Easter in Senegal

Saturday morning I hopped in the car with Sarah, and her two boys and headed out to Linguère, a Pulaar town in the middle of Senegal, to spend Easter with the Lutheran missionaries. Once we got there, Dirk, asked me if I wanted to go with them to wrangle up two sheep for Easter brunch the next day. So, I jumped into the back of his truck with his four-year old daughter, Eva, and Souleye, a member of the church who owned the heard. We drove out into the field, running into people on the way, yelling greetings out the window until we made it to the shepherd boys with his heard. We got out and looked at the sheep for a while and began to negotiate which ones the church should purchase. We ended up picking two black sheep because they are half the price of white sheep because they are ‘blemished’ and therefore less sacred. On the way back, Souleye pointed out two little boys wearing all white. He explained that they had just been circumcised. Dirk asked about female circumcision in Linguère since it is often common in Pulaar communities (regardless of the fact that it is illegal in Senegal). Thankfully, Souleye told us that people in Linguère did not practice that and frankly he was taken aback that anyone actually did. I had read that things like that take place in parts of Africa but never thought I would find myself in a country that had populations practicing it. It was very reassuring to know that there is an active movement against it.

That night we had Easter dinner just with the American families. We had pork, chicken, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, all things I haven’t had in months. It was like I had been dropped back home for a night! The next morning on Easter we headed to the church for the Easter service. It was held on mats outside under a tin roof covering and walls around the yard. There were only 30-35 people so it was incredibly intimate. The hymns were so lively and having the service in French and Pull was so nice and such a change from the Easter I was used to. After the service, the women finished cooking the lunch and we all gathered in small clusters on the ground to share the meal as a parish. It was kind of like the Easter breakfast that the men cook at St. Philip. Again, I am thousands of miles away and still felt right at home.

I ended up speaking with a man named Malik after lunch. He comes from a very prominent Muslim family and grew up practicing Islam. When he turned 18 he moved to Lybia to study and experienced heavy racism. Apparently, Arab Muslims often do not consider many black Muslims to be true Muslims. Over the course of several years, Malik came to the conclusion that he could not practice Islam if people treated other Muslims like this so he became atheist. Two years later a close friend from work introduced him to a church. He attended out of curiosity and after a year of reflection and prayer, Malik became a Christian. He told me stories of the difficulty he had being Christian in such a dominantly Muslim country. They had to keep their church secret and underground at all times and even some of his friends had been arrested just for being Christian. Talk about die-hard commitment. Now he has moved back to Senegal and married a Christian woman here, despite his parents’ disapproval, and works to translate the Bible into Pull. I really admired his perseverance and the humble way he shared his story with me. It was if none of his pain or troubles mattered at all because now he has found God.

I have always been a little weary of the idea of missionary presence in other countries but I found out that the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America) does not send missionaries to any random country. They only go if the host church contacts them and asks for support in some capacity. The ELCA even funds several positions in Linguère for public health and development work. Pretty neat position, maybe someday… :)

Books are the Answer

The last three weeks in Senegal have gone by in a blur. We left for our journey to our village stay hurriedly in a goofy touristy bus – all 26 of us! We stopped on the way to visit the pink lake, which was actually pink because of the specific type of salt hidden at the bottom of the lake. Over the years the lake has become less pink due to the salt extraction business picking up over the last several decades. This trip has made it more apparent than ever how nature is altered by human presence, there is definitely a problem with trash here – people just let it “go into the wind.”

We stopped in Theis on the way out to our village stay in Keur sa Daro (7 km outside of Theis) to have lunch and then meet our home stay families. We were greeted with a huge group of mainly women and children drumming, dancing and excited to see us. My name was first on the list so I left with my home stay mom, Fatou, right away. It was a totally interesting cultural experience because it turns out, not anyone in my family spoke French, only Wolof! I had only had two classes in Wolof and learned primarily just the introductory phrases so as you can imagine, it was a very funny four days.

In the morning on the second day I woke up and decided to go for a run after breakfast. I put on my running clothes and came outside to find Fatou at the well with all of the other women in my small quartier which consisted of about six other houses. I gathered up all of my courage to approach her to explain that I was going for a run (meaning I motioned with my arms vigorously while hopefully saying it in French.) She looked very pensively at me for a while until finally I just took off running – a roar of laughter followed. It must have been so funny having their crazy toubab (white person) guest just take off running. On my run I acquired little kids following me, some even were on their way to school and decided to take a little detour. They never said a word, just laughed and joined in. By the end of my short 30 minute run I had accumulated about 12-14 children! Quite a crowd, seemed a lot like the running scene in Forest Gump.

I realized the next day what the strange life of being illiterate must be like. I never realized how much I read and wrote every day, lists, signs, maps etc. This time I just wanted to learn a few wolof words and tried to write them down on paper to read and remember them. I asked my home stay mom and brother to help me with the spelling and they asked me to wait. Moments later a twelve year old girl came running to help me spell, turns out my family didn’t know how to read or write at all. This little girl was the only one in the quartier (neighborhood) that could read or write. Some people could write their name in Arabic or sound out some Arabic letters but not easily. My little brother used to go to school but he broke his leg so he is not able to get there, my little sister goes to school but only brings a little chalkboard to write on. I don’t think that they can afford books, notebooks, pens or paper so the only things that learn in school is by memorization. I have never been so thankful for books.

A whole new world

Our travels on the way to Senegal consisted of a flight from Nosy Be to Diego Suarez, Diego Suarez to Antananarivo (at which case we landed 2 hours late and almost missed our flight to Paris, I had to chug my entire water bottle at security to rush to get on the plane... quite a sight to see :) ) Antanarivo to Paris. We stayed in Paris for 14 hours with Nicola's dad who lives just outside of the airport area. After relaxing in Paris and getting a brief flash of familiar life we hopped on a plane and flew right in to Dakar. I was cold for the first time in months! This trip was so quick that we arrived at customs and they asked for an address of residence and we couldn't even answer that question... it occurred to me that I wasn't even sure who was picking us up! Talk about flying by the seat of my pants!

After all of the madness of traveling for 36 hours, we finally arrived late on Tuesday night. I knew right from the start that this was going to be a lot different than I had expected, we drove from the airport to the hotel on a highway... something that does not exist is Madagascar. Dakar is a very big city and much more developed than I had expected, I even took a hot shower the first night. The next day we left the hotel and went right to our new classroom area to meet the other 21 students on the Senegal Arts and Culture program. We were greeted with a warm welcome and invites for lunch so the four of us slowly got to know everyone. That night we were whisked away by our new homestay families. This fast transition served as a serious shock to me - I had no idea what I was getting myself into. My homestay family is great but it is a very different situation than my last family. My family owns what looks like an apartment building right off the main street. One of the other girls in the program, Sally has been living on the second floor with them. I moved into a room that is located right on top of the building, accross from the room where the 12 sheep live, these are the family's pet sheep (a fitting place for a Shepard to live ;) .) Dinner was also something I was not expecting at all. We eat dinner every night at 9:30 off one big plate that is in the middle of the table. Generally, people in Senegal eat off this plate together with their hands so you can imagine my surprise when I sat down at the dinner table for fish and rice! After getting used to it, I think I like eating off the same plate, less dishes to wash but more body to wash instead :)

It has definitely taken a few days for me to get used to things around here by I am growing to love Senegal more each day. The Islam culture is something I never quite understood fully and living in the midst of it this last week has given me some new insight. There are announcements all over the city for the call to prayer five times a day and people will even stop on the side of the road and pray. Fridays are mosque days here so the whole city is dressed to the nines on Fridays. Also, my homestay family is polygamous so my homestay father spends half of his time with his other family. My homestay mom, Be, is a really great woman. She used to be a teacher and is so patient with Sally and I as we try to speak French and Wolof with her. She has nine children, one of which lives in the building with his wife and daughter. We have spent the last few nights staying up late talking and getting to know each other, maybe not the same situation I had with Eva but I love my family here as well.

Last week the program coordinator, Sara pulled me aside and asked me if I knew a man named Jim Gonia. I said yes wondering how she knew him (he was the missionary that lead the group to Madagascar in 2005). She explained that her husband is a Lutheran missionary and Jim is his new boss. He happened to be in Senegal for the last week to check on everyone so last night we had dinner, what a small world! There is a saying in Malagasy, Boribory ny tany, that means the world is round so we will meet again, very appropriate for this scenario.

On our way to the village stay and and excursion to Saint Louis, can't wait to see more of Senegal!

Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa (Senegal)

Ok... so HUGE change of plans. The situation here in Madagascar has changed drastically. In short, the military is no longer taking oders from the president, riots and demonstrations have been taking place every day and places all over Antananarivo have been broken into and burned down due to individuals taking advantage of the situation. Even our "safe place" in Majunga has been tear gased almost every day in the last week due to the crowds of protestors. This is likely the start to a civil war if the proposed negotiations are not successful. Seeing the counry that I love start to collapse into shambles is heart breaking but I still have hope for change. Our group has moved to Nosy Be, a tourist destination island (or heaven as we like to call it) off the west coast of Madagascar. The political situation has little effect here, in fact we spent all day yesterday snorkeling and seeing the AMAZING aqualife here off the coast of Madagascar... clearly no exposure to mutiny and fires. This was part of the schedule but now is the only safe place for the group to be located for what looks like the remainder of the semester. This is all in response to the fact that the State Department has issued a Travel Warning, a step up from what was a travel advisory. This change has caused the Peace Corps and embassy employees to evacuate the country. There are safe places for people to live and be only minorly effected by these problems but the worry is that international flights will be cancelled and evacuation will not be possible at all. That being said, Kenna, another CU student here on the program, and I received news late on Thursday night that CU has a policy that students must cancel their program and be evacuated from the country as soon as a travel warning is issued. With a lot of phone calls and confusion it has been decided that Kenna and I, Nicola, and Michael (University of Peugeot Sound students) are all going to be evacuated and relocated to Senegal to continue with an SIT program very similar to our own. We depart Monday morning from Nosy Be to Tana, Tana to France, and France to Dakar (capitol of Senegal). This has been a very sudden change and a little difficult to take in since the other 12 studens are staying here in Madagascar. After having some time to process the idea, I am stoked to have the opporunity to travel to a completely different country and learn in the structure of the program that I signed up for.
Dakar is the place we will be spending a great amount of the time. It is the most western point of Africa on Cape Vert with a populaion of one million. It is known for its great musical culture and peaceful transition out of colinization. It is going to be quite a voyage but before I left Colorado my family gave me a bracelet that reads "embrace the journey" and I intend to do just that! Veloma tompoko Madagascar, Asalaamaalekum Senegal

Voice

The last week has been very different from all of the rest. Demonstrations have been taking place in Majunga now too. Tear gas fills the street almost every day to deter the looters from unrightfully crippling family run businesses in the Mahabibo market. We have been having amazing classes but being sent home right away to stay out of the chaos. On one hand I feel very over cautious and ridiculous by keeping ourselves safe while the Malagasy people are exercising the only voice they have in streets - risking their own lives. On the other hand, it is irresponsible to put ourselves in an unsafe situation - this is not our battle to fight. These problems of inequality and corrupt leadership have been prevalent since the end of colonization in 1960, not to mention the nature of colonization in the first place. But, life must go on with or without political crisis. People have to work to live here so this fight can only be sustainable for a time and so class continues.
We have started our unit on NGOs and the Madagascar Action Plan (MAP) this week, my favorite unit so far. This has entailed paying field visits to schools, hospitals, and various NGOs. One of the places that impacted me in particular was a safe home for youth that have been victims of domestic violence. The staff reminded me very much of the staff at Project YES (the youth based NGO I have worked for in Lafayette). They were all very caring, knowledgeable, and clearly overworked for the cause they believed in. It was a very small center with few resources but overflowing love and kids everywhere! We found out that the center does not receive any funds from the government and there is only one other place in the entire country that offered similar services. The center was making a huge difference for those kids in Majunga and struggling to make ends meet like many other non-profits in the US right now. It reminded me how lucky we are to have government funded programs to provide services such as these that seem like essential human rights, not just an extra service that happens to be provided in the area if it can stay afloat.
Another very interesting thing we learned about this week was the MAP. It is a program implemented over the course of ten years to improve eight different categories including rural development, education, health and family planning, environment, and the economy. The program receives funding from many countries but mainly the US. I have been very skeptical in the past of USAid projects and it is really neat to see a program move closer to their goal with help from the US. I pray that this current political situation does not set Madagascar back from the steps it has made.

Majunga

We arrived in Mahajanga on February 16 and have been here for the last ten days. It is a beautiful coastal town and we are finally able to stay here with a host family for more than a weekend. Our classroom looks directly out onto the ocean and the beach is only 20 away. I finally feel at home somewhere. My host family is amazing to say the least. I live with Eva, 28 year old mother of two. We have pretty much become best friends because we spend every night hanging out and talking together. Her husband, Liva, works for a business that transports mainly tourists in luxury vehicles around the country. He arrived from one of the trips the second day I had been in Mahajunga and had to depart for another trip the following day. So it has just been Eva, myself and the two kids. Nomena is six and plays from the moment he wakes up until the moment he falls asleep. He is attending Catholic school and practices his French with me sometimes. He is getting pretty good at it and it helps me with my French too. FyTia (which means love in Malagasy) is a spunky two year old. She is adorable and she loves to joke. Frequently she calls me Abby Belou (Big head Abby) in Malagasy – hilarious.

Not only have I been learning Malagasy at home with the kids but also in class. It is making me much more confident in my French skills to learn another language taught in French. The Malagasy language is very beautiful and some of the words have funny translations. For instance, the word for fiancé is fofombady which literally translates to: smells like a husband but not yet. My name phonetically in Malagasy means together which seems so appropriate for this situation. We live in a one room house so alone time is something that has become foreign to me. The tight living quarters and modest bathroom situation is not nearly as difficult as I had imagined. I have grown to love talking to Eva before I fall asleep every night. I think I may do my independent study in April here so that I can stay with Eva again.
The other night we had moved the dining room table out on the porch to have lunch and once it came time for dinner, the mosquitoes were huddled in swarms outside waiting for their next meal. So instead I insisted that we have a “picnic” on the floor together. So we laid the table cloth out and set up a picnic inside protected from the mosquitoes. After dinner I decided to show Nomena a game on my ipod and sat on the floor near the picnic with him. Suddenly, Eva says, “Abby!” and I feel something slimy jump into my shorts. Immediately I start yelling and jump straight up into the air and rip my shorts off (because I was wearing them under a dress) imagining the things that could have made their way into my clothes. Once I calmed down and saw everyone laughing and staring at me I saw a tiny little frog the size of a quarter sitting on the floor… Mon ami le crapeau. Ever since this occasion Eva has joked with me about having another picnic with the crapeau – very funny 
The surrounding area has definitely taken notice to our presence here in Mahajanga. It has spread across the neighborhood that there is a vahaza (white foreigner) staying with Eva. On Sunday night the neighbor girls came into our house speaking quickly and with purpose to Eva. I hear Eva say to them, ask Abby. So the seven year old comes right up to me and says very seriously in French, “What would be the price for English lessons for one hour next Saturday?” I busted out laughing and told her that my French is terrible and she does not want lessons from me but again she continues in a serious tone, “What is the price, what is the price?” It was so strange to hear a seven year old so persistent to learn so finally I agreed to next Saturday only if they come together and do not pay any money at all. So great that now I have officially have found a job here – right out on the porch of our house! Now, I can stay here in paradise forever!

Excursions

The political situation here has become very tragic. Last Saturday TGV gave orders to his demonstrators to cross over the boundary lines of the president's palace (not actually his living space) in a community area called La Place de 13 Mai, which caused open shooting onto the crowd. The military here lacks resources like tear gas and rubber bullets and received an order to proceed with open shooting. A total of 70 people were killed and over one hundred injured. There are fingers being pointed in all directions but in my opinion it all comes back to the lack of true democracy here. All of the checks in the system are controlled by the president so he cannot be impeached even though he has violated the constitution... so sad that the people really have no voice after election time. The worst thing is that this type of uprising has happened almost every time there has been a change in leadership for the last 40 years! Now the TGV party has taken over several of the ministries and it looks like military rule is in sight. I and fifteen other students were staying with our host families in Antananarivo during this incident and were instructed to stay in our houses and then evacuated the following day. The news was incredibly graphic. I myself was with my two host siblings, ages nine and twelve, who were not even phased by the bloody images on the news while I could barely watch.

Due to this political crisis we have been essentially on lock down so to avoid holding up the program within safety restrictions we left for the rainforest. We might as well see the country while it is still safe enough to travel. First we headed off for Andasibe - a nature reserve east of Tana. On the way there we stopped for dinner and I had my first experience eating frog legs! Texture like shrimp, but tastes like chicken. Once we arrived at the park we went on two nature hikes, one in the morning and one at night. In the morning we saw a baby indri lemur (the largest surviving lemur species) that had lost its family. The sound of the cry that the lemur made was so sad as he looked for his parents. After stalking him for twenty minutes he found what we think was his family. They proceeded to eat figs in the tree tops and sing songs to declare their territory. One even threw a fig down at the ground and hit me right in the face - so funny. Next we left for a twelve hour bus ride on Valentine's Day to Ankarafantsika, another national park in the west of Madagascar. This forest is more like a deciduous forest in parts of the US but there were still plenty of lemurs to check out. One in particular we observed was a dancing lemur that jumped right up to a bench on the path. He didn't seem to be afraid of us at all and started compulsively licking the cement bench - apparently for nutrients from the dirt. He sounded a bit lonely and come to find out, lemurs of this species live in communities. Based on the food supply and birth rate, sometimes the size of the groups are too large to maintain so they all call a meeting and decide who must be exiled from the group. It seemed as if this monkey had been chosen and was now on his own. I am not sure if they can be readmitted over time but if so, he had a lot to work on with his bizarre cement licking habits!

We also visited a small village outside of Andasibe to spend the night. During our stay I played a short game of soccer with some of the kids in the street with a tied up bunch of plastic bags. After a short time we walked the rest of the way down the street and I saw a soccer ball for sale. I went back later and bought the ball hoping to play with the same kids again. While looking for them, a huge crowd of kids that seemed to come out of nowhere, gathered around to play soccer. One of the kids asked me in broken French if I wanted to play futbol. Of course I answered yes and so he took the ball and started running out to the field where the kids who cannot afford school play. Surprisingly enough to the group of mainly boys, I chased after them and chaos ensued. I drew lines in the sand as goals and next thing I knew, a pile of clothes ended up at either end. The game had begun! The boys wanted to pick teams and only allow certain people to play but instead we invited everyone – even the girls to play. It was a big hit and we played for a good portion of the night. A perfect way to relax after all of the stress in Tana.

Manahoana!

So far this trip has been filled with surprises, laughter, and lots and lots of French and Malagasy. As you may know, Malagasy government is going through some leadership changes. On Monday, the day before we left on our journey to Madagascar, riots broke out in the streets of Antananarivo. The president Marc Ravalomanana had shut down a local television station due to a special showing from Ratsiraka, the socialist president from 1972-1991 who has been exiled to France. This breech of constitution caused the people to riot in the streets and the local town square. This causes a lot of looting which followed by fires to several grocery stores and the president's privately owned radio and television station. The numbers of people killed in the fires are not exact quite yet but it is looking around one hundred, Many of the people killed in the fires were looters themselves. The rioters are asking for regime change, the mayor of Antananarivo (Tana), Andry Rajoelina. The problem is that the mayor is only 34 and the constitution states that the president must be 40 years of age. Also, international organizations are still recognizing ravalomanana so there is a lot of confusion. As of now there is a transitional government in place and more exciting news to come.

What this means for our trip is a whole other story. Once we arrived to Antananarivo after 30 long hours of traveling, we were taken to a hotel 30km outside of the city in a town named Ambohimanga. There we have been participating in orientation and waiting out the situation to assess our safety in Tana. The plan is currently that we will be moving our first section of the program to Mahajunga, 500km west of the city. The program will still remain the same; we are just going to play things by ear to do our best to stay safe.

We have been able to leave the hotel area several times, first to the market and second to the historic site of the king and queen of the Merina people (one of the eighteen ethnic groups in Madagascar.) The market was an adventure to say the least. We were each paired up with a partner and each given 9,000 Ariary ($4.50) to buy a few items at the market on Monday. The purpose of the activity was to practice our Malagasy and to get an idea of how much things cost. Our first venture outside the hotel was funny to say the least. All sixteen of us standing at the bus stop looking at what seemed like an already saturated bus, wondering how we all would fit. It was the equivalent of a 15-passenger van with 25 people. Several even standing on the bumper! Once we squeezed on we took the taxi-brousse and shouted Misy Miala to get off at the next stop. We unloaded and took in the smells, sights, and sounds of the market. There were chickens roaming the streets, raw meat hanging from the ceiling of stands, straw baskets, and piles and piles of clothes. We were set on purchasing a kilo of luscious grapes we found on a side street of the market. We had been told to think of 200 Ariary as having the purchasing power of one dollar even though it is only worth about ten cents. We asked the woman shakily in Malagasy how much the grapes were, She replied 360 Ar – we counter with 300 Ar after much confused discussion between the two of us and she agrees. A dollar fifty worth of grapes seems reasonable right? Turns out once we go to pay she said trios-mil (3,000) not trios-cent (300). We had just bought a small bag of grapes for the equivalent of $15! Kenna and I grabbed the bag, paid and then walked to the next stand. Once we got there we realized, we can't eat grapes anyways, it doesn't have a peel! We had just spent $15 dollars on grapes we couldn't even eat. Turns out we could eat them after all but one could just imagine the laugh we had after that experience. We did end up getting a deal on a pineapple (anana for Kirsten) and an orange soda. Quite a new experience.

Several people expressed interest in how to send me letters, the address is:

BP 8172

Antananarivo (101)

Madagascar

Make sure to send US mail only, things like fedex cannot be sent to bp addresses. I would also love to send all of you a postcard as well so if you could send me your address that would be awesome! Hope things are well in the States, see you all soon!