Politics - Senegal in the news

The political climate in Senegal is a bit heated right now. I've mentioned previously how the current president, Abdoulaye Wade, although 85 and having already served his 2 terms, wants to run again in the next election. Senegal currently has a president and a prime minister, but no vice-president. If the president dies or otherwise leaves his position, the head of the National Assembly briefly becomes president until new elections can be organized. Wade has introduced a new bill into the Assembly that would amend the constitution to create a vice-president position and lower the percentage of votes needed in an election to only 25% (rather than 50%). 

Since a fairly small portion of the Senegalese population is literate enough to vote, lowering the amount of votes needed to 25% would essentially allow a candidate to be elected by 5% of the Senegalese population. This would likely allow the president to win another election, even though the majority of people here do not want him to serve again.

If the president does succeed in securing another election, he will serve into his 90's, increasing the chances that he will die during his term. The creation of a vice-president position would more-or-less allow the president to name his successor, as the vice-president would now take office when the president dies. This new bill is being seen by the people as a ploy for the president to hand off power to his oldest son, Karim Wade. Abdoulaye seems desparate to maintain power and the people feel he is attempting to turn the democratic system of Senegal into a monarchy.

Since the vast majority of the National Assmebly and the Senate are in the president's party, there is no doubt that the bill will be passed. To combat this, university classes today have been canceled and the students have taken to the streets in downtown Senegal to protest this change of their constitution. So far, the president has dropped the clause which would change the percentage of votes needed, but the police have been called in to "control" the protestors. The story seems to be getting increasing coverage on the internet, and may very well be on the news tonight.

This post is mainly so no one (parents!) freaks out if it is on the news later. Downtown Senegal is quite far away from where I am, and we are all being kept very safe. I respect the people for protesting such a valid cause, and I hope the president will ultimately honor the wishes of the people he is meant to serve. More updates soon!

Maa ngi fi rek

I love language. I am, quite sadly, terrible at it. But its transcendent nature is so appealing to me. This chair I sit on is not really a chair. It is an object, the form of which exists in some metaphysical land inside our brains. The English language has labeled it a “chair,” allowing you to understand what I mean when I use this word. Similarly, each language has created a combination of sounds to refer to this same object. The communication language allows us is a thing of such beauty. What I need, what I want, what I feel – can all be expressed if I just find the right syllables.

We recently had a lesson in Wolof, one of the native languages spoken fairly universally in Senegal. It was fun to pick up a few phrases, but I really enjoy the literal translations into English. Many times they are able to convey the desires of our heart with a simplicity that gets lost in our day-to-day interactions.

For example, the typical Wolof greeting goes something like this:

Salam maalekum = Peace be with you

Maalekum salaam = And also with you

Nanga def? = How are you

Maa ngi fi rek (pronounced Mangee fee reck)

This last line, the answer to how are you, literally translates as “I am here only.” Meaning nothing has happened to me, I am not here with hurt or pain – I am just here. 

Photo credits to Beth - who is clearly much better at using my camera than I am!

A day in pictures

1: Chocolate for breakfast

2: Walking to school

3: Learning :)

4: Taxi to the market

5-8: Milkshakes and free wi-fi at Caesar's

9: Cute kids

10: Free reggae concert 

African Renaissance Monument

One of the sights we visited on our tour of Dakar was the African Renaissance Monument. This huge monument is very controversial because of the money spent on it. The president, without the support of the people, ordered it built at the price of about $25 million dollars (billions in CFA). In a country with so much poverty, you can understand why there are questions surrounding this use of money. To compound matters, the work of building and maintaining the monument was not given to Senegalese people. Instead of creating jobs for its own citizens, the work was hired out to the North Koreans.

Lei (our tour guide):  “Africa is not a poor continent. We just have poor leaders.”

Mama Aida:  An eye roll and “It’s for the tourists.”

The monument itself is meant to represent the African man, woman, and child. The child is pointing to the West (to America) and is said to be pointing towards the “future.” Westernization has become synonymous with progress. Yet are we really the model the world should follow? True that a democratic model allows for freedom of speech and religion, two things I value highly. True that even poor Americans have a greater quality of life than many in third world countries. But as far as developed countries go, we are far from the top. Our health care system is ranked 37^th in the world, despite being #1 in health care spending per capita. Our school system is the same way. Money doesn’t seem to be our problem. Even when we don’t have the money, we continue to dump it into programs that aren’t working. Westernization can bring with it many great things, particularly for women – the end of female genital cutting, birth control, education, business opportunity, equality, choice. This monument, however, while pointing towards the “future” of Africa, still does not put women on par with men. Not only is the man much larger than the woman, her body language suggests utter devotion and commitment to him. While the man and the boy child gaze towards the West, the woman is gazing at the man, suggesting that she does not look to the future, but will simply follow his lead. So what? She will gain opportunity as he allows her to? She will be educated as he gives his permission?

Ultimately, I find this statue a bit ridiculous. Westernization is not necessarily something to be worshiped. Letting the men lead and discounting the women won’t get a country very far. And there are (as usual) far better uses for that kind of money. Hard to argue with the view though.

Highly embarrassing

Sooooooooo at our orientation to WARC (Western African Research Center), we were told that our laundry would be done for us, but we would be expected to wash our own undergarments. Following these instructions - I thought tonight would be a good night to do that. The power was out so I, of course, put my head lamp on for hands free lighting. I started filling with water what appeared to be a little basin just made for washing my clothes. At this moment, Mama Aida choose to walk by. She did not comment on my head lamp, but was clearly confused about what I was doing.

I managed to convey that I was washing my clothes. She said the laundry would get done tomorrow. At this point, I called Beth in as translator to ask if it was okay if my undergarments were in with the laundry. Mama Aida then took my pile of things and went through each one. She obviously laughed at my underwear, but said it was fine. After she left, Beth informed me I was washing my clothes in a bidet. I only sort of know what this is, but apparently it is for washing something quite other than clothes....

Pretty sure this is a classic mistake ;) but for your amusement, Beth and I decided to recreate the moment.

Goodnight America! 

Marche de HLM

Today Mama Aida took us to the clothing market. She was the greatest bargainer ever! I'm sure we got much better prices than we ever would have on our own. So many bright colors and fun outfits.

A trip to Goree - Thoughts on Slavery

Yesterday we took the ferry to Goree island, once a holding place for slaves before they were sent across the Atlantic ocean. It is now a big tourist attraction, which feels a little strange given its history. The island itself, and the Mediterranean architecture of the buildings, were beautiful.  

 Me with my very own Baobab tree! A young and small one at about 70 years old. They can live to be about 1000. 

 These sand artists create these amazing pictures using sand from different parts of Senegal. Each color comes from a different location, and the black sand is volcanic. 

 My roommate Beth and I

Eventually, we visited the only remaining slave house on the island. The other houses have been converted to private residences. I’m not sure if I could live in a building once designed for such purposes, but I suppose it is the people, not the walls themselves, that create such evil. It is said that from 1536-1848, 15 to 20 million Africans left Goree island as slaves. The house had several rooms for men, a room for women, a room for young women, and a room for children.

”Often times in this very house, one could find a whole family:  father, mother, child separated. Their departure to the Americas depended on potential purchasers, the father would be going to Louisiana, the mother to Brazil or Cuba, and the child to Haiti or the West Indies.”

Imagine your own family, ripped away from you. Spending day after day in a suffocating hot room, chained to a wall, waiting only to be placed on a ship bound for a far worse fate. Imagine that room of children. No parents, no love, no compassion. Who could treat other human beings this way? As animals, who were literally bred to create offspring that would grow to be the strongest slaves. Yet the blame does not lie entirely with any one group of people. The demand was with the Americans, the trade with the Europeans, and the supply with the Africans. One of the most prominent features of the slave house, and an image I have become familiar with due to its popular appearance in Senegalese movies, is a door in the middle of the slave house that opens up to the ocean. This was the "door of no return", the door that slaves walked through only after they had been sold and were being boarded onto a ship. Slaves sometimes preferred death to this fate, and  would jump to their suicide rather than walk forward into such permanent loss of freedom. As our tour guide said, “Once you walked through that door, you lost your African name.”

It was an emotional place to stand, but we must be able to tell our own history. It is the history of Africa, of America, of the world. “Could America be American without the black people? America, after all, owes a good deal of its economic power and its present day standard of living to the oil of these blacks, so called ‘slaves.’” I think we often forget how significant African-Americans have been, at great personal cost, to the growth of our country. I don’t mean to suggest that this was a sacrificial act, but we need to appreciate the great contributions Africans have made to our country, our society, our culture. “The most obnoxious, effect of slavery is perhaps the persistence of the myth of the superiority or inferiority linked to the colour of one’s skin.” I do not believe that the color of a person’s skin has the power to dictate a single facet of their life. In fact, I find skin color to be a rather ridiculous notion in itself. Skin color varies so much - who decides what "category" you fall in?

I can't end this without at least making sure all of my readers know how prevalent slavery still is today. Modern day slavery is a greater industry than it ever has been, with an estimated 70 million slaves in existence around the world. Sex trafficking is one particularly disgusting form of this and an issue I am extremely passionate about. If you would like to learn more about this, I suggest www.love146.org, a very informative and all-around awesome website. "I can do no harm, nor allow harm to be done to another human being." You can't change the world, but you can lessen your personal impact. At least be aware.

All quotes (except that last one) from a brochure I bought on the island called "The Slave House of Goree-Island" by Joseph Boubacar Ndiaye. All pictures taken by me, except the one of the Door of No Return, taken from Wikipedia because I couldn't get a clear picture of it.