In Senegal lots of things are different, but one thing remains the same, I still press snooze on my alarm clock until the last possible second. After getting up, Kelsey and I put on our nice skirts for the American Embassy visit. We ate bananas and Nutella for breakfast while walking to the Baobab Center. We arrived at 9:00 am, right on time, but no one else seemed to be there. In Senegal, time is a very elastic thing.
Our first lecturer talked about women in society and her life. We learned about the woman’s role in Senegalese society from an educated Senegalese woman and refered often to the book, So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba. The second presentation was about Saint Louis, the former capital city of Senegal. We learned about everything from the slave trade, the railroad, the cultivation of ground nuts (peanuts) to the origin of the word Barbarian. This presentation was designed to prepare us for the second leg of our trip in Saint Louis.
After both guest speakers left, we got in to taxis to go to lunch. The taxis were hot and muggy, but Mackenzie, Gabi and I all crammed in the back while Babacar, one of our guides, rode in the front. After driving through the Dakar traffic, we arrived at a Lebanese restaurant where we ordered delicious chicken paninis. While we waited to leave for the Embassy, I drew sketches of the speakers we had listened to during the morning and one of the waiters in the restaurant who I named Chawarma guy in honor of Becca’s life long search for a good Chawarma. Outside, we had the opportunity to witness 1:30 prayers where hundreds of people stop in the street and kneel to pray. Many of us noticed that there were no women in the streets. Literally, everything stopped for those 10 minutes that the faithful knelt to pray. We learned from Ousman that it's called Jumu'ah, a men's prayer activity, and it happens every Friday.
After waiting for Jumu'ah to end, we walked to the Embassy and began the long process of security clearance. Upon entering the Embassy, we were led to the cafeteria by the Press Secretary and introduced to Charge Robert Yamate, the Deputy Ambassador in charge while Ambassador Lukens is out of the country. We talked about the Foreign Service, the State Department, and the Embassy’s work in Senegal as we snacked on delicious cookies, tea and coffee. Mr. Yamate reminded us to get out and interact with the people of Senegal in order to best learn about the coutntry and her people, so that’s just what we did.
After begging Ousman, Mrs. Brown, Mr. Moreau and Babacar to take us to a market, we walked through the busy streets of Dakar to a market where dozens of vendors grabbed our hands, shoved bracelets, rings, dresses and statues into our faces, and pulled us to their shops to show us their merchandise. I’ve got to be honest, it overwhelmed many of us. However, the leaders explained to us that the vendors meant us no harm. Since tourism is down, each vendor in Senegal has to work harder than ever to make even a few sales. After some of us bought several things and tried our hand at bargaining, we headed home to our host families for night.
-Jackie
