Back in Dakar!

Dekendo Jamma Ca Gen

From 7-9 May, 2009, I attended a peace symposium in Saint Louis, Senegal with the theme "Bon Voisinage et Résolution des Conflits en Afrique de l'Ouest." The English translation of the word "voisinage" is "neighborliness" but, but that doesn't have much ring to it. Sara proposed the translation "Peace Among Neighbors: Conflict Resolution in West Africa."

Students came from three universities, Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, Université de Ziguinchor in Casamance, and Université Gaston Berger in Saint-Louis. Including three Americans and one Canadian, we represented 13 countries.

The US Ambassador to Senegal kicked off the conference with a speech on the importance of student participation in the promotion of peace. We listened to first-hand accounts from people who had witnessed conflicts in Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Casamance, and Mauritania. We participated in small group discussion about conflict resolution and neighborliness. Most importantly, we had the opportunity to meet wonderful, amazing peoples from all over West Africa.

It's weird to have a 21st birthday in Senegal; there is no drinking age here so it's no big deal. Awa got me a cake a WARC. Yummy. We had our last history class (which didn't really happen, but the professor said "hi" and took our final papers). Then we had dinner at my favorite Thai restaurant where I ordered a "cocktail asiatique."

Weekend in Toubacouta

WARC organized a trip to Toubacouta, a region several hours south of Dakar, near the Gambia border. We stopped along the way at Professor Sene's (the director of the study abroad programs) home village. There, we had lunch and fell asleep on the floor, due to the sweltering heat.
After the repose we watched the Seerer women of the village dance for a while. They had us join in, too. Here is a picture of Baird and Sara dancing:


Then we moved on to our hotel in Toubacouta. Waly (one of the program coordinators) took us to a court where we played an intense game of basketball.
And took a walk to the beach. Here I am with Cristina and Lindsay.
That night there was a cultural spectacle with dancing, drumming, and theatre.
The next day we went for a pirogue ride in a forest of mangroves.
Waly decided to jump in the water, and most of the rest of us followed.
The water was nice and warm; some of the most fun I've had.
There was a big group of people waiting for the boats on the deck.

That night there was a lutte (wrestling match) in the village. It lasted for hours, and was mostly dancing and drumming with matches interspersed within the chaos.
The following day, Waly took us to his home village of Keur Moussa. We were each assigned host families for the night.
The women tried to teach me how to pound millet; it's harder than it looks!
The little girls were far more skilled in this art than I.
Here are some of my host sisters. The one in the orange was too cute. She showed me how to carry buckets of water on my head, from the well to the house. The well is centrally located in relation to houses built around it.
The woman also showed us how to make couscous. Couscous here is different from the Moroccan couscous we're used to in the States, as is has a millet base. It has the consistency of fine sand, and isn't my favorite. You can prepare it with a tomato sauce, or with sugar and milk forr a sweet snack.
Here is a photo a girl that Katie took. I just thought it was a really beautiful picture.
For lunch, the women had us prepare yassa poulet. It's a chicken dish with an onion sauce. They killed the chickens for us. I had to pluck out the feathers, wash off the blood, and cut off the legs. I wouldn't have thought I could do it, but I didn't want to be rude and it was actually interesting to see how chicken is prepared. It was difficult at times to communicate with the family because they spoke no French. I tried my best to get by with my Wolof, and it was cool to see how much we could talk about, even with my limited skills. You'd be fluent in Wolof in 2 weeks if you stayed there! I wish I could have stayed longer; the family was very hospitable and welcoming.

Easter Chez Gomis

Alice, Baird, Alex, Sara and  I went to Tiffany and Lindsay's house for Easter, as we live with Muslim families. We met their host brothers. 

This is ngaalax, a peanut sauce with millet. All of the Catholic families make it for their Muslim friends around Easter time. It's actually really good, minus the millet! 

And had a party of sorts on the roof.