lady in white on the bus

Today was the first time that something of this nature happened to me in Dakar. As usual, I was riding on a crowded bus, and did not have a seat. The young woman sitting in the two-seater next to me stood up to get off the bus. Before sitting down I checked to see if there were any old women or men who could benefit from the seat. There were not, just strapping young men, telling me to “togg-al,” sit down.

I swung my left leg into the seat and the middle-aged woman sitting next to the window put out her hand to block my leg. I thought that she was worried about protecting and maintaining the shiny white color of her boubou, so I tried to sit down again. This time I moved my leg into the seat only a little bit. She blocked my leg again this time speaking to me, not very loudly or clearly. I couldn’t hear what she was saying. I thought maybe she was saving the seat for someone but nobody approached. I was so confused and shocked I had no idea to do. The young men around me continued to tell me to sit and since I was half-way in the seat and stuck, I did. The woman recoiled from me, sliding closer to the window. She opened the window as if to demonstrate her disgust. She muttered something inaudible and reorganized the packages on her lap.

I tried not to show my disbelief at her behavior, since I have never experienced such an incident in Dakar, but I am sure my face turned red with embarrassment. My mind was racing with ways of handling this situation; do I address it or ignore it? I decided to pull out my newspaper and try to read. This seemed to shock my unfriendly neighbor. She was now in a modified fetal position, wrapped over her parcels, against the window, trying not to touch me. Thankfully, I did not have to stay with her long. My stop approached, so I got up and got off the bus in a daze.