Random Notes

I am currently reading War and Peace and admit I have been slacking on my blog entry responsibilities; so, forgive me and I will have a better entry next time I get to the cyber café! In the meantime, I thought I’d share some of my recent experiences.

- I saw my first lunar eclipse and thought it was pretty neat. I know nothing about that sort of thing but it was entertaining.
- On my way home to Tamba from training in Thies a ton of monkeys ran across the road in front of our car! It was my first time seeing cool (read- not farm variety) animals which was kind of exciting.
- My one year old brother Papa is in his hitting stage and has made a habit of hitting the sheep in our compound. The other day he made the mistake of hitting one of the rams and I watched him get head butted in the chest. Naturally, he was crying and I freaked out while my family cracked up laughing at how concerned I was. Apparently, it wasn’t a big deal for them.
- A couple of days ago, I saw my two year old sister playing with a razor blade. Again, I freaked out and was met with laughter. Apparently, I’m just an over-reactor (according to them).
- I’ve seen my one and two year old siblings sucking on batteries. They suck on shoes and everything else, which always grosses me out; but a battery is crossing the line. I’m the only one around here that thinks that’s a bad idea though. If they really want to suck on all kinds of nasty and sometimes toxic things, they can do as they wish; but not in front of me!
- Yesterday, I visited a nearby village and got to sit in on the bargaining of the bride price for an upcoming marriage. It was pretty cool watching the village chief and elders count and recount the kola nuts the guy was giving as payment for his new (and second) wife.

Again, I’m sorry that this wasn’t very interesting but I’ll be sure to have something good on Saturday! Hopefully, I will have finished War and Peace by then (which I love!!).

Thank you to Aunt Celeste and Aunt Joanie for being so thoughtful!! I loved the package and the card!

Misconceptions About Beauty

I’d like to meet and then slap the person that started telling women in Senegal, and most likely throughout Africa, that lighter skin means more beautiful. There are attractive and unattractive people in every race and ethnic group around the world, but it has nothing to do with their skin color. I’m sure most people agree with me on this point; of course, excluding the many Senegalese women that bleach their skin in the name of beauty.

In my short time here, I’ve seen many otherwise beautiful Senegalese women with very unattractive scars and burn marks on their skin. Apparently, you run a high risk of massive scarring and burning when you bleach your skin. Go figure! For those lucky women that don’t get burnt or have scars, I’ll be the first to say that their new, “lighter” or reddish skin looks many things, none of which being natural.

During our training in Thies, the other volunteers and I had the opportunity to visit the beach on weekends and attend a weekend long softball tournament. Needless to say, I returned quite “sun-kissed” if you will, and my family in Tamba welcomed me back with many compliments about how beautiful and dark I looked. I found it especially interesting to receive these compliments from my newly married and newly skin bleached (for the second or third time!) aunt. I jumped at this opportunity for “cross-cultural exchange” and called my aunt out about her skin bleaching practices. I asked why I looked better because I was darker but she felt she needed to be lighter; and explained to her that I thought light and dark were equally beautiful and skin bleaching was bad/gross/stupid. It may not have been my most sensitive moment but this is an issue that really gets me heated.

Both my host mother and host aunt in Tamba have bleached their skin more than once and both have a great deal of scarring. I can’t help but look at them and get upset thinking about why women feel it is necessary to do this to themselves for beauty. Especially when dark is just as beautiful as light!

Also, thank you to Aunt Linda and Uncle Peter, Aunt Cleo, and Amo for your wonderful packages! I love you!

Street Children

I’ve been in Senegal for five and a half months. With the exception of this past month I’ve tried to give whoever actually reads my ramblings a little taste of life in Senegal; at least life in Senegal through my eyes. Admittedly, I haven’t given you too much of the meat and potatoes and I’ve tried to keep it light hearted (mostly because I know that I am far from home and my one or two readers are family members that I’d rather not scare or give reason for unnecessary worry). I think it’s time to start talking about some of my observations and major issues with life here.

I love kids. Anyone that knows me knows how excited I was about coming here and having the opportunity to work with kids. With this said, there will be many blog entries related to children in Senegal but today I’ve chosen to address the Koranic school/ Talibe system.

Senegal, like other developing countries, has cities flooded with people begging for food and money; and I’m sure if I were to visit any of these other countries I’d be just as heart broken as I was when I arrived in Senegal and saw so many dirty, barefoot, underfed and/or starving children, unattended and begging throughout the cities. What differentiates the majority of these children from those in other countries, and quickly turned my heart break into outrage, was the fact that the majority of these children are not homeless but rather "Talibes" or Koranic school students.

The majority of Senegalese people are practicing Muslims and followers of the Sufi Muslim movement; which compromises a number of Islamic brotherhoods in Senegal. Each of the brotherhoods is led by influential "Marabouts" or men responsible for teaching Islam and overseeing Koranic schools in their communities. Many families, most of whom live in villages and can’t afford to send their children to school, send there young sons from the ages of 5-18 to live with their chosen Marabout and attend Koranic school. The idea is that once these children reach the cities, they will live with their Marabout, study the Koran, and work for the Marabout as payment for their studies. It has been explained to me that in many cases what ends up happening is the children spend most, if not all, of their days begging in the streets for money (that they will give to the Marabouts), inhabiting cramped and overcrowded rooms, and living what seems to me to be a horrible life for a child (or anyone else for that matter). I’m not saying that all Marabouts mistreat their students. I haven’t done extensive research on the topic and therefore can only rely upon the experiences I have had with the Talibes in my short time here. Whatever the case may be it seems quite evident that there are some kinks in the system.

Last month, on my way to training in Thies, my traveling companion and I stopped at a "rest stop" for some breakfast. Immediately I was surrounded by Talibes and decided to buy a kilo of oranges to hand out. In trying to hand them out I was basically attacked. I don’t even know how to explain what ensued other than to say that all the Talibes were fighting, pushing me, and trying to rip the oranges out of my hands. Something leads me to believe these kids weren’t fed on a regular basis if they were ready to trample a Toubob and start brawling over a handful of nasty yellowish green oranges. Not to mention most of them were shoeless, filthy, and suffering from a nasty case of pink eye (which I thankfully did not contract after being mauled). Afterwards, I was in shock but also quite upset at the conditions these kids must be living in to act in such a way.

A week or so later, a little boy (who I later learned was only five years old) asked me for some money while I was on my way to meet friends for dinner on a dark, poorly lit street. Coming from a culture where you never leave little kids alone, especially to roam the streets, I was immediately moved to see him all by himself and agreed to walk to the main road and buy him some fruit. When we finally made it to the main road and were about to cross a big truck came and I instinctively put out my hand to stop him from crossing in front of it. The little boy thought I was trying to take his hand and he held my hand the rest of the way to the fruit stand. After I bought him something to eat he kept holding my hand and I still can’t help but get upset just thinking about having to leave him on the side of the road and go on about my business. Here was a little five year old boy, so far from home, with no shoes, no food, no one taking care of him, walking the dark streets, and CLEARLY not studying the Koran.

Everyday upwards of 100,000 Talibes take to city streets throughout Senegal begging for money ( Bakker,Nisha. "In Senegal, UNICEF and partners work to end the practice of child begging." 07/14/2006, UNICEF http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/senegal_34961.html). At first it was painful to say no to all the sad little kids following me every where I went, but day after day it got a bit easier and coupled with the other stressful and upsetting things I’ve dealt with on a daily basis, I admit I began to forget that these kids are really just kids. Now I try to remind myself that most Talibes are sent to their Marabouts by their parents at a young age, they are far from home, they have very little if anything, and in most cases they aren’t being given the attention and affection every child deserves. I refuse to give them money because I have serious issues with what I know about the current Koranic school/Talibe system, but I try to give food and conversation to at least one Talibe a day. I can’t say whether the system should be eliminated or not, and I know that it is important and good for kids to learn about Islam and the Koran (if they are actually learning), but this is a little look into what I experience on a daily basis. In giving a little something each day, I’ve had some very memorable experiences.
DISCLAIMER: This entry reflects my personal experience and NOT the opinions of the Peace Corps., the U.S. Government, or any other persons.