May 28 - Coming Home

After all the drama of actually getting to Senegal, coming home was blissfully quiet.  We had no serious delays, had plenty of time to make connections, and actually got Air France food on two legs of our journey.

A few of us headed out early, while we were still in Dakar (Pidi left for home a day early, Paul was eager to begin his further explorations of West Africa, and Saba was headed to the Gambia to see his family).

Others left us in Paris (John and Vickie were staying in the City of Light, Lisa D was meeting her husband there, and Krista was headed to Germany), so there were 11 of us touching down in Savannah late in the day of the 29th.

Of course, Delta had to mess with our baggage one last time, just to remind us of how unconcerned it is with actually running an air carrier well, but after a wait of only about half an hour, we all got out luggage and left for home.

May 27 - Final Day

We left the Magic Land hotel for a morning of the minority:  we spent some time at the Keur Moussa Carmelite monastery, north of Dakar.  We toured the grounds with a young brother in his simple vows, and were especially interested in their musical workshop, where the monks make beautiful koras, traditional Senegalese instruments with 21 strings which are a cross between a double bass and a harp.  After the tour we went to a religious service at a sister convent.  Then it was back to the monastery for a lunch al fresco, complete with their own bissop wine.

The Pink Lake is one of the highlights of all Senegalese tourism literature, but it was a bit underwhelming.  Yes, it was pink, and yes, there were workers harvesting salt.  But the vendors were the worst we've encountered, and their wares were the same stuff we've seen in many other markets, with much nicer merchants.

So we're back to the hotel for a couple of hours, to rest up for the travel back home.  We'll leave plenty of time for airport snafus, as Delta has not proven to be the most reliable of carriers.  Most of us should be back in the 'boro in a little over 24 hours, and we don't anticipate any travel hassles for those who are traveling beyond this trip.

May 26 - To Dakar

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We spent most of the day on the bus today, stopping for lunch at a game preserve where we were up close and personal with many monkeys, crocodiles, water buffaloes, and one very persistent warthog.  While he ate the bread tossed to him by the staff, we were a bit wary of his all-too-real tusks.

Arriving in Dakar, we checked into the Magic Land Hotel, which also operates an amusement park on the beach premises).  It was a bit surreal, driving the bus through an almost-empty park dodging carousels and teacups to arrive at a reception which was certainly the most polished and welcoming we've had since the Djolloff.

Many of us headed to the artisanal market in Dakar, while others crashed in their rooms and girded their loins for the days of travel ahead.

The evening concluded with a farewell banquet, although it's hard to believe our time here is coming to a close.  But Summer B terms beckons, and those of us who are heading straight home tomorrow should be snug in Statesboro in less than 48 hours (however, there is a Delta leg to our flight, so anything could happen).

May 25 - Water Day

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Today we began with a tour of the mangroves in the waterways surrounding our hotel.  Once into the boat, we explored some of the channels, seing the oysters along with other flora and fauna.  Our desitnation was a little island with a fishing village called Sippo.  We were greeted warmly by the Queen of the village, who patiently answered our questions about her life and the life of the village.  We presented her with a spectacular piece of jewelry created by Lisa Abbott's husband.

Then we were off to the other end of the island, where Ousmene, the Director of WARC, gave us a lecture on Senghor's poetry and the Negritude movement.  A picnic lunch was next (although the term "picnic" doesn't do justice to the salads and drinks from the hotel, along with grilled freshly-caught fish).  It was simple, savory, and satisfying.

Our boat ride back to the hotel got us there in time for optional trips to the Gambian border (where Yaga was relieved of his recently-purchased tea and sugar by a border guard exercising his power) and to the Island of the Birds, a place in the mangroves where thousands opon thousands of birds sheltered every night.  Our birder colleagues claimed it was overwhelming.

After dinner we boarded the bus again for a trip to a local village wrestling tournament.  We saw the strutting and posing we had come to expect, as well as some fine grappling.  Wali, a former wrestler, did a bit of strut dancing himself.  The organized chaos of the event showcased the preening rituals of the yong men, both wrestlers and their coaches, and the appraising eyes of the young girls.  It was an exciting, unique opportunity.

May 24 - Toubacouta

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We began the morning in Kaoleck, seeing their mosque and attempting to meet the Marrabout.  However, the Marrabout had not arisen by the time we got there, so we were disappointed.  Nevertheless, we pressed on to the local market (definitely NOT for tourists), where we saw the life of the streets.  Some of us tried the koka nuts and other local produce.  It was interesting to see the differences in the markets, as there were very few items of clothing or bolts of cloth here.  This was about day-to-day living, not about making money from the toubabs.

We headed into the bush for a visit to Baye Atlanta, a village where people from the United States come to learn Arabic and the Qur'an.  There were no Americans there today, but we toured the place, and saw their medical facility, which was sufficient, but just barely.

One of the most serendipitious moments of the trip came next, as we traveled through Sarcane, the home of Ousmene Sene's family.  His brother is the Imam, and his other brother is the mayor.  We were greeted by Ousmene's family, in a dancing ritual.  The women played their drums, and we were all brought forth to dance with them.  Let's just say that, in the world of tribal dancing, they were the wheat, and we were the chaff.  There is plenty of video available, and it all will certainly go viral on youtube if anyone posts it.  We were welcomed by the mayor, and this impromptu ceremony, full of laughter and mutual warm regard, was certainly one of the highlights of the trip.

Entering into Toubacouta, we found our hotel for the next two nights, a former hunting and fishing lodge.  We were installed in circular huts, and had a couple hours of down time to recharge for dinner and the local music tonight.

After a couple of hours of downtime and a fine dinner together at the hotel, we boarded the bus for a short trip to a nearby village where we were feted with a music, dancing, and drumming show.  In the village square, by the light of a single sodium vapor lamp, we watched a professional dance troupe perform some traditional dances, the dance of solidarity and the fire dance.  Next it was time for the local drummers and singers to offer a come-all dance set, where Korka and Wali both strutted and we all entered into the fray.  Again, videos will be posted, and people will be stunned at our prowess.

May 23 - Touba

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Touba is an interesting city, consisdered to be the heart of Islam in Senegal.  There are no restuarants, no hotels, and smoking and drinking is outlawed in the city (smoking is punished by a rap on the head with a stick).  We saw the grand mosque and the tomb of the Caliph who founded the Mourride brotherhood.  Touba is a place of pilgrimage for the Mourride.  It was also interesting to see the social services provided by the Mourride.  The brotherhood supples the city with water, and also provides a sort of social safey net for people in need.  They have taken over other, less conspicuous governmentl functions as well.

On the way to lunch we stopped at the construction site for a house being built for the leader of the Mourride sect, the Marrabout.  There were hundreds of people in the compond, some working, some watching, some playng music, and some preparing the meals.  As we looped through the site we were followed by the children, hundreds of them.  When we turned to head back for the bus, they descended upon us.  The last 200 yards to the bus, as the kids were out of the supervision of their elders, were a real gauntlet.  Fortunately, our driver Yagga jumped in along with some of the bigger men, to stage a rear guard action so we could all get back.  We left with kids banging on the side of the bus and hanging on the ladder to the roof.  All agreed that it was the first really dangerous time we have experienced.

Because there are no restaurants in Touba, we had lunch in the home of our guide for the day, a Bie Fall member of the Mourride brotherhood.  We were served in traditional Senegalese style, which means there were mats laid on the floor, and we used our right hands to eat from communal dishes full of rice, fish, meat, and vegetables.  It was especially nice to see Yagga in the role of teacher, as he showed us how to scoop the rice, compress it, shake off the excess, and eat it without making too much of a mess.  It was the best meal we've had here by far, and we all appreciated this hispitality to a strange group of toubab, or outsiders.

After this we were on the bus to Kaoleck, our one-night stop.

May 22 - Bird Safari

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We began the day with a long bus ride to the bird reserve, a World Heritage site.  After several hours on the bus we were glad to take a couple of pirogues out along the waterway which hosts 360 species of migratory birds (along with warthogs, cattle, and crocodiles).  After some concerns having to do with low tide (NOT our weight), we spent a leisurely couple of hours enjoying the beauty around us.  We had several opportunities to feed some membes to the crocs, but we refrained.  All in all, it was well worth the logistical problems to get to see something that most visitors to Senegal don't, because of the arcane travel involved.

Back in St. Louis, we hit the market associated with the jazz festiveal.  It was a Pan-African market, so there were stalls with goods from several other west African countries.  The sellers were much less aggressive than those in the Dakar market, but the places was still very crowded and full of goods.  Some of us found the local artisanal market, where goods were locally produced.  I saw one man working a silversmith's anvil, so I knew his stuff was authentic.  This was also the first time we heard street musicans, but alas, they were catering to the tourist trade here for the jazz festival, as they sang, "Bienvenu a Senegal".  It was fascinating that there were no melody intruments in a 6-piece group.  Everyone was playing something percussive and homemade, and yet they made great music.

After a trip back to the hotel and some down time, we headed back into the city for dinner, which, because of the festival, turned into a bit of an ordeal.  The minimum wait was an hour and a half, and some of us, even after waiting that long, found out the hard way that the restaurant was out of food, so there were only apps available for dinner.  By the time we finished it was almost midnight, so we bused it back to the hotel in order to hit the road early the next day for Touba.

May 21 - To Saint Louis

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Today was the end of our time in Dakar, so we spent the morning and part of the afternoon heading north to St. Louis, the French capital of Senegal.  The bus ride was long, but broken up with odd and interesting encounters.  At our first pit stop, we met a bus with loudspeakers, broadcasting the chanting of the Qur'an, along with another bus of identically-dressed women whose idea of queueing up for the bathroom was definitely African.  We drove through St. Louis to a spit of land bounded on one side by the Atlantic and on the other by the mouth of the river.  Here, in a complex rife with colonial overtones, stands La Saint-Louisienne Langue de Barbarie, our home for two nights.  It's a long bus ride out from the city, right through the docks where the fresh fish are unloaded at all hours of the day.  It was colorful and exotic, but not so aggressive a place as Dakar.

After lunch at the hotel, we headed to the University of St. Louis for a meeting with members of the faculty.  This pleasant conference, on a relatively new campus, was heartening.  Then it was back into the city for a tour in horse-drawn carriages.

After dinner, some of us caught a set or two at the St. Louis International Jazz Festival, which serendipitous scheduling allows us to dip into once or twice.

May 20 - Education and Children

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Today began with an animated lecture on the education system in Senegal.  We saw some historical background, some sobering statistics, and some thoughtful discussion.  Illiteracy rates remain high in this country, and schools are terribly overcrowded.  Our lecturer told us that in the public primary and elementary schools in his area of Dakar, the average student-teacher ratio was 180 to 1.  That's just staggering.

After lunch at WARC we went to see for ourselves.  We visited an elementary school, and stepped into a music class which had no instruments or manipulables, so students were learning solfege.  They rose and sang for us the Senegalese national anthem, which was very nice.  We then engaged their principal in a question-and-answer period, where he was rightly very proud of his school and students.  But all around us was evidence of a lack of public support for the educational infrastructure.  It was sad to see such a state of affairs.

But our final stop of the day, at Empire des Enfants, was at once more heartbreaking and more hopeful.  This private operation, founded by two women, offers food, shelter and training to children in Dakar who are lost, abandoned, or taken from the Marrabout.  The need is great, but they only have the space for 25 children at a time.  While we were sitting with one of the founders a boy was brought in by the police.  He looked so small and scared, as if all the needs of the city were rolled up and compressed into his frame.  But this vignette, at least, had a happy ending, for his uncle retrieved him a few minutes later.  Unfortunately, that doesn't happen very often at Empire des Enfants.  If they're there long enough, the children are taught a trade such as leather work, and they sustain the facility by selling their handiwork.

May 19 - Higher Education and Research

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Today we spent the morning at University Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD).  A quick tour of some academic buildings and the University Library revealed that, though the academic infrastruture is overcrowded and dated, this is countered by the seriousness of the students we saw.  Lecture halls were overflowing with students, and there were very few empty chairs in the library; students were doing serious study in an environment unthought of by the average Georgia Southern student.

We then met with members of the faculty of the College des Lettres et Sciences Humaines.  Our dialogue was cordial and varied; we discussed commonalities such as a lack of funding, and looked for ways to collaborate on projects.  We'd like to open some channels of communication, and we'll jump on that project first once we're back in the US.  The usual technological methods for collaboration at a distance in the US (content management systems, videoconferencing, online course delivery, etc.) aren't possible here, so we'll begin at a lower level and see if the available technology can catch up with our needs.

After our meeting we toured several labs: Zoology, Anthropology, Water Reclamation, and Carbon Dating.  We saw the state of research at UCAD, and it is both timely, appropriate, and impressive.

After lunch at a local restaurant, we headed to the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), the largest Social Science research center in West Africa.  Again, the work being done here is important, with almost every government in West Africa looking to these researchers to address significant problems throughout the region.

The evening brought a visit to a local club for many of us.  The music scene in Dakar is important to the development of popular music in the US, so perhaps we saw a rising star who will burst on to the American music scene in a year or two, or an influential group whose work is sampled by current pop and rap stars.

May 18 - Islam in Senegal

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We began the day at WARC with a welcome from the Director of the Center, a very affable and capable man.  We then registered online with the US State Department, which was an adventure for many of us with non-qwerty keyboards.  We heard a short lecture on Islam in Senegal, with an emphasis on its Sufi roots.  This was coupled with a long question-and-answer session about contemporary Islam in Senegal.  It was very interesting, especially as we explored the power of the Marabouts.

After a leisurely lunch at WARC, we made a quick stop at the site of a new mosque, where we were introduced to one of the most powerful religious figures in Dakar, who welcomed us to what will eventually be a significant center for Muslims in Dakar.

After that we went to a Darra, or Darul uloom, an Islamic school which bears much resemblance to an old Irish hedge school.  The school itself was in the shade of a tree in the corner of a large vacant lot in the middle of Dakar.  The boys (there were about 40 of them, ranging in age from 7 to 16) live on the grounds and go to school year-round there.  This was certainly the most emotional time of the tour thus far.  These students live in the open air, without facilities and in poverty.  They memorize the Qur'an and, as their master told us, learn how to live a religious life, how to be a member of society, with all the values that the Qur'an embraces.  They were like students and little boys everywhere.  As we spoke with their master about the school, they played around with one another and goofed off.  But when one of us asked the master if they were good students, they hushed immediately and hung on his assessment.  Our visit concluded with two students singing passages from a Sura.  We left them with gifts of some necessities and some Georgia Southern T-shirts, and the pictures we took there are certainly the most warm and human we've seen yet.

We moved next to the Islamic Center and the Grande Mosque.  This was an impressive edifice, and we had the space to ourselves as we heard some commentary from Wali and one of the sextons about the structure and the Friday services it holds.  For me, the most interesting note was that the stairs upon which the Imam stands to deliver his message have a type of frontispiece about 7 feet above the ground, so that when the Imam preaches, not many people can see his face.  Perhaps the idea behind this is that while he is speaking, who he is isn't important, but what he is saying is.  The message is more important than the man.

After this day filled with religion, we headed to the hotel for dinner on our own and in groups.  The last of our bags finally arrived at the airport, so that now, 6 days after we left Statesboro, our bags were all finally on the same continent.  Bu it won't be until tomorrow that they will all be in our hands.

May 17 - Politics and Sculpture

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We began the day with a dual lecture at the WARC, given by a Senegalese political activist and a political scientist who is a consultant to almost all the governments in West Africa.  They spoke of the political realities of contemporary Senegal.  For me, the big takeaway from the political scientist was the fact that the current constitution has been so modified over the past decade that he, one of the architects of the new constitution in 2000, does not recognize himself in it.  Those are powerful words from the framer of such an important document.  The activist emphasized the importance of the role of women in the state currently.  She noted that just last Friday the General Assembly voted that each political party had to have gender equity in their candidate slates.  That is, for every man they nominated to run for office, they had to also nominate a woman.  Currently 37 of 150 seats in the National Assembly are filled by women.

We then visited the National Assembly, where I was struck by the lax security and the informality surrounding the building and our place in it. We spent a great deal of time on the floor, in the seats of the representatives, learning about the history of the Assembly and the building itself.  The contrasts to the Capitol Building in DC were staggering.  Lunch was in the basement restaurant of the Assembly.

After lunch we walked next door to the Musee D'IFAN, where we were toured through some fascinating dioramas revolving around the use of masks in Africa.  We saw many tribes and rituals represented, and it was fascinating to see the incorporation of so many masks in so many different ways.

We then had a quick visit to the front of the Presidential Palace, on our way to the Dakar Market, a frightening, yet, in retrospect, vibrant, alive place.  It occupies several square blocks, and the people are wall-to-wall, all egaged in commerce, all about selling you stuff, all aggressive, all pushy, all in your face.  We split into two groups, and were immediately set upon by some ropers who inserted themselves between Wali and us, and acted as if they were part of the package.  They brought us to a factory for fabric and clothing, where you could watch your clothes being made.  Their negotiation tactcs left those of us with little or no skills in the discipline hunting for Saba or Wali to do our negotiations for us.  We've all got some serious stories to tell of the emotional machinations of these interactions.

After this, the palate cleanser was a quick stop at a piece of public statuary, the Millenium Gate, then a longer visit to the Renaissance Statue, a HUGE work of bronze, controversial, powerful, and dramatic.

We got back late to the Djolloff, and did dinner in groups.  It was a very long day, but interesting and eye-opening.

May 16 - Goree Island

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After a fairly leisurely breakfast on the Djolloff Terrace, we headed to Goree Island, with its famous Slave House, artillery emplacements, and memorial.  It was a short ferry ride off the Dakar coast.  We spent the day there, with an exhaustive tour, up and down the island twice.  Upon disembarking, we were surrounded my men hawking bracelets and women asking us to vist their shops.  I'm sure they do this to all visitors, but we were particularly tempting prey:  all that white skin, serving as a marker of our status, clumped together and following Waly Faye and Korka Sall, our facilitators and fixers for the trip.  We walked through the small ville and market at the foot of the hill which is the prominent geographical feature of Goree, then headed up the hill to the restaurant at the top, where we had a great meal (although for some the fish were still a bit too close to the sea) and were introduced to a drink made from breadfruit, the fruit of the baobab tree.  After lunch we met our on-site guide, Ali, who hustled us down the hill again to see the statue, and then to spend time in the Slave House.  But the Slave House was being used for some governmental function, so he trekked us back to the top of the hill (by now the market women knew us all, as this was their third pass at us, and they were as persistent as mosquitoes).  At the top we walked through some bunkers, the remains of a French fortification, saw a great sand art demonstration within a bunker, and walked around a huge French artillery emplacement (fired only once, sinking a British ship during WWII).  We  went back down the hill then, to the Slave House, which was the point of departure for many slaves headed to the Americas and the Caribbean.  Another ferry ride back, a ride in the bus, then to dinner together on the terrace.

May 13, May 14, and May 15 - The Journey

The many stories from our sundry journeys are too great to tell quickly, so I'll reserve their telling for those who experinced them.  However, the title of this post, covering three days, should give you some indication of our immediate history.  I'll offer a brief overview:

After being held up in Atlanta for several hours due to a mechanical problem on our Delta flight to JFK, we arrived in New York to find that we missed our flight to Dakar.  The Delta supe (to call him cruel and lazy would be an insult to cruel and lazy people) who was to take care of us split us up, with many different itineraries.  All of the following were on the table, and actually assigned to members of the group:

• JFK to Dakar, direct with a 2-day stay in NY
• JFK to Boston, to Paris, to Dakar
• JFK to Minneapolis to Paris to Dakar
• JFK to Montreal, to Paris, to Dakar
• JFK to Detroit, to Paris, to Dakar
• JFK to Washington DC, to Paris, to Dakar
• JFK to Manchester (UK), to Paris, to Dakar
• JFK to Atlanta - (yes, the airport we just came from), to Paris, to Dakar

As we went to bed on Thursday night, in a bad NY airport hotel, these were the itineraries on the table. (After a major hassle with hotel vouchers and meal vouchers -- these are deserving of individual posts, so I'll refrain from detailing here the massive screw job Delta dealt us.)

However, Friday brought more changes.  Some of the crazier plans were dropped, and we consolidated into several groups: the NY-Dakar Group, the Atlanta Group, the Manchester Group, the Detroit Group, and the Dulles Single.  But even these were screwed up, as there's nothing so bad that Delta cannot make it worse.  The Manchester group was actually routed through Casablanca, because more mechanical problems from Delta made them miss their connections.

I could also speak about the missed luggage, and the buckets of lies that were poured over us by various Delta agents, but, in deference to those who are STILL missing their luggage (I got mine after two more return trips to the airport in Dakar, at 4 am and 7 am this morning, but others weren't so lucky), I will refrain.

So tonight, our first night reunited as a group and the first time since many of us have slept on a bed in a while, we are actually relieved to see one another, and we are exhausted after successfully slogging through a day on Goree Island together.  We rewarded ourselves with fine conversation and a great meal on the rooftop terrace hotel of the Djolloff, our hotel while in Dakar.

All the while, our facilitators from the West African Research Center (WARC) have done right by us.  They have worked tirelessly to make things right for us, to the point of sleeping in our van overnight so that they might get us to the airport to check for our lost luggage (twice).  I can't say enough about heir kindness, consideration, and attention.  This trip teetered on collapse for a while there, and they have worked hard to right it.  They should all be in upper management at Delta.

May 12 - Statesboro

We should have been landing in Dakar right about now, after flights from Savannah to Atlanta to Paris to Dakar. Unfortunately, the ash cloud from the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano put a damper on our leavetaking (supposed to be yesterday), and pushed it until tomorrow.  The nice thing about his is no 6-hour layover in Paris, as we'll now fly direct from JFK in New York.  The bad thing about this is that many of us, I'm sure, are now living out of suitcases in our own houses, as we were all packed and ready to roll on Tuesday when Delta pulled the flight to Paris.  C'est la vie.

So now we're pretty jammed up, losing most of our free time in Senegal to these two days of cooling our heels in the States.  But I'm sure that we'll get enough down time to post to this regularly and post pics for Marketing and Communications to scrape.