Catch-up

Sorry for the delay in posting, I am going to use these posts to get everyone up to speed, and I figure that I will break this up into 3-4 parts: Village Stay/Saint Louis, Batik/Music class weeks, Kedougou/Village Stay, ISP time, the last week/closing credits, and life readjusting to the United States. Because of this, I shall keep things brief.

First off, the village stay. It was really lovely to stay in the village, and my family was great. The whole extended family lived on one piece of property, with a communal building for the kitchen and living room, and then separate buildings for bedrooms. I also for the first time lived with a polygamist family. My host mother was the second of two wives of my host father, which was a very interesting dynamic to see. Because she was the second wife and much younger, a lot of the work with the two little girls, the housework, and me fell to her. My host father and his first wife were old, especially by Senegalese standards, so their role was different. The wife would cook meals, but otherwise she would sit, make attaya for the family (the best caffeinated tea/sugar drink ever. I am bringing it back with me), and don’t even get me started on my host father. The only work I saw him do was kill the chicken for dinner; otherwise he was lounging about, talking with the other old men in the village under a tree. The gender roles in a traditional Senegalese family were certainly much more pronounced here than in my family in Dakar.

I was thankful that I somehow thought to bring my Wolof textbook with me, because only one person in my family spoke any French. Lots of pantomiming and me looking up words in my book ensued for the weekend, but it was great. I somehow managed to conduct interviews with my host family in the village, where I learned a little about the condition of education and healthcare in the village. The only doctors they have access to are in Saint Louis or Dakar, and it is very expensive to both get to the city and receive treatment. Roads are also a problem, as is education after primary school. Most kids drop out by high school to work at home. The thing that hit me hardest wasn't just learning all of this; it was after when my family asked me about taking their daughter back to the US with me. 

Now let me preface things before I talk about this. This is not a regular occurrence. Yes, I have had the occasional baby offered to me, but in no way is this a reflection of Senegalese families. Which I think contributes even more to how hard it is for me to reflect upon, because most families don't do this. It is hard to hear about the life and future of an amazing little girl and realize that you can't help her. There are lots of things I see like this, such as the Talibae kids begging in the streets or when I am in places with not enough food for everyone. Saying it starts to take a toll on me doesn't even begin to describe things.

After staying in the village for 4 days we went to Saint Louis for the rest of the week. Saint Louis is so beautiful; the French colonial architecture is so lovely. We were broken up into small groups to do projects, and I had the fortune to be put into the group studying the architecture in Saint Louis. This was, in my opinion, the best assignment ever. We first, we visited the hospital in Saint Louis, la Centre Hopitalier Regional de Saint Louis. Aside from the hospitals in Dakar, it is the only one in the area that people can go to. Saying it is very busy is an understatement.  True to Senegalese form, we were able to walk in and somehow get a meeting with Babkar Fall Dioup, the director of the hospital. [This is something I love about Senegal, how assessable these directors, CEOs, and government workers are for us. No where else would a director meet with a group of students on a moment’s notice and give us an impromptu history lecture]. He told us about how the hospital was built by the French in the 1700s upon a Senegalese cemetery with 155 people still buried there. It was originally a military hospital, then it opened up to the French public. In 1903 it was finally opened to the Senegalese and other Africans. It was the first hospital in francophone Africa, and possibly the first opened to Africans. It truly was a beautiful building, still in the French colonial style.

The gorgeous old hospital

In addition to that, we were able to (after walking the island many times) find the UNESCO Heritage Group, aka the Patrimoine. There we were given the lowdown on all the history in Saint Louis; the entire island is a World Heritage Site, and in 200-2003 they categorized all the sites on the island.  There are many intricate levels and details to how these sites are cared for that I won’t get into, but it now makes more sense as to the difficulties in owning these sites. The man we spoke with, Amadou was also fantastic at explaining the importance of these sites in Saint Louis for the Senegalese. The most beautiful thing he said was in reply to my question of why bother preserving these sites, especially considering how horrible the French were to the Senegalese. His response was (translated, because he gave it to us in French of course) that there is a “truth of history in colonialism, and if it all disappeared, it is as if it never happened.” Yes, this preservation to some extent glorifies the colonizers and keeps their memory alive, but intertwined with it is the affect they had on the course of history and future in Senegal, and that is much more important to keep alive for future generations.

After talking with us, he took us to see a project that they are currently restoring, and it is gorgeous. The house was so beautiful, and I am just going to let these photos of it speak for themselves.

Entering the grand house

Such a lovely yet haunting interior

Talking with Amadou

Love this staircase

After visiting the current restoration, we went with Amadou to visit the studio of an artist, Meissa Fall, who creates sculptures from bicycles and trash that he places on the street so that they can be seen. It was a lot of fun to see his pieces around Saint Louis in interesting places.

 When we had left Meissa’s studio, Amadou took us next door, to the home of Marie- Caroline Camara. It is a small hotel, “Au Fil de Fleuve” and was one of the most beautiful homes I have seen in my life, let alone in Senegal. The restoration she had done in a modern way while respecting the structure of the house was incredible, and throughout her home she had art from local artists throughout West Africa. It was definitely one of those homes that I want to emulate one day in my own home, so beautiful. She was a lovely person as well, talking to us about the restoration, the work she does with artists, and the “Open Door” event in Saint Louis where they open up all the heritage sites to the public and show them the work being done in the homes and in the community.

Here are some more fun pictures from the island of Saint Louis:

One of the many colonial buildings that were unable to be
cared for due to lack of UNESCO funds.
Still so beautiful

Boats on the river

One of the many beautifully restored houses

Sunset on the beach

The courtyard in our hotel

We lucked out with such a lovely place
- thank you Isaac for fighting to get it for us

Max and Yna at the delicious Moroccan place we walked forever to get to

Joel looking so concerned about eating in a tent

As far as short trips go, I certainly loved Saint Louis and hope to visit again many times in the future. It is my number two favorite place in Senegal, after Dakar of course!

Oh, and I can’t forget, on the way back we stopped at this outpost outside of Thies, where these women made the most beautiful baskets to support their families. Can you guess which one I got to bring back?

Here was a woman in the beginning process of making one

Chow-chow!