I want to append my last post by saying that I was pretty judgmental of the people I stayed with and I want to clarify something - first of all, I didn't get the perspective of the women residents of the village on what their lives are like, because they didn't speak French. From what I learned from the men in the village, it seemed like women there didn't have a lot of power, but I'm not sure this is true, because I never was able to actually speak to one of the chief's wives or his daughter-in-law about how they feel about their lives.
So, I don't want to speak for them. Because the power structure in the village may allow for women to have power in a way that wasn't visible to me. I don't know that they feel oppressed or mistreated by the men. One thing that I do know, though, is that they are strong - they work in the fields, cook, clean, raise children, and are a crucial part of the system that keeps the compound going. I truly believe that without the women, the compound wouldn't be able to function. So even though they may not speak French or hold power in a way that a western feminist like me would instantly recognize as such, they are still incredibly strong individuals who play an indispensable role in their community. Senegalese women are strong.
So, post appended.
Yesterday I found out that my host sister is a Harry Potter fan, that my host mom thinks that Senegalese girls who wear colored contacts look like witches, and that my indepedent study project proposal is due tomorrow. During ISP, our homestays are officially over, but I'm spending an extra week in my homestay, then moving to a boarding house with three other girls from the program for the rest of my time here. It's pretty stressful to think about this, and what comes after - going home. There are so many things I still have to do in Senegal and I am not looking forward to reverse culture shock. I know it'll be weird to see the following when I go home: dogs on leashes, SUVs on perfectly smooth paved roads (how ridiculous!), meat in butcher shops neatly confined to glass cases, people dressed in sweatpants, MacDonald's drive-thrus, signage in English.
I will be glad to see women and girls out running again (here it's only men most of the time - kind of a deterrent if you're a female runner), less pollution, more bookstores and movie theatres, and I can't wait for cold weather, overcast skies, rain at home and snow at school.
It seems a long way off. But I register for next semester's classes tomorrow. Sometimes things feel very slow here, and then I realize that my semester in Senegal has gone by so fast.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Return from Kedougou
We got back from Kedougou this week, after a weeklong excursion with a 3-day village stay outside of the town. Here are some things that happened:
1. I stayed in yet another polygamous family in a village far away from town - no running water, no electricity, etc. with another SIT student. The countryside was beautiful - like a combination of Vermont and northern California, and the people were pretty friendly. But it was also where I saw the most extreme manifestations of traditional gender roles since I've been here. First of all, we stayed with the chief, who had four wives, and then the second day we were there, we accompanied the little kids from the compound to a nearby stream where the family washes clothes and dishes. There were several girls and two boys. When we reached the stream, the boys stayed on the bridge while the girls took the clothes and dishes (belong, I think, to everyone in the compound) to the stream to wash them. We went with them and helped a little, although freshwater contact is pretty much verboten according to SIT. But what really struck me was that these girls were around six years old, and they were performing this chore like grown-up women while the two little boys who came along just played on the bridge and watched them work. I don't think the little girls were unhappy, they seemed to have fun being together while they worked, but it was still pretty shocking to see firsthand this kind of distinction between the treatment of boys and girls.
2. A lot of times you'll see people here wearing t-shirts that come from events in the US, that were probably donated and somehow ended up here in Senegal. For example, a few days ago, I saw a man in the university area wearing a Seattle Parks and Recreation t-shirt. Well, while we were in Kedougou, after spending three days in the village, I saw a boy wearing a March for Women's Lives t-shirt. Abortion is illegal here. Women's rights certainly exist, and there are women who identify as feminists, but you still run into things like a lack of reproductive options and enduring gender roles that can be unfair. Anyway, I know a lot of Smith students who went to that march. It was really weird to see that world and the one I'm in now together on a kid in rural southeastern Senegal.
3. After the village stay and seeing the March for Women's Lives t-shirt, we visited Saraya, a large village outside of Kedougou where a women's gardening project has just begun. The women's groups there have created three gardens for growing vegetables, which they can sell, and also incorporate into the diet of school meals for the kids in the village. This was really cool to see after my stay in the village, and a reminder of the good things that you see happening in rural areas.
4. We went to a mountaintop village to see the biggest baobab tree in Senegal! Although I think maybe it's really the biggest in Africa or even the world. It takes 23 people holding hands around it to cover its circumference. The hike up was beautiful, and at the top you could see a valley full of rice paddies, and mountains and the border with Guinea in the distance. The oldest woman in Senegal lives at the top of the mountain in the village. She is 118 years old. The village itself was very large, more like a city made of huts than a village. It was amazing and the best experience I've had in Senegal so far.
So now I'm back in Dakar, realizing that I have just about a month left here, which is kind of nice and a little sad at the same time. It also means that next week I start work on my indepedent study project. I'm excited to start and to be more independent here. Pictures of the Kedougou trip to follow!
1. I stayed in yet another polygamous family in a village far away from town - no running water, no electricity, etc. with another SIT student. The countryside was beautiful - like a combination of Vermont and northern California, and the people were pretty friendly. But it was also where I saw the most extreme manifestations of traditional gender roles since I've been here. First of all, we stayed with the chief, who had four wives, and then the second day we were there, we accompanied the little kids from the compound to a nearby stream where the family washes clothes and dishes. There were several girls and two boys. When we reached the stream, the boys stayed on the bridge while the girls took the clothes and dishes (belong, I think, to everyone in the compound) to the stream to wash them. We went with them and helped a little, although freshwater contact is pretty much verboten according to SIT. But what really struck me was that these girls were around six years old, and they were performing this chore like grown-up women while the two little boys who came along just played on the bridge and watched them work. I don't think the little girls were unhappy, they seemed to have fun being together while they worked, but it was still pretty shocking to see firsthand this kind of distinction between the treatment of boys and girls.
2. A lot of times you'll see people here wearing t-shirts that come from events in the US, that were probably donated and somehow ended up here in Senegal. For example, a few days ago, I saw a man in the university area wearing a Seattle Parks and Recreation t-shirt. Well, while we were in Kedougou, after spending three days in the village, I saw a boy wearing a March for Women's Lives t-shirt. Abortion is illegal here. Women's rights certainly exist, and there are women who identify as feminists, but you still run into things like a lack of reproductive options and enduring gender roles that can be unfair. Anyway, I know a lot of Smith students who went to that march. It was really weird to see that world and the one I'm in now together on a kid in rural southeastern Senegal.
3. After the village stay and seeing the March for Women's Lives t-shirt, we visited Saraya, a large village outside of Kedougou where a women's gardening project has just begun. The women's groups there have created three gardens for growing vegetables, which they can sell, and also incorporate into the diet of school meals for the kids in the village. This was really cool to see after my stay in the village, and a reminder of the good things that you see happening in rural areas.
4. We went to a mountaintop village to see the biggest baobab tree in Senegal! Although I think maybe it's really the biggest in Africa or even the world. It takes 23 people holding hands around it to cover its circumference. The hike up was beautiful, and at the top you could see a valley full of rice paddies, and mountains and the border with Guinea in the distance. The oldest woman in Senegal lives at the top of the mountain in the village. She is 118 years old. The village itself was very large, more like a city made of huts than a village. It was amazing and the best experience I've had in Senegal so far.
So now I'm back in Dakar, realizing that I have just about a month left here, which is kind of nice and a little sad at the same time. It also means that next week I start work on my indepedent study project. I'm excited to start and to be more independent here. Pictures of the Kedougou trip to follow!
Monday, October 15, 2007
Chocolate Chip Cookies in Senegal
I decided to make my host family dinner Sunday night just to do something nice for me, since they've been wonderful. However, making an "American" dinner is pretty tough here - ingredients are hard to find, most kitchens don't have ovens, and stoves are mostly portable gas stoves like bigger versions of the kind you would take camping. I had devised a menu of spaghetti, fruit salad, and chocolate chip cookies, so I had my work cut out for me.
Luckily, we have an oven.
I found everything for chocolate chip cookies, except the chocolate chips, so I broke up some of the really good chocolate bars they have here, and had to hunt down baking soda, which is sold in little bags in small boutiques on every street. But you have to ask for carbonate, not soda du baking. Pasta and sauce were readily available in a gas station store, and fruit is easy to find here, and cheap. After several trips to several stores, I was all set to make my family their American dinner, explaining several times that there's really no American dish, because everyone in the US comes from somewhere else (to which a friend of my sister said, "C'est un 'melting pot.' "
That is, melting pot, with a French accent.
Everyone enjoyed the dinner, thanked me profusely, and told me I was "tres gentille." I was happy to do something for my host family, because they've done a lot for me, including putting up with my sometimes ridiculous French and virtually nonexistent Wolof.
But the highlight of the night was when my host sister asked me if I wanted to give our leftovers to the talibes outside. Talibes are little kids who are sent away from their families to live with marabouts, Muslim religious leaders in Senegal. They are treated horribly - deprived of education, medical care, and even the ability to take a shower. They are sent into Dakar each day to beg on the streets for money, which then goes straight to the marabout. In order to eat, the talibes ask for food, carrying around an empty tomato paste can for offerings as they navigate neighborhoods, begging at people's doors after dinner each night. Giving a talibe food is the only way to make sure you're helping him out (and yes, they're all boys). The system is very controversial, and borderline Dickensian. I was glad to give the two kids waiting outside the door the rest of the pasta. I then decided that every time I cook a meal here in Senegal, I will give my leftovers to the talibes.
I also watched "The Da Vinci Code" on TV, dubbed in French, of course.
Next Monday we leave for Kedougou - about a weeklong trip. We've been told that we might get to see giraffes, rhinoceros(es?), and lions. And that's when we'll finally get our 12-hour bus ride through Senegal, from the northwest to the southeast. I'm excited.
Luckily, we have an oven.
I found everything for chocolate chip cookies, except the chocolate chips, so I broke up some of the really good chocolate bars they have here, and had to hunt down baking soda, which is sold in little bags in small boutiques on every street. But you have to ask for carbonate, not soda du baking. Pasta and sauce were readily available in a gas station store, and fruit is easy to find here, and cheap. After several trips to several stores, I was all set to make my family their American dinner, explaining several times that there's really no American dish, because everyone in the US comes from somewhere else (to which a friend of my sister said, "C'est un 'melting pot.' "
That is, melting pot, with a French accent.
Everyone enjoyed the dinner, thanked me profusely, and told me I was "tres gentille." I was happy to do something for my host family, because they've done a lot for me, including putting up with my sometimes ridiculous French and virtually nonexistent Wolof.
But the highlight of the night was when my host sister asked me if I wanted to give our leftovers to the talibes outside. Talibes are little kids who are sent away from their families to live with marabouts, Muslim religious leaders in Senegal. They are treated horribly - deprived of education, medical care, and even the ability to take a shower. They are sent into Dakar each day to beg on the streets for money, which then goes straight to the marabout. In order to eat, the talibes ask for food, carrying around an empty tomato paste can for offerings as they navigate neighborhoods, begging at people's doors after dinner each night. Giving a talibe food is the only way to make sure you're helping him out (and yes, they're all boys). The system is very controversial, and borderline Dickensian. I was glad to give the two kids waiting outside the door the rest of the pasta. I then decided that every time I cook a meal here in Senegal, I will give my leftovers to the talibes.
I also watched "The Da Vinci Code" on TV, dubbed in French, of course.
Next Monday we leave for Kedougou - about a weeklong trip. We've been told that we might get to see giraffes, rhinoceros(es?), and lions. And that's when we'll finally get our 12-hour bus ride through Senegal, from the northwest to the southeast. I'm excited.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
More Pictures
Here are some pictures that I've been meaning to post:
Car Rapide: Public transport in Dakar; all are decorated with religious and patriotic symbols.
Me at the Mosque in Touba
More of the Grand Mosque at Touba
Ku mun, muun.
My homestay is continuing to go very well. We have a weekday routine of breaking the fast (it's Ramadan - most people in my house aren't actually fasting, including me, but we break it anyway) with tea and either bread or cake around seven, then the news and dubbed Mexican soap operas (Roderigo and Victoria and Miranda all speak French), then dinner around eight, and then more TV - generally American shows dubbed in French. I watch Lost and find it so funny to hear Jack and Kate and Sawyer speaking French in different voices. My host sister and I generally talk about politics while we watch TV, in French! It's really interesting to hear her perspective on the U.S. government - last night we talked about Guantanamo Bay, terrorism, and militant Islam, which she told me isn't really Islam, because Islam forbids killing another person.
So, I'm learning a lot.
I also learned a Wolof saying I really like: Ku mun, muun. There are some tildes involved, but I don't know how to type them. It means, roughly, if you're patient, you will smile. (I think.) French translations are "Il ne faut jamais jeter l'eponge," which means, "It is necessary to never throw in the towel."
My Wolof teacher said that this saying is really important to the Senegalese, because it basically means that even when things are hard, it's necessary to be patient and determined, because eventually good fortune/recompense can be found again. I really like this saying, and I'm keeping it in mind during my time here.
I also have been noticing these huge, leafy trees that are planted everywhere in the city. They have very bright red-orange blossoms and people use them for the shade. I don't know what type of tree they are, but I've only ever seen them here in Senegal and I love walking past them every day.
So, I'm learning a lot.
I also learned a Wolof saying I really like: Ku mun, muun. There are some tildes involved, but I don't know how to type them. It means, roughly, if you're patient, you will smile. (I think.) French translations are "Il ne faut jamais jeter l'eponge," which means, "It is necessary to never throw in the towel."
My Wolof teacher said that this saying is really important to the Senegalese, because it basically means that even when things are hard, it's necessary to be patient and determined, because eventually good fortune/recompense can be found again. I really like this saying, and I'm keeping it in mind during my time here.
I also have been noticing these huge, leafy trees that are planted everywhere in the city. They have very bright red-orange blossoms and people use them for the shade. I don't know what type of tree they are, but I've only ever seen them here in Senegal and I love walking past them every day.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
You have a button on your arm
This is what my new host sister said to me yesterday, because here anything round on your skin is a bouton. The button on my arm was a new mole. From the sun. So she told me that I have to wear sunscreen.
I've moved! To Cite Asecna in Ouakam, a busy quartier of Dakar close to the airport and 40 minutes by bus to class. I love it. It's like a village in a big city, with quieter streets but just as much life as the rest of Dakar (maybe more) and everyone seems to know each other. I live with a host mom, and host sister, and three host brothers who I rarely see because they work nights at a big grocery store. My host mom teaches home ec and is great, and my host sister is 21 and studying to be a doctor. I really like them both and I get to practice my French with them and eat meals with them and watch TV with them every night. My host sister is partial to Mexican soap operas and American TV shows (Lost, House, Grey's Anatomy) dubbed in French. Lost is way behind here, but it was fun to watch a show I like in French.
So the new situation is good. My old one was not; and it's not the fault of the family I stayed with, they just weren't very good at including an exchange student in family activities and basically didn't talk to me. That was the way their family worked, and that's fine, but I wasn't learning anything. And now I am. It's a good change.
They also keep telling me that I'm going to learn Wolof. Considering that I can really only say "hello," "how are you?", and "thank you" I'm not sure if they're being polite or genuinely optimistic. But that's Senegal for you, I guess. People are really friendly here, and I've also noticed that they often say funny things when they enter a room, like, "you're sitting?," "you're eating?" - generally stating the obvious to start a conversation. It's nice.
I've moved! To Cite Asecna in Ouakam, a busy quartier of Dakar close to the airport and 40 minutes by bus to class. I love it. It's like a village in a big city, with quieter streets but just as much life as the rest of Dakar (maybe more) and everyone seems to know each other. I live with a host mom, and host sister, and three host brothers who I rarely see because they work nights at a big grocery store. My host mom teaches home ec and is great, and my host sister is 21 and studying to be a doctor. I really like them both and I get to practice my French with them and eat meals with them and watch TV with them every night. My host sister is partial to Mexican soap operas and American TV shows (Lost, House, Grey's Anatomy) dubbed in French. Lost is way behind here, but it was fun to watch a show I like in French.
So the new situation is good. My old one was not; and it's not the fault of the family I stayed with, they just weren't very good at including an exchange student in family activities and basically didn't talk to me. That was the way their family worked, and that's fine, but I wasn't learning anything. And now I am. It's a good change.
They also keep telling me that I'm going to learn Wolof. Considering that I can really only say "hello," "how are you?", and "thank you" I'm not sure if they're being polite or genuinely optimistic. But that's Senegal for you, I guess. People are really friendly here, and I've also noticed that they often say funny things when they enter a room, like, "you're sitting?," "you're eating?" - generally stating the obvious to start a conversation. It's nice.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Leaving Saint-Louis
Tomorrow we leave Saint-Louis to go back to Dakar. I am really sad to be leaving! Saint-Louis is wonderful. It's made up of two islands and few bridges in between, and it's divided by the Senegal River and bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The roads here are wider than the ones in Dakar, and there are definitely more sidewalks. There are also fewer people, and, consequently, fewer people hassling you and asking for money, your number, or your hand in marriage (and possibly all three) than there are in Dakar. There are, however, a ton of goats in the road, just hanging out, enjoying the trash piles or climbing up on their hind legs to eat leaves out of trees. There are also some really cute kittens who seem to live down the street from our hotel. But our program says that there is to be no petting or cuddling of animals while we're in Senegal. So no petting the cute stray kittens. The buildings here are also pretty - old colonial-style buildings in bright colors with wooden shutters, and last night, we discovered an amazing Vietnamese restaurant where you can actually get a grenadine in Senegal that isn't just a cup of syrup and uncarbonated mineral water.
Add to this the hotel with its air conditioning, western-style showers, and bread and pastries for breakfast, and it's easy to see why returning to Dakar, with its traffic, pollution, multitude of people asking after money/phone numbers/marriage, narrow roads, absent sidewalks, busy markets where your backpack might get stolen, and generally crazy noise level, is a little difficult to get excited about.
But - I've now been here a month, and I'm realizing that the rest of the program is going to go by pretty fast. Which is good, because it means that in no time I'll be home and getting ready to go back to Smith, but it's also bad, because it means that I really need to finish my book for French class, and it also means that in a month and a half I'm going to be working on my independent study project, which resembles nothing I've ever done for school, except for maybe interviewing people for the Sophian.
I hope that I have another chance to come back to Saint-Louis someday. Going back to Dakar won't be fun, but I'm glad I got the chance to come here and see a calmer, quieter side of Senegal. And I'm glad that after spending three days in a village, we got to visit such a relaxing place with both TV and the nicest bathrooms I've seen since I got here.
Add to this the hotel with its air conditioning, western-style showers, and bread and pastries for breakfast, and it's easy to see why returning to Dakar, with its traffic, pollution, multitude of people asking after money/phone numbers/marriage, narrow roads, absent sidewalks, busy markets where your backpack might get stolen, and generally crazy noise level, is a little difficult to get excited about.
But - I've now been here a month, and I'm realizing that the rest of the program is going to go by pretty fast. Which is good, because it means that in no time I'll be home and getting ready to go back to Smith, but it's also bad, because it means that I really need to finish my book for French class, and it also means that in a month and a half I'm going to be working on my independent study project, which resembles nothing I've ever done for school, except for maybe interviewing people for the Sophian.
I hope that I have another chance to come back to Saint-Louis someday. Going back to Dakar won't be fun, but I'm glad I got the chance to come here and see a calmer, quieter side of Senegal. And I'm glad that after spending three days in a village, we got to visit such a relaxing place with both TV and the nicest bathrooms I've seen since I got here.
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