Dear All,
Toubacouta- Travel and Arrival
From last Thursday to yesterday our group has been on a field trip in a rural village called Toubacouta. We left at 7 (well actually 7:20 thanks to the boys in our group) in the morning on Thursday, and spent about six hours in the van. There was some traffic leaving Dakar, since there is only one road leading to the city. We stopped once to buy fruit in Kaolac (which took a really long time), and shortly after the fruit stop the road got considerably worse.
It felt like the road had been paved at one point probably years ago, but then it was not kept up. There were little warning triangle signs near the really large potholes, and generally it was really bumpy. We heard that this is the norm for roads in the rural areas, except for areas of particular interest to the president or politicians, like their home towns. So, other than isolated rural areas, cities receive virtually all of the national road budget. There have been strikes in the transportation sector about the roads, but so far is hasn’t had much of an impact. We didn’t know it at this point, but this disparity between urban and rural areas extends far beyond roads, to include general infrastructure, education, and health funds.
When we got onto the bus Thursday morning we were introduced to six Senegalese students who were coming with us on the trip. At first, I thought that they were just coming along as fellow students to see the area and learn about development. However, when we arrived it became clear that they were our tour guides (and for some situations translators) since they had all either grown up in or gone to school in Toubacouta.
It was a lot of fun to finally meet some Senegalese students our same age whom we could trust to not view us as a means to achieve economic gain. Their presence made for much more interesting bus rides, since they started communal bus (and canoe) sing-a-longs. We learned some Senegalese songs, and also sang some American songs (some of which they already knew). Also, on Saturday night when we went out to a dance club, the Senegalese students taught us some Senegalese dances which were a little crazy, but a lot of fun.
On the way to Toubacouta we stopped at a small village called Sokone, where Professor Sene (the director of WARC) grew up. He introduced us to his family, including his older brother and two of his brother’s four wives. Polygamy is fairly common in Senegal, especially in the rural villages. Waly told us today in class that about 65% of men in rural villages have more than one wife for economic or prestige reasons. Also some men decide to marry another woman to “correct” the first one if he’s not happy with his first marriage, or she’s not paying enough attention to him. Although, according to Islamic law when a man gets a second wife he’s not allowed to just ignore and neglect the first one, but I suppose a good second wife is supposed to exert a positive influence on the first one. Anyway, we ate lunch and ataaya (a traditional tea ceremony) in Sokone, and it was interesting to meet Professor Sene’s family and see the place where he grew up.
Thursday night after we reached Toubacouta and settled into our encampement (basically like a collection of little one room cottages with a common dining and cooking area) , we went to visit the local poste de santé, or health clinic. We spoke with la sage femme, which translates literally as the wise woman, but she’s basically like a nurse’s assistant. The government also pays the nurse, but they are the only staff of the clinic. This health clinic was built with aid from a Belgian NGO, and I think is still partially supported by that group. While the work that the Belgian group did and does is helpful and good, it also illustrates the lack involvement and aid from the Senegalese government in rural areas. The health clinic was just the first of several examples of a failure by the government to provide the rural people with rudimentary supplies and services, a hole which is partially filled by international involvement.
From a western point of view, it seemed like a really small health care facility with only basic care, but we learned later that it is much better than what most smaller villages have. Furthermore, the reason Toubacouta has a “good” health clinic, is because of the relatively large amount of tourism, and the tourists who want medical care, not for the local people. However, the clinic does also service the locals at a reasonable rate.
On Thursday night, we went to a local Senegalese wrestling contest, which is called la lutte. It is different than US wrestling, in that the goal is to force the other man to the ground, but if any part other than knees or arms touches the ground the match is over. La lutte is really popular and it seemed like the whole village turned out to watch. During the match there was also drumming, singing, and dancing going on around the perimeter of the wrestling area. The kids sitting on the edges of the crowd would just randomly get up and start dancing, and they were really good! We were given seats of honor in the front, which were actually almost the only chairs there. It was really exciting with multiple matches happening concurrently, and lot of things to watch and hear at once.
While I really enjoyed la lutte, several of the students, myself included, noticed that we were singled out more than we expected as the very clear guests of honor. For example, Professor Sene went up to the front to be thanked by and thank the chief of the village, and we were called by name to go up front and present the winners with their trophies. After the match was over, we found out by happenstance, that the whole match was arranged for us by Professor Sene. La lutte doesn’t normally happen during the dry season, and definitely not on a Thursday night. Some of the students were really upset that Professor Sene and the program set up this spectacle for us. In part I agree with them, but I also understand Prof Sene and Waly wanting us to experience la lutte in person to see this piece of Senegalese culture, and there was really no other way to achieve this goal. I just wish they had told us beforehand, so we didn’t have to find out after the fact that we had bought our “cultural experience.”
I hope everyone is doing well!
Love,
Mel
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