The Triumphant Return: Learning to Live Again

Finally, I have written about 

the much-anticipated move back to Senegal.

Yoff Beach

The sensation I felt as I waited to board the plane in Algiers (where my layover was) as scores of Senegalese began to crowd the gate was indescribable. As I reviewed some Wolof (most commonly spoken language in Senegal) phrases from my notebook, my plane mate, Mariama, shared some of her snacks with me and we talked about life in Senegal.

When we touched down in Dakar and disembarked - I wanted to kiss the ground. There it was: the chaotic, humid, and loud Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport. Dakar, a city I have chosen to call home, (at least for the time being), holds very similar characteristics of many other bustling African cities yet with time, as always, I will find it's uniquness.

A mural in the gardin near jet d'eau roundpoint.
"Nioko Bokk" in wolof means "We share it".
This is said in response to "Jerejeff" or "Thank you".

I've been back in Senegal for nearly two months, a bit longer than the amount of time I was here back in August/September before. My "hiatus" (aka medical treatment) was four months; not a day went by that I didn't complain about not being in Senegal. At times, I feel like I missed so much in those months. At other times, it's like nothing has changed at all. In some ways, it seems as though I never really left.

I spent the first several weeks simply getting my life organized in Dakar - my living situation, visiting friends and family, my research, my work with Tostan, etc, etc. Everything has fallen into place perfectly, and I couldn't be happier to be back.

Marché Samadi aka Saturday Market - super close to my house and the best place
to buy "western style" clothing.

The host family I had when I lived here last year was exceited to have me back. I usually visit them every other weekend and stay for most of the afternoon.

Samay rakk yu jigéén - my little sisters

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A preschool at "la mosquée mermoz" - where my little sis goes to school.

The biggest challenge has been what I call "learning how to live again". Due to the severity of the TB infection, I am still very limited in my movements and day to day activities. My normal carefree attitude has been reigned in and replaced with a very cautious approach. "How are the roads? Is it possible to rent a car? The hotel, do they have real beds of foam pads? Will we be walking a lot?" and then the awkward moments where I have to explain to acquaintances and friends, or maybe remind them, that "No I do in fact love to dance, but I can't...Sorry, I can't carry that much weight. I have to wait for the next car, sitting in the back will strain my spine too much with the bumps. I can't just 'jump off the kar rapid' while it's still moving, sorry."

It has taken some time to get used to asking for help and not being able to do simple things, like carry heavy things, on my own. But as the Wolof proverb goes:  

"Ndank ndank mooy jàpp golo ci ñaay"

Literal translation: Slowly slowly to catch a monkey in the forest. 

Take away: Things take time

 

I decided to do a Wolof proverb with every new post. 

Stay tuned for some deep and very metaphorical sayings in the near future!!

I use this one a lot, especially when talking about learning Wolof and my back issues. Senegalese, especially elders, love to hear you using their proverbs! If you want to impress an elder, throw this into the conversation, no doubt they will love you after that.

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Here in Senegal, I am living and working as a Boren Fellow until August. I am hoping to find a job that keeps me here longer but we will see, inshallah. While here, I have several objectives:

French (and Wolof)
A main component of the fellowship is language learning. Presently, I am Advanced Low, B2 (DELF), or 2 (ACTFL) in French. I have Wolof in parenthesizes because although I would love to learn the language, my focus is French. I am picking up on basic phrases, greetings, and questions in Wolof, but I don't expect to advance too far in the language. Currently, in addition to the day to day interactions with just about everyone, I have French lessons twice a week and plan to double that next month.

Senegalese/Dakaroire Culture
We travel to learn. We travel to grow. We travel to become better human beings.
To do this, you must not only remain open to other ideas, traditions, beliefes, and cultures, but you must also be curious. There are people who live for so long on "foreign soil", yet they refuse to stray too far from their own comfort and culture. They remain in a bubble of some sort, trying nothing new and, therefore, loosing many benefits to being abroad. While I'm here, my goal is to explore as much as physically and mentally possible! I've said it before and I will say it again: food and music are the best ways, in my humble opinion, to learn about a new culture. And Senegal has no shortage of either one. Dakar itself is so much bigger than Buea (where I lived in Cameroon), so I am having trouble learning the city well. I have revised my bucket-list (due to my current medical condition) and plan take a mini adventure every week around the capital to learn more. Could be exploring a new beach or market, or maybe just a walk in an unfamiliar neighborhood.

Diybougou village in Thiès

Thesis Research
As part of my fellowship, I have funding to do research. Although my topic and participants have changed from what I originally thought I was going to be doing - I am ecstatic to be doing this research. Tostan, a local NGO that now works in 5 other countries, is world renown for is nonformal human rights, democracy, and literacy program in villages throughout the region. Their programs often make the news (here, here, here and here for example) but most of the time - the focus is the ending of FGC (Female Genital Cutting), the abandonment of child marriage, or the success of their education program. But what isn't talked about often, are people from these communities who continue to disseminate knowledge to other villages in an organized fashion. These people are called Social Mobilization Agents (SMA) and frankly, have not been researched enough. "Over the past 15 years, the drive to end the practice has gained such momentum that a majority of Senegalese villages where genital cutting was commonplace have committed to stop it, Tostan and United Nations officials say. (NY Times)" Much of this success can be attributed to Tostan's SMA, as they often go from village to village educating others in sensitization campaigns. The brave and heroic SMA have inspired me to learn more about how and why they do their work. I will be interviewing them, doing field observations, and a final focus group to learn more. My shortened research proposal can be found here if you want to read more about it.

Tostan/Monitoring and Evaluation
Although I am 'just a researcher' for Tostan, I am trying to use this opportunity to not only put my skills to use but gain a few more. I am not exactly sure what this role will look like for now, but I hope to learn how to use SPSS (qualitative analysis software) while becoming more familiar with Tostan's ME systems.

I didn't choose Tostan by happenchance. I didn't flip a coin and decide to research with them. Nor did I search "NGO's in Senegal" to find a place I wanted to work for my practicum. Tostan is an organization that I have admired for several years for many reasons. Their human rights based approach, long-term nonformal education curriculum, and focus on dignity and respect make them truely a one of a kind organization. After reading However Long the Night (a book about Molly Melching the founder's journey to create the organization), I was 110% sold on wanting to work with/for them. Don't have time to read the whole book? No problem. I found to two book reviews that will both give you a general idea of the history behind this phenominal organization. They also have a youtube channel with fun and interesting vides that show the success their programs have had around the region.

Demba Diawara reciving an award of appreciation at Tostan's 25 year anniversary celebration in Thiès.

One could say that Demba Diawara, an imam and town chief from a small African village who now has his own wikipedia page, is the reason I am here doing this reasearch. When he started his mobilizing efforts there was not a name for what he was doing. Now, Tostan calls it "organized diffusion" and it is taking place all over the region. The SMAs that I am reasearching are key players in this organized diffusion.

A meeting room in the Tostan International office dedicated to Demba Diawara.

The above placard reads: "Demba Diwara is the imam of Keur Simbara. He was one of the first people who started to discuss the negative health concequenses of FGC with community members in rural Senegal. He contrubuted annonomously to Tostan's work promoting organized diffusion, for example, as a means for facilitating the widespread abanonment of harmful social practices."

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Rond point Liberté 6 - Terminus P9
In one of my first posts about Dakar, I talked about all the different kinds of transportation. Last time I lived here, I used to take the kar rappids. This time around, I have become the queen of the tatas. A friend has recently showed me this website, which I've bookmarked and use almost every day. Within seven minutes walking from my house in Liberté 6, I find four bus stops and a giant "clando park". This is amazing! Alhamdulillah! Although public transport does take a painfully long time, it is a fraction of the price of taking your own private taxi. For the time being I don't have many photos of my house or neighborood, but those will come in a later post.

Dibi style chicken from a vendor outside my house on the street.
Dibi style = grilled with spices.

Dakar is a peninsula, as you can see by the map I made below. I am the type of person that uses maps a lot especially when I am trying to figure out/understand where I am and orreint myself.

Purple: WARC - where I took classes in August and September (Fann Residence)

Red: Where I used to live with my host family (Mermoz)

Yellow: Where I live now (Liberté 6)

Blue: Tostan - where I work (Ouest Foire)

Orange: Where I stayed when I visited for a month in 2011 (Yoff)

Some Dakar basics:

The south is "downtown" or "plateau" - tons of markets, restaurants, the Presidential Palace, museums, etc. Bad traffic!

The north-west is the rich area known as "almadies" - expensive night clubs, great restaurants and hotels, etc.

The giant road going north-south along the west coast is known as "the Cornish" - It is beautiful but we were warned not to walk there at night.

In the top/middle is the airport - unstratigically placed in the middle of the city? Not sure what they were thinking. 

As you get to the "neck" of Dakar you start to hit other neigborhoods like Gold, Hann, Pikin, and Parcelles. This is the only way out of Dakar.

There are 15+ beaches around the capital and I'm hoping to get to them all :)