Les Journals

I love reading the newspaper, but nothing tops reading the newspaper in Senegal. Generally speaking, Senegalese people are much better informed about world events, international and domestic politics, and geography than Americans. People seek out the news by reading the paper, listening to the radio, and watching copious amounts of television. Senegal has over seven different independent daily newspapers and one newspaper run by the government, Le Soleil.

However, my new favorite local paper, L’Obs, is a mix between trashy gossip and hard politics. The paper includes the important suduko puzzles and raunchy jokes, as well as the business, sports, and political news. Sample stories from this accredited newspaper will be summarized below.

As an aside to assuage fears, Senegal is an extremely safe country; violence is very rare and thus noteworthy. That said one of my favorite stories is when two self- described Senegalese thugs, mimicking American gangsters in music videos, (this was included in the article) demonstrated a little violence by wielding guns (real or fake, it is unclear). These two thugs tried to hold up a jewelry store to make a little cash and get some bling. The men drinking tea in the vicinity, described as “locals” came to the owner’s rescue. These men, found in every inch of Senegal are always drinking tea waiting for some action. They beat the thugs so badly that one was sent to the hospital before rejoining his friend in jail.

Another good one, which was reported yesterday, hails from Italy where many Senegalese immigrants live. According to this article, a Senegalese man impregnated his wife’s sister. After this was confirmed, he fled “into the nature.” His wife was quoted saying that she believes this infidelity is her sister’s fault and therefore does not blame her husband. This woman, despite catching her husband and sister in a “loving embrace” did not believe that he was cheating until her sister was visibly pregnant.

The last interesting article illuminates how Dakaroise treat people with mental instabilities. From observation, not from serious research, I have watched Senegalese people tolerate but not accept the many mentally unstable folks living on the streets of Dakar. They are treated as an embarrassment, a sort of pitiful carnival. As an example, the article was describing recent car accidents in Tambacounda, a city in the Southwest of Senegal, about a 14 plus hour drive from Dakar. Unlike Dakar where car accidents are an everyday affair, they are very rare in Tambacounda, especially those that are fatal. Three car accidents happened in one day, injuring two people and killing one. One of the injured was a chief from a nearby village and the other was a motorcyclist. The woman who was killed was a “folle” or crazy, that word was actually used to describe her. Although the journalist knew her name and place of birth, he only used it once. The rest of the article referred to her as the “mentally ill” person.

Mental illness is even joked about in the paper. Last week an article was printed about how the Wade family (Abdoulaye Wade is the President of Senegal) should stay at home on Tuesdays, since “crazy people” have a habit of accosting the family members on Tuesdays.