Before the car ride, we decided to pay homage to our American roots the way any good ole patriot prepares for a road trip: we loaded up on candy and snacks, including suckers, my treat of choice. Of course we also shared with our professor, who claimed the four M&M’s he ate totally spoiled his appetite for dinner. Poppycock, I say. (You may be wondering where we found American candy like M&M’s… they were given to us by a lovely gentleman named David who was also studying at the Baobab Center to prepare for his new position within the military somewhere in Africa. He knew he would have left Dakar by the time we returned from St Louis, so he so generously showered us with parting gifts of American candy. I swear, no Snickers has ever tasted so good.) The drive was amazing: it was the first time we had technically left Dakar city limits. The countryside was flatflatflat the whole way, and the farther north we drove, the more desert-like it became. It was interesting to see clusters of huts and grazing sheep, goats, cows, and donkeys along the road. I am reminded of my love of travel. The open road and it's promise of new destinations calls to me more than a single city ever could.
After the whole four hours it took to arrive in Saint Louis and then pick up two Senegalese students who would be accompanying us on our trip (they were two girls named Khadi and Fatou), we continued another hour before arriving in the smaller town we would actually be staying in. It’s called Richard Toll, and it’s somewhere between a village and a big city. Because we arrived so late that night, we spent the night at a hotel, eating dinner before going to bed. Mmmm, nothing like half a rotisserie chicken right before bed!
The following few days had a similar schedule- in the morning we eat breakfast with our host families, are picked up to go on a tour of some aspect of agricultural production near Richard Toll (including tours of rice and sugar cane fields, irrigation systems for each, the water pumps for the surrounding communities), around 1:00 in the afternoon, we are dropped off at our host families for lunch, and then we are picked up again around 3:00 for more tours until we return again for the night around 7:00pm.
My host family’s last name is Sowdo Fall, and consists of an older retired couple. All the children have long since grown and moved out. I think it’s also a polygamous family, with the other wife living in another house, but I haven’t heard her mentioned at all yet. Also living here is a maid and the guard with his family (a wife and two adorable kids). Even though we don’t really have any language in common, they seem to all be gentle, kind, and patient. Sometimes I wonder if the children don’t work too hard: often my host mom will yell for them whenever she’s sitting in the living room and she doesn’t feel like walking to her room for her cell phone, locking the car, or answering the door. They also help with laundry, dishes, and bringing out food during mealtimes. The boy especially, who is probably about 12 years old, seems incredibly mature for his age, and always doing something helpful (like pulling water from the well or trying to bring out extra pillows to make me comfortable). I keep buying them little candies and gifts just because I want to see them be kids and SMILE.
Living with a host family in Richard Toll has been very different than living with my family in Dakar. I think part of the reason is that I am only here for two weeks (as opposed to six months), so I’m definitely more of a visitor, and less of a part of the family. That means it’s even less acceptable for me to do radical things like, oh, I don’t know, wash my own dishes or cut my own food or not eat a meal because I have diarrhea. My family in Richard Toll is far more insistent, even as I’m in the process of eating, they command “Lekkal, lekkal!” (“Eat, eat!” in Wolof) if I’m not doing so quickly enough. Madame Sowdo also gave me a pretty head scarf the other night, and has even cooked eggs for breakfast a few times. Her hospitality is wonderful.
Here are some other interesting differences:
· Language: Aside from the older couple, everyone here speaks Pulaar, so my French is lost on them, and even the Wolof I’ve been learning only goes so far.
· Food: This family has strong Mauritanian roots, so many of the dishes I’ve been eating are more Mauritanian (which means more Arabic influence) than true Senegalese dishes. They also don’t use spoons to eat like my family in Dakar, so I’ve been learning how to eat with my hand, which has been interesting and harder than I expected. I’m always dropping rice on myself and have food on my face the majority of the time, so I’m kind of like the mealtime entertainment for anyone.
· Rural Life: There is a backyard here, that’s right- OPEN SPACE AND GREEN THINGS- including a Mango tree that everyone sits under during the day to hide from the sun. There is also a lot less pollution here- which means the night sky is absolutely gorgeous. Being more rural also means I’m a lot farther away from boutiques and other shops, so I’m a lot more dependent on my family for anything I might need.
· Electricity: There isn’t any. Not at my house, anyway.
· Personal Space: My room is half bedroom and half storage space for kitchen items. Often I wake up in the morning to my host mom or the maid rummaging through boxes on the other side of my room.
The moral of this story is that I’m pleasantly surprised to find myself getting to know and like my host family despite language barriers and the relatively short duration of my stay. I think I will be happy to return to my Dakar host family when the time comes- I miss having people my own age to spend time with and being able to talk with the people around me.Study Abroad "W" Curve Update:
I finally got my "Holy shit, I'm in Africa!" goosebumps that I think I've been waiting for since the day I've arrived in Dakar. I haven't been unhappy during my stay here, but it also hasn't quite felt real to me yet. I've been sightseeing and exploring and talking and learning and in general having a blast. But for some reason, I have still felt pretty neutral about the country of Senegal. It's been interesting to learn about, and the people have been warm and welcoming, but a large part of me has just been occupying time until I get to go back home to Michigan. Last night when my host mom showed me the breathtaking view of the night sky from the roof of her home, something in me just clicked. I was absolutely, completely content to be there on that roof in that moment and at the prospect of being in Senegal for the next 4 and a half months.
Wishing the same peace and contentment wherever and whoever you are,
gk
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