I still have a couple posts to write with pictures and all that good stuff, but I've been doing a lot of writing and thinking today, so I wanted to share it.
The 5 Things I Enjoyed Most About Going Abroad:
1. The people I have met at Centre Derklé (and elsewhere) with the biggest hearts, inspiring generosity, and incredible minds. Nothing but patience, humor, and love with these guys.
2. Sunshine. All day, every day.
3. Learning to take the time to sit and talk to people and get to know them, because it matters. I had to really push myself through my lack of confidence in my language skills for this one, but it was worth it in so many ways.
4. Learning a little bit about how to play djembe and getting to jam with professional musicians on the regular.
5. Having the opportunity to see places, people, things, etc in a country halfway across the world. I know there's a lot of people who will never get an opportunity like this, and I'm just very grateful for the experience as a whole.
5 Things That Were Difficult or Bothered Me The Most While I Have Been Abroad:
1. Being sick here was stressful and complicated on too many levels. Medications you're used to aren't available, the language barrier becomes extreme when you're trying to express very specific ideas, healthcare here in general is sub-par, and most locals don't know a whole lot about doctors/medicine because they prefer home remedies and more cost-effective solutions. Not to mention the fact that this country and continent are filled with unusual diseases, many of which could kill me. Very stressful situation.
2. At orientation I was the only person that said the number one thing I was worried about was the food-- and I was dead-on with that concern. The majority of Senegalese food has been a huge struggle for me, and people here enjoy eating the same things over and over-- not much variety from meal to meal. I'm proud of myself for the things that I did manage to learn to eat, and the fact that I never refused a meal entirely, I always ate at least a little bit. But being hungry 24/7 on top of all the other stress has been difficult. Positive side: I'm coming back to the states with a bangin' new bod hahaha.
3. This city needs to decide on some street names and addresses-- and then actually use them. Not only was this really confusing for me, but locals waste a lot of time and energy explaining complicated directions and asking a bunch of people where things are located. It becomes an issue of safety as well-- it's not good to be wandering around lost here at night.
4. The language thing was difficult. Senegalese French is NOT the same as the French taught in US classrooms!!! I cannot stress that one enough. The pronunciation and sentence structures took some time to get used to, and my speaking skills in general needed some serious improvement. Then there's Wolof. I am SO proud of myself for the greetings and simple phrases that I learned to say while I was here and the fact that I can understand at least the subject of most conversations I hear. But for many people, the fact that I did not become fluent in 10 weeks is totally unacceptable. I was actually yelled at last week for "not making an effort" to learn Wolof. The majority of people here speak at least 2 languages (if not 3, 4, 5...) so it's hard for them to understand how difficult it is for me to accomplish the same thing.
5. Not having a lot of work to do at my internship was a bummer. And yeah, that's all I'm going to say about that.
The 5 Things I Missed Most About Home While I've Been Abroad:
1. Food. Especially the easily-accessible variety of food and the freedom I have to buy groceries and cook meals that I like.
2. My family and our dogs.
3. My bed, comforter, and pillows.
4. Oregon beer culture. It's a part of me, I can't help it.
5. The freedom I have at home to come and go as I please without worrying about safety, getting lost, paying for taxis, bothering my host family if I come back late, etc.
The 5 Things I Have Missed Least Since I've Been Abroad:
1. The rain and the cold.
2. The lack of genuine, person-to-person interaction.
3. The go-go-go, do-do-do, hurry up, be on time, meet this deadline, mentality.
4. Eugene in general. I just don't fit in with that city and its culture.
5. People who have no idea how lucky they are and how good their lives are.
My Greatest Single Challenge While I've Been Abroad:
Finding a balance. Integrating into the culture vs. being comfortable with being myself. Being polite vs. asking for the things/help that I need. Learning and doing as much as I possibly can vs. trying not to kill myself and destroy my body in the process. Trying to effectively communicate with people vs. getting comfortable making mistakes. Expressing my frustrations vs. being offensive. Every day here is a serious give and take, push and pull--- it's been a struggle. But the fact that I don't want to leave tells me that it was worth it.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Inchallah
When deciding where to study abroad, there were many factors that influenced my decision. Based on my major and concentrations I knew that I had to go to Africa, and I also wanted to do an internship rather than study abroad because working has always been my thing more so than school. So based on my skill set and potential internship sites, I eventually narrowed down my top two choices to either South Africa or Senegal. I chose Senegal because I thought it would be much more worth-while and a nice personal challenge to live in a French-speaking country. I could not have been more right about that! Haha.... challenging indeed! But there was another aspect of life in Senegal that I thought might be equally challenging--and that was the fact that Senegal is "a Muslim country."
Coming from the US, it's pretty hard not to be influenced, even in some small way, by anti-Islam sentiments. That being said, I'm a very open-minded person and I'm definitely alright with people practicing their own religions and doing their own cultural thing. But something inside me was still a little nervous, or maybe even scared, to be so fully-surrounded by this religion. This also stemmed from the fact that before I left, I definitely would not say that I was religious at all, and I would even go as far as to say that I wasn't sure if there really was a God. My predictions about feeling uncomfortable in this religious setting couldn't have been further from the truth.
When I started preparing for this trip, that's when I began to notice a change in my life. I'm the type of person where usually, if something can go wrong, it most certainly will, and then on top of that, it will be way more expensive than I had planned for it to be, and then a chain reaction of bad things that I didn't even know could be potential consequences will ensue. This is how the majority of my life has been, I'm pretty used to it by now, and I fully expected my preparations to go abroad to follow suit.
But they didn't. Every phone call I made, every interview I went to, every favor I asked for-- everything just fell into place exactly as planned. I received a $4500 scholarship, the first scholarship of my life, and then a second scholarship directly from my school quickly followed that one. I went to the pharmacy to get hundreds of dollars worth of prescriptions and vaccines, only to find out that my insurance was going to cover everything except a comparatively small administration fee. I went back two weeks later for a second round of vaccines, and not only were those covered, but the pharmacist informed me that my insurance ended up covering the administration fee as well and I was given a refund. The pharmacy paid me, while I sat there and got $200+ worth of vaccines for free. Not normal. Every day was like this, and it freaked me out, and I started to think that this was all because going to Africa was my calling-- finally, this is what I'm supposed to be doing with my life. (Not like I didn't already know that haha...)
Life is not easy, and not everything in Senegal has been peachy, but the number of happy accidents that have occurred and the fabulous decisions I've made cannot merely be a sequence of coincidences. Usually I lean on the phrase, "Everything happens for a reason," but that doesn't even cut it anymore. When I told my host mom the other day that I had met Ibou's family and I found out his cousin and I share the same Senegalese name and we decided that we're now sisters.... she said, "Can you imagine what you would have been doing this entire time if you hadn't met Ibou when you first got here?" And I told her that I probably would have been miserable and lonely, and that everything happens for a reason. She said, "You know........ that's God who did that for you." And for the first time in a very long time, I honestly and genuinely agreed that yes, God has helped me a lot on this trip.
That conversation got me thinking about the fact that I totally forgot about being nervous to live in a Muslim-majority country, and that very, very few times during this trip has this country's religion made me feel uncomfortable. In fact, I've grown to like it very much. The call to prayer now seems soothing and beautiful, everyone modestly covers their bodies in brightly colored fabrics, women (for the most part) respect their bodies and in turn, demand respect from the men as well, and everyone thanks God profusely each day for the things that they have. Each "See you tomorrow" is followed by "Inchallah," (God willing) because nobody here takes life for granted and they know (all too well, unfortunately) that God can take it all away in a matter of seconds. It would be pretty difficult to live here and completely deny the fact that there is a God and he does some pretty cool things.
I'm not saying that I'm about to convert to Islam or anything, and of course I still have my doubts and reservations. But the point is, this is an area of extreme personal growth that I had absolutely no idea would be occurring, and that's awesome. Thank God I didn't go to South Africa!!!
Coming from the US, it's pretty hard not to be influenced, even in some small way, by anti-Islam sentiments. That being said, I'm a very open-minded person and I'm definitely alright with people practicing their own religions and doing their own cultural thing. But something inside me was still a little nervous, or maybe even scared, to be so fully-surrounded by this religion. This also stemmed from the fact that before I left, I definitely would not say that I was religious at all, and I would even go as far as to say that I wasn't sure if there really was a God. My predictions about feeling uncomfortable in this religious setting couldn't have been further from the truth.
When I started preparing for this trip, that's when I began to notice a change in my life. I'm the type of person where usually, if something can go wrong, it most certainly will, and then on top of that, it will be way more expensive than I had planned for it to be, and then a chain reaction of bad things that I didn't even know could be potential consequences will ensue. This is how the majority of my life has been, I'm pretty used to it by now, and I fully expected my preparations to go abroad to follow suit.
But they didn't. Every phone call I made, every interview I went to, every favor I asked for-- everything just fell into place exactly as planned. I received a $4500 scholarship, the first scholarship of my life, and then a second scholarship directly from my school quickly followed that one. I went to the pharmacy to get hundreds of dollars worth of prescriptions and vaccines, only to find out that my insurance was going to cover everything except a comparatively small administration fee. I went back two weeks later for a second round of vaccines, and not only were those covered, but the pharmacist informed me that my insurance ended up covering the administration fee as well and I was given a refund. The pharmacy paid me, while I sat there and got $200+ worth of vaccines for free. Not normal. Every day was like this, and it freaked me out, and I started to think that this was all because going to Africa was my calling-- finally, this is what I'm supposed to be doing with my life. (Not like I didn't already know that haha...)
Life is not easy, and not everything in Senegal has been peachy, but the number of happy accidents that have occurred and the fabulous decisions I've made cannot merely be a sequence of coincidences. Usually I lean on the phrase, "Everything happens for a reason," but that doesn't even cut it anymore. When I told my host mom the other day that I had met Ibou's family and I found out his cousin and I share the same Senegalese name and we decided that we're now sisters.... she said, "Can you imagine what you would have been doing this entire time if you hadn't met Ibou when you first got here?" And I told her that I probably would have been miserable and lonely, and that everything happens for a reason. She said, "You know........ that's God who did that for you." And for the first time in a very long time, I honestly and genuinely agreed that yes, God has helped me a lot on this trip.
That conversation got me thinking about the fact that I totally forgot about being nervous to live in a Muslim-majority country, and that very, very few times during this trip has this country's religion made me feel uncomfortable. In fact, I've grown to like it very much. The call to prayer now seems soothing and beautiful, everyone modestly covers their bodies in brightly colored fabrics, women (for the most part) respect their bodies and in turn, demand respect from the men as well, and everyone thanks God profusely each day for the things that they have. Each "See you tomorrow" is followed by "Inchallah," (God willing) because nobody here takes life for granted and they know (all too well, unfortunately) that God can take it all away in a matter of seconds. It would be pretty difficult to live here and completely deny the fact that there is a God and he does some pretty cool things.
I'm not saying that I'm about to convert to Islam or anything, and of course I still have my doubts and reservations. But the point is, this is an area of extreme personal growth that I had absolutely no idea would be occurring, and that's awesome. Thank God I didn't go to South Africa!!!
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Île de Gorée
Weekend before last I finally made the trip to Île de Gorée, or Gorée Island if you prefer. I've been dying to go since I arrived and the trip did not disappoint. The entire island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so I am going to narrate how the day went, but I'm also going to add some flowery description taken from the UNESCO website. I've heard many different versions of the history of Gorée Island. Some people/historians say that it is actually of very little historical significance and that the majority of the stories, relics, buildings, etc. were fabricated in order to attract tourists. Being somewhat of a cynic, I tend to lean towards that theory as well. But! Regardless of the actual number of slaves that were transported to/from or held on this island, I fully agree with the description given by UNESCO, which states,
"The Island of Gorée is a memorial to the African diaspora. It continues to serve as a reminder of human exploitation and as a sanctuary for reconciliation."
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| The walls on the inside of the building where we sat and waited for the ferry to load. |
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| The ferry to Gorée Island.... haha yes, found the infamous Beer Boat! |
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| Some art on the loading dock |
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| This is Amina. We met her on the ferry and she was one of three ladies that asked me very politely to come take a look at her shop on the island. I actually ended up buying 3 bracelets from her in the end because she was the only one who didn't chase me around the island. |
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| Leaving |
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| The harbor |
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| The island from afar - love this. |
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| A little closer |
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| As we're pulling up to the dock on the island, these boys jumped into the water and swam up beside the ferry. They kept repeating "Pièces dans l'eau! Pièces dans l'eau!" Which means "Coins in the water!" and all the toubabs threw coins to them and they dove after them and came up with the money in their mouths. Slightly degrading, sure. But it looked kind of fun to me, and honestly I used to play games like that with my siblings in the pool when we were little. So they're making some easy money from tourists while having fun... win-win I guess. |
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| When we arrived at the island we were immediately bombarded by numerous men offering to be our tour guide for the day. I was pretty confident that Ibou and I could handle it ourselves, so we politely turned them all down.... not an easy task; they are persistent. But these two little guys walked up beside us and started chatting away with Ibou in Wolof. He let me know that they had offered to be our tour guides, and that they told him that they were way better and more affordable than the rest of the guys. We kind of laughed at them, but they insisted, and I said it was cool, so they tagged along. Our tour consisted of useful information, such as "here's a big cool thing that you can climb on," and "this is our friend who owns a restaurant here and gives us peanuts everyday," so I'm lacking a few details about the meanings of the specific statues and the big cannon/turret things... but it was well worth it in the end. |
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| The whole island is covered in artwork and other goods for sale. We noticed that most of the time there was nobody watching over any of it, and the boys informed us that they don't have a big problem with theft there because it's pretty hard to get off the island without somebody noticing that you took their stuff. And they don't have a lot of rude people like the ones who live in downtown Dakar. Ibou told them that's where he lives and they got a little embarrassed... pretty cute haha. |
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| Me and some big colonial era cannon thing. |
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| One of the boys showing Ibou that you can indeed climb on it. |
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| And so can I haha... |
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| My new buddy and me |
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| Candid happiness |
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| Local artwork? |
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| "A mommy, a daddy, and a baby." |
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| Tour guide #1... I wish I could remember his name. He gave Ibou his number in case he ever needed a guide for future trips to Gorée haha. |
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| Tour guide #2 and this kid's name was Momodou. Then his friend corrected him and told him that his name was Moo. Like a cow, Moo. There was some bickering after that, and apparently he doesn't think that's a very attractive nickname. |
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| I gave my bag to Ibou to hold while I climbed up on the big cannon thing... he put it on and insisted that he carry it for me for a while. Such a gentleman that one... |
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| Dakar in the distance |
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| Love this picture, very unique view of the city. |
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| Artwork for sale |
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| One of many, many souvenir shops on the island. |
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| Very vintage chic |
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| Some local wildlife |
"The House of Slaves was built in 1776 by the Dutch, the last surviving slave house in Gorée; the earliest date back to 1536 and were built by the Portuguese, the first Europeans to set foot on the Island in 1444. Cells, each 2.60 m by 2.60 m, were reserved for men and contained up to 15 to 20 people, seated with their backs against the wall, chained around the neck and arms. In the middle of the chain, there was a big iron ball which the slave had to carry between his two hands and two legs. They were released only once a day to satisfy their needs, generally within this house. The hygienic conditions were so revolting that the first pest epidemic which ravaged the island in 1779 originated here." ---UNESCO
Despite the beautiful colors, there is a distinct heaviness, a sadness, when you enter this building. Actually visiting this house made me think twice about the doubts I was having about the accuracy of the history here. Ibou and I didn't talk much while walking through, and afterwards he asked me what I thought about it. This led to a complicated discussion in Franglais about how even though I don't necessarily believe in ghosts, I do believe that buildings and places that have experienced a lot of tragedy will hold onto remnants of those memories... and those memories can still be felt today by people who enter the building. He agreed and said that I was a very smart toubab haha....
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| Really difficult to pose and smile for a picture in this place. |
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| Room after room of former slave cells |
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| Men |
"A small house contained between 150 and 200 slaves, who had to wait for very long periods - up to three months - before being carried away on board ship. Their departure to the Americas also depended on the buyers, and family separation was total. There were special cells where children were stored and in these the mortality rate was obviously the highest in the house." ---UNESCO
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| Children |
"The young girls were separated from the women because they were more expensive. All the houses situated on the edge of Gorée - even the actual presbytery - were former slave houses. Some slave traders had sexual relations with the young slave girls and when they got pregnant they were released in Gorée or in Saint-Louis. It was thus in the young girls' interest to give themselves to the slave traders in order to gain freedom. It was for these young girls the only way to salvation. The mixed-race girls in Gorée, commonly called 'Signare', a deformation of the Portuguese word senhoras, formed the aristocracy in Gorée, like the Creoles in the French West Indies." ---UNESCO
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| Young girls |
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| Kitchen |
"This sloping corridor is today known as the gate of 'the trip from which no one returned', because once the slaves left through this gate leading into the sea, it was their farewell to Africa. Just outside this gate, there was a wharf of palm wood, which served as a loading dock, and some of the slaves obviously awaited the loading to try to escape by plunging into the sea. They could not go far as they were either shot by the guards or devoured by the sharks, attracted because the suck and injured were thrown into the sea." --- UNESCO
...... hmmmm sharks.... okay UNESCO..... *shrug*....
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| Heavy stuff |
"Leaning over the balcony on this staircase, the buyers and the European slave traders were able to observe the slaves and to discuss the muscular value of each, because each African ethnic group had its quoted value and specialization." ---UNESCO
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| Ibou wondering how much those toubabs below would go for... |
I hope you're still reading, because this is the best part. When we went into la Maison des Esclaves, the boys couldn't come with us because you have to pay to get in. So before we entered we gave them each 500 fcfa for the fabulous tour (about $1 usd) and they ran away, super happy with their earnings. But when we came back out, they promptly found us again and presented me with a bracelet! They said it was a gift from Amina, the woman that I had bought the other 3 bracelets from. I told them how nice that was of her and to tell her thank you, and they ran away again. They came back 3 more times to present us with additional gifts from people who thought it was so nice of us to let the boys take us around the island. They gave me the first bracelet, another bracelet, and a bin-bin haha... and they gave Ibou a little sculpture and a pretty nice sized painting! The kindness and generosity of these boys and the people on the island just blew me away. Relatively speaking, these people don't have a lot of money, and the majority of my experience here has consisted of people trying to make as much money off of me as humanly possible. So for these complete strangers to shower me with gifts and gratitude... it was humbling and amazing. Overall, such a nice day.
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