Friday, July 16, 2010
Ma vie léggi
The program ended May 15 and then I had the wonderful spoiled chance to go visit Mickey in Capetown South Africa. I had to postpone the flight a couple of days unfortunately because of the sickness, but I did eventually get to go. It was about 9 days of wonderful wonderfulness. Capetown itself is gorgeous and bizarre all at the same time. Physically it looked like San Francisco in Africa to me. Coming from Sénégal, much of it was a bit shocking or just different I suppose. First of all, there was a lot more greenery and actual mountains and hills. Two of the first things I saw coming out of the massive, fancy airport, were KFC and McDonalds. That was just the beginning of my, "wow, I'm not in Sénégal anymore" reaction. People wise it was also very different, people in Sénégal tend to be very lighthearted, joking, and friendly, there's a sense that everyone is part of one big family (something I wish more people in the world acted like, cause really we all are.). In Capetown, people seemed to be pretty serious and there was a feeling of constant tension. Of course not everyone, I met some very cool and open people while I was there, but I think there is a general guardedness. This seems to be largely lingering from the period of apartheid, there is still a long way to go, a lot of healing and understanding still to be realized.
I got back to Sénégal after my great Capetown trip about 9 days later. By this time all of the students on the program had gone back to the states or their respective summer plans. I have stayed because I got a scholarship from Smith to stay and do a 2-month internship with Africa Consultants International (ACI) (website:http://www.acibaobab.org/). I've mostly been working on the project they are trying to implement in the suburbs, "Keur u Jamm" ("House of Peace" in wolof). The past several years, there has been destructive flooding in Sénégal, particularly devastating in the suburbs. The flooding is mostly just during rainy season (July-end of September), but in the suburbs, overpopulated and extremely poor, the effects of the flooding, and even the water itself, lasts much longer.
The Keur U Jamm project is an effort to find solutions to this flooding, but solutions that the population themselves can implement. So, that is what I have been working on with ACI. Unfortunately, due to lack of funding and the fact that I came at a time when they are still in the planning process for the project, there has not been a whole lot ofhands-on stuff to do, but it has been interesting all the same. Things are starting to pick up with the project, but I only have one week left! Which is kinda crazy.
I got back to Sénégal after my great Capetown trip about 9 days later. By this time all of the students on the program had gone back to the states or their respective summer plans. I have stayed because I got a scholarship from Smith to stay and do a 2-month internship with Africa Consultants International (ACI) (website:http://www.acibaobab.org/). I've mostly been working on the project they are trying to implement in the suburbs, "Keur u Jamm" ("House of Peace" in wolof). The past several years, there has been destructive flooding in Sénégal, particularly devastating in the suburbs. The flooding is mostly just during rainy season (July-end of September), but in the suburbs, overpopulated and extremely poor, the effects of the flooding, and even the water itself, lasts much longer.
The Keur U Jamm project is an effort to find solutions to this flooding, but solutions that the population themselves can implement. So, that is what I have been working on with ACI. Unfortunately, due to lack of funding and the fact that I came at a time when they are still in the planning process for the project, there has not been a whole lot ofhands-on stuff to do, but it has been interesting all the same. Things are starting to pick up with the project, but I only have one week left! Which is kinda crazy.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
End of the program
Continuing to update on all the stuff I havent been blogging on, heres a summary of the end of the program:
So, the abroad program with SIT ended May 15. The last month, from about April 10 until May 10thish, classes ended and we all embarked on and carried our respective "ISP" projects (Independent Research Project). This is one of the main parts of the program. Each students chooses a topic of his/her choice and researches it for a month. At the month, you produce a paper on your findings, usually ranging from 30-50 pages. If you do an alternative project, like I did, your final paper can be shorter.
My project was difficult in the beginning because I knew exactly what I wanted to do but it was hard to explain to people. But, thanks to my wonderful advisor who quickly became one of my good friends, Aida, I think the project turned out fairly successful. I was basically exploring how dance can be used as a medium for educating people on topics of social injustice. In order to explore this, I interviewed several dancers, people working in dance and theater, and people working on social justice to get their thoughts on the topic. In addition, I wanted to choreograph a dance with the goal of educating people on an injustice, so I chose a current and local situation of injustice/suffering. For the past few years, the suburbs of Dakar have been experiencing horrible flooding. Some people are living in water, not only during the rainy season, but year round. The suburbs are generally very poor and overpopulated, so this flooding just increases illnesses, especially malaria (more water, more mosquitos). People are living in what should be abandoned houses, because they either can't be convinced to move or do not have the financial means to move. I went into the suburbs with my advisor, Aida, and a man working with an NGO whos working to solve this crisis, Gaby. Gaby took us around in his car showing us the abandoned houses and polluted bassins of water, ready to overflow once rainy season gets there in less than a month. I took a video with my camera showing the disheartening living conditions and flooding.
I then choreographed a duet on myself and Aida which represented this situation. She also contributed some traditional west african dance moves which we melanged with my modern choreography. The week of our final presentations came. I put some of my interviews and some music on top of my video from the suburbs, and ending up showing this to the class, explaining a little bit about the situation in the suburbs and my project goal. After showing the video, Aida and I performed the duet.
There actually was a third part-the Ndeup. When I first explained my projet idea to Aida she suggested she teach me this traditional healing dance- the Ndeup. So, After performing the dance I choreographed, we performed this traditional healing dance. Unfortunately my foot has still not completely healed so none of this was done as full out as I would have liked, but it still went pretty well.
The day after this, we all went to Mbor, a really pretty and touristy area of senegal. This is where everyone else did their presentations (we had to do mine in Dakar, since it involved a dancer living there). The day we got there I started feeling fairly sick, few days later it got really bad. Long story short, I had a parasite! Exciting right? I dunno, it seems inevitable that I would have gotten something like that. Although, no other students got anything like that, but I imagine its fairly common. From all the things Ive eaten from possibly questionable looking shacks and such. You cant be super careful about what you eat here cause otherwise youd be offending people all over the place n such. Anyways, now I can say Ive had a parasite, and my system's all the tougher for it I'm sure.
So, the abroad program with SIT ended May 15. The last month, from about April 10 until May 10thish, classes ended and we all embarked on and carried our respective "ISP" projects (Independent Research Project). This is one of the main parts of the program. Each students chooses a topic of his/her choice and researches it for a month. At the month, you produce a paper on your findings, usually ranging from 30-50 pages. If you do an alternative project, like I did, your final paper can be shorter.
My project was difficult in the beginning because I knew exactly what I wanted to do but it was hard to explain to people. But, thanks to my wonderful advisor who quickly became one of my good friends, Aida, I think the project turned out fairly successful. I was basically exploring how dance can be used as a medium for educating people on topics of social injustice. In order to explore this, I interviewed several dancers, people working in dance and theater, and people working on social justice to get their thoughts on the topic. In addition, I wanted to choreograph a dance with the goal of educating people on an injustice, so I chose a current and local situation of injustice/suffering. For the past few years, the suburbs of Dakar have been experiencing horrible flooding. Some people are living in water, not only during the rainy season, but year round. The suburbs are generally very poor and overpopulated, so this flooding just increases illnesses, especially malaria (more water, more mosquitos). People are living in what should be abandoned houses, because they either can't be convinced to move or do not have the financial means to move. I went into the suburbs with my advisor, Aida, and a man working with an NGO whos working to solve this crisis, Gaby. Gaby took us around in his car showing us the abandoned houses and polluted bassins of water, ready to overflow once rainy season gets there in less than a month. I took a video with my camera showing the disheartening living conditions and flooding.
I then choreographed a duet on myself and Aida which represented this situation. She also contributed some traditional west african dance moves which we melanged with my modern choreography. The week of our final presentations came. I put some of my interviews and some music on top of my video from the suburbs, and ending up showing this to the class, explaining a little bit about the situation in the suburbs and my project goal. After showing the video, Aida and I performed the duet.
There actually was a third part-the Ndeup. When I first explained my projet idea to Aida she suggested she teach me this traditional healing dance- the Ndeup. So, After performing the dance I choreographed, we performed this traditional healing dance. Unfortunately my foot has still not completely healed so none of this was done as full out as I would have liked, but it still went pretty well.
The day after this, we all went to Mbor, a really pretty and touristy area of senegal. This is where everyone else did their presentations (we had to do mine in Dakar, since it involved a dancer living there). The day we got there I started feeling fairly sick, few days later it got really bad. Long story short, I had a parasite! Exciting right? I dunno, it seems inevitable that I would have gotten something like that. Although, no other students got anything like that, but I imagine its fairly common. From all the things Ive eaten from possibly questionable looking shacks and such. You cant be super careful about what you eat here cause otherwise youd be offending people all over the place n such. Anyways, now I can say Ive had a parasite, and my system's all the tougher for it I'm sure.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
2 months later, oops
So, yeah, major slacking on the postings, but the program is over and I have started my internship here, meaning I sort of have more time, but more so it means I have moved into an apartment with my friend Moutarou (he was one of our language professors on the program), renting out one of the 3 bedrooms in his 3 bedroom apartment, and the apartment has wifi! Therefore, the internet has become a lot more accessbile.
To continue the Ndar village post...I will try to recall and briefly recap that. The Ndar village stay was a lot more frustrating for me than the first village stay. Even though this village was fairly wealthy (well, espcecially when compared to the last village in Kedougou), I got asked much more often for money. I'm pretty sure this was mainly due to the fact that we were the first toubabs to stay overnight in the village, the first group of students to come and do a village stay like that. The village is used to the only white people they see being peace corps workers who come in for a day to do some project or something. This was the first time SIT has used this village for a village stay. Some students had a great time with their families, mine was just frustrating because they were constantly talking to me about money. They definitely fed me enough though! Its true what they say that the best ceebu jen is in St. Louis, mmm, it was so delicious.
On our last night in the Mouit, the village put together a Sabar for us. This is basically a huge dance circle. It was soo soo much fun. My family dressed me up in this traditional garb, big fulwar and everything (the piece of fabric women wrap around their heads) and brought me to this one big open space where we started cleaning before the party. This was the first time Ive ever raked sand. Yeah, so we raked the sand, I guess getting all the big rocks and such out of the area, then set up a bunch of chairs in a circle. I Few of the other students had come over with their families at this time as well. So, when we all finished raking, the drummers came, and the rest of the families came, bringing along their respective toubabs. Some of us talked about it later saying that it felt a little bit like they were dressing up their dolls. But, however they were looking at it, it was really funny to see all of us in our traditional garb, and even more entertainging to watch us (at least the women) try to dance in these bou bous. Once ppl started dancing it was so fun. They would just pull you in , and you had to throw any insecurity out the window. I think like half the village was there, probably about 70 or so people. I had a blast.
To continue the Ndar village post...I will try to recall and briefly recap that. The Ndar village stay was a lot more frustrating for me than the first village stay. Even though this village was fairly wealthy (well, espcecially when compared to the last village in Kedougou), I got asked much more often for money. I'm pretty sure this was mainly due to the fact that we were the first toubabs to stay overnight in the village, the first group of students to come and do a village stay like that. The village is used to the only white people they see being peace corps workers who come in for a day to do some project or something. This was the first time SIT has used this village for a village stay. Some students had a great time with their families, mine was just frustrating because they were constantly talking to me about money. They definitely fed me enough though! Its true what they say that the best ceebu jen is in St. Louis, mmm, it was so delicious.
On our last night in the Mouit, the village put together a Sabar for us. This is basically a huge dance circle. It was soo soo much fun. My family dressed me up in this traditional garb, big fulwar and everything (the piece of fabric women wrap around their heads) and brought me to this one big open space where we started cleaning before the party. This was the first time Ive ever raked sand. Yeah, so we raked the sand, I guess getting all the big rocks and such out of the area, then set up a bunch of chairs in a circle. I Few of the other students had come over with their families at this time as well. So, when we all finished raking, the drummers came, and the rest of the families came, bringing along their respective toubabs. Some of us talked about it later saying that it felt a little bit like they were dressing up their dolls. But, however they were looking at it, it was really funny to see all of us in our traditional garb, and even more entertainging to watch us (at least the women) try to dance in these bou bous. Once ppl started dancing it was so fun. They would just pull you in , and you had to throw any insecurity out the window. I think like half the village was there, probably about 70 or so people. I had a blast.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Recap of St. Louis/Ndar
Alright so this is pretty late but heres my recap of the st.louis or Ndar in Wolof village stay. Also I am again on a keyboard where I cant find certain punctuation marks just to preface this.
March 27 Arrive at Ndar. This village is drastically different from Afia Baxo. One difference was that it is a lot bigger and all 14 of us were staying in this same village.
When we arrived we came and sat on these plastic chairs they had set all set up for us. In front of these chairs were some mats spread across the sand. A group of about 10 men from the village were seated on the mats some having just finished prayer holding their prayer beads by their side. Most of the women were sitting behind us in the plastic chairs. The chief of the village gave us avery welcoming speech in Wolof which Bouna translated into French for us. We thanked the chief and started heading off with our respective families. My dad turned out to be one of the men on the mats. He walked over to me with his traditional mu mu and aviator sunglasses and immediatly named me Khady; Khady Diagne.
After naming me my father took my pack of water and we headed to the families compound. The temperature was perfect with a cool breeze to accompany the beach setting. Ndar is a fishing village because it is right next to the ocean. As we passed by groups of children I heard several Toubab! Touobab!
Ok time almost up on internet. To be continued...
March 27 Arrive at Ndar. This village is drastically different from Afia Baxo. One difference was that it is a lot bigger and all 14 of us were staying in this same village.
When we arrived we came and sat on these plastic chairs they had set all set up for us. In front of these chairs were some mats spread across the sand. A group of about 10 men from the village were seated on the mats some having just finished prayer holding their prayer beads by their side. Most of the women were sitting behind us in the plastic chairs. The chief of the village gave us avery welcoming speech in Wolof which Bouna translated into French for us. We thanked the chief and started heading off with our respective families. My dad turned out to be one of the men on the mats. He walked over to me with his traditional mu mu and aviator sunglasses and immediatly named me Khady; Khady Diagne.
After naming me my father took my pack of water and we headed to the families compound. The temperature was perfect with a cool breeze to accompany the beach setting. Ndar is a fishing village because it is right next to the ocean. As we passed by groups of children I heard several Toubab! Touobab!
Ok time almost up on internet. To be continued...
Saturday, April 3, 2010
St. Louis
Just got back from our second village stay in St. Louis. A town in the north of Senegal. It used to be tha capital of not only senegal but West Africa. Very interesting history there...I have lost to write about my stay in th village and town there but...
I am running out of time in the cyber cafe. Just wanted to say Im alive and plan on actually updating this thing soon.
I am running out of time in the cyber cafe. Just wanted to say Im alive and plan on actually updating this thing soon.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Kedougou
I'm back in the lovely Dakar. It actually feels cold to me now that I've spent a week in 100 degree weather in Kedougou. Despite the overwhelming heat, I had an AMAZING time. We spent 2 days in Kedougou at a hotel and then went to our respective villages for 3 nights and 4 days, then returned to the hotel for 2 more days in Kedougou. I never thought I could get so attached to a people and a place so quickly. A few quick recaps of the week, I plan to write out some interesting stories from the week later:
Swimming and bathing in the Gambian river (which I later discovered has alligators and hippos- neither of which I encountered, alxumdullilay)
Sleeping under a beautiful night sky filled with stars and a full moon- all shining brighter than I've ever seen. It really didn't matter that there was no electricity, because the moon was so bright.
Beautiful banana garden, along with several other gardens. Most everyone in the village works in and contributes to these gardens.
Chickens, goats, ducks and cows. EVERYWHERE (The first day, I opened the door to my hut to be greeted by a hen and her chicks pecking about the room)
The people were so warm and enthusiastic to have us coming to learn about their life and their language. Constantly telling me to get out my notebook and write down Diallonke words.
So many children! I loved playing with all of them and attempting to communicate through smiles, facial expressions and hand motions because most did not speak French, along with most the women in the village. The children were so fascinated by my hair and skin seeing as how they don't see toubabs very often in the village (toubab is the word here for white person, or foreigner. I hear it almost on a daily basis, mostly little children on the street. You'll just be walking and here "toubab, toubab, toubab" and usually some giggles to follow it). The children in the village were much more curious rather than teasing about it, as is the case for many of the kids in Dakar. Some of the kids would rub my arm and then look at their hand to see if my color came off.
Learning Diallonke dance and song!
Making a fool of myself attempting to do things like help wash the clothes in the river. Looking like a complete weakling compared to these women. Their strength and ability to multi-task (carrying a baby on their back while scrubbing clothes on the rocks in the river, or while carrying a heavy load of laundry on their head) was amazing to me.
Lastly, I FINALLY GOT A TAN!
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