Why Nobody Goes Hungry in Senegal / Random updates

In Senegal, you share everything. On the bright side of this, you'll never go hungry because even if people hardly have enough food for themselves, they will invite you to eat with them. The other side of this, is that if you're wearing a nice bracelet someone random could come up to you and ask you for it. The mentality though is that you are always sharing and giving and other people do the same, so it's a win win situation. People give to people who need it, and part of this comes from one of the five pillars of islam which is based on charity and helping those who are in need of it.

I was having a conversation with my host Dad, and he was telling me about the Taliban - who as part of their cirriculm in the daaras (kids that live with the marabout in exchange for learning the Quran) have to go on the street to beg for food  - don't even go hungry because there is always someone who will give them food. In the rural areas, if your neighbor is hungry and doesn't have enough to eat, the entire village will come together and make sure they are fed. If you don't have this mentality, you're not really Senegalese, and you're even looked down upon. My host Dad gave me a lecture for about 15 minutes about how there are too many people who are greedy with their money in the world, who put it in the bank, and then buy a bunch of crap that they don't need, or keep it in the bank and don't share it.

 One of the things I love about here is that you don't have to be invited over to someone's house, you can just come. In fact, I've noticed that if I don't invite myself over enough or drop by my friends houses, they start to wonder if something is wrong or why I am being distant. The other day it was Aba's birthday (our drummer) and Abi and I cooked these taco pocket things at Big's house for him, and I remember after we had finished preparing it, we were laughing at how normal cooking with a few dishes and a gas stove had become. It's amazing how much you don't actually really need to cook. We used a knife and a spoon as cutting utensils, a platter as a cutting board that we later used as the plate, and a little gas stove. Most Americans would pity a person with such little cooking supplies and think that they must want more, but to them they have everything they need and they're completely content with that.

 In America we don't really have their mentality that the more you share and give, the more people give to you. If you let someone borrow money you expect it to be returned to you. But here the mentality is that if you lend someone money, someone else will pay it forward, or help you when you are in need to. I feel like this wouldn't work as well in the states though because we have such a consumer culture and people are too driven by money and their own achievements. Also when someone lends you money, they don't expect you to return it in that exact amount, but there is an expectation that you're going to keep up the relationship and return the favor later. It's about the relationship not about keeping track of the exact amount you're giving each other. I've noticed that when people here have money, they are so willing to give it away and spend it on other people.

The pace of life is also much slower here. People take forever to do everything, and nobody is ever in a hurry. This makes everything a lot more relaxed and stress free, but at the same time it makes it hard to plan or schedule things which I’m so used to doing back home. Being efficient with time also isn’t really a thing here. If someone tells me they want to meet at 10pm, I have to ask whether they mean 10pm Senegalese time or American time, because 10pm American time means 9:50pm or 9:55pm, but 10pm Senegalese time could mean 11:30 or midnight. In the mornings, I get to leave when my family has finished making me breakfast,  which is whenever my Mom decides that she wants to do that. Or if I say I’m going to be coming home for lunch and lunch is served late that day, then I’m late for school.

It is also kind of difficult to study at the same level of effectiveness as in the states because here there aren’t very many environments that allow for a studious atmosphere. At college back home, the atmosphere is meant for academics – with a library, easy accessible wifi everywhere, etc. But here I have found one library that was really just a room of books that was part of a little exhibit. I got really excited about it and tried to check out some books but I wasn’t even allowed to do that.

In the States, if you sit around too much then you’re lazy and don't manage your time well. In Senegal, if you're doing too much, they tell you that you’re not resting enough. I feel like my American side of me is telling me I shouldn’t be lazy and that I should be doing something with my time all the time, and then my Senegalese self is telling me to enjoy myself and sit around, repose myself and drink tea with friends, or play music under an acoustic tree. Every time I sniffle or yawn, my family tells me that its because I am tired and I should go rest. Also, almost every Senegalese person is afraid of the cold becauase they don't understand it, and thinks they're going to get sick if they're in it too long so everyone pretty much hibernates when there is too much wind. 

Family life is very different here. My family shows their hospitality by giving me things, not really doing anything with me. Which is pretty different than I’m used to. It’s pretty silent in house but at the same time people will come and go a lot. It's very normal for it to be silent in the house, especially at mealtimes. For a while I thought that I must just be super un interesting bceause they didn't make much conversation with me, but then I realized that being together in silence is very normal here. When you eat, it's also like your giving thanks to the food when you eat in silence and appreciate it. In America I think we have the tendency to want to fill the silences, and to tell each other every little detail about everything in our day, but here they are much more reserved. thats why I am really grateful to have my friend Abi here, because we talk constantly about everything and I don't know what I would do here if I didn't have someone to talk about everything with constantly.

 The other day, my family told me not to go out at certain times of night. When they told me this, I thought to myself that they must be worried about me getting mugged, or about theft. No, they're actually worried that an evil spirit will enter me at certain times of night and take over my body. My sister told me not be on the street at 1 or 4:30 in the morning because of bad spirits. Most people here believe in this kind of stuff, and it’s a widely held belief among traditional Africans. Oh and when you see a dust cloud, that’s actually a genie. And if someone doesn’t say hi to you every time they pass, they might be a witch so watch out. People wear these things called gris gris to protect them against evil spirits.

In other news, I'm getting really good at bartering, especially with the taxi men. Ever since I started bartering more in Wolof, people realize that I live here and will know when they're trying to overcharge me.