Suba, maa ngi dem ca all ba.
Demain, je vais aller a la brousse.Tomorrow I am going to the bush--also known as the village.
I realized last night, when I started to cry while saying bye to my dance teacher who is also a friend, that I am sad to be leaving Dakar. This is my home now. I feel confident and capable here. I have a social network, a family, a sense of location and direction. I have a purpose when I walk around. I can go running in the neighborhoods and not get lost or feel unsafe. I have adjusted to this way of life. I love eating from a large family dish with everyone around it. Getting my hands messy and greasy eating fish makes the meal that much more satisfying. Things like the squatter toilet with no toilet paper don't bother me. In fact, I prefer this method to a real toilet. I communicate in French easily without too much thought. I feel wanted and welcome amongst my friends here.
And now this is all about to change. I am heading to the bush. I will be doing my internship in the small village of Mbam, in the Kaolack region. All they have told me is that I'll be working on reforestation efforts and biomass fuel projects. I guess I'll know more very soon. And though I am sad to be leaving Dakar and the friends I have made here, I think it is good for me to go. I came on this program because I was attracted to the village internship component. This semester is supposed to be about growing and learning and developing, so it is a good thing to shake myself up again, now that I am finally comfortable here. I do not know if I will have internet access or phone reception. In some ways, I hope not to, but we will see. I guess I should be careful what I wish for. There are always land line telephones, though, so I do have access to communication. When I ask people about Mbam, all they can tell me is that it is very hot there and they have lots of mosquitoes. They also have a lot of greenery, so that will be pretty. And there will undoubtedly be incredible stars! I cannot wait for those.
The reaction I get from people from Dakar is interesting. When I tell them I'm going to a village for 6 weeks, they ask why I would want to do that. They say the life is boring there. Essentially, one boy told me, the routine is this: you wake up, go to work, come home, eat dinner, talk or walk with someone if you want to, then go to bed, and repeat. I think it will be wonderful to live this lifestyle for a few weeks. It will be a nice break.
On other topics, I went to dinner with the Elyse, Matt and Callie (all from Mac) the other night and we had a really interesting discussion about poverty. I don't feel like I am exposed to the poverty here. Or, well I guess I see it, but I am used to it now. It is interesting because, prior to my experience here, I think I objectified the poor. But now that I am here I realize that we are all humans. I hope this is not a terrible thing to say. But now I have first hand contact with people living in real poverty. And they are living. It's been a hard struggle in my head to try to comprehend the situation. Is it not so bad after all to be poor? The kids are still playing and dancing and lauging. They are living and eating and sleeping, just like me. What does it mean to be poor? But then Matt made the comment, that just because they can live the way they do, doesn't mean they should live that way or that it is okay thay they live in this poverty. And I think his comment was a really good way of putting it. There's just a glimpse of the thoughts I have here.
So now I must go. Go home to dinner and go off to the village. I cannot believe I've already spent 8 weeks here. The time goes too quickly, that is for sure. So goodbye to my family here, goodbye to Dakar and it's busy roads, goodbye to my friends, goodbye to the ocean, goodbye to dance classes with live music and children lining the windows dancing and singing with us, goodbye to my Wolof class, goodbye to my rooftop terrace, goodbye to the life I have grown so accustomed to over the past 8 weeks.
Ready or not, Mbam, here I come!
posted by Hannah Gelder @ 6:34 PM
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