Day 24 - Au Revoir Senegal

Well, it seems my time in Senegal is finally up.  I spent the morning having one last beach day with some of the American students and their host families, and I will be boarding a plane heading back to the US in just a few hours (conveniently landing the morning of my 21^st birthday!)  As sad as it will be to leave this country, and all of the friends that I’ve made here, I think I am ready to head back.  Most of us have our entire afternoons planned out for when we get back to Columbus.  Personally, I plan to go get a delicious Subway sandwich, and then take a nice hot shower, watch some Netflix and eat Reese’s before going out with my friends for some pool and drinking.  This past month has truly been an invaluable experience.  It has been amazing to live in a culture which is so different from my own, and to gain an understanding of a completely different set of values and beliefs.  Upon reflection, I don’t the people and their lifestyle here are really as different from US culture as I had expected them to be, in many ways it is as if they are simply a few years behind us.  The most shocking differences are all well below the surface, in their political perceptions and views on gender equality which have been shaped by centuries of tradition and religious influence.  I think that many of the people here are also striving to create a nation which is very similar to my own, although that may be a long ways down the road for them.  There is a lot of culture here, but I feel that a lot of it is intended as more of a tourist trap than an expression of the people here.  The parts of the culture which do matter to the people are the more tribalistic-clothing and music, both of which exist as often in American styles as African ones (although the people here tend to dress a bit nicer than the casual American style, jeans and t-shirts are not uncommon, and I here American music all the time – I’m actually glad that after today I will most likely not have to listen to Shakira’s ‘Hips Don’t Lie’ for quite a while).  Religion is also very important to the people here.  Mosques are everywhere, as are prayer rugs for their daily prayers (I believe they are required to pray five times per day).  Although the majority of the people are Muslim, the government is considered to be more Christian-based, and tends to follow the Christian holidays.  Evidently they take religion much more seriously here, as everyone stayed home from work and school today in honor of the Christian holiday of Ascension.  Having grown up in a Christian household for 18 years, I could not have told you that Ascension was today, or even really what Ascension is all about.  It’s interesting how much of a difference a few differences in core values can make in the shaping of a culture.  That’s all for now!  I hope you’ve all enjoyed following my adventures this month.  I will see you all again when I venture to France for Autumn semester!

Day 23 - Bittersweet Farewells

My time in Senegal is coming to a close.  Today we started off with a reflection on the trip, with everyone sharing both negative and positive impressions of the country.  Most of them were fairly predictable, such as the differences in hospitality and political expression, and the poor waste management and difficulty of trying to practice French in a country where it was really only the second language.  The one point which did spark a fairly heated debate, as usual, was the oppression of women in this country.  It’s an extremely complex issue, with lots of complications rooted in religion and tradition.  The attempts to create a feminist movement are also points of debate, and whether the role of women in the US ought to be used as a basis for comparison.  That argument went on for a solid 20 minutes before our professor finally just cut us off and told us it was time to head out.  After the reflection we had a sort of farewell-party with our Senegalese partners, a last-hurrah before heading back to the States.  Although I think that it is likely that many of the students from this trip will be returning.  Ashley has an internship lined up in January, which Chatondra is also looking into, and Pat and Kenisha have both made very close friends that they will most likely be coming back to visit.  Our farewell party was back on Ngor Island.  I think that’s Thiam’s favorite spot in the city.  It was a great way to wind down, relaxing on the beach and doing a bit of swimming.  I was considering asking for permission to swim back to the mainland from the island after we were done, since it isn’t really that far, until I realized that there were jellyfish in the water closer to the mainland.  We had a nice lunch at the island restaurant and then headed back, saying goodbye to all of the Senegalese students and our bus driver before heading back to our individual partners.  Other than that there really isn’t too much to report, it was kind of a lazy day.  I discovered that I can download a Nook app onto my tablet, so I’ve taken to reading again during my free time.  That’s how I spent the majority of the evening.  Our plane leaves the Senegal airport around 1am Friday morning, so tomorrow’s post will be my last.

Touba

Day 22: God's City? Or.....

Well, Touba was….. hot.  It was cool and all to see a really big place of worship, I’m just not sure it was worth a four-hour drive to the middle of the desert.  The majority of the people at Touba seem to spend almost all of their time napping, which I think makes them much smarter than us.  We took an hour-long tour in 110*F weather.  The architecture within the mosque was amazing, but it was difficult to pay attention to anything our guide was trying to tell us, because we were swarmed by young boys.  They tried begging for the first minute, but when it became clear we weren’t going to give them anything, they didn’t go away, they decided to follow us around and either listen to the lecture we were being given, or stare at the white people.  I couldn’t decide which.  Probably the most upsetting part of being at Touba was when we walked past a man lying on the floor of the temple whose face & body were covered in boils.  To be honest, I’m not even positive he was still alive.  It kind of made us all realize that it’s really common for people to go pray at major religious spots when they’re extremely sick, and clearly no one keeps them out here.  I can handle any kind of deformities or mental illnesses, but I’m guessing whichever diseases cause boils are probably a little more contagious.  Needless to say, we went through a lot of Purell when we got back onto the bus.  I was also amused by their insistence that everyone remove their shoes before entering the mosque.  This was intended to keep their place of worship clean, but the reality of the situation was that there was still sand everywhere and people were just getting sand on their feet instead of their shoes and tracking it all over the place.  I actually think that shoes probably would have been cleaner.  The gender bias in this country continues to amaze me.  I understood that it was important for the women to cover up when entering the religious city, to the point that the only thing actually showing were our faces.  However, I hadn’t realized that no such standards existed for the men.  I think they might have still been required to wear pants, but there were plenty of men wearing simple t-shirts.  It was really unfair.  No one should be forced to wear so much clothing when it’s that hot out, and clearly the men will never understand because they aren’t being forced to do the same.  I also really just don’t understand who decided that it was a good idea to build an extremely conservative religious city in the middle of the desert in the first place.  If you’re going to have one, at least put it somewhere cooler, like along the coast.  I think they actually chose one of the hottest places in Senegal.  And this isn’t even their hottest time of the year yet.  The one really cute touch the place did have was people outside of the mosques selling finches, you could buy one and release it to ‘release all bad feelings.’  It was a cute idea.  Also, a monkey ran across the road in front of our bus this morning.  I have no idea where it came from, or if monkeys are even native to Senegal.  I’ll have to ask the professor tomorrow.

P.S. The power outages have been getting more frequent.  We’ve probably had 5 or 6 during the past two weeks – at least during the time that I’m actually home.  Really not sure what that’s about.

I'm alive

My computer's refusing to connect to the internet right now, so you guys will have to wait until tomorrow to read about Touba, sorry for the delay.

Day 21 - Islam

Well, I write today’s post as possibly my last will and testament.  We go to Touba tomorrow, which is a desert where it is supposed to be over 100 degrees.  It is also a religious city, so everyone is required to wear extremely conservative clothing, meaning long sleeves and skirts, and scarves covering our heads.  There’s at least a 75% chance that I am going to die of heat stroke before the day’s over.  If I do die, I would like my ashes scattered off the coast of Maine, I feel like that’s a nice touch.  I don’t really have any money for people to fight over, so there’s no point in worrying about that.  Whoever wants my possessions can duel for them.  With swords. 

Nothing terribly interesting to report for today.  We went to a university that specializes in business, actually just down the street from where I’m living, and had back-to-back lectures on Islam.  To be honest I missed a lot of what was said, they kind of lost my interest once the lecture turned into more of a history lesson.  It’s hard enough for me to remember US history.  The one point that has managed to stick with me has been the lack of rights that Muslim women have.  The most shocking in my opinion is the role of polygamy in their relationships.  I’ve never really had a huge problem with polygamy before, it doesn’t bother me at all in the Mormon religion.  As long as all parties are aware that they are entering into polygamous relations, and are consenting, I fully support the right of people to do whatever they please.  However, that is not how polygamous relationships work in Senegal.  Here, a married man will start to see another woman on the side without informing his wife.  In fact, she is not told until he is actually engaged to the other woman.  Sometimes, the husband won’t even be the one to tell the wife that he has taken a second fiancée, he will convince his brother to handle the situation for him.  The majority of women here do not seem to particularly like this situation, but they also do not feel as if they really have a choice.  They have learned to accept that it is part of their religion, and there is very little they can do to stop their husband if he chooses to take on other wives as long as he is financially capable of supporting multiple families.  Divorce is almost unheard of in the Muslim religion, as it is only granted under extreme circumstances.  I think it will be a long time before the women here manage to gain a strong enough voice to be treated with the respect they deserve.