Well, it's again been an embarrassingly long time since I wrote in this blog. If anyone out there besides my parents still reads it, your about to get a whilwind summary of the big events during the last month or so. It's a bit challenging to string together the grand narrative, so this will probably be a bit scattered.
About a month ago, we took a trip to a place called Ecole de la Rue (translation: School of the Street). Prior to our visit, we had been presented with a lecture on the Senegalese public and private school systems, which are largely based on the French system. Unlike the American system, which tends to encourage analytical and independent thinking, at least to a certain degree, the French system is mostly focused on rote learning and examinations. In any case, we had all, I think, assumed that we would be visiting a typical Senegalese public school. Instead, we got to see a truly excellent community project. In one of the poorest neighborhoods of Dakar, a man started and now runs a little school for the children there, giving them the opportunity to develop the skills needed to advance themselves.
we got to see inside one of the classrooms, where the kids recited for us:
a lot of them wanted to shake our hands:
this is what the neighborhood looked like:
Two weeks ago, we started making petit voyages out into Senegal on weekends. Our first trip was to Saint Louis (pronounced "Sahn Louie", of course) in the north of the country. This city used to be one of four major colonial cities created by the French in Senegal. This is quite apparent in the architecture, and also in its continued status as a hotspot for French tourists.
It felt odd for us to be there after spending a month in Dakar trying to do exactly the opposite of tourism and trying to integrate ourselves into some version of daily Senegalese life. We were even dragged out on a carriage ride tour of the city. This was altogether a disaster. I would never go on a carriage ride in any city, let alone as a group of white people in a former colonial outpost where resentment still runs high. Still, I did manage to take some good photos:
We left Saint Louis early Saturday morning and set out on a long bus ride to a nature preserve where we went on a long boat ride. The intended purpose of this boat ride was for us to go bird watching (or, "bird washing" as our professor endearingly mis-pronounced it), and go bird watching is indeed what we did. I took around 40 photos of birds, but here are some of the more exciting things we saw:
A crocodile basking:
an island full of thousands of mating pelicans:
Some kind of water snake with legs? The language barrier impeded a good understanding of what this is, but it was pretty neat:
This past weekend, our voyage was more fruitful. We went to a village called Sokone located in the Sine Delta. The drive to get there dragged on and on, but when we did arrive, it was most certainly worth it. We unloaded the bus into a lovely little compound of huts run by a sweet and wise man whose name I have completely forgotten. He is terribly interested in the environmental issues his village is facing, and he has started to attract ecotourists. This was the perfect trip for a bunch of liberal arts college students from the Pacific Northwest.
Our first activity was a tour of the mangrove forests in the Delta. Our guide explained that for years, the villagers have been cutting down the mangroves, and this has been slowly destroying the ecosystem. We walked down to the shallows of the Delta to meet a group of local women who have made it their business to see that the mangrove forests are not destroyed. They were drumming and dancing when we arrived:
They took us on a tour of the mangroves they were planting, and we watched the sunset before heading back to our hut to repose before dinner.
That night, after dinner, we went to the community dance. Sadly, I forgot my camera, but I try to describe the experience. In rural areas, when a dance is held, all the people in the nearby villages come. When we got there, there were already five or six men playing drums and about 100 people gathered around in a messy circle. We were quickly adopted by the children near us, and they would drag us into the circle to teach us the dances they were doing. Senegalese dance is incredibly fast and vigorous, so we did our best to keep up, but we mostly did it without skill, but with a lot of enthusiasm. This went on for several hours, and ended in a lutte (wrestling match) between two boys from different villages. Before they wrestle, the boys show off their prowess by dancing.
The next morning, we got up early and headed out to another mangrove forest, where a group of villagers have discovered that keeping bees in the mangrove forest has a double benefit. First of all, the bees are very protective of their environment, and will happily swarm and attach anyone who tries to harm it. Second, mangrove honey is extremely delicious. We visited one of the hives.
We also toured the little building where they harvest the honey from the honeycombs, and we each bought a few jars for ourselves and our host families.Then we got back in the bus and headed off to another village that I don't know the name of. Upon arrival, we were immediately swarmed by about 40 children who immediately took our hands and followed us down to the waterside. Our guide showed us and explained the method of cultivating oysters that these villagers had developed in the last year or so. While oysters cooked over a fire, we played with the kids. This is the one that adopted me. Her name was long, but it started with J...
Here we are eating oysters:
After several hours of eating, playing with children, and lounging under a tree, we headed out in a pirogue to and island nature reserve:
After a tour of the island, we swam in the Delta and hung out on this strip of beach (which is composed of whole, white seashells, not sand). After about an hour and a half there, we headed out again as it was getting dark. The water was so beautiful:
When we finally made it back to the huts, dinner was waiting for us. We ate slowly and then headed for bed chatting about how wonderful our weekend had been....
About a month ago, we took a trip to a place called Ecole de la Rue (translation: School of the Street). Prior to our visit, we had been presented with a lecture on the Senegalese public and private school systems, which are largely based on the French system. Unlike the American system, which tends to encourage analytical and independent thinking, at least to a certain degree, the French system is mostly focused on rote learning and examinations. In any case, we had all, I think, assumed that we would be visiting a typical Senegalese public school. Instead, we got to see a truly excellent community project. In one of the poorest neighborhoods of Dakar, a man started and now runs a little school for the children there, giving them the opportunity to develop the skills needed to advance themselves.
we got to see inside one of the classrooms, where the kids recited for us:
a lot of them wanted to shake our hands:
this is what the neighborhood looked like:
Two weeks ago, we started making petit voyages out into Senegal on weekends. Our first trip was to Saint Louis (pronounced "Sahn Louie", of course) in the north of the country. This city used to be one of four major colonial cities created by the French in Senegal. This is quite apparent in the architecture, and also in its continued status as a hotspot for French tourists.
It felt odd for us to be there after spending a month in Dakar trying to do exactly the opposite of tourism and trying to integrate ourselves into some version of daily Senegalese life. We were even dragged out on a carriage ride tour of the city. This was altogether a disaster. I would never go on a carriage ride in any city, let alone as a group of white people in a former colonial outpost where resentment still runs high. Still, I did manage to take some good photos:
We left Saint Louis early Saturday morning and set out on a long bus ride to a nature preserve where we went on a long boat ride. The intended purpose of this boat ride was for us to go bird watching (or, "bird washing" as our professor endearingly mis-pronounced it), and go bird watching is indeed what we did. I took around 40 photos of birds, but here are some of the more exciting things we saw:
A crocodile basking:
an island full of thousands of mating pelicans:
Some kind of water snake with legs? The language barrier impeded a good understanding of what this is, but it was pretty neat:
This past weekend, our voyage was more fruitful. We went to a village called Sokone located in the Sine Delta. The drive to get there dragged on and on, but when we did arrive, it was most certainly worth it. We unloaded the bus into a lovely little compound of huts run by a sweet and wise man whose name I have completely forgotten. He is terribly interested in the environmental issues his village is facing, and he has started to attract ecotourists. This was the perfect trip for a bunch of liberal arts college students from the Pacific Northwest.
Our first activity was a tour of the mangrove forests in the Delta. Our guide explained that for years, the villagers have been cutting down the mangroves, and this has been slowly destroying the ecosystem. We walked down to the shallows of the Delta to meet a group of local women who have made it their business to see that the mangrove forests are not destroyed. They were drumming and dancing when we arrived:
They took us on a tour of the mangroves they were planting, and we watched the sunset before heading back to our hut to repose before dinner.
That night, after dinner, we went to the community dance. Sadly, I forgot my camera, but I try to describe the experience. In rural areas, when a dance is held, all the people in the nearby villages come. When we got there, there were already five or six men playing drums and about 100 people gathered around in a messy circle. We were quickly adopted by the children near us, and they would drag us into the circle to teach us the dances they were doing. Senegalese dance is incredibly fast and vigorous, so we did our best to keep up, but we mostly did it without skill, but with a lot of enthusiasm. This went on for several hours, and ended in a lutte (wrestling match) between two boys from different villages. Before they wrestle, the boys show off their prowess by dancing.
The next morning, we got up early and headed out to another mangrove forest, where a group of villagers have discovered that keeping bees in the mangrove forest has a double benefit. First of all, the bees are very protective of their environment, and will happily swarm and attach anyone who tries to harm it. Second, mangrove honey is extremely delicious. We visited one of the hives.
We also toured the little building where they harvest the honey from the honeycombs, and we each bought a few jars for ourselves and our host families.Then we got back in the bus and headed off to another village that I don't know the name of. Upon arrival, we were immediately swarmed by about 40 children who immediately took our hands and followed us down to the waterside. Our guide showed us and explained the method of cultivating oysters that these villagers had developed in the last year or so. While oysters cooked over a fire, we played with the kids. This is the one that adopted me. Her name was long, but it started with J...
Here we are eating oysters:
After several hours of eating, playing with children, and lounging under a tree, we headed out in a pirogue to and island nature reserve:
After a tour of the island, we swam in the Delta and hung out on this strip of beach (which is composed of whole, white seashells, not sand). After about an hour and a half there, we headed out again as it was getting dark. The water was so beautiful:
When we finally made it back to the huts, dinner was waiting for us. We ate slowly and then headed for bed chatting about how wonderful our weekend had been....
