Coupages

Blackouts.

Yesterday, around 4:30pm, the power went out. It stayed out until about 7:30pm, at which time it came back on for a little less than an hour and then went out again and stayed out until about 10pm. It continued to go on and off during the night, a fact I only know because my fan kept going on and off while I was sleeping. At it was HOT here last night. When I woke up this morning, it was out again and has been out pretty much all day. It came on for about an hour around lunch time, just long enough for me to start working on my report again, making edits that needed to be made by yesterday, and then cut out again. Now it's been on for the last hour or two, so I've finally been able to finish editing the report. It's so frustrating to be typing away making changes (and saving every minute or so) with the constant fear that the power will go out at any minute and you won't have finished, or will have lost what you've done. Although it's a pretty effective way to cure me of my contant need to check my e-mail. I didn't even open it up until I'd finished everything so that I didn't waste any time. But now that I have finally finished what I was working on yesterday afternoon and am ready to have the Director read through it and make comments, she's gone...

And, apparently, it's only going to get worse once the rainy season comes.

Welcome to Dakar, everyone keeps saying to me, with a smile.

Naming Names

I grew up thinking my name was French. I mean, I knew I was named after a woman my parents knew in Barbados, but the spelling and history of my name was supposedly French. It wasn't until I studied abroad in France that I realized that not only had most French people never heard of or met anyone with my name, but they couldn't pronounce it either. The nasal "agne" at the end just doesn't come through in French. So usually it came out as Charmean or Charmaan. Sometimes Charmin, too... and you know how much I loved that nickname growng up...

People here have had the same problem pronouncing my name, so I've starting telling people just to call me Charm because it's easier. Alternatively, I've also been given a Senegalese name, Coumba. Only one person at work really calls me that, but I like it so maybe it'll stick.

Little discoveries

I have too much to say and too little time to say it all. But I'll start with a funny story that led to one of my many little discoveries this weekend...

On saturday, I spent all day at the office (I was here until midnight), so this story was recounted to me the next day by my host mother:

For dinner, my host family was BBQing upstairs on the roof (where the kitchen is, but where I had yet to go because they serve me my food in my room). Apparently, Mustaffa and Papis were downstairs with Mohammed, the little one, and Anty and Coumba were upstairs doing the cooking. But they both went out briefly to buy something and left the grill unattended. Of course, Mohammed took this opportunity to venture upstairs and started playing with the hot ashes. He took some of them and put them on a couch that they also have up on the roof and set it on fire. When Mustaffa came looking for Mohammed, he saw what he had done and instead of putting out the fire, proceeded to yell at him instead. Coumba came home and saw that the house was filled with smoke, so she ran upstairs and tried to put out the fire. By the time it was out, pretty much the whole couch and part of the wall were charred black.

After Coumba told me the story I ventured upstairs to take a look and discovered that from the roof of their house, they have an amazing view of pretty much the whiole city. Needless to say I'll be spending a good amont of time up there in the coming weeks (if I ever get out of the office, that is). So, the story allowed me to discover 2 things: a)the awesome view and b) that Mohammed is a pyromaniac (or at least a little troublemaker). and I should not let him anywhere near my room when there is a source of fire anywhere nearby.

By the way, I'm still investigating why in the world their kitchen is up on their roof, while their refridgerator and kitchen table are down on the second floor by my room. I'll get back to you on that one.

Some other little discoveries...
On our way to the beach yesterday, Karina and I stopped by the health club that's close to work (i think its mostly for the diplomats and ambassadors who live bearby) because she said they were building a pool and wanted to see if they'd finished it. When we walked in, no one was there but the pool had water in it (and was quite beautiful, I might add). It was clearly not yet open to the public because they were still doing construction on the surrounding areas, but we walked around until we found someone who worked there and asked if we could take a dip and try it out for them...and he agreed. So we had this luxurious pool all to ourselves. It was awesome.

Then, we went to the beach, which was nice but much less luxurious. The beaches here, at least the ones around Dakar, aren't very pretty unfortunately. They have all of this coastline with steep cliffs and beaches, but a lot of it is eroded and there isn't much vegitation or development to take advantage of its potential natural beauty. Still, the sand was soft, the sun was shining, and the water was the perfect temperature for swimming.

Then; after the beach, we had dinner at a little hole-in-the-wall Ivoirian restaurant with Aimé (who I work with) and his friend Koné (both from Côte d'Ivoire). It was interesting to hear them talk about intra-African politics...they both came to Dakar because they couldn't find jobs in Côte d'Ivoire because of the war there. But they haven't been very welcomed by the Senegalese and have had a hard time making Senegalese friends. There are a lot of foreigners (other africans, a lot of French people and some others, including a significant Lebanese population) here in Dakar, so they interpret their difficulties making freinds to the aversion Senegalese have to outsiders (at least other africans) coming into Senegal and taking their jobs. Seems to me like the same story we're hearing all over the world. But I'm excited to have Ivoirian friends because, unlike Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire is in the World Cup, so they'll be more fun to watch games with, I imagine. Interestingly, the few Senegalese I've asked seem to be supporting France this year, though I imagine there will be some imporant divisions among people here in that regard.

Okay, that's all for today. Happy Memorial Day!

(Oh, one more discovery...I'm not sure how I had this one wrong, but apparently Senegal is only 4 hours ahead of DC, not 6! Crazy. 4 hours is nothing. I guess I assumed it was the same as France for some reason.)

Substantive Update: Work, Home Life, Food etc.

Work (this may be boring to some of you, so skim it at your leisure):

There are three major projects in the works at FAS right now. The first is the General Assembly of all the FAS members where they'll be evaluating the work they've all done over the past 10 years and setting goals for projects to come. They're all about monitoring and evaluation here (Dad, you'd be proud). They've hired 4 outside consultants to perform case studies and evaluations of their work, which will be presented at the assembly. It's taking place in Bamako Mali in the middle of June. I'm not sure yet if I get to go...but I'm crossing my fingers that I'll be invited. But I've been helping them write, edit and translate materials to present at the conference.

The second project is a consultative meeting of civil society organizations that takes place just before the annual African Union summit. Two years ago, the AU passed the "Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa", which affirmed a commitment to promote gender equality in the areas of health, education, peace and security, governance, human rights, and economic development. FAS is responsible for monitoring progress in the realm of peace and security. So, my job is to research what different governments (and regional bodies and civil society orgs etc.) have done to mainstream gender into their approach to peace and security. I'll be more or less writing the report that will be presented at the meeting.

The third project is more of an ongoing project to establish the pan-african center for gender, peace and security in Dakar. They've partnered with the University of Peace (in Costa Rica) to provide trainings and workshops for men and women in the fields of peace and conflict resolution and development. Their first training is in July and I think i'll be attending it.

So, that's what we're working on. I'm pretty excited about it.

I'll write more about the people I work with next time....

Home Life:
Last night I made some progress figuring out who is who in my host family. I think my host mother may have told me the first night, but I was definitely not awake or clear-headed enough to follow. So it's been a process to figure out who all the people living with me are. But here is is, in a nutshell:
Coumba is my host mother. She and her husband, whose name I still haven't quite grasped, live there with two of their four sons. He is a teacher but currently works for the ministry of education. They're pretty well-off, certainly at least by Senegal standards. Their two sons are Mustaffa (17 or 18 - he's studying for the BAC right now so I don't see him much) and Ousmane (or Papis, as they call him). I've talked to Ousmane the most because he's around the house a lot and isn't working right now. He's agreed to take me around town and introduce me to some of his friends, because otherwise I don't have much of an opportunity to get out and meet people (I've been told not to go out alone because it's not safe for me...at least not yet since I don't know my way around at all). In addition to these four, the wife (Anty) of one of the other sons lives in the house with her son (Mohommed). He's 4 years old and likes to play cards with me (I tried to teach him go fish and war, but he doesn't really like rules...so it's been a challenge. I'm also not sure he really knows how to count very well yet, which is a barrier as well :) In addition to the family members, Loubna is a Moroccan med student who also lives with us and is quite friendly.

Food:
The food is definitely tastier here than what we ate in Uganda. More spices and flavors. At my host family, I eat alone rather than with the family. I don't know why. My host mother said she always does it that way for students. I'd rather eat with them, but either way she's cooking for me and feeding me and I'm not going to complain! But at work, we eat together Senegalese style. Which means, a big bowl of rice and sauce and various meats and fish and vegetables in a big bowl that everyone eats out of. You take a spoon and eat out of your side of the bowl. For breakfast I eat about a quarter of a baguette and butter, sometimes part of a melon or mango, and some juice and hot powdered milk with sugar (I've opted out of the nescafe option but will probably reconsider because something tells me I might get tired of just hot milk). They don't eat lunch until about 3:30 and dinner until 9 or so, so I've realized I need to snack a bit more than usual. The snacks they sell here are decidedly French - a lot of the same cookies and cheeses I ate in France, so that's kind of cool. But all of the imported stuff is pretty expensive.

Misc...
We had a discussion about polygamy over lunch. Apparently Moussa, one of the men who works here, wants to take a second wife. When they asked me what I thought, I asked why he needed a second wife. He explained to me that in his religion (he's Muslim) he is allowed 4. I said, that didn't really answer my question. One of the women here, Ngara, was on my side. She was giving him a hard time. Apparently her husband wants to take a second wife as well. So I asked whether she wanted a second husband. Moussa told me that wasn't allowed (of course). But Ngara liked the idea. When I asked him why not, he said his religion only allowed it for the men. Then, in Wolof, one of the other men (I don't know his name yet, but he's the maintenance person) said they tried that once and it killed the first husband! Then they continued to argue, in Wolof and I was lost....but it sounded pretty heated. So...yeah. I signed up for classes in Wolof this morning so that I can participate a bit more fully in these and other discussions :) I'll keep you updated as I progress.

That's all for today. Happy Memorial Day everyone. I don't think I'll be celbrating in the traditional mannor this year, but I'll be thinking of you all bar-b-qing in parks around the country!!!

i see the sea

I thought I'd wait until this story had a resolution before sharing it with you all...

So, of course, I was punished for bringing too much stuff with me to Senegal by having Air France loose one of my bags on the way from Paris to Dakar. Apparently, an 8 hour layover in Paris wasn't quite enough time for them to get both of my bags across the tarmac and onto the second plane.

When I got to Dakar, I waited, and waited, and, well, my bag didn't show up. I went to the window and tried to explain my problem, but the man didn't seem to believe that I'd looked hard enough for my bag. Once he was satisfied that my bag was not, in fact, there, he started to help me and then told me that I actually needed to go to another office in the back. So, I warily walked back behind the convater belt, through a pretty sketchy hallway past a bunch of abandoned bags (yeah, that helped boost my confidence about the situation) and into another office where a woman was helping some other white folks whose bag the airline had also lost. They, however, did not speak a word of French (or Wolof, for that matter) and were having a pretty hard time communicating their concerns.

When it was my turn, I gave the woman my name and she already had received confirmation that my bag was, in fact, in Paris and not Dakar and that it should arrive the following day. She gave me a number to call to check on it and the name of some man who I needed to contact, as well as a file number. It all seemed very official and well-organized, so my fears were alleviated and I went out to meet Karina, who brought me to my host family's house.

The next day, I called the number the woman from Air France had given me and it just rang and rang. So, I tried again later...same thing. After trying several more times, I went to their website and got another number, which I called. The woman who answered told me she couldn't help me, and gave me the same number I'd been trying. I tried to tell her no one was answering it but she didn't seem to care.

Later yesterday afternoon, Rosalie, another woman from my office, called someone (I'm still not sure who) who assured her that my bag would be on the flight from Paris to Dakar that night and that I should call in the morning to check on it.

Which I did. But, again, no response. It was getting to the point of absurdity, so I decided that if I hadn't gotten through by noon, I'd just go to the airport and try to find this mystery person in person. And so, I hopped in a cab and headed back to the airport.

When I got there, they let me back in through security (something they would never do in the US because I had no boarding pass and was going in through the exit) and immediately found the man I'd been trying to reach. He explained to me that they were moving his office from one side of the baggage claim to the other and had not yet moved his phone.... Yeah. I started to ask whether they'd thought about how people like me were supposed to get in touch with them in the meantime, but thought better of it. Instead, I asked if he knew whether my bag had arrived. He thought it may have, but wasn't sure. So I followed him back to the back again, past all of the abandoned bags, and into the office. And, sure enough, my bag was sitting on the floor of his office, seemingly untouched and in one piece.

So, bag in hand, I got into another cab and realized that I had very little idea of where my office or house were. I knew they were in Mermoz, a suburb of Dakar, but that's about it. The address of the office is Immeuble Rose...which just means Pink Building. And the address of my host family's house is just the number of the house, no street address. Neither of which are very helpful when you're in a car trying to drive to either place. But I remembered a little about my surroundings enough to explain where I thought we needed to go to my cab driver. At first, he thought I was French and wasn't very nice to me. But when he found out I'm American, he became much nicer. Apparently, out of all the people he drives around Senegal, Americans are "the best." So he was more patient with me and helped me find my way back...

Anyways, long story short (I know, too late) I have my second bag and made it back to my house with it, both of us in one piece.

But I left out the best part of the story, which is that on the way to the airport I saw the ocean for the first time. And it took my breath away.

Twins in Senegal

I've arrived in Senegal and much has happened since. I am settled in with a host family that has been very welcoming.

My favorite thing that has happened since I arrived was that the one of the first Senegalese men I saw after getting off the plane was wearing a MN Twins hat(one of the old ones with the M on it)...just a little reminder of how small the world really is.

And one other observation...I'd forgotten how the bathroom always seems to be the hardest adjustment to make when travelling. But I took a shower (sort of) using a little bucket and some very cold water and it did the job. The shower we had in Uganda was a bit more user-friendly, but I think we were lucky in that regard.

The other thing I've had to get used to is the keyboard of the computer - french style, of course. Which means some of the letters are mixed up, a,ong other things. So pardon my typos as I adjust.

I'm now at the office and have been given a lot of documents to read over about all of FAS's upcoming programs. It's really interesting and exciting...and bit overwhelming. Qnd I should get back to it. But before I do....here are some details for those of you who want to be able to contact me:

Cell phone: to call from the US dial 011 221 425 2992 (africanprepaid.com has cheap phone cards for calling africa...hint hint)

Address at work:
Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS)
Stèle Mermoz, Immeuble Rose
Apart. No 31 C- PO. Box: 45077- Fann- Dakar
Senegal

Phone at work in case my cell isn't working:
011 221 860 2048

That's all for now. More soon.

Le voyage commence

Hello, welcome to my new blog. I have no idea how often I'll have access to the internet and be able to update it, but since a number of you have asked to be kept in the loop during my trip this summer to Senegal, this seemed like the best way to give you all the option of hearing about my trip.

Alors, le voyage commence. I am curently at an internet cafe in Paris. It took me awhile to get here this morning because the ticket machines only take euro coins, and the bureaus de change werent open until about 10. And then appqrently someone committed suicide by throwing themself in front of a train, so the trains were all delayed. Ahh the joys of maneuvering in a foreign city. Luckily, my French seems to be coming back to me with relative ease, so thats a relief.

I will arrive in Dakar tonight. A woman from Femmes Africa Solidarité, where I'll be interning will meet me at the airport (I've put a link to their website at the left, along with one for the organization paying for my trip and a great news source to keep you up to date about current affairs in Africa). While in Dakar, I'll be staying with a family, but I don't have the details yet. So, stay tuned...

I'll be in touch from Dakar.