Always Absurd

Below are some aspects of life in Dakar that I find absurd despite my familiarity with the city. As someone who loves all things absurd, this list was carefully constructed and may be added to in the future.

• Men’s pinstripe suits with short sleeve jackets.

• Women’s drawn-on purple eyebrows.

• Obvious and hideous wigs.

• Beggars, generally old men dressed in kaftans, screaming Quranic surahs into megaphones.

• The phasing out of the use of traffic lights. Evidently traffic cops are more efficient.

• Open sewers that meander into the ocean. Also, the ocean being used as a garbage dumping ground.

• Vendors selling the exact same item standing next to each other. The same goes for store selling similar wares like kitchen goods, plastic mats, thread, or gaudy household items. My particular favorite are the phone credit sellers who sell the same phone cards for the same price (they can’t change the price) and stand in clusters trying to hawk their goods.

• Food prices comparable to LA when the average person makes around $5 a day.

• The 50 or so HIV/AIDS non-governmental organizations based in Dakar, while the HIV/AIDS rates are relatively low; while, rates of malnutrition, malaria, unemployment, illiteracy, and general misery are higher than ever.

hit and run

Last night I was sitting at outdoor café people watching. This café is unfortunately located next to a canal where sewage travels until dumped into the ocean (nasty, nasty). It does not have the most appetizing smell. Anyway, I was watching two women wearing clothing in the Mauritanian style, which involves draping and tucking until the person is fully covered from head to toe, cross the street. A taxi that was stopped in the middle of the road (for no good reason) began to roll backwards. The taxi hit one of the women who fell onto the road.

I jumped up and ran like a deranged person toward the woman. She was able to stand and did not seem to be hurt. She appreciated my concern since I was the only person of the dozen or so people in the area who came to see if she was ok. I began to yell at the taxi driver for being careless. Another man crossed the street to tell me that it was not this taxi driver’s fault. Instead he laid the blame at another taximan (what taxi driver’s are called) who apparently snatched up the perpetrator’s client. What this had to do with the incident was unclear. After a few seconds of shouting, the taximan pulled away and the two women wrapped in Mauritania cloth walked away.

As an American spectator I was shocked. Although this is not my first run-in with hit and runs, it still amazes me that no numbers were exchanged, calls to the police made, or anything of a formal nature. People shout, blame, and then leave. If that incident happened in New Jersey, the woman would have been able to sue the taximan and get a pretty penny. Instead, she was embarrassed and shuffled home.

Economic Crisis in Dakar

This NPR article and radio report is about the economic crisis in Africa, particularly in Dakar. Although I completely disagree with the author's stance that many Senegalese people don't understand the complexities of Wall Street and financial turmoil, it is well done.

Since my arrival, I have noticed a change in the market and the increase in prices. People are getting poorer and fed up. I am convinced that the economic crisis will be worse in Dakar and in parts of Africa, than in some wealthier countries. I see it beginning already.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96503476

Senegalese Words

There are many French words that I learned in Senegal because I am constantly speaking in and listening to French. There are other French words that I learned in Senegal, simply because I live in Senegal. Below, I have tried to compile a list of those words and some appropriate examples of how I have used or have heard these words used in English.

Goudron/ goudronner= tar or paved.
To get to Chez Alpha books you have take the road that isn’t paved well.

Jeûner= to fast
Are you fasting for Ramadan, why not?

“Coupure de courant”= Power outage
People, fed up with the frequent power outages, threw rocks at the director of the electricity company.

Prier= to pray
Mama is praying upstairs and will be done soon.

Baggage= junk; things; luggage; baggage
How am I going to take all this baggage home with me from the boutique?
There is too much baggage on the roof.

Pirogue= a dugout canoe; boat
To get to Spain clandestinely, migrants take motorized pirogues to the Canary Islands.

Foulard= headscarf
Awa wears a headscarf to preserve her modesty.

Mouton= sheep; mutton
If I eat sheep I get sick in a very unpleasant way.

Chapelet= rosary; worry beads
One mustn’t talk to someone who is doing their chapelet because it interferes.

Groupe électrogène= power generator
We cut power in Mamelles frequently because the people who live there are rich and can afford generators,” someone from the electricity company, Senelec.

Ablution= ablution
Before praying, Muslims must conduct their ablutions as a form of cleansing.

Seau=bucket
If a toilet is clogged, dump a bucket of water down the hole to help it flush.

Embouteillage= traffic
There is so much traffic in Dakar because of the buses, taxis, scooters, and car rapids that it can take several hours to go a few kilometers.

Paludisme= malaria
If there was a better trash collection system, malaria would be less of a plague in Dakar.

Moustiquaire= mosquito net
Sleeping under a mosquito net helps to prevent malaria and it looks like a canopy.

Pagne= (lit. loin cloth) but it most commonly describes a type of skirt that ties that most Senegalese women wear.
Pagnes are very practical skirts that guard modesty and can also be used as blankets and towels.

Cast of Characters

The pictures above are most of the people with whom I spend my days in Dakar:

1. Awa Ndoye the incredible assistant at Chez Alpha Books
2. Otman
3. Otman, Rijak (the other intern at Chez Alpha), and Rich at an election day celebration
4. My former host mother who beat me at the game at the bottom of the photo.
5. Moi