Entry #4

April 10, 2009

 

Asalaama alekum, yeenangi noos?

Bonjour et how are you?

Hello again from Senegal, I’m constantly amazed at how quickly the semester is going.  Thank you to everyone who has sent letters and emails and who I’ve had the chance to talk to on the phone, it’s great to hear from you and I love all the updates from home and elsewhere in the States/world!

Everything is great here in Dakar and we’ve had an exciting couple of weeks!  About two weeks ago we left for a 10 day trip to Thies, Touba, and St. Louis.  We left Dakar on the SIT tour bus early on Thursday morning heading towards the town of Thies, which is about an hour and a half- two hours east of Dakar.  On the way we stopped at the Lac Rose, which is actually a pink lake not far outside the city.  The water is colored pink because of all the salt in the area; bags and bags of salt lined the banks of the lake, so it was clear that the locals used it as a source of income.  We arrived in Thies for lunch and then had a few hours to shop in the market and pick up gifts (sugar, candles, soap, tea, school supplies) for our homestay families in our second rural village stay.  

We spent Thursday afternoon through Sunday in rural villages about 10 Km outside of the city.  I lived in the village of Ker Dembe Kebe and was immediately welcomed by a crowd of friendly faces and waving children.  My host mother was a generous and good hearted woman maybe in her mid 50s, who had the most beautiful smile in the world.  She promptly took me around to all the nearby houses to meet all of my new relatives and neighbors, though it was virtually impossible to remember everyone’s name.  It was clear that kinship and family connections are highly valued in the community because I was immediately asked my last name, who my mother was, and who my father was, after all of the formal salutations and handshakes. 

 Sitting alone in my room that first night, I was sure that the three days we were scheduled to stay there would seem like years.  I had forgotten my Wolof notebook, the one possession that was perhaps the most important and would have been the most useful in communicating and forming a relationship with my host family and the other members of the village.  Most people there only speak Wolof, with a few exceptions of the young adults and children who go to the local school and learn French. I realized that even the simplest of tasks or needs would be a process to explain or communicate and that up until this point in my life I had taken spoken and written word for granted.

It definitely took time in the village for me to begin to feel comfortable and to start to understand their routines and habits.  Being forced to use my limited knowledge of Wolof  was both a humbling and motivating experience and I soon realized that my host family looked right past my errors and appreciated the fact that I was trying my hardest to learn their language and understand their way of life.  It was of course frustrating not being able to fully express myself or pose questions about what I was most interested in, but the overwhelming amount of patience and encouragement through which I was received proved to be more enlightening an experience than anything I could have learned about these people in a textbook or while doing research on the internet. 

I spent the days in the village helping out with daily chores such as doing the laundry and cooking meals.  I also got to carry a baby on my back for the first time since being here!  Each morning I spent over an hour at the water pump with my sister in law gossiping and joking around with the other women.  We also had the opportunity to explore the surrounding areas and see their vegetable gardens and fields.  The last night the village held a celebration for all the students; we were dressed up in traditional clothes given to us by our host families, had our hair braided, given henna tattoos, and brought to the village center for a dancing and drumming circle!  It was tons of fun and an incredible experience, and great to feel like we were part of their small community.

As always, leaving was hard, but I hope to go back to visit the village for a weekend later this month.  On our way to St. Louis we stopped in the town of Touba, which is considered a very pure and religious town and home to the Grand Mosque, one of the largest Islamic monuments in Western Africa. I believe the mosque was opened in the 1960s.  The architecture and details are absolutely beautiful, and we had to cover our heads, arms, and legs to enter.

After visiting the mosque we drove the rest of the way to St. Louis, a city in the northern part of the country.  St. Louis was the first capital of Senegal and is a cute little city on the coast with tons of shops, galleries, and restaurants.  While we were there we attended lectures on the importance of St. Louis in the history of Senegal, French colonial history, and local literature. We were given assignments to research various historical landmarks and presented our findings in French at the end of the week.  Although we still had work to do, we had plenty of time to explore the city, do some shopping, and go to the beach.  One afternoon we walked along the beach to Mauritania (the country directly to the north of Senegal) and had a picnic of bread cheese and wine.  SIT also arranged for us to visit the Langue de Barbarie (a national park) and tour the area in a pirogue, which is an open air brightly painted wooden boat. 

The last day we went to the Independence Day parade in the center of town.  There were kids from all the local schools marching in the parade as well as religious leaders, members of the red cross, military personnel, etc.  It seemed like the entire city was there watching because the streets were packed, with people climbing walls and trees to get a better view. 

Although the trip was great, I was excited to get back to Dakar and see my host family again!  One of my sisters met me on the street and gave me a big hug, and everyone was interested to hear about the trip.  Our period of independent research begins this week and I’m really happy that I’ll be staying with them for the next few weeks.  I’ve decided to do research on role of traditional dress in Senegalese culture and hope to work with a local tailor and take a few sewing classes.  I’m excited for the research but also a bit nervous about having to schedule my time and plan out exactly what I need and want to do.

Ok all for now, but I’ll be in touch again soon! Please let me know how you’re all doing and what’s new on your end! I loooove hearing from youuuu

Miss and love you tons!

Ba beneen yoon, bisous,

Erin