Wednesday, July 20, 2011

I contain multitudes.

I have been back in the states for almost two weeks now. And once you have gone, it is so easy to see.

Why America is the land of opportunity.

Here, I can choose. I choose all sorts of things. Chocolate or vanilla. College or career. Satellite or cable. Marriage or motherhood or not. And we take those silly and not-so-silly choices for granted every day, never realizing what a fortune already lies in their simple existence.

I have so much. We have so much. Yet it is never enough. And I fall into the trap time after time, of needing what I want.

Travel, as always, inspires me to touch this world. To run. jump. play. To live less within my own head. There, life is tuned into nature, rising like the tide through courtyard and window and rooftop. A fluency between human and earth exists which has been lost in our climate control and desk jobs. I have the urge to walk endlessly, searching for that same sense of connection. Stillness in the constant turning. Difficult now to focus on how heart.lungs.brain.kidney can be altered with medication when I have so much life to embrace.

To revisit my original expectations, I will say this:

I have fallen in love with music all over again. The beating heart of the drum, the sweeping elegance of the kora. The purity of an art practiced for its own sake. Nothing else simultaneously grounds and lifts you, melts you into the world while allowing you to really see it. An unspoken language that can connect you to another, to yourself, deeper than words ever could.

Freedom for women comes with economic opportunity. How fortunate I am to be able to use my mind in pursuing a career which allows me to support myself. To share this life with a person of my choice, if I so decide, rather than out of financial necessity or family obligation.

The tea is actually sweet and delicious. On a good day, I can haggle with the best of them and fetch myself a taxi in French - without pushing the starting price upward ;) I can relate to Beth what I am 95% sure Mama Aida was trying to tell me, only to be utterly wrong every time.

Personal favorite
My translation: "Oh she likes how I braided my hair today! Thanks Mama, I did it myself!"
Actual translation: "What are you putting in your hair because it bleached the sheets I put on your bed?!"

I don't expect to ever return to Senegal. I would gladly go back, but there is so much more ground to tread upon. I say goodbye with an eternal sense of gratitude for this experience. For its lessons in hospitality and tolerance, its little and big pushes outside of my comfort zone. A reminder of the glow I feel when surrounded by salt water and infinite horizons. Recognition of truly wanting to be none other than myself. An urge to write that I have not felt in years. To empty the worlds within me onto paper. So many gifts I have been given. I push forward, resolving to work hard. To live more simply. A little less comfortably. Lessen my carbon footprint, but always leave a mark. To love; fiercely and graciously. Share generously. To appreciate all I have, all I am.


I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable.
 I am large. I contain multitudes.
-Walt Whitman

Saturday, July 9, 2011

We've got the beat

I arrived back in New York yesterday. Happy to be home, but sad to leave. Thank you to everyone who has been following along on my trip with me! The positive responses and love I received from many of you has meant so much. I have a few more wrap-up posts to do now so I hope you'll follow with me a bit longer :) Especially now that I can upload videos!

Drumming was a very integral part of my entire Senegal experience. Music is so intertwined with life here, and the drum (called a tam-tam) is significant in many of it's rituals. The beat is seemingly transcendent in its ability to connect individuals, to draw you in deeper than any words ever could. At Sobo Bade, we were fortunate enough to experience the most incredible drumming performance.


We saw drumming used to worship, to welcome, to motivate, to express, to socialize, and above all, to celebrate life. 

I've added videos featuring more drumming to my posts on "Village Life" and Wrestling.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Discussions with Mama Aida

Bush should have minded his own business. Doesn’t think much of Arabs. They aren’t nice and everyone knows it. Not sure if Bin Laden is really dead. Likes Obama. About the Senegalese president:  it’s not his fault he is making bad decisions, that’s what happens when you get old.

In response to me not having a boyfriend at the ripe, old age of 21:  Do I ever plan to get married?


And my insanely tall "petit frere" (little brother).

Very sad to say goodbye today. Will be back in the US at noon tomorrow!

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Thank you for smoking

It’s always a bit of an adjustment to be in a state/country that allows you to smoke indoors. In Senegal, you can smoke literally anywhere, and it is very popular to do so. We passed a Philip Morris factory on our trip this past weekend, and it sparked a bit of a conversation on our bus. Although smoking is very common here, there is none of the advertising we have in America about the negative effects of smoking. Smoking is promoted, just as it was in America 20 years ago, when the information about its detrimental effects existed, but wasn’t so publicized.

The cigarette industry in America is difficult now. Younger generations are brought up with the knowledge that smoking is not good for you. We strongly encourage adult smokers to quit and offer all kinds of cessation help. The industry (and the consumer) is heavily taxed. So what have the companies done? Expand to the third world of course!

There is no tax on cigarettes here, no government requiring a proclamation of addiction and cancer risk, and a population that is generally seen as dispensable by the rest of the world. It’s always about money. It’s the same with medicine – pharmaceutical companies don’t make the effort to research diseases specific to third world nations because the people who need the medicine wouldn’t be able to pay for it anyways.

If it makes someone else rich, or if saving them would make someone else poorer, and since there are really soooo many of them on this African continent and they don’t have much to offer the world anyways – their lives aren't worth the money. But, hey, it's just business right?

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Plastic is invading us

I mentioned one of my first impressions of Africa was the amount of trash everywhere. I have since learned that in the early days of our trip the garbage collectors were on strike, which somewhat explained the huge piles of trash everywhere. However, even when these workers are doing their job, garbage and pollution still abound.

A very important issue in Africa is the lack of space that exists here. Space is a luxury that only the wealthy can truly afford. One of the professors on the trip with us lived in Senegal 30 years ago. She said at the time she was here, the population of Dakar was 150,000. Now the population is close to 3 million, about 25% of the country’s population. With that many people living in such close confines, unless you can afford to create space for yourself, you have none. The whole city becomes your home.  You maybe have a roof or a small shanty to sleep in, but people seem to roam freely. You eat where you can, you use the bathroom where you can, you make money where you can, and you throw your trash where you can. In poverty, there is no defined space for such things, which is somewhat of a foreign concept to an American. We have a kitchen to eat in, a bathroom to relieve ourselves in, a bedroom to sleep in, trash cans in nearly every room, a dump to bring our garbage too, and endless amounts of space in which to perform our daily activities.

The director of WARC made what I felt was a rather important comment that “Plastic is invading us.” He mentioned specifically the impact that plastic bags have had on rural villages. Plastic bags that litter the ground are accidently eaten by cows as they graze and, ultimately, cause the animal’s death. Is there anything more unnatural than plastic? Yet it is everywhere, even in Africa, the birthplace of humanity, where nature has always been revered as central to life. How has this invasion of the unnatural affected Africa? Has it hindered, destroying the pureness of the land and the livelihood of rural families, more than it has offered? Even in America, such synthetic materials make our lives convenient, tidy, easy, but what have they cost us? We are, for example, told to avoid plastic water bottles containing certain chemicals now known to be toxic to our bodies. Are we poisoning ourselves, losing our connection to the natural beauty that surrounds us, in the name of convenience?

It’s difficult to take pictures that truly capture the amount of garbage, but it is somewhat overwhelming. Plastic has truly invaded the landscape. 


1: Me
2: http://www.righttosightandhealth.org
3: yveslebelge.skynetblogs.be

Since Thursday...


1-4: Holy city of Touba
Senegal has it's own "brand" of Islam, more or less created by Sheikh Amadou Bamba, the most famous Senegalese Islamic leader. He founded the city of Touba in 1887, and many Senegalese people make a pilgrimage to the mosque here at least once a year. The mosque was architecturally very beautiful, but to enter the women had to have their bodies and heads fully covered. We all had to take our shoes off. Women and men are not allowed to touch as soon as they enter the mosque grounds and pray in separate areas.

5: African drumming class
"This is not a prayer, you can not do whatever you want." 
Words spoken to me by the instructor in response to my lack of tempo. 

6: Acoustic music night African style - kora, guitar, and 2 other unknown instruments. 
I received the African name of Awa Ndiaye from the kora player. Later that night, we watched the most incredibleeeeee drum performance. I can not even begin to explain how powerful and awesome it was. Can't wait to upload videos of it!

7-9: Sunset from Sobo Bade

10-11: "Safari" at Bandia Game Reserve

Lots of traveling, lots of beach, lots of good food, lots of music, very little sleep.

Back in Dakar for the last few days of our trip. Hope everyone had a great 4th of July!

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Village Life

One of the professors on the trip with us is originally from Senegal, and Thursday night we had the opportunity to visit his village in rural Africa. After a very long, 8 hour bus trip from Dakar (with several stops along the way), we arrived in Tene Toubab just as the sun was setting. We were met with horse drawn carts to give us a ride from the road into the village.


We were greeted by the entire village - men, women, and children welcomed us with drumming and dancing. The dancing here was very much like drumming, feet pounding on the ground in time to the beat. Children that could barely walk were up dancing - it is so incredible to witness the infusion of rhythm into the soul of these people. I would not have missed this night for anything.



The village still leads an extremely rural existence. There is no electricity, and there is only recently the addition of running water. Once the sun set, pitch darkness set in very quickly. The people here truly live off the land. Their houses, fences, everything is made out of natural materials. The sense of community is overwhelming. The people eat together in a common area, raise their children together, really live together. It is human nature to complicate things, and I don't want to make the assumption that people in rural areas have less problems, less heartache than we do in our "modern" world. But human interaction still exists in a way that gets lost in our technology - our texting and emailing and facebooking that allow us to stay in touch without ever actually touching.

The children (and the adults) were so excited to have pictures taken and be able to view them after. I made lots of friends, but one little 9-year old girl named Kumba eventually grabbed my hand and didn't let go. She had a stutter and seemed more stoic than the rest of the children. I could tell she was so pleased to have my attention when it was so clearly wanted, but I didn't see her really smile until I gave her a piggyback ride all around the village. I wonder what that stutter means for her - and what it will mean as she gets older. She was crying when I left, and I gave her my watch because it's all I really had to give her.


How incredible it is to think that both this life and mine co-exist in the same world. And I wonder how the presence of a modern world impacts that of the rural. To know there is a place called America, where a group of "rich" people came on a big bus and gave us lots of presents and played with us and then drove away back to that place from which they came. Are stories of their own, like our professor, who moved abroad told with reverence? Do children begin to look down on this rural life or at the very least hope to leave it behind them? Will rural life eventually collapse - and the beauty of community and nature sacrificed in the name of comfort and possessions and technology?

I could have stayed here a long time, possibly forever. And maybe I'll be back - not here exactly, but somewhere like it. To learn the stories of these people and share their lives.

Now we are spending a few days in an artist's community called Sobo Bade, aka paradise. I'm attending an African drumming class in an hour!

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Birth of a Name

Once upon a time, an explorer happened upon an unknown coast. The first two people he met were fishermen, hard at work in their small vessel. When the explorer inquired as to what this place was called, the fishermen misunderstood what he was asking. “Sunu-gaal,” they answered.

“Our boat.” 

Photo by Beth

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

To Create

We didn't go back to the women's organization today (so we will never know the conclusion of yesterday's drama), but spent some time instead at a hospital in Dakar. It was so great to see the programs being implemented for patients suffering from mental illnesses.

First we visited the therapy garden, run by a member of the Peace Corp from Tennessee named David. Here patients and their families can spend time tending the garden, and any vegetables grown are used in the hospital kitchen.


David employs urban agriculture techniques of planting in tires and plastic bottles. In this way, he is able to both recycle and teach patients techniques that allow them to grow plants in their own homes with objects easily found littered on the streets.

Next was the art therapy studio. The workshop is open to the patients and supplies them with any type of artistic materials needed (paint, clay, canvas, etc.). Some of the patients were great artists, and some not so much, but it is the creative process that can be so therapeutic. The artwork is sold at the hospital, with part of the funds going to the patient, and part to fund the studio. 


I was very pleasantly surprised to find mental illness so recognized here and so much being offered for these patients. The patients were all so nice and very excited to show off their work to us!

After lunch, we went to the Leopold Senghor Cultural Center to visit a hip-hop organization called Africulturban. The organization is home to a recording studio and radio station, and works to support the upcoming generation of hip-hop in Senegal. They organize different events to showcase the talent - we missed a huge concert that just happened a few days ago, and there will obviously be a B-boy competition with teams from all around the world right after we leave the country. Senegal is apparently at the top of the rap game right now, and we did convince one of the artists to rap for us (in French). The rappers in the studio told me their favorite American artists are Jay-Z, Tupac, Talib Kweli (my favorite!), and Kanye West.

 

 I bought a CD that I'd be happy to share when I get home :)

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Women's Rights

I’ve been spending my week so far interning at the Association de Femmes Juristes – an organization that offers free legal advice to anyone (but mostly women) who is unable to afford it. One of the organization’s main objectives is to educate women, particularly in rural areas, about what their rights are and how to access those rights.

Islam plays a huge role in what is socially acceptable in this country. Since it is permissible for an Islamic man to take up to 4 wives, we have spent quite a bit of time discussing the marriage contract here. Traditionally, once a woman is married, she moves in with her husband and in-laws, where she generally becomes responsible for the cooking and housework. He will eventually be pressured to take on co-wives, who tend to hate each other because they are competing for the attention of the same man. It can be a very oppressive situation for women.

A generally new belief in human history is the idea that one has a right to be happy. The “pursuit of happiness” is, after all, perhaps the only line from our constitution the American public knows. The belief that women have a right to happiness is an even newer concept. But as it takes hold in a society, something changes. Women demand their rights, marry for love, plan their families, and can stand on their own. Above all else, women start expecting to be happy.

The modern Senegalese woman wants a monogamous relationship with a husband she loves in an apartment of their own. She wants to choose her life. Divorce is still looked down upon in the Islamic community, but the younger generation of women is starting to become free to end a negative relationship. I don’t mean to commend divorce, and I think as women we tend to depend far too much on our partners to bring us ultimate happiness and fulfillment (thus setting high expectations that can never be reached), but I do not believe a woman should be trapped in a marriage where she is being abused or her husband is going to take another wife against her wishes or she just feels utterly miserable and abandoned. When a man and woman sign a marriage certificate in Senegal, the man must state whether he will be monogamous, engage in limited polygamy (2 or 3 wives), or polygamy (4 wives). In this way, the woman now has an official document to prove her husband promised to be monogamous (and grounds for divorce) if he later tries to take another wife.

The problem is that many couples never get this marriage certificate. They have a religious marriage ceremony, but never complete the paperwork that causes it to be official in the eyes of the state. If the marriage later turns ugly, the woman can leave her husband, but since they are not officially married, she is not entitled to anything. One thing I have noticed in my time at this organization is that women in Senegal do have rights, but since pre-marital sex is not recognized in such an Islamic nation, she must be married to exert those rights. The main consequence of this is that only a married woman can file a paternity suit for child support. If a man gets you pregnant and you aren’t married to him – oh well! He doesn’t owe you anything.

This little diagram is to help you understand the following paragraphs, which are admittedly fairly confusing.

We witnessed a very interesting (and bizarre) case consultation where an Islamic father and daughter came into the office. The daughter had been married 4 months ago, but in a strange turn of events, the husband moved in with her family. Eventually, the father told him he would need to start renting a room of his own for the 2 of them. At this point, the husband said he no longer wanted to be married and disappeared. The problem is that the daughter is already pregnant. The husband is claiming the child isn’t his, so to force him to recognize the child, the daughter needs to file a paternity suit. They are in the process of filling out the paperwork to obtain a marriage certificate since they never originally did this (as long as you have 2 witnesses who will testify that the couple was indeed married, you can get the marriage certification at any time). Once they can prove the marriage, the divorce and paternity suit can proceed.

The problem is that to complete the paperwork, they need to know the parental information of the husband, which they don’t. This is where it gets weird. How do you marry your daughter off to someone whose parents you don’t know the names of? I personally felt that the woman was mentally handicapped to some extent. Her father did all of the talking, even when she was directly spoken to. She was 28, which is rather old to not be married here. Why else would you be so desperate to marry off your daughter that you give her to someone who can’t support her, who has to move in with you, and who you clearly know nothing about? And to top it off, the husband apparently already had a wife that the family didn’t know about. It was a very confusing situation, but it does illustrate my point of women needing to be married to be recognized by the Islamic community and access their rights.

Side note:  This entire post was influenced by my reading of the book “Committed” by Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love). Highly recommended!

We have one more day planned there tomorrow...hopefully we'll find out the conclusion of the above drama.

Weekend: Wrestling Match

Wrestling is the national sport in Senegal. It has its roots in traditional Senegalese culture - although it has evolved with the urbanization of the country. Traditional wrestling has been fused with urban boxing to create a more modern sport, but one that is still highly ritualistic.

The early part of the event basically serves to make the men feel more manly. Each wrestler had his own entourage with him and they would dance to the drum beats and pour holy water on him - all rituals to increase the strength of the wrestler and offer him protection. Traditionally, the wives or girlfriends of the wrestlers would also sing songs about them as inspiration (one of the many roots of rap music). There was singing, dancing, crowds going crazy. There were 5 wrestling matches, each about a minute long, but the event lasted an hour and a half.

Drum circle and dancing

We were apparently in the "foreign" section in the middle of the stadium. The fans of each team were split to our left and right. The right side (pictured here celebrating) won every single match. The sport evokes a lot of angry words and gestures :)


The wrestlers still wear the traditional outfits made of a strong cloth woven in Senegal. The objective is to get your opponent either on his back or on all fours. The instant one of these occurs, you lose. 
I don't know what to compare this sporting even to because there was soooo much going on all the time. Even during the matches, the drums were going, women were dancing - half the time I was too distracted to even watch the actual wrestling. I enjoyed the experience though. 

I have videos of a couple matches, as well as lots of videos of the music we have been experiencing, but it is impossible to upload them on the internet connections available here. They will all have to wait until I return. I've been here 2 weeks today!

Oh, and all photo credits go to Beth because her camera (and she) is awesome and I have been slacking in the picture taking department.

Weekend: Keur Mousa

This weekend…

…watched a call to prayer from outside the Grand Mosque on the Islamic holy day (Friday)

…attended a mass at the Keur Mousa Monastery

…official start of the rainy season

… visited Lac Rose, the “pink lake”

…crazy ride through the desert sand dunes

…live music at Balajo

…danced all night at Nirvana

…morning jog and beach meditation

…experienced a Senegalese wrestling match

The juxtaposition of Islam and Christianity here is so interesting. Although the vast majority (90-95%) of the country is Islamic, both religions co-exist very peacefully. It was interesting to see both practices within the span of a weekend. Visiting the monks at the monastery was particularly thought provoking. What dedication – it takes over 10 years to be able to take one’s final vows and become a monk. Each day is spent in prayer (7 times a day), mass, fellowship, studies, and work. The monastery is almost entirely self-sufficient, at least in terms of food. It is also home to some of the world’s finest koras. A kora is a very popular African string instrument made of cow skin stretched over a large gourd called a calabash. It looks a little bit like a guitar except it has two sets of strings instead of one. The monastery has a famous workshop where koras are produced and sent all over the world. The instrument has evolved greatly since ancient times, and the monk mentioned that the monastery recently worked with an engineering school in Senegal to determine the exact tension needed on each string to create a metal lever that switches between major and minor key.


The kora and drums are used for music during mass at the monastery, which added a different flair to the service. It’s so interesting to see what instruments have evolved in different parts of Africa and around the world, in a way that is mostly dependent on the environment (particularly access to wood). 

The imagery of a black Jesus is also extremely prevalent here. The chapel that mass was held in had an entire wall depicting the birth of Christ and various events in his life, with all characters illustrated as black. And why wouldn’t it be this way? Christ is a figure of freedom, and I imagine it’s hard to reconcile a white man in this role. Christianity was originally forced on the African people, yet here they have adapted it to their own understanding. A figurehead who understands their suffering, who offers something to believe in. Hope.


I liked that the monks were also involved in scholarly (seminary) pursuits. The monk we talked to at the kora workshop said he has taken all the courses personally offered by the monastery and is now taking online courses to continue studying. Online courses at the monastery! Technology shows up in the strangest of places.

More about my weekend soon!

Friday, June 24, 2011

Microgardening & Microlending

Part of our trip involves doing a short internship in a field of interest to us. We have groups doing healthcare, art, music & dance, education, and women’s issues. The obvious choice for me would be healthcare, which I love, but already devote the majority of my life too. So instead I am focusing on women’s issues, another big interest of mine. 

Next week (Mon-Wed), my group will intern at the Association des femmes Juristes, an organization that provides free legal help to women pursuing issues of divorce, domestic abuse, etc. I think it will be a great learning experience as I have many questions about the rights of women in this country. This afternoon we spent a few hours at an urban agricultural site that utilizes a concept called “microgardening.” The organization takes empty spaces in the city and turns them into a support system for low-income women living on the outskirts of Dakar. It was amazing to see such green in the midst of city life.

The plants are grown on these table structures, and crops with quick turnaround time (about a month) are chosen to maximize productivity. We saw heads of lettuce, bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley, and mint being cultivated.


When a woman is chosen to participate in the program, she is given 4 tables to plant as she pleases, along with the seeds, tools, fertilizers, and training she will need to be successful. The entire project is fully funded by local and overseas organizations so women do not have to pay any start-up costs. The vegetables a woman grows can either be brought home to her family or sold as extra income. It seems there is potential to make quite a bit of money too (at least by standards here):

1 head of lettuce = 500 CFA ($1) x 25 per table = $25 per month

1 bell pepper = 125 CFA ($0.25) x 3 per plant x 25 per table = $18.75 per 3 weeks

1 table of mint = $40 per week

Mint is very popular here because of its use in tea. With growth time of about a week, it has the potential to bring in several thousand dollars of income a year.

The money is exciting, but the project is much more than just a business. It creates a community of strong women who are able to support and help each other.  They learn about financial responsibility and investment.  Although their seeds and tables are always provided for, they are asked to chip in with the monthly water bill. It gives these women an opportunity, a chance to obtain a specialized skill and something they can strive for success in. Women who do exceptionally well are asked to train the new members as they are accepted. The garden we visited currently “houses” the gardens of 8 people, but more such gardens exist around the city. I think as long as funding is available, this project will only continue to expand and benefit women. Our guide was actually the only man who participates in the project. He works as a guard at a bank across the street. In exchange for watching the garden, he was given 4 tables of his own.

This project seems to be an extension of the concept of microlending (microfinance). Microlending was a revolutionary idea by Dr. Mohammad Yunnus, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for it in 2006. It involves extending small amounts of money ($100-$1000) to groups of women, just enough capital to allow them to start a small business. The women keep meticulous records of how much money each member in the group has received and hold each other accountable to eventually pay it back. Having a business allows these women to support their families, and the loans are paid back with interest 97% of the time. It has been a hugely successful program. One of my favorite websites is www.kiva.org, where you can learn more about microfinance and even extend loans to groups of women in the country of your choice!
Although the women participating in microgardening never have to pay back their start-up cost, the idea of providing women with the resources to start their own small business is the same. It is all about the opportunity. 

We did see a bit of protesting yesterday on our way back from the garden. Things burning in the street, dumpsters tipped over, police standing guard. Although the president’s proposed constitutional amendment was withdrawn, the worry is that now the people will be calling for his full resignation from office. Once the tide of unhappiness and desire for change has been unleashed, it can be hard to stop. Things seem back to normal today though.

P.S – Last night I ate a cheeseburger with a fried egg on it.Whoever invented this is my hero.