kaolack and gamou

it's been a while since i've updated but i just got back to dakar last night from spending the last couple days in kaolack, senegal where i went to participate in the muslim holiday called gamou. i went with aissatou (one of ame's cousins) and stayed with her family and i had a great time- senegal has the reputation of being the country of teranga (hospitality) and i definitely saw it first hand. the family was incredibly welcoming to me and although i was a little nervous and overwhelmed at first, it wasn't long before i felt really comfortable there and started getting to know the family. i even got a senegalese name, Ami Dieye (after aissatou's mom and aunt)-- that seemed to really make everyone happy in the family, that and when i wore senegalese clothes. since it was the holiday, i had to dress up. i borrowed clothes from another cousin who was the same size as me and also had to cover my head whenever i left the house. the first picture below is from the first day i was there, when i took a walk with some of the family around the market and stumbled upon a procession of people heading towards the mosque in almost a military looking lineup. they were chanting and doing coordinated movements...i'll admit i had no idea what was going on most of the time, but in following babacar (not olivia's boyfriend but a member of aissatou's family) and another cousin through the streets, we ended up walking on the street mixed in with the procession (formed in two perfectly straight lines) despite the fact that the spectators were on the sides of the street- it was intense- but the picture below is with the son of someone important (i didn't know he was important at the time) but again, it was hard to follow everything about the holiday and the people involved.


gamou is the celebration of the prophet mohammed's birthday, so it's a pretty big deal. apparently people come from all over the world to kaolack to celebrate it. the mosque was all lit up and there were a lot of people in town. most of my time was spent in the house with the family, but people stopped in all day to visit. there were also a lot of gambians there (aissatou has family in gambia too-- it's the country that is surrounded by senegal) and apparently they speak english as a second language in gambia and french in senegal and wolof to each other, so i had a fun time trying to remember who was senegalese and who was gambian so that i would speak the right language to them. i saw a lot of confused faces as people waited for me to realize i was speaking to wrong language. on a really exciting note, i learned a lot of wolof in my few days there. one of the family members, sellé, named himself my wolof professor and tutored me for a few hours every day. a lot of the little kids (who don't speak french very well yet) would come by and would practice with me, and soon everyone in the house was talking to me in wolof. it was a bit frustrating at first, but now i can actually say some stuff and can pick out words in people's conversations. it's been a much different way to learn a language than i've ever had... i'm learning to use it rather than be tested on it, but i kinda like this way better. wolof is going to be very important for me to get involved with the people here, so i'm really excited to keep it going. on antoher note, i spent a lot of time playing with the adorable kids in the family- the one in the picture below, nafatou, was my favorite. she would smile at me every time i ever came near her and it was only a few seconds before i could get her laughing really hard. ahh she was so cute.

most of the kids loved me, except for one. she still cries whenever i get too close...
while i was there, i was reminded a lot that they considered me a part of their family now. that i was at "chez moi" (my house) and it was really nice to be embraced by the family.

it was really fun also to have some girls my age to connect with even though we have totally different backgrounds. aissatou, fatou and sophie and i all got along really well-- my new senegalese sisters. aissatou is really short, but she's older than me- so i became her big little sister, whereas sophie (in the picture below) is a lot taller than me but younger, so i became her little big sister. but all in all, it was really interesting to talk about our cultures, our interests, and learn from and relate to each other.

even though i learned to speak some wolof and was wearing senegalese clothes everyday, aissatou wanted to take it one step further and braid my hair, so her and sophie attacked my hair on my last night and one hour later i had a head full of braids. i'm not going to lie though, it's much more convenient than trying to wash your hair with a bucket shower (you don't realize the convenience of shower heads and running water til you don't have it)

and here are my new senegalese mama's-- from left to right, mama fatou, mama dieye and mama ami (the two on either side of me are the one's i'm named after)

i'm so happy that i got a chance to get out of dakar and actually feel like i was getting to learn and understand and participate in senegalese culture. it made me really excited for the year ahead once i get some structure in working with disabilities. this coming monday is another holiday in kaolack, gamou wat to celebrate mohammed's baptism (in the muslim religion, the baptism is exactly 7 days after the birth) and i'm mostly likely headed back this weekend to see everyone again. i'm excited!