Same Old, Same Old

So I haven’t written in a while due to a combination of my workload and a lack of exciting occurrences. Three months into it nothing really seems exciting enough to write about. Over the past few weeks I did do a few interesting things, though. Two weekends ago was the Gorée Diaspora Festival which took place on Gorée Island; we went to see the concert Saturday night. There was a variety of music from rap, solo artists (the African version of Gavin DeGraw singing and playing the guitar), an a cappella rendition of the Diaspora, and a woman singing along to a group of drummers. It was music from all over West Africa and they set up the stage right on the beach. It was a great night and we even managed to catch the boat back in time to go to the all-night patisserie then go out dancing. Other than that I’ve mostly been doing homework and going to the various markets to get some shopping done since I only have a month left!

This past weekend a bunch of my friends went to Fatick, an area outside Kaolack to study malnutrition for their Public Health class. They discovered that the majority of the children they tested were malnourished, but they have yet to discuss their findings. I on the other hand stayed here and went to the beach. I also went to a gathering at a friend of a friend’s apartment in downtown Dakar. He works at the Spanish embassy so it was a mixture of European and American ex-pats and locals. I was excited to finally get the chance to ask each some of the Toubabs what they’re doing here. One girl was an au pair for an Austrian family, another was a student from London, one was working for a Swedish media company, and another worked in Public Health and will be spending Thanksgiving in a remote village. The majority worked for various departments of the Spanish embassy. It was interesting to gain the perspective of some of the other people outside of our program. Most of them agreed with our disappointment that development recently has been declining rather than improving, but many appreciated that Dakar has managed to retain its culture while also developing. I was a little surprised to find that living in downtown Dakar has similar rent to a lot of European cities, especially with the cost of electricity increasing due to government mismanagement. They are lucky, however that there are very few power cuts downtown since it’s where all the government buildings are and the majority of the government officials live, including the president, Wade.

I can’t believe Thanksgiving is almost here, considering it’s still hot enough to go to the beach and go swimming and I got a nasty sunburn on Saturday but don’t worry about me because our program has secured turkeys and some pumpkin pie.

Gestu Dekkinu Waa Senegal

(Just to warn you, this is a long one.) 'Gestu Dekkinu Waa Senegal' is a phrase in Wolof that loosely translated means a trip to discover various regions of Senegal, or something like that. This past week our program shipped us off to various areas in Senegal to expereince life outside of Dakar. I, along with seven others went to Kaolack, about 3 1/2 hours southwest of Dakar. We arrived at Gare Routiere Monday morning at 8am and tried to get a sept-place. The first one had to be pushed out of the gare and then didn't run all that well so we requested another one. After 3 1/2 hours we arrived at APOFES. I was surprised our spet-place driver was able to find seeing as road names are never used here, only land marks, and to me it all looked the same. We had some good ceebujin for lunch and then the head of the organization gave us a brief presentation. We must have looked pretty tired because after that they let us take a nap before going along with our day. We later discovered that in fact a nap was planned for every afternoon after lunch. We were grateful since it's still really hot in Kaolack. After napping, we went to visit the Mutuelle Teranga, a microfinance bank run by APOFES. They have 5431 members in the Kaolack region. We then met our host families who were to care for us for the night. My host mother's brother showed up to pick me up in a moped, it's a good thing I packed light. Since I was only staying with this host family two nights (Monday and Friday night) they treated me like a guest and I really got to see what teranga (hospitality) means. They bought me fruit and Coca-cola and gave me the mother's own bed to sleep in. In the morning I woke up to eggs, tea, and more fruit. They were shocked when I only used one sugar in my tea, they had expected me to use at least 6, no joke. I was sorry to leave this family to go out to Paoskoto, a village 50km outside of Kaolack.
After a long and dusty ride we arrived to find that the Cadre Locale de Concertation des Organisations de Producteurs (CLCOP) would take us under their wing for the next few days. We spent the day meeting the sous-pref, the cheif of the village, the head of the elementary school, the head of the health center, and the owner of a local hair salon. Each time we arrived at a new destination our tour guides (members of CLCOP) would ask if we had questions and then a discussion would begin. The most overwhelming was the elementary school because we sat outside having a round table discussion while the entire student body stood around trying to get a look at the Toubabs, they were even standing on chairs. That night after a group dinner (we ate very well all week) the family set up satellite TV so we could watch election coverage on CNN. They don't have showers or real toilets, but they do have satellite TV. Each family has one spicket for water which they then use for all of their cooking, cleaning, etc. I couldn't stay to watch all of the election coverage since I was staying with another family, which i was informed of at 11pm (This is Africa moment). I had one of my friends who was still in Dakar call me to inform me of the outcome. She called at 4am to give me the news and I am currently watching the speech on youtube so while I was a little bitter about being so far from civilization it all worked out.
Wednesday we went to a middle school, a market, and the village of Bouboudeme. Everywhere we went someone would ask us to give them money or solve their problems. It became a little irritating. We were frustrated because we couldn't immidietly give them computers or internet or access to clean water. We tried to explain that we were just students coming to learn and that maybe in the future we could help, but they were still under the impression that we could solve all of their problems, we just weren't trying hard enough. In order to get to Bouboudeme we couldn't get a car to take us so we rode a horse drawn carriage. Luckily, no one fell off and we got a nice tour of the peanut fields. Once we got there we tried to help get water from the well, but we discovered we weren't as talented as the locals. They sang and danced for us so we responded with our rendition of 'Ain't No Mountain' since we all knew it. We also got to try raw sugar cane and raw peanuts; they're better roasted. They gave us a gift of millet to eat for lunch the next day. I don't suggest you try it, I would closely compare it to eating sand.
The next day we left at 9am Senegalese time, i.e. 11am to go out to see a campment (motel) in the middle of nowhere popular among French tourists who enjoy hunting. We also had to ask the owner of the campment about his experiences as a campment owner. Interviewing got a little exhausting. Next, we went to a village to meet a group of women financed by the Mutuelle Teranga. The groupment is a group of very strong women who have used the money they get from agriculture to finance health education and health projects in their village. After talking to these women we were curious to know why the car that had driven us there left upon our arrival. Turns out the plan was to flag down a bush taxi to take us home. We had to sit out in the middle of nowhere with our trusty tour guides hoping enough bush taxis would go by to get all of us back to Paoskoto. After a few tries and an hour of quality bonding time on the side of the road we all got back safely. This was our last night of bucket showers and Turkish toilets and we returned to Kaolack the next morning.
Friday we took a driving tour of Kaolack then returned to our host families from Monday night for lunch. After lunch we went to the organization 10,000 girls (http://www.10000girls.org/) to see how some other CIEE students had been spending their week. It's a great organization started by an American woman to help girls in the Kaolack region with their education. In the Senegalese system, if a child fails a grade twice they are no longer allowed to be in school. Viola Vaughn moved to Senegal to retire but instead girls started asking her to help them with their school work so they would not fail a second time and not be able to continue their education. Since the organization had no outside fudning at first the girls also started programs to make money including soap making, a cafe, doll-making, and agricultural projects. They are going to start exporting their bissap tea to California after they get FDA approval. Viola Vaughn is up for the CNN hero of the year so vote for her at http://heroes.cnn.com/default.asp. After meeting Viola we went to the market in downtown Kaolack which is the second largest covered market in Africa. We only saw a fraction of it, but it seemed as though you could find anything, except for maybe peanut butter (I've been looking for that for a while). We spent Friday night with our host families, I got to meet a lot of my host mother's extended family and practice some of my Wolof with the small children. I also got salad for dinner, which is kind of a big deal. I always seek it out at restaurants. I was sorry to leave my host family in Kaolack especially since I only spent two nights there. I'm happy to be back in Dakar where I can find a few amenities (Kaolack was also lacking in real toilets) but being in the rural areas made me really see how kind and welcoming some Senegalese people are. Dakar feels hectic now, I can't even imagine what going back to the US is going to be like in December.

'Global' Citizenship

Yesterday I tried to pretend it was my birthday since tomorrow I'm going to be in a sept-place for 4-5 hours (I think, it depends on the conditions of the roads, sing along anyone?) on my way to Kaolack, more on that later. We went out to lunch with some friends in downtown Dakar and it felt as though we were stepping into a French diner. On our way there we saw a parade for Obama, apparently they are more excited for our elections than they were for their own. Once people find out you're American they immediately ask if we're voting for Obama, not sure what they would do if we answered no. Everyone here seems to think that if Obama is elected that means more hope for Senegal and Africa in general; they are under the impression that any president of the US will do more for Senegal than their own president ever could. (Not that Wade is really even trying at this point..) That just goes to show that no matter what we say about America losing its global influence, our elections are still more important to most foreigners than their own; even in a place such as Senegal where democracy is a term used lightly. It should be interesting to see how Obama balances this pressure of pleasing Americans and being beloved internationally at the same time.
Last night we went to an outdoor club that only happens the first Saturday of every month, per usual there were at least twice as many men as there were women since most Senegalese teen-aged girls don't go out. Luckily, our Senegalese friends were helpful in fending off unwanted dance partners. There were also a lot of foreigners, it seems to be a popular place among the ex-pat community. Recently we've been talking about how difficult it is to live here and not live like an ex-pat. We joined the nice gym and seek out expensive imported food in order to feel a little more at home. I'm sure these temptations only get stronger if you live here for a prolonged period of time.
Tomorrow we leave for our visits to other locations in Senegal outside Dakar. I'm going to work with an organization called Association pour la Promotion de la Femme Sénégalaise in Kaolack, a town southeast of Dakar. The organization works for promoting women's rights and fighting poverty so I'm going to get to do some work in microfinance. Their website is
http://courantsdefemmes.free.fr/Assoces/Senegal/APROFES/aprofes.html (but it's in French). I'll be returning Saturday so more on my rural adventures coming soon.