Blogs from Dakar, Cape Verde Peninsula, Senegal, Africa - page 5

(Sorry for the pictures. The first day that I could go out and take them, it was hazy). It's been five years that I left Africa.......so when we landed at 430am, I was not sure what to expect: excited on the one hand but nervous on the other. I have to admit that I was also mentally prepared to go to battle, given all those years I spent fighting my way past corrupt officers, police, and officials asking for cadeaux and threatening you. But to my surprise, everyone was calm and friendly. So we snaked along the Cape from the airport in the city center on the corniche road......it was very dry and sandy, the desert meeting the sea. All along the road were posh restaurants, casinos, and patesseries packed with party-goers at 5am. The houses--mansions--were ... read more

Dakar, located at the extreme point west of the Atlantic ocean, is one of the largest cities of Senegal. Dakar, like many colonial cities such Cap-Haitian, Jamaica, Guadeloupe or Martinique, made the glorious days of the Trans-Atlantic trade and later the slave trade, which began in the middle of 16th century. Dakar, the capital city of Senegal, is today one of the most cosmopolitan city in West Africa and a place for many to learn about human resistance to oppression and slavery and also to gain a needed perspective on the Islamic faith. Like many foreigners, I made my pilgrimage to Goree Island. With this visit, I paid my respect to the fallen heroes of the slave trade that the Portuguese initiated around 1530's and later culminated with the French extensive colonial presence in the region. ... read more

I will try to update more frequently now. A Beloit professor, Marion Fass, is visiting Dakar for the week with a friend. Marion teaches biology with specialization in infectious disease. She is especially interested in the HIV/AIDS class the Beloit students are taking. Yesterday as a group we visited a youth center which acts as both an AIDS education hub and a free testing center. I will be working with a group for the Dakar in Transition class on the Senegalese reaction to the pandemic so this center will work as a good jumping off point.... read more

Finally, time to update my blog!!! The o and i keys haven't been working on my laptop, so typing anything when I'm home takes forEVER. Thus, I'm stuck to updating at school... I have lots of free time on Mondays and Wednesdays, but I went out to lunch Monday and Wednesday we have off because its the end of Ramadan... ANYWAYS, I am glad to finally have time to properly update. Where to begin... last time I updated, I was planning on signing on again to describe our weekend trip to Toubab Diallo. So... last weekend all of CIEE Dakar packed in to two mini buses and drove 2 hours to this tiny fishing village, Toubab Diallo. We stayed in the most adorable hotel/resort (not luxurious but pretty much all inclusive) right on the ocean. It ... read more

I’ve been on African for one week and two days and I just don’t know where to begin! As you may have already guessed, I arrived in Dakar safely though bag-less. I can tell you that declaring lost luggage in a foreign airport at 4:30am was not how I had hoped to spend my first hour in Senegal, but hey, it was a lesson in patience. My bag came a few days later, fully intact, for anyone who might be wondering. The first few days myself and the other 14 students in my study abroad group (3 other girls from Beloit and 11 students in Kalamazoo program) were lodged in an apartment. In that first day we became acutely aware of one of the realities of living in Dakar- the unreliability of the electricity. Nothing reminds ... read more