Af-riikka

I had written a tentative list of things I might automatically continue doing, or at least think of doing even after leaving Senegal. When I return to Finland, I might continue to... … greet other passenger in public transport vehicles with a "salaam aleykum" ... hand over the money for the bus ticket to other passengers who will pass it on until the cashier … smile and say hello to strangers on the street … buy an alcoholic drink whenever I see one, being afraid that it might take a while before one will be available for the next time … wonder why there is no gecko poop on the floor … wave constantly my fan although it won't be anymore +32 degrees celsius, and minimum air humidity of 70 % … ask several times in a row ”how are you” with 3-4 different manners from the same person … plug in hastily all electronic equipment when there is electricity – forgetting that usually there is electricity all the time (excluding certain apartments in Brussels and summer storms in Fin...

* marabout: "Today marabouts can be traveling holy men who survive on alms, religious teachers who take in young talibes at koranic schools, or distinguished religious leaders and scholars, both in and out of the sufi brotherhoods which dominate spiritual life in Senegambia" (Wikipedia) The great mosque of Touba in Senegal. Last week-end I visited the city of Touba : the holy city of Mouridism , the second-biggest Muslim brotherhood in Senegal and the one with most economic and political power. Since its inception in 1888, and especially during the last decades Touba has grown to be the second most important city in Senegal after Dakar. It has also become independent from the Senegalese government and the city runs itself with the donations given by the Mouride community and with its revenues from vast peanut fields. Every year millions of Senegalese and other nationalities flock to Touba for the yearly pilgrimage, Grand Magal - besides the big one, there are several small p...

During the last two weeks my lunches have mostly consisted of apples, porridge or bread with spread cheese and/or sardines. Besides the end of delicious free meals with loads of rice, oil and fish at work, the month of Ramadan in Senegal means that everything slows down when people are more tired due to fasting during daytime. August is one of the hottest months in the region of Thies where I am located, and this does not make fasting easy. Yesterday the rain cooled the temperature to a level where I actually felt cold – this has not happened often since May, so every time when I get shivers I am worried that it might be a fever coming : ) But today the humidity and heat are back, and the sky shows no signs of rain as yet. As it was already difficult to concentrate and keep up the energy levels throughout the hard afternoons before the fasting, I am wondering how do people manage here? Thank God for the rain! I was told before the beginning of Ramadan in Senegal that ”soon you will see...

As in most Muslim countries, henna (in Wolof fuddan ) belongs to the women's beauty traditions in Senegal. The usage and patterns of henna varies from country to country, but in Senegal it has been very different than what I have seen in Morocco or Tanzania, for example. I tried it the first time two days ago, and here's the story: A woman often visiting the project had a few weeks back very beautiful henna patterns on her feet and hands, so I asked where I could get similar ones. She suggested that she could do the henna for me, but of course, she was not the one who had made the ones on her...in any case, the patterns turned out quite nice, though not as artistic as hers. The patterns of henna are made with the help of thin pieces of plastic which have a sticky side and attach to the skin if it is not too sweaty...for me, feet were alright, but hands I had to leave for another time. Then becomes the weird part that I also have not seen in other countries: feet are wrapped in ...

”He drank seven bottles of alcohol.” Naan na juroom-naari buteeli sangara. That's an unlikely phrase to use frequently in Senegal; yet it's an example found from Peace Corps Gambia Wolof grammar book which is available online . The example phrase might tell you something about the ways in which the Peace Corps volunteers behave when they have get-togethers... Besides my daily work with the environmental development project in Senegal, I have also tried to learn a new language, Wolof. It's the main language in Senegal, spoken by the majority at least as a second language, and by 40 % of the population as their mother tongue. And, might I add, spoken fluently by many more people than the official language, French. Working with only Senegalese colleagues means that they use Wolof among themselves most of the time, and from this follows that if I don't speak it at all, I will be left out similarly as a non-Finnish speaking foreigner would be in Finland. If I had lived in Da...

In June I did even more moving than during the first month. And around 2000 kilometres in Senegal takes a lot longer than it would take in Europe! Something that also differs here from traveling in European countries is that the thought of looming death hits me every time when stepping into a car. The frequency of road accidents is high in Senegal, and traffic is considered as one of the biggest health risks. As the seat in the car is determined on the order of arrival, I normally don't have a choice to really decide where to sit. Only the front seats have seat belts, and the people in the front normally put them on only just before a police checkpoint. Who's driving? When I told that part of my work will be travelling to the various project sites around Senegal, I was asked before leaving whether I would be driving or would have a driver. Well, the second option is closer, though it is not a vehicle for me only, but for at least 6 other people besides me. One of the most commo...

Today once again I am about to leave the cute little town of Mboro, my more or less permanent place of residence in Senegal and replace it with Dakar, the less cute and crowded capital of Senegal - this time to welcome my boyfriend for a visit to the Western tip of Africa. Visiting Dakar from time to time for work and leisure is a great pleasure – and almost like a visit to a wonderland. If selecting carefully places to go to, one could live in Dakar pretty much like in a European city. At least if one has enough money, as I tend to use in one day in Dakar the amount of money I would use in a month in Mboro. So here we go: seven wonders of Dakar that I personally have enjoyed. 1. Modern art The month of May was especially good culture-wise in Senegal. In the end of May I travelled for the annual jazz festival in Saint-Louis, northern Senegal, where I also visited some art galleries with exhibitions related to the Dakar Biennale, month-long modern art happening in Dakar and in a minor ...

During the last few days I have done some extensive online searching - on out of all the people - Lil Wayne, financially one of the most successful American rappers at the moment. Yet recently, as Wikipedia tells me, he has changed into rock with less enthusiastic reactions from the critics. Why Lil Wayne? Last Saturday was the World Environment Day, and I participated in the activities organized by the scout project workers in the town of Kolda in Casamance. The last activity was a film screening, and as we are still missing proper videos on environmental education, we showed one film obtained from Kolda's Water and Forest management service (Eaux et Forets) on sustainable forest management in the region, beekeeping and income-generating activities for the local women. To attract more audience and keep people entertained while waiting for the actual screening to begin, we normally show music videos, images of nature or just play music with the loudspeakers. As it happened, one of...

”It smells like Africa.” I remember having this lovely cliché in my mind when descending from the plane at the airport of Dakar 7 weeks ago. A similar general mixed smell of earth, wind and fire (!) might exist in other continents on the same climate zone, but having only been to Europe, Africa and North America so far, for me it is the smell of Africa, both East and West.  I take it as a sign of acculturation to be able to distinguish smells related to Senegalese food: I can tell now whether the restaurant at work place is preparing the most common dish, fish with rice (tiepboudjen) or maybe peanut sauce with rice (mafe). While walking on the street, I recognize the smell of the little meat/fish pies, fried in oil and stuffed with spicy onion-tomato sauce. The smell of the Senegalese tea (ataaya) is also easily distinguishable with a strong smell of - well, less surprisingly - tea, with several (dozen) spoonfuls of sugar and fresh leaves of mint.  Unfortunately, often the sme...

I thought of comparing a bit the different work environments I have been exposed to lately: the European Commission in Brussels, and the project Jappoo/Woomal by the Senegalese scouts where I am working at the moment in Mboro, Senegal. This post is thus dedicated to all my fellow colleagues at the Commission :) The climate conditions and surroundings are certainly different when compared to the grey skies of Brussels. There won't be a drop of rain in Mboro before June, for sure, and the daytime temperatures hover around 30 degrees – in the morning only 21-22 degrees with a bit of wind and clouds. During the 30-minute walk to work on the straight road to the center of Mboro from my house, I encounter approximately three cars, four horse or donkey carts, a few other people walking and one bicycle. Not much traffic here. This morning, for example, I passed by a woman who carried a huge pile of firewood on her head, had around a 3-year-old child on her back, and a teddy bear in her lef...

I am housed in CIFOP , Centre International de Formation Pratique which is situated around 3 kilometres from the town of Mboro. CIFOP has been financed with the help of Luxemburgish scouts since 1988, and it offers its students teaching, lodging and one meal a day for 10,000 CFAs / month (around 15 euros). The fields of learning include agronomy, woodwork, metallurgy, mechanics, hairdressing and construction. I just realised yesterday that I'm living in a vocational school ("amiska" :) in Finnish), though a bit isolated from the students and their classes. My house, which is actually a studio, comprising one room and a bathroom. It's quite adorable, really, and luxurious with its own, Western-style toilet when compared to the students' rooms. The obligatory selection of flip-flops in different colours. The golden curtains are not exactly my style, but now I have already gotten used to them - and acquired yellow sheets to go with them. The view from my terrace: m...

Almost a month had passed in Senegal: a lot of the time it has meant moving around, from city to another city or inside the limits of a city. Rufisque, Dakar, Fimela, Toubab Dialaw, Mboro...the time spent in various vehicles of public transport or walking would make something like 60-70 hours in total, I guess. The local transport that I used for moving inside Dakar during one week consisted mostly of blue "Dakar Dem Dikk" (= Dakar aller-retour) buses. I was proud to be able to mainly use the public transport, although it is a lot hotter and more time-consuming than taking a private taxi. Although taxis would cost something like 1,5 euros to 6 euros maximum in the Dakar city area, it feels ridiculous to pay that much when I know that a bus, 10-20 times cheaper, will also take me to my destination. My decision could have been different if I had not stayed very near of the end stop of the bus line 7. Getting into the bus with the first passengers meant that I could get a seat,...