Africa: the land of poverty, disease, starving children, and lions?

Sitting with my host family around the bowl earlier in my stay here, my Dad curiously asked me what stereotypes American’s have about Senegal. I stopped and thought about it, and couldn’t help feel a sense of shame that most people I know in the States couldn’t even locate Senegal on a map, let alone name its stereotypes. I know I didn’t know anything about Senegal before coming here, except that they spoke French and that it was in Africa. We have plenty of stereotypes for European countries like France and Italy, but for some reason Africa gets generalized and stereotyped as one giant place. The stereotypes it does get, are all negative and sad stories about poverty. But where are all the happy stories? Why don’t we ever hear about those?

A lot of people were surprised when I said I was going to go to an African country to study if it wasn’t a service trip. After all, isn’t that what most people are supposed to do when they go to Africa? Save the poor starving children in orphanages, or try to end poverty? So many people were confused when I said I was coming here to study, learn about the culture, and go to school. Wait, they have schools in Africa? But doesn’t everyone in Africa live in straw huts, drum and dance all day around a fire, have diseases and carry water on their head and live in villages in the jungle with lions? I admit, I was guilty about having at least one or two of those images in mind when I thought of “Africa,” as if “Africa” was one giant place / culture. I too had assumptions about the entire continent based on the minimal things I’d hear in the news or certain stereotypes I had gotten from things like Tarzan and George of the Jungle. Unfortunately, when people think of “Africa” they tend to have an image that includes probably at least one of those things.

But the truth is, Africa is huge, and full of a wide range of cultures and ethnic groups even within each country. If we take all of the negative stories we hear in the news, and make that our only knowledge of the continent, of course we’ll have stereotypes, and we will generalize the entire continent that way. This woman from Nigeria does a Ted Talk about the danger of a single story and how when we focus on only the negative stories, we rob people of their dignity and risk misunderstanding.

Part of the fact that we have these stereotypes is definitely the role of the media, and lack of education on African countries. It is crazy how influential the media is in creating and keeping these stereotypes we have. If you’re reading this, I encourage you to think about what your role is in creating or perpetuating African stereotypes as a consumer of media and as a participant in the education system… Just something to think about!

Below is the link to the Ted Talk!

The Danger of a Single Story

Sous L'Arbre Acoustique

So my closest American friend here and I are part of this awesome acoustic band called “Sous l’Arbre Acoustique” (under the acoustic tree) We have a big concert for independence day (April 4th) and we featured guest stars for that, I’ll be on keyboard and Abi on vocals and guitar. We even have our own shirts!

This group has the most simple and stress free lifestyle I have ever seen. They have this tree down the street that they drink tea at every day from around 3 to 5 and play music. Their motto is “a l’aise” or “at ease.” The lead singer’s name is Pierre, but everyone calls him Big. He is pretty much an African acoustic hippy. His life is music and sports, and being in harmony with everyone and everything. Oh and drinking tea. He is quite a character! He is always saying “no stress, always peace.” Another thing I really love about this country is their sense of togetherness and paying it forward. in the US, people keep track constantly of how much money they owe each other, but here, there is just this mentality that "on est ensemble" (we are together, or we are family) and the giving circle just cycles around; People are happy to share everything here, or buy things for people and not keep track of who owes who what. I love how here people are so much less motivated by money here, and don't greedily cling on to it like Americans tend to do. 


One of the first days we were here at the beach we played some music together on the beach while the sun was setting, it was so happy! Here's a link to the video on youtube (): 

Music on the Beach

On Sundays they rehearse in their studio, and recently Abi and I have been coming and rehearsing with them for the upcoming concert, and just recently they brought the keyboard out and I've been playing along with them. I’m starting to realize that I am capable of jamming along on the piano with other instruments if someone tells me the chords. I feel like my musical side is definitely coming out in this country.

Big also works at a gym and leads us in workouts and step routines. One time the power went out but there are candles there so we worked out in candle light at it was quite magical!

Spring Break trip to Kedagou

Over spring break we went to Kedagou in the South of Senegal, about ten hours by car. I was really excited to go somewhere that was off the tourist track, and see parts of Senegal that are really different from Dakar. We got lucky because my friend’s host Mom had a friend who was willing to drive us down to the opposite side of the country for the equivalent of $30 each. This did mean though that we fit eight people plus luggage in a small seven passenger car, but that also made it an adventure and we definitely bonded having to sit in pretty much a giant pile for 10 hours together. Also the main road seemed to be optional, or it just had so many potholes that we’d sometimes drive off the road and take a detour through something that wasn’t a road and then get back on the road. We originally thought we were going to be doing the whole drive in one day, but our driver decided he didn’t want to drive that far in one day so we ended up stopping in this random village and he talked with this random nice man who let us sleep on his floor for the equivilant of 4 dollars each. Which was better than getting a hotel there, which would have been way more expensive and probably a very similar experience, but with mosquito nets.

This is when started to really feel the fact that we were no longer in Dakar where there was a nice ocean breeze… It was HOT. The next morning our driver passed us onto another driver because he apparently didn’t feel like driving the rest of the way, so we went in a sept place (like a taxi with seven seats) and drove the rest of the way there.

inside of one of the homes in a village

 It was about 102 degrees in Kedagou every day, and this was the kind of hot where you just want to not move and drink cold water all day and take a shower every hour. definitely roughed it on this trip though, but we had such a great group that all just went with the flow and were positive about everything, even hiking 14k up steep mountains in 102 heat with no water. We stayed in little campements, or little villages and we always had some really nice old man that ran the place and would get all excited to make us breakfast and treated us like grandchildren. There we took outdoor showers which was actually wonderful, especially since one of the places was right next to a nice mountain. We hired a guide for the first three days and then another guide for another area for the next two days, did tons of hiking straight up mountains and through some pretty nature. I’m here during dry season, so everything was really dry and apparently Senegal looks completely different in rainy season because everything is green and blooming. We hiked to lots of villages where we made some adorable little friends, and even hiked to Guinea, which may or may not have been illegal.

Moms carry their babies on their back in senegal

One of my highlights on this trip was the fact that once in Kedagou, we sat on the roof of the car every time we drove anywhere, or in the back of a truck. Driving through the national park which is all natural habitat, nothing like a zoo, we probably spent over three hours on the roof, hot wind in the face and driving through beautiful landscapes, and I remember thinking many times that this just couldn’t be real life. Sometimes the car would just randomly over heat and die and if we were lucky it would die in a shady spot.

This trip made me realize how much different Dakar is from the rest of Senegal, especially the rural areas. My host sister just told me that she’d never been inside one of those huts before, and many people from Dakar don’t seem to know much about the rural areas. We visited a lot of villages that seem to be much more isolated from other villages and from western culture. We got to stop and hang out with some adorable kids too which was pretty cool. There are water holes between villages, and this was much more of the kinds of areas that most people probably think of when they think of African villages. It was so interesting to see this part of Senegal and meet people from this region, because their culture and way of life is so incredibly different. I’ll be doing a rural stay in about a week for ten days, so I’ll go into detail about rural life in that post.

After this trip, Dakar feels like a rich city and my host family’s house feels like a 5 star hotel since it has running water and a toilet! I have a whole new appreciation for cold clean drinking water after this trip. There were several times when we would be hiking out somewhere isolated where it got really hot and we ran out of water, or had to share the last little bit of what we had between all of us. Sometimes we’d all just stop talking in order to conserve our energy until we could get water again. At one point I felt like my body was kicking into survival mode, water was all I could think about and at one point I was tempted to try and find a leaf and suck the water out of it. When we got back to the campement, despite being completely exsausted and drained from the heat, me and two other friends hiked to the next village to get some cold water for the group. I was ready to do just about anything for water, and water definitely never has tasted so good then after that!

Food here was a lot of the same thing, lots of carbs and sauces. A nice old man at our campement made us Ceebu jen (national Senegalese plate that most people eat for lunch) and it was delicious, but COVERED in flies that wouldn’t go away. I think my body is used to eating things that flies have been all over though so it’s all good. The way back was pretty funny cause we kept stopping because the tires would either go out or something else was wrong with the car. In one of the villages I went to use the bathroom with my friend which was in the middle of this village area, and this giant group of about 50-60 women were grouped together and started drumming on some buckets and dragged us in and we danced in the middle of this African dance circle for about 5 minutes. 

Toubab Diallo and Goree Island

We had a weekend Excursion to Toubab Diallo, which is this little cultural center hotel thing on the beach and literally means White person diallo. (they call white people toubabs here) It felt a little uncomfortable to be staying in this nice touristy place while meanwhile there were people around me who are in rougher living conditions, but we were bringing in business for them though so I guess that is a positive thing

There I got to do some African drumming, LOTS of dancing, and made a batique. We got to watch some pretty bad ass African dance performances, I don’t understand how they’re so good. Then there was a music group from Sweden that came and played for us and it was so beautiful and adorable! Afterwards it kind of turned into a dance party. I feel like a lot of things in Senegal turn into a dance party. A couple of friends and I hung back and drank tea and played music with the dancers and musicians at night afterwards, Then my friend Abi and I went and did some more dancing in this little dance club with some of our new friends and swam in the ocean at 3 in the morning. Which may have been a bad idea because the next week I got really sick. On the way back the bus got stuck in a hole and we had to push it out, and I got food poisoning or something on the way back, so the car ride back was terrible

Another weekend excursion we did was Goree Island. Goree Island is where slave trade took place, so you would think that it would be more of a depressing place but I felt like I was on a touristy getaway island, with vendors attacking me and telling me that they will make me good price. There wasn’t any kind of guide or anything so I felt like I didn’t get much history there. We briefly stopped at the slave house but in general the island felt like it was directed towards tourists and not really a place that showed signs of it’s dark past. Apparently my professor said that they just came out with a map there and an actual guide pamphlet so I’ll probably go back there soon and try to learn more about it because it has a really interesting history. I did get some cool African pants for about 5 dollars there so I was excited about that! 

School and Stuffs

My classes aren’t that heavy of a workload, which is nice because even though there isn’t a lot of actual homework, we are learning so much here all the time by speaking the languages, interacting with our families and friends here and just daily life here. I don’t start class until 12:30 most days, and Fridays we don’t have class cause it’s reserved for field trips, traveling to rural places, internships and community service.  

The classes I’m taking are: French, Beginner Wolof, Contemporary Senegalese society and culture, Environment and Development in Senegal, Education in Senegal, and then a living and learning in Dakar Seminar class. A couple of my classes will be taking tons of weekend trips around the country, going to the sites of places we are learning about so I’m pretty excited about that! For my senior project I’m trying to observe and find patterns in the culture and in people here, so I have this giant word document of just a mind barf that helps me process everything I’m learning and experiencing here. That is also why it’s been hard to keep up with this blog because when I sit down at the end of the day to write, it’s not organized or processed enough to share, but just a jumble of my thoughts and recollections and reflections on things I’m doing and experiencing.

Wolof is taught in French, so when I’m learning wolof, I’m translating it into French, not English, so I have three languages going through my head at once sometimes. I have the basic conversational greetings down, but it's such a foreign language that I forget what I learn pretty fast. Everyone says I’ll have it pretty well by the time I leave cause it's not too difficult of a language once you get the hang of it because there aren’t really verb congugations. The thing about Senegal is that people don’t really stick to one language though when they talk. Unless they know you only speak French, they’ll start a sentence in French and then finish in wolof, or young people will throw in English words sometimes. For example, “maangi fi rekk” means I’m doing well or I'm in peace, but young people will sometimes say “Maangi cool!” or “maangi nice!”

Our student “lounge” is on a roof, which is pretty much the best thing ever. We share the building with Senegalese students so I spend a lot of time with my Senegalese friends up there. I like to sit on the edge of the building on the roof and eat lunch there – the Senegalese people freak out and think I’m going to fall off, but it's really not dangerous I swear. 

Its hard to believe I’ve been here for almost two months now. It seems like I’ve been here a lot longer in the sense that I feel like I’ve known some of the people here for years! But at the same time it feels like time is going by too fast and I can’t believe I’m only going to be here for a few more months. Definitely the best part about here so far has been the people! I’ve been getting to know the other Senegalese students, which is a great way to get to know the city, culture, and language. They’re all really nice and super welcoming. After spending so much time with them I’m starting to talk like them and use a lot of French slang and Senegalese expressions. This picture below is probably my closest group of Senegalese friends. I spend a lot of my free time with them. They also are always looking out for me and making sure that I stay away from anyone that might not be safe, are always accompanying me home etc. They tell me and my other American friend all the time that we are part of their family and it is the sweetest thing ever! There is an expression in French that they say a lot, “on est ensemble,” which essentially means we are family, we’re together (but not in a romantic sense). Also people don’t keep track of their debt with each other if it’s just a small amount, and if you say that you owe someone money they don’t like it because there should be an ongoing relationship of helping each other out. I kind of like that, cause that means that sometimes people cover me or buy me food but then I do the same thing for them so its just this circle and it feels good not to be keeping track of little money things. 

People in Senegal text a lot just checking in and asking how your day is going or if you’ve rested well today. They’re so sweet and I love them so much. I was sick last week for about 5 days after eating something questionable on a weekend excursion, and I got texts from all of them asking me where I was and wishing me a speedy recovery and checking in with me, and one of my other Senegalese friends even came over to visit me to keep me company while I was sick! I also spend a lot of time drinking tea at friends houses because tea is kind of a big deal. People are also in and out of each others houses a lot and you don’t really need an invitation all the time. I’m learning so much by just talking to people and interacting with the locals. I am surprised at how well I’m able to understand and speak French too. 

My friend and I have been going on runs with our friend Youssou, which is a great thing to do with Senegalese people because they don’t have a competitive attitude about sports. All of the men here seem to be really fit, and when you exercise with them there isn’t this mentality of pushing yourself until you die, or of being better than anyone else, it’s just about being fit and having a good time doing it. We even sing sometimes in Wolof while we run and clap along! We go to the gym sometimes and work out there, and Big will lead us in exercises and dancing and one time the power went out and we did step in the dark with candles and it was really cool!

Nightlife starts here around 11 or 12, but people usually go out at about midnight or 1am. In Senegal people stay out all night when they go out so I usually get back at 5 or 6 in the morning if I go out on the weekend. My sister dresses me up when I go out which is fun, because Senegalese women always look really nice and put together.

Time is not very precise but pretty general. Life is so much more slow paced here than in the States. Part of that has to do with the fact that there isn’t as much employment here and people tend to spend a lot of time with each other and resting. Even when I was walking with a few of my Senegalese friends they kept telling me to slow down and that I was walking too fast. The other day I had a friend over for lunch and I told my host mom I had class at 2:15, but she still insisted that we keep eating and then have tea and fruit after lunch, so I was 20 minutes to class and it wasn’t even a big deal. Saying I was late to class because I had to finish lunch and drink tea is an acceptable excuse for being late here. Only in Senegal… Learning about their values makes me able to see American values more clearly too and my own. People here rest a LOT. In the USA if you rest too much people call you lazy. But here if you don’t rest enough they tell you that you need to rest. Or if you are sick or even sniffle, they say that it’s because you haven’t been resting enough or you’re not eating enough. Individualism isn’t really a big thing here either.