Quelque Pensees

So, to give a better rundown of the family:

So, yesterday I tried to put an actual number on the amount of people living in the house. I've concluded that there are at least 20 people, I think a couple more. There are 7 kids ranging from 8 months old to 14 years old. Then a couple of teenage girls, one of which is my youngest sister- Agi Binta- who is 16 years old, and the other two are my neices Ami and Sorna who are 15 or 16. the seven children, all girls except for one boy, Mohammed, are all my neices and nephew. Well, techinically I think some of them aren't really blood related- I've discovered that my mom, also named Awa, is something of a mother to many people. I think she's adopted a few of the children or younger people living with us. She seems to be a pretty awesome lady.

While they are all adorable, one of my neices, Aiffe, who's 2 years old, is soo cute. She is always smiling and cuddly. She's fallen asleep in my arms twice and it was so sweet. Another neice I'm connecting with really well is Fatou, she's 9 years old. She's the one giving me wolof lessons, and I'm teaching her english. I have about 4 boy cousins, from about 22-27, who are currently living in the house, but one of them, along with my sister Mariama and her baby are going back to the Gambia in a couple days unfrtunately (A good chunk of my family is from Gambia if I haven't already said that). I have an older brother, Aliou, who is probably 30 something, and he is soo kind. He's one of those people with such a peaceful, gentle spirit. Then, I have another brother, Mackey, who just turned 23. He came home to visit for his birhday (he and another brother are in school in France right now). i am really sad he's leaving because he's so sweet and fun!

{Side story: So, my house has 2 floors and then up the third flight of stairs you end up on the terrace, I guess just like the roof of our house. But, we have about 4 sheep up there. Well, now we have 3...So, for Mackey's birthday, they killed one of the sheep (unfortunately I missed the killing) and we cooked and ate it on the terrace that night with all his friends and just the family members who are around our age. IT was really fun, one of the moments where I started to feel more comfortable with my family, because your peers seem to be the hardest ones to befriend when you're not comfortable with the language. Also, as I may have mentioned, my mom is the leader of one of the Muslim brotherhoods here, and so on a daily basis, about 15 young men, and sometimes women, come to chant and pray in the house upstairs for an hour. Well, for Mackey's birthday, they chanted on the terrace for 3 hours before we ate the sheep. It was quite an experience}

I think there are about 6 bedrooms, with like 3-5 people sleeping in them except for mine which I have to my self, and then my parents which they have to their selves. It feels kinda uncomfortable having my own, when they have to share, but I guess it's okay. we do have running water for the shower, but no hot water. I'm still adjusting to that...Electricity is not dependable either, in Dakar in general. Definitely realizing more and more how spoiled we are in the U.S. Even though my family has so many less comforts than so many families including my own that I know in the U.S., they are still so generous with people in the neighborhood. Everynight they give our leftovers to this group of little boys who come to beg. Poverty is such a devasting and complex thing. I find myself thinking how much I wish this weren't the situation for people here, but then again, I feel like, lot of the wonderful things here wouldn't be here if there were many of the accomodatins we have, for example in the US. While I obviously don't wish anyone to suffer from poverty, from not being able to get a good education, or not having sufficient medical support and things like that, it seems that we have yet to figure out a way to alleviate poverty while still preserving people to people relationships, and cultural traditions and values. If that makes sense...

whew, ok, that was a long one. But I had to get some of that out.