Saturday, November 27, 2010

THANKSGIVING IN SENEGAL


I had my first Thanksgiving in Senegal and most probably my last and I can tell you all, it was very nice.   One always meets very interesting people in foreign lands and this Thanksgiving was no different. 

We were 13 people + a 7 month old cute baby girl – 8 Americans, 2 Spanish, 1 French, 3 Senegalese, 1 who I believe is Ethiopian and the baby girl who is half American half Ethiopian.   Four languages were spoken throughout the evening – English, French, Spanish and Wolof.   Among the Americans, there was a lovely family of four from Poughkeepsie, NY – Ron and Sharon and their two daughters whose names I am sorry to say I can’t remember.   One of them has been teaching English in Spain for three years.  They are friends of Jenny’s who happens to be Kathy’s – the Kiva staff member I work with -  roommate.  Their first time here, they were at the end of their trip and gave me some good tips about the "musts" of Senegal.  I now have a trip to the desert on my bucket list before I leave here.  They couldn’t say enough good things about – sounds just wonderful. 

From Spain came a mother and daughter who were so much fun.  The daughter Susanna works for some cultural outfit here.  Elena,  her mother was visiting.   The turkey which had come all the way from the States on a government plane, was delicious – courtesy of Tom, the father of the little girl, who works for the Embassy.  Mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing, pumpkin and apple pie were all part of the feast.   Good food, good conversation and an easy/relaxing time was had by all.

That's Jenny with the turkey that arrived in a taxi, cooked elsewhere because of oven problems 

Everything is just about ready

Ron from Poughkeepsie doing the honors

Just a couple of side notes:  Elena kept expecting us to sing songs.  She could not understand how we could have a holiday where there was no signing.  We explained to her that outside of Christmas, we don’t really have any holidays with songs.  She couldn’t quite get it.  She was also fascinated with the thermometer that was in the turkey when it was brought to the table.  She thought it a bit on the strange side.  When it was explained to her that it was the only way to make sure the turkey was cooked, her reply was  “well we just stick a knife in and see how it comes out.”

So overall, I had a really nice Thanksgiving – although I did wake up homesick that morning for the first time since I’ve been here. 

Other than that, work has been going well.  Finally beginning to feel productive.  I spent two days at the beginning of the week in Thies, a city about 50 miles from Dakar, visiting the headquarters of one of our MFI partners.  Stayed at a very luxurious hotel – Hotel Rex…..  Should anyone of you ever find yourself in a town called Thies in Senegal some day, you now know where to NOT stay.

Here are a couple of pictures of my room.  





Note the sleeping bag on the bed – and thank  God for it.  Otherwise, I wasn’t getting anywhere near that bed.   My initial plan upon seeing the room, was to spend the night in the chair but after a couple of hours of trying to get comfortable enough to fall asleep in it, my body and mind finally broke down.  I got my sleeping bag out and went to sleep on the bed.  The bathroom was somewhat more challenging considering there was no toilet paper and most important of all – NO LIGHTS.  Anyway, the place had wi fi so I could at least go on line when there was power. 

Not complaining.  Nothing so far has really been a problem for me.  In fact, I am getting quite used to the place and getting more and more comfortable in my skin when I am out and about.  One thing I could definitely do without though is those damn air force jets that fly over the house at least 4-5 times a day starting at about 6:30 in the morning.  It’s been going on for a good two weeks now.  WHEN WILL THEY EVER STOP????  One story going around is that it is the Mauritanian air force practicing for their big independence day celebration on November 28th.  They apparently don’t have runways that can accommodate their jets, so they’re using the ones here.  I don’t quite believe it.   It doesn’t make sense to me that a country would buy jets they don’t have runways for themselves… but whatever…..


Tuesday, November 16, 2010

A taxi ride in Dakar

I recorded this on the way to the Ferry Terminal the other day.  My street is just off of this is the main road that ends at the Airport.   Enjoy....


Monday, November 15, 2010

Two Weeks Already....

Already my second week in Dakar is behind me.  Having come here as a Kiva Fellow to work with two local Microfinance Institutions (MFI) it’s been a little frustrating that I haven’t been able to get into a regular routine just yet.   I have this one project I need to finish at one of the MFIs, which was started by a previous Kiva Fellow.  Unfortunately, I haven’t had much success in trying to arrange for the necessary meetings with staff members.  The fact that their head office is in another city about an hour, an hour and a half from here doesn’t make things any easier.  So, while going back and forth with my contacts to arrange for meetings this week, I had last week pretty much all to myself.  I decided to play tourist and went to see the famous Island of Goree (Ile de Goree) which is a little more than a mile from Dakar and a 15-20 minute ride on the ferry.

Raby, my landlady suggested one of her sons accompany me – she said she didn’t want me to be bothered by street peddlers.  We left home around 10 in the morning, were on the 10:45 ferry and got to Goree a little after 11. 
Approaching the Island of Goree

Goree is a tiny island – 900 m. by 300 m. (3000 ft x 1165 ft) with about 1500 residents.  There are no cars and one can walk pretty much the whole island leisurely in about an hour.  Tourism being its main source of income, a good number of artists reside there and the whole place resembles an open art gallery.  Art for sale and souvenirs shops are everywhere. 

Fishermen with the skyline of Dakar in the background

A street in Goree
Approaching the island

An alley on the island

The Portuguese were the first to arrive on Goree in the mid 15th century.  Then the Dutch came and took it from them towards the end of the 16th century.  There was a brief period of British rule starting in 1664.  From 1677 until 1960, it was mainly controlled by the French.   From the 15th to the 19th century it was the largest slave-trading center on the African coast.  During that time, the number of total slaves who were put on ships going to Brazil, Cuba, the United States, Haiti and other Caribbean islands was put at 15-20 million by the Museum Director at the Slave House, who gave us a presentation.  

The courtyard of the Slave House (no that's not me in the shot :-)
The museum is not large and sits right by the water.  It is completely bare…  There are no furnishings just empty tiny rooms where women, men, young girls and children were kept separately.  The slaves came into the building through a room called “the weight room” (Chambre de Pesage) where they would be weighed.  Men had to weigh at least 60 lbs to be boarded on a ship destined for the Americas.  Those who weighed less had about 3 months to put the weight on – the time it took for a sail ship to make the round trip to and from its destination in the West and come back for another load of cargo.

Men were kept in the room through the first door on the left

The sign above the door of the "Weight Room"

Walking through that empty space, peeking though each doorway into a room maybe barely 10 x 10 marked  “men”, “women” “children” and “girls” gives one a very eerie feeling.  Then, there is a doorway onto the sea called “the gate of no return.”   Through that doorway the slaves were loaded onto rowboats that took them to the ships waiting out in open sea.  Standing there, right at that doorway looking out at the infinite sea, one can’t help but wonder what it must have been like for all those men and women as they passed through it two by two attached to one another by chains. 

The Gate of No Return

Goree today is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Once we were done with the museum, we walked the whole island.  Our guide was Abdullah, whom we had to engage to put an end to the endless stream of young men offering to show us around as soon as we stepped off the ferry.  You really don’t need a guide on Goree but you soon realize if you don’t get one, they will not let you wonder around in peace.  He was nice but didn’t really add much to the day.  We walked the whole island in less than an hour.  

That's Abdullah, our guide on the Island of Goree
On the way, a woman I had chatted with on the ferry came running up to me and wanted to show me her little souvenirs shop.  I had to of course buy something from her.  She was very sweet and after trying to sell me everything she had in her little stand, we finally agreed on a little wooden elephant and a wooden boat.  As I left after paying her 1/3 of what she had originally asked for, I was pretty sure I had still overpaid by quite a bit. 

That's my friend from the ferry.  Her shop is the one in the back with the blue bucket on top


The whole island is one giant art gallery

A view of the island from its highest point.  That's Dakar in the distance.

That was last Wednesday.  On Thursday, I spent the day at the local branch of one of Kiva’s Microfinance partners here – U-IMCEC - getting to know the Kiva coordinator I am going to be working with starting in a couple of weeks.   Yacine is a very sweet woman and we connected right away. She invited me to an opening ceremony one of the group borrowers of Kiva- AYADY - was having that afternoon.  There, I met some 20 women who have formed a group enterprise to make cereal and soap to sell in their neighborhoods.  The $1,500 loan that Kiva lenders funded allowed them to get all the supplies they needed to start the production of cereal.  They had all their supplies out on display and were set to start production the very next day.  

I actually wrote my first Kiva blog about their opening ceremony.  It is scheduled to go on Kiva’s website tomorrow – Tuesday, the 16th – at 6 pm Eastern Time.  If anyone is interested, you can log onto www.kiva.org and click on Kiva Fellows Blog from the list on the left and it should be the first one that comes up for at least a few hours - until another Kiva Fellow posts a blog.

This shot is for all those who are enjoying a nice cold winter  :-)))
Saturday, I finally got to go to the beach.  Raby told me about this little private beach called Sunugal not far from the house - about a 20-30 minute walk.  I had a very nice relaxing time.  The sand is very fine and the water temperature just perfect.  I was able to stay a good 5 hours or so comfortably because there is always a very nice breeze off the ocean.  The heat never becomes uncomfortable.  Just my kind of weather.  After having a very nice lunch there, I was walking back home around 4 pm when I had an encounter that ended with my Blackberry getting stolen.  It’s a long story and totally my fault because I let my NY guard down and became trusting for a few minutes.  It cost me a blackberry.    

A few days ago, I was crossing the street and stopped halfway at the median before crossing to the other side.  Like a typical New Yorker, I was totally in my own world, not paying attention to this young girl standing right next to me.  She must have been around 18.  She looked at me and said something.  At first, I didn’t understand.  She repeated “Tu me salues pas?” (Why don’t you say hi to me?)  I was totally taken aback and felt very antisocial.  So, I smiled and said hello.  After that experience, I promised myself that I was going to be more open to those around me and with that mindset I got my blackberry stolen from me on my way back from a very relaxing time at the beach……  Oh well……  C’est la vie….  Saglik oslun as we say in Turksih… I have to find a happy medium between being totally closed down and totally open towards those around me.  

That’s all for now.  This Wednesday is the big holiday – Feat of the Sacrifice or Tabaski here in Senegal  – where every household is going to slaughter a ram or a sheep.  They are for sale all over the city. Ours is waiting her fate in the yard.   It is a very big holiday where every family saves for a long time to afford an animal for the sacrifice.  Frankly, I am not looking too forward to Wednesday and I’ll let you know how I get through it.  From my understanding, there is going to be quite a celebration at the house….

Monday, November 8, 2010

MADE IT THROUGH THE FIRST WEEK

Have  been in Dakar now for just over a week.   Still settling in but getting more and more comfortable in my new environment.  The house where I rent a room is very close to the water – you can actually see the Atlantic from the roof terrace.  



It’s in a residential neighborhood called Yoff, right next to the airport – approximately a 15 minute walk from the house .  In fact, every time a plane takes off from Dakar, it flies right over us and the noise can be deafening…  And although the daily number of flights out of Dakar can’t be compared to other capitals of the world, they ARE around the clock – even at 3 in the morning.  Being a realtor and having recently worked with buyers who bought a house not too far from the train tracks  with some reservation, I wonder what it would take to sell a house like this in NY J



My very first day here my friends here took me on a short sightseeing tour.  We went to see the Monument of African Resistance that was inaugurated in April 2010.   It sits on top of a hill overlooking the Atlantic.  


After climbing all those stairs, we had a full view of the downtown area from a distance as well as the western most point of the African continent.   A Hotel Meridien with a 9 hole golf course sits right on its edge.    Later the same day, we went to visit an incredible art gallery on two floors overflowing with African art – LA CALEBASSE.  I was in heaven….. Wherever I looked,  I saw nothing but incredible pieces made of wood from all over Africa.   I even found the painting I want to take home at the end of my stay here and the owner who is French, promised he would make me a good deal….  Even more amazing than the gallery was the restaurant he has on the top floor of the building, overlooking the water.  We had a lovely meal with great  service under a huge thachered??? roof,  surrounded by some incredible art.  With no window and no high buildings to block anything, the view is pretty limitless.  Unfortunately, being located in kind of an isolated area and with limited electricity availability in the city, once the sun sets, a total darkness envelopes the restaurant.   Definitely a must for those who find themselves in Dakar some day.

Here are a couple of pictures I took of the waterfront not far from where I am staying





Came across that last scene while taking a morning walk Sunday with Pape - one of my landlady's sons, who lived in the States for a few years.  He was showing me his favorite spots by the water to go swimming and to just sit and meditate.  This group was was cleaning the sheep in the water - before taking them to the market to sell I suppose.  With the feast of the sacrifice holiday around the corner, one sees nothing but sheep everywhere.  Families are busy buying for the holiday on the 17th.  We have one in our courtyard too...

Haven’t quite started my work yet.  I have made contact with the first microfinance institution (MFI) called CAURIE where I only have a few weeks to finish a project started by the Kiva Fellow before me.  They are based in a city called Thies, about an hour or two from Dakar, where I will need to travel for a few days to complete the work.  I am waiting for some meeting to be arranged before I actually make the trip.   At the end of the month, I am suppose to start with U-IMCEC, another MFI where I will be for the rest of my stay. 

So for now, I am keeping busy getting to know as much of Dakar as I can and also reading a lot.  Just finished Barak Obama’s “Dreams of my father” and started “Half the Sky” by icholas Kristoff & Sheryl WuDunn.   One problem I have is that it looks like I may have problems trying to download new e-books onto my Nook from here.  When I bought it in NY I was told, I could download from anywhere in the world with a wi fi connection.  Well, I came here with only one book on it and when I went to download a new one the other day, I got a message that said books can only be downloaded from the US or Canada.  Bummer…… L  Am in the process of communicating with them to see if there is a solution.  If not, I better find an English bookstore here or get comfortable reading in French – there is an amaing French bookstore called “Les 4 Vents” where I went to get a map of Senegal and Dakar.  It reminded me so much of the Hachette bookstore in Istanbul my mom used to take us growing up…

Better get back to work now….. I’ll try to update this blog at least once a week or whenever I encounter something worthwhile that I want to share with you all before I forget J