In Michamvi Pingwe beach on the island, sits The Rock restaurant, an eatery built on top of a rock just off the beach in the Indian Ocean.

In high tides, one would need a small boat ride to get to the restaurant, but it’s accessible on foot when the tide is low. This is where Julia would first lay her eyes on her man.

As she was walking towards the restaurant, she looked at the nearby gift shop.

The Maasai had their table shop set up. “A Magnetic wall décor caught my attention. It said Mama Africa, and I have a friend who has a poem called Mama Africa, so I wanted to give her that as a gift,” she narrated.

When she walked over, he asked her if she liked anything. She promised she would buy something when she got back from the restaurant. A beginning of a conversation.

He offered to take pictures of her if she wanted to. She gave him her phone, took pictures, and handed the phone back, a brief encounter that subtly built trust between these two strangers.

She went into the restaurant, and two hours later, she emerged and, just as she promised, she headed back to the gift shop, and Ismaili was there waiting for her.

They took a small walk at the beach, just strolling with this tall, Maasai man. It’s like she could feel his energy, a sense of peace and calmness when she was with this man, whom she had just met. She felt at ease.

They later walked back to his stall. He turned around and asked for her phone number. His first move indicated his desire to see more of her.

“I hesitated because I didn’t come half across the world to make a love connection,” she said between her laughter. “But after that, we have talked every day since,” she added laughing.

For the last two years, she has been flying back and forth to Tanzania, three times so far, as they built on their relationship into marriage.

She decided to take a risk on love thousands of miles from her home; it reads like a romantic novel.

For Julia, who goes by Julia Blues as a published author, it’s life imitating art.

As a woman of faith, she believed there must be a reason why she felt this connection. She is an extensive traveller, met many people on the road, but her connection with Ismaili was impossible to ignore.

“I met many people, but with him, I felt at peace when we talked or walked,” she said.

They later went to Dar es Salaam and then proceeded to a Safari, as they were getting to know each other.

“It was a very different feeling from dating an American man, He was very easy going.” she said.

It was not the difference between dating an American versus dating an African, but it was for this particular individual.

“It felt like he was not out to get anything from me, it was very natural, and very safe,” she added. For most people, the highlight of their Serengeti safari expedition is seeing the wildlife, but for Julia, this safari trip was almost magical.

Besides falling in love, on one of those off-the-beaten-path drives in the wilderness, the truck bumped over a pothole on the road and cured her back pain, which had lasted for almost twenty years. She was amazed. “I found healing in Serengeti,” she said.

Julia invested her time to learn more about Maasai culture, just as much as he tried to learn more about American culture. 

At the heart of it all, it was centred on learning about each other at a personal level as well as getting to know family members.

After the initial surprise from families trying to wrap their heads around her newfound romance, with time, every family member was very supportive.

Her friends who took the trip to Zanzibar with her and met Ismaili are really fond of him. They can see that he is very genuine.

Her parents have talked to him, and they like him just the same. Everyone is very accepting and encouraging.

And she is welcomed just the same by his family when she visits Tanzania.

As a writer, she couldn’t help but share her inspiring love story. “Some of my friends are asking when they can go to Zanzibar,” she laughed.

She is now writing a book and a screenplay about her love.

With two books under her belt and one on the way, this book on her Zanzibar encounter is surely going to be a page-turning love adventure.

She seeks to shatter preconceptions about Africa. She would like Americans to know that Tanzanians are very welcoming; it feels like you are home, even when it’s your first time on the continent.

She hopes that with all the paperwork submitted to the American embassy in Dar es Salaam, she hopes her man will be able to also visit the US and physically introduce him to his family members, as he has done the same. 

Her Kiswahili vocabulary is growing; she downloaded some mobile apps to learn more of the language.

She is very intentional in learning the language. When she is in Ismaili’s village, she speaks their language. She aims to become fluent. “I can describe him as a man with a gentle soul,” she said.