Family

Just as I was getting used to Dakar I have to leave. At the end of the week most of the students (all except for 3) are leaving Dakar and going to internship sights around the country. Its interesting to see how fast time passes here. I have a lot of trouble actually getting any work done, even though it seems like I really have nothing to do all day long. This past weekend was spent doing a lot but at the same time not really doing much. I went to a family reunion with my family. We rented a bus (kind of like the car rapids in Dakar) and we went from quarter to quarter (Dakar is split up into quarters like counties) picking up various family members. I still love watching Dakar from a car window. The city sprawls all the way down the penninsula until you hit Thies. For the most part the city of Dakar is indistinguishable from the urban sprawl that is its subdivisions. The only really noticeable difference is the disrepair of the road once you get out of Dakar. I think I understand Dakar better now, in more ways than one. The graffiti that it painted on every available wall space (even on houses and doors) isn't such a mystery to me anymore. For the most part its just propaganda promoting some political party. Also I am beginning to understand wolof to a level so that I can understand the radio for the most part (when they speak wolof). Writing and speaking english has become somewhat hard (if not hard at least it takes a little bit to get used to). For example when a senegalese person finds out you are from the U.S. they immediately start going through all the english phrases they know. Being at my family reunion was interesting. About an hour after we ate lunch I was called into a room for the "family reunion". I was slightly confused seeing that we had been together at the hosue for over two hours. I found out that the family had a family committee and each year they got together to talk about family projects (they are going to build a football field somewhere), problems and setting up the next family event. It was interesting to see how organized and precise everything was. For example they had a system set up stating that a person had to pay so much money per hour for every hour they were late to family gatherings. Along with this they had set up a bank account that could be used if one of the family members was in need of money. The family reunion was more like a business meeting than a family meeting. I felt kind of weird during the whole reunion because I was forced to eat with the adults, which I am assuming was a nice gesture because they got all the good food and more of it. At the same time I felt like I didn't have much to say because they were all talking about the family. It will be interesting to get out of Dakar but it will be a little difficult since I think I am just beginning to understand it well.

Begging

In Senegal money has such an ambigious nature. Money is both a blessing and a curse in Dakar (I guess one could say this about any city in the world), because along with the presence of money comes the bitter realities of the poverty of Dakar. As an American (or any toubab, meaning white/westernized person) I often feel that I am immediately seen as a walking dollar sign, not only by street vendors and beggars but even by some of my closer friends in Senegal. I think the reason has such an ambigious nature here is the clash of values in Dakar, which is really just a clash of traditional values with that of modernity. The contrast between rich and poor his is so visible its impossible to block out. Even walking from my house to school, I encounter beggars at every large intersection. I am surprised to find that it is the same people everyday, taking up their respective positions to ask for help. No matter how much someone tries to avoid it, Dakar is a city of hidden wealth, that is, those with wealth hide behind their high walled in courtyards, with guards at the doors and drive around in their cars. The only contact that some of them would have would be the Talibes walking from car window to car window asking for money or food. At the same time, its amazing to see the amount of trust people here place in each others. On two seperate occassions I had too large of a bill (getting change is a huge problem here) and I was told by the owner of the store to come back whenever I got the change. This kind of trust confused me. On another occassion I owed 4,050 cfa and I gave the store owner a 5,000 cfa bill and he simply gave me a 1,000 cfa bill saying that the 50 cfa wasn't anything to worry about. The clash between the old sense of village community, where nearly everything is communal, and the weird frankenstien like modernity of Dakar, with its western lifestyle, seems hidden until this little nuances appear. During our classroom conversations, the question of honesty and begging came up. Is it the fault of the beggar if they beg in a way that is dishonest, that is to say they lie about their situation. We heard an example from our teacher about a women who told her husband she worked every morning but really pretended to be blind and asked for money on the street. If this is the women's only way of earning an income isn't it wrong to commit her of being immoral? Why is it necessary for someone to be honest when they ask for help, when they have nothing? From where does it come the need that someone be more ethically clean than those with money (much like myself who often say that I have no money when I have enough money in my pocket to feed a family for a night). The glaring reality of poverty is terrible in its omni-presence. Another interesting idea came up in our class discussion: By contributing to beggars isn't one perpetuating the problem by allowing the person to live on the bare minimums (and by consequence their family). In Islam, one of the five essential beliefs includes giving 10% of your annual profit to the poor. In this way, one could say that someone living in a predominately islamic country (where this practice is enforced) could be guranteed a living. One has to wonder whether this belief is reinforcing the state of poverty. At the same time, its easy to forget the social function, necessity and particularity of begging in Senegal. Unlike the United States, persons with metnal and physical infirmities do not get state assistance. As a result, if a family who is already poor bears a child with a deformity, it is nearly an impossibility for that family to survive and support that child for their whole life. As a result, many of these children are left to their own devices to beg in the streets or be put in the very few organizations that will help them. This is not to say that a child who is born with a deformity is fated to beg but that by understanding the particularity of the situation in Senegal one sees begging as less of a negative aspect and more of a social reality.

Dakar

Just like every city wordwide, what makes Dakar itself is not only the people, location and the culture, but the little nuances that regularly go undetected as one walks through the streets. Sitting on the terrace of a friends house (four stories up so I could get a great view) I watched Dakar and realized that everything, from the piles of trash, stray dogs and the never ending chanting coming from nearby mosques helps make Dakar itself. I was first annoyed, but now enjoy the fact, that every morning at 5 a.m. I am woken up by the nearby mosque's call to prayer. It seems like the unitelligable chanting (unitelligble to me because I don't know Arabic or Wolof well enough) is part of what makes this city a city for me. Walking home from a friends house at night I was amazed to realize how often I forget that this is a country with over 90% of the population being muslim. Seeing row after row of people lined up on any free space no the sidewalk, all facing east, and all bowing at the same time was a distinct reminder of just this fact. Surrounded by foreign influences, from U.S. media and my catholic host family, its hard to remember that christians are the foreigners here. I guess I often feel surprised because Dakar is such an open and pluralistic city, all faiths and ethnicities live in a semblance of unison, and for the most part, everyone seems to be on normal terms with everybody else, despite their differences. Tangara is such an important element of this melange, and I feel that without it thigns might be different. Tangara is a wolof word meaning hospitality, but it doesn't just describe a state but a whole system of beliefs. I think that the best way to describe it is to provide a concrete example. I was walking home from school two days ago when I ran into a neighbor who I knew relatively well. I was with an american friend in our program and he invited us in to see his family (I've discovered that this is a common practice among new friends, I've been to several peoples houses to visit their family who I would barely consider acquantinces in the U.S.). We ended up staying for a while and talking with the family and ended up breaking fast with them (even though I wasn't fasting). This was the first time I broke fast (or just ate food when everyone else did) and it was really interesting to see how the people ate just a small piece of bread and drank some coffee (after fasting from sun up to sun down). After our small meal we talked some more with the family and ended up eating dinner with them. Despite telling them that I was going to have to eat at home they made us stay and eat dinner with them and their family. It was the first time since my first week in Senegal that I used my hand to eat instead of a spoon (Its tradition to eat rice with only your right hand). After dinner we ended up staying two more hours while one member of the family made Ataya (Senegalese tea). I ended up spending over 5 hours with the family just eating and talking just because I ran into someone on the street. One of the most interesting things about life here is how difference conceptions of time can be. For example when I ate dinner and talked with my neighbors family I spent 5 hours doing relatively nothing (in terms of a western point of view) but if I am ever late for class the Senegalese instructors act like they are shocked. Another glaring example is going to the market. I went to this market to buy a boubou (A traditional senegalese outfit). Going to large markets in Dakar is probably one of the most nervous/fun experiences about Dakar. Walking between the vendors stalls you quick literally have to push people out of your way to move. On top of this people walk in the crowd and sell you things as your are pushing your way through. I bought my outfite from a guy as I was pushing my way through the crowd (I often had to bargain the price by shouting since the vendor would be pushed away). Bargaining is a whole nother story, and since I'm American its interesting to see how vendors start the price off at four times its normal price (for example when I bought my boubou he asked for 12 mille CFA, roughly 24 dollars, but I ended up paying 5 mille CFA, roughly 10 dollars).

Worst experience so far: Walking home one night with some people and watching a girl get mugged.

Wolof saying of the day: waari-waari naari djaari
Meaning: By going around the circle one ends up behind. (or what goes around comes around).

Current

Its been a while since my last entry which has been mainly due to the lack of electricity during the past few days. Electricity is a big problem here in Dakar. Its normal for the electricity to go out several times during the day. Often the electricity will turn off and on just for a few minutes but sometimes it will last half a day. The problems with electricity here aren't just a problem of access (most people that have houses have electricity and they pay on a regular basis) but its a problem of infrastructure problems. Senelac, the country that controls the distribution of electricity (somehow I honestly don't know how it works), has many problems internally, in terms of reliability and sustainability, and also in terms of payement. Many of the major international oil companies attempted to stop selling oil to Senelac but the Senegalese goverment intervened and repossessed all the oil in the country and forced the oil companies to provide the oil to Senelac. For most of the population of Dakar the blackouts aren't so much a problem as they are a reality of daily life. My host brother said to me, "When one quarter of Dakar has power, another quarter doesn't". Dakar is broken up into many quarters (such as Amitie, Boubab, etc), and its terrible to think that as I'm wasting time watching bad soap operas with my host family (which is extremely common) that somewhere else a family, even an entire section of the city, doesn't have electricity. I've often felt very frustrated, even in the short amount of time I've been in country, by the fact that I feel reluctant to start working on a computer because the electricity could be cut half way through my work. I can't remember the times where I've been in the middle of writting an e-mail or assignment and the computer has turned off due to a lack of electricity. The evidence of the lack of infrastructure is so evident in every form of work here. Our french teacher said that he would love to bring in movies for us to watch but he was hesitant because he didn't know if the electricity would be cut halfway through the movie. With all the progress going on around Dakar (everywhere you go in Dakar right now is under construction) one would think that the problems were being solved but it seems like everyone that should have the answers doesn't know either. The OCI (a large islamic conference that is being held in Dakar) has pumped millions of dollars, through foreign investors, into the city but these problems consist. Although this is a huge problem I still enjoy sitting with my host family and listening to the radio by candle light (I can only stand so many badly dubbed soap operas). Its interesting to see how people stop even trying to work during these blackouts. I walked around the city last night when our power was out and noticed that the streets were abnormaly lively. Its interesting to see the behavoirs people resort to when all their modern solutions fail. I think it is amazing that once technology fails in Dakar, everyone goes outside and talks with their neighbors, I wonder if that would happen in the U.S.

Best moment spent in a class: Spending half of our french class singing along to the Julio Aglesius song "L'amour est fou"

Wolof word of the day: Alxumdililum
Meaning: Thanks be to god.