asalamalekum! i'm back in dakar after another trip to kaolack and another village called keur madiabel (don't quote me on the spelling). the size of this family never ceases to amaze me, no matter where i go i'm always with some new cousin or uncle or something. the senegalese family, as i was told, is meant to be huge, and when you consider that many of the men have multiple wives, you can see how it's not so hard to have more than 15 kids under the same roof. it's a custom i'm not quite accustomed to yet, but it's life here. here's a street view of kaolack- it's very very sandy and hot, and it's not necessarily the cleanest place in the world, but babacar (host brother) is a part of an organization that has done a lot of work to clean it up.
this past sunday were elections, and being that i'm never totally sure what's going on here, i can't tell you exactly what they were for, BUT i can tell you that it was a pretty big deal- i heard rallies and speeches long into the night. apparently, the person they wanted won (and ironically enough, he's related to the family that i have been with-- and aims to be the future president of senegal, so if that happens i'll be able to say i was in the president of senegal's house...) one night before the elections, mama ami had a meeting outside her house and a whole lot of people were there including these women below, who set up in the middle of the circle and at any break in the meeting would begin singing and drumming and women from the circle would jump up and start dancing. again, i had no idea what was going on or what the meeting was about- but let me tell you, senegalese women can dance.
thankfully i had a senegalese ally (my big little sister sophie) who protected me from having to dance, i'm all for having fun but i was not about to make myself a spectacle at a meeting, it was already obvious enough everyone wanted to see the toubab (foreigner) dance. i explained to sophie, imagine if you were with my family in the US and then everyone started clapping and said "oo let's see the african dance!" after that analogy she understood and i was spared. the picture below is from that night when i recorded some of the speeches for the family.
when i made it to keur madiabel, i was with mame diarra, one of the cousins i met while she was in dakar and i stayed with her family. (after visiting the mansion of the future president of course) they were very nice and welcoming. it was in this village (where ame's wife adibi was born) that i met jess, a peace corps volunteer working on economic development. she was really nice and it was awesome to get to meet her. she also had all of her notes when she took wolof when she started her service, so i actually spent most of my time in the village working on wolof and getting some helpful input from her. i also met jan, a woman who had come to keur madiabel with a church group but had stayed longer, and she cooked jess and i american food for dinner 2 of the nights i was there! it was a nice unexpected treat. the picture below is of mame diarra and some kids that lived in the compound too.
after the village i returned to kaolack and hung out with the family a bit and practiced more wolof. i'm getting to the point now where i can understand people but have trouble forming a response, but people love when i try. the picture below is of me drinking attaya (tea) and writing in my journal.
and an update on the adorable kids- this little guy who's name sounds something like 'jim' and is four years old has officially declared his love for me. he always comes up to me and repeats the word 'apres' in french (i was informed its the only word he knows in french) and then proceeds to laugh hysterically and run away.
and what would a blog entry about kaolack be without a picture of nayfatou. everytime i play with her i'm more tempted to bring her home. how can anyone resist that face? no matter what time of day, she starts smiling whenever she sees me and if i put my hand over my face, she cracks up and puts her hand over her face too. precious.
so that sums up the last week. after all this though, i'm really excited to actually get to work and make my plans with dague for working with disabilities. i like hanging around towns and villages, but i'm ready for the next step.
this past sunday were elections, and being that i'm never totally sure what's going on here, i can't tell you exactly what they were for, BUT i can tell you that it was a pretty big deal- i heard rallies and speeches long into the night. apparently, the person they wanted won (and ironically enough, he's related to the family that i have been with-- and aims to be the future president of senegal, so if that happens i'll be able to say i was in the president of senegal's house...) one night before the elections, mama ami had a meeting outside her house and a whole lot of people were there including these women below, who set up in the middle of the circle and at any break in the meeting would begin singing and drumming and women from the circle would jump up and start dancing. again, i had no idea what was going on or what the meeting was about- but let me tell you, senegalese women can dance.
thankfully i had a senegalese ally (my big little sister sophie) who protected me from having to dance, i'm all for having fun but i was not about to make myself a spectacle at a meeting, it was already obvious enough everyone wanted to see the toubab (foreigner) dance. i explained to sophie, imagine if you were with my family in the US and then everyone started clapping and said "oo let's see the african dance!" after that analogy she understood and i was spared. the picture below is from that night when i recorded some of the speeches for the family.
when i made it to keur madiabel, i was with mame diarra, one of the cousins i met while she was in dakar and i stayed with her family. (after visiting the mansion of the future president of course) they were very nice and welcoming. it was in this village (where ame's wife adibi was born) that i met jess, a peace corps volunteer working on economic development. she was really nice and it was awesome to get to meet her. she also had all of her notes when she took wolof when she started her service, so i actually spent most of my time in the village working on wolof and getting some helpful input from her. i also met jan, a woman who had come to keur madiabel with a church group but had stayed longer, and she cooked jess and i american food for dinner 2 of the nights i was there! it was a nice unexpected treat. the picture below is of mame diarra and some kids that lived in the compound too.
after the village i returned to kaolack and hung out with the family a bit and practiced more wolof. i'm getting to the point now where i can understand people but have trouble forming a response, but people love when i try. the picture below is of me drinking attaya (tea) and writing in my journal.
and an update on the adorable kids- this little guy who's name sounds something like 'jim' and is four years old has officially declared his love for me. he always comes up to me and repeats the word 'apres' in french (i was informed its the only word he knows in french) and then proceeds to laugh hysterically and run away.
and what would a blog entry about kaolack be without a picture of nayfatou. everytime i play with her i'm more tempted to bring her home. how can anyone resist that face? no matter what time of day, she starts smiling whenever she sees me and if i put my hand over my face, she cracks up and puts her hand over her face too. precious.
so that sums up the last week. after all this though, i'm really excited to actually get to work and make my plans with dague for working with disabilities. i like hanging around towns and villages, but i'm ready for the next step.
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