Reaching Out..

We are trying to get more involved with the campus community here. An American professor shares our apartment with us and she said her students think we're stuck up because we don't talk to anyone. The truth is that we are shy, and though this culture is based around being extremely hospitable and welcoming.. they are not overt about it when on campus. Not that we're surprised, we're surrounded by busy college students! So thus far we have been adapting to the new culture and trying to sense when it's appropriate to greet someone and when it's not.

But we're getting better! We went to the beach a couple days ago, because that's where all the locals (and I say locals, but it's mostly men, and the only women there were fruit vendors) go to exercise. So we, the new toubabs (pronouced too-bob) in town, set up shop on the beach while trying not to get dragged into the soccer games and lutte matches. There was a rock formation about 200 meters off the shore and a few of us had the bright idea to swim out to it. We were nearly there when a Senegalese guy managed to stop us, telling us that it was covered in sea urchins. Right. No, thank you! So then there we were, treading water about 200 meters out to sea, striking up on conversation with a local. Turns out his name is Moustafa, he's from the Casamance (the area of Senegal just south of the Gambia), he served two years in the Senegalese marines, hates the French, loves Americans, and was totally prepared to tread water with us the next 1.5 hours and talk about Senegalese culture. SO COOL RIGHT? Anyway. We ended up drifting a bit father than we anticipated and had to swim really far back but it was worth it. Other Senegalese guys would periodically swim up to our group and drop into the conversation. It was from them I finally got my Senegalese name! They named me Fatou, which is the same name as one of the Senegalese students who is with our program. When I told her how I got my name she was so excited, but mostly really pleased that I chose to share her name. People call us the Fatou Twins, she's Fatou Un (1), and I'm Fatou Doux (2). It's awesome.

Our friend Awa, who is with the program, introduced us to some of her friends. They are in the English club with her here on campus. It was so much fun talking with them. Especially because their English is just a little bit worse than our French, so we had a nice conversation using English, French, and Wolof. We think we've invented a new language: Frenglof. It was really fun. Today I'm going to go to the American professor's class on civil disobedience. She was the one who said her students want to talk to us, but think we are stuck up because we won't initiate conversation. So I'm going to drop in and hang out with them, hopefully I will clear the air.

We've been able to make random acquaintances here though, and me especially. I like being able to walk around campus and be able to greet about 4 different people. None of the others are as willing to strike of a conversation when they are walking alone, so I've been able to get more names. The only problem with that is I am obligated to stop and say hi. So my walks across campus take a long time now because I know more people. But it's fun, our conversations are a struggle because they talk so fast and use a lot of slang, so we always have to go between the three languages to make ourselves understood. Again, Frenglof. It's a thing.

The Happenings: a Political Update

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Sometimes I think that so much happens in one day that I cannot fit everything in my memory. Then I realize that I’ll be here for a year so I can calm the hell down. So forgive me if this post seems rushed.

The political demonstrations are interesting to watch and hear about. They started the day before my arrival and have been continuing for the past couple days. The people are at the end of their rope. They desire change, and are passionate about their rights and nurturing a democracy. They put up with things Americans would be having a second revolution over. In Senegal, electricity and politics are linked. A few years ago, power was steady and it wasn’t a problem. But the impetus of the last bout of riots was the power outage, which lasted over 12 hours yesterday. Before you think it’s not really something to get too worried over, reflect on how much electricity is used every minute or a variety of essential tasks. Many people have businesses dependent on power, and when it’s out for an entire day, a day’s loss of income is not taking lightly. In Senegal, people are resourceful and find creative ways to make money in an economy with an unemployment rate of 50%. Makes you really question how much a days wage means to you. But you lose money again, and again, and again, your patience vanishes. The power goes out at least once a day anyway, but usually for a couple hours.

The official explanation is an old power plant at the northern dam of the Senegalese River, but it’s pretty common knowledge that the government does it as a means of ‘saving power.’ They will strategically shut down entire neighborhoods at a time. With the power out for so long, people were demonstrating in the streets, building bonfires in the middle of the street with tires and broken furniture. The fires were a message: basically saying that they can provide a very different kind of light if they government pushes too far.

Our group (10 students) were having dinner last night when demonstrations took place on the street outside our restaurant. The TV was tuned to a loud soccer game, so we didn’t really hear anything besides a vague chanting. However, when we went outside the street had transformed. This was about 11:30, we’d been eating for a couple hours and by the time we came out there were two bonfires in the street and lots of people still milling around them. While the main demonstration was over, the sidewalks teemed with people. Some people were still shouting, the street had been blockaded to stop traffic, and we heard sirens in the distance. We stood on the corner to check out the scene for a few minutes and we heard on a nearby radio that riot polite were outside l’Université Cheikh Anta Diop, fac de FASTEF. To orient you, dear reader, the FASTEF campus of l'Université Cheikh Anta Diop was exactly where we were headed, as it's where we're living. Learning there's riot police at your front door isn't good news. So we took the back door and didn’t have any problems. On the way home, though, we were approached by a Senegalese woman who had lived in the US for many years. She said this is the first time in history anything like this has happened. She was pretty shocked and walked us part of the way home. On the street, complete strangers would approach us and reassure us saying, "don’t be scared, it is just for the electricity, don’t be scared." They even pointed us down some safe side streets so we wouldn’t have to see the actual demonstrations. Our program staff had expressly forbade us to take part, linger at, or attempt to watch any of the riots that rocked our portion of the city. Needless to say, it was a thrilling walk home. 

When we got home, all of us went to the balcony (we're on the 3rd floor and have a decent view) to see if anything was visible. Nothing happened. Haha. But we turned on a radio (hand-crank powered no less) and tried to find a station that would tell us something about the current events. We didn't get much information but we had a good time talking about politics and trying to predict what might happen. That's also when we discovered that a bird comes out at night and has a call that sounds like a possessed clown cackle. It was a sound of nightmares. 

So, the parting message here is: Rachel is staying for a year in the most exciting period for politics! It will interesting to see what will happen in the months surrounding the election.