Moving, vol. 2
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 common forms of public transport between towns is a shared 7-place taxi.
Having a taxi driver who is accustomed to the Senegalese traffic culture is, nevertheless, not always a good thing.
The driver on the way to Kolda (10-11 hours in a seven-place taxi, including a crossing over the river Gambia and the country of Gambia) was a perfect example of reckless driving. In addition to nerve-wrecking situations with some pedestrians when driving through towns, he would gulp water from a huge container, blocking his sight to the road for quite a few seconds at a time (those seconds felt long...). My colleague travelling with me saw the look on my face when this happened the first time, and he giggled: ”This doesn't happen in Finland, does it?”
Security questions aside, I don't really mind travelling in public transport. Normally nobody bothers me, and it's still an interesting cultural experience for me, although I have done it for dozens of times already in different African countries. If lucky, there is at least some music in the car - normally either Senegalese mbalax or religious music - since otherwise there is little activity inside the car: people tend to sit quietly, perhaps fiddling their mobile phones or sleeping.
Small is beautiful
Windshields of seven-place taxis and mini buses normally contain a plethora of different stickers. Verses of the Qur'an, photos of wrestlers, marabouts (religous leaders or healers, depending on the context) or of the 80s Madonna (the singer) often cover a fair amount of the windshield, often half smashed or at least cracking badly. In Finland already one small crack in the windshield is the start of a disaster. Here if it is still somehow possible to see through the window or to scotch it together, nobody sees the need to change it yet as it's still working fine!
Seeing a flashy European Commission four-wheel-drive whoosh by while sitting in a minibus and waiting it to continue moving along on the sandroad in the middle of a stretch of villages between Niakhar and Diourbel (both our project sites) made me smile and think how different development cooperation work can be, depending on the organization. It would definitely be a very different experience to work for a big international structure here - more comfortable and better-paid, for sure, but right now I am happy to avoid all the rigid bureaucracy and work with actual people on the ground. But, just to give an image of the type of car we were in:
NGO-style travelling in Senegal: "air-conditioning" works even through the bottom of the car.
Speed limit signs by the roads are less common in Senegal than in European countries. Then again, I'm not really wondering why: maybe two cars out of hundred in which I have been in Senegal (excluding private people's cars) have had working speed meters. In any case, most roads have either speed bumps or are in such a bad condition thtt it is not possible to go faster than 40 kilometres per hour.
Money, money, money
The further from the capital one gets, the more the roads deteriorate and often drivers prefer driving on the less bumpy sand path which forms next to the asphalt road. Though the Gambian roads were a lot worse than Senegalese ones: sand roads, making them very dusty during the dry season and probably very difficult to drive during the rain season. Luckily the European Union is funding the construction of the new Trans-Gambian road: for all European readers, that's where your tax money goes, too, not only to fund the nice EC cars of the workers of the EU Delegation!
In any case, it is not the cars that I am jealous for big organizations, but having money in general. I have used my own francs to make more copies of an information brochure on the project, as our copying money for the month was finished (maximum 4000 CFA, giving you 80 one-side copies), or to buy magazines or other material related to environment as there is no budget for that. Also, when sending invitations for a local discussion forum on waste management we had to count every franc when printing the invitation, copying it and buying the envelopes. We ended up buying the small envelopes as they were only half price (50 CFA, 8 cents) compared to the A4 envelopes. Although it's good for environment to use less paper, the lack of being able to print things without paying 50 cents for each sheet of paper really does complicate work sometimes.
I doubt that the EC or UN offices have these kind of problems. However, the sound of vuvuzela reminds me that it would also be unlikely to watch World Cup matches on TV with your colleagues and other passers-by :) So, here we go, Ghana should draw quite an audience in front of the project site / restaurant TV set!
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 common forms of public transport between towns is a shared 7-place taxi.
Having a taxi driver who is accustomed to the Senegalese traffic culture is, nevertheless, not always a good thing.
The driver on the way to Kolda (10-11 hours in a seven-place taxi, including a crossing over the river Gambia and the country of Gambia) was a perfect example of reckless driving. In addition to nerve-wrecking situations with some pedestrians when driving through towns, he would gulp water from a huge container, blocking his sight to the road for quite a few seconds at a time (those seconds felt long...). My colleague travelling with me saw the look on my face when this happened the first time, and he giggled: ”This doesn't happen in Finland, does it?”
Security questions aside, I don't really mind travelling in public transport. Normally nobody bothers me, and it's still an interesting cultural experience for me, although I have done it for dozens of times already in different African countries. If lucky, there is at least some music in the car - normally either Senegalese mbalax or religious music - since otherwise there is little activity inside the car: people tend to sit quietly, perhaps fiddling their mobile phones or sleeping.
Small is beautiful
Windshields of seven-place taxis and mini buses normally contain a plethora of different stickers. Verses of the Qur'an, photos of wrestlers, marabouts (religous leaders or healers, depending on the context) or of the 80s Madonna (the singer) often cover a fair amount of the windshield, often half smashed or at least cracking badly. In Finland already one small crack in the windshield is the start of a disaster. Here if it is still somehow possible to see through the window or to scotch it together, nobody sees the need to change it yet as it's still working fine!
Seeing a flashy European Commission four-wheel-drive whoosh by while sitting in a minibus and waiting it to continue moving along on the sandroad in the middle of a stretch of villages between Niakhar and Diourbel (both our project sites) made me smile and think how different development cooperation work can be, depending on the organization. It would definitely be a very different experience to work for a big international structure here - more comfortable and better-paid, for sure, but right now I am happy to avoid all the rigid bureaucracy and work with actual people on the ground. But, just to give an image of the type of car we were in:
NGO-style travelling in Senegal: "air-conditioning" works even through the bottom of the car.
Speed limit signs by the roads are less common in Senegal than in European countries. Then again, I'm not really wondering why: maybe two cars out of hundred in which I have been in Senegal (excluding private people's cars) have had working speed meters. In any case, most roads have either speed bumps or are in such a bad condition thtt it is not possible to go faster than 40 kilometres per hour.
Money, money, money
The further from the capital one gets, the more the roads deteriorate and often drivers prefer driving on the less bumpy sand path which forms next to the asphalt road. Though the Gambian roads were a lot worse than Senegalese ones: sand roads, making them very dusty during the dry season and probably very difficult to drive during the rain season. Luckily the European Union is funding the construction of the new Trans-Gambian road: for all European readers, that's where your tax money goes, too, not only to fund the nice EC cars of the workers of the EU Delegation!
In any case, it is not the cars that I am jealous for big organizations, but having money in general. I have used my own francs to make more copies of an information brochure on the project, as our copying money for the month was finished (maximum 4000 CFA, giving you 80 one-side copies), or to buy magazines or other material related to environment as there is no budget for that. Also, when sending invitations for a local discussion forum on waste management we had to count every franc when printing the invitation, copying it and buying the envelopes. We ended up buying the small envelopes as they were only half price (50 CFA, 8 cents) compared to the A4 envelopes. Although it's good for environment to use less paper, the lack of being able to print things without paying 50 cents for each sheet of paper really does complicate work sometimes.
I doubt that the EC or UN offices have these kind of problems. However, the sound of vuvuzela reminds me that it would also be unlikely to watch World Cup matches on TV with your colleagues and other passers-by :) So, here we go, Ghana should draw quite an audience in front of the project site / restaurant TV set!
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