... since I last wrote. Heike and Door, friends from school, arrived. Theyll be here for 3 weeks and together with them I went to see the Lac Rose. Well, he wasnt actually pink that day, but it was really impressive to see how hard people have to work to get the salt out of the water. Of course, we floated on the lake, a special experience. Yesterday, it rained again. This time, water entered my bedroom, my matras being nicely wet at the end. great!!!! I started working with the women too. Impressive girls and working with them is always [View Full Entry]

---

---

so it must be about ten days I havent updated, but black africa is too intense for stoping and posting. also internet speed blows, so its pain... well, saint louis was fun and relaxd, I got there with a spanish guy that I met up again by chance in the boat to casamance from dakar. we got there from nouakchott with two french dudes, one of which was crazy and scary enough for me to smile and nod at any of his crazy theories about vendors taking your energy away by touching you or the hot wind burning his skin, and [View Full Entry]

---

---

I know as soon as you read that title you thought I got married! LOL. Not quite :) But I did finally get the chance to check out a traditional Senegalese wedding. Social events like weddings and baptisms are HUGE here. Weddings typically last all day long and well into the night with festivities being held at several houses or even entire neighborhoods! Muslim couples generally have a brief ceremony at their local mosque and then another civil ceremony at the courthouse. I've written before about my friend, Awa. Her cousin recently got married and we went to the ceremony. Weddings [View Full Entry]

---

---

Ils Du Goree ıs located just off the coast of Dakar, though ıt feels lıke a mıllıon miles away from the cıty. It´s peaceful and quıte, fresh and surrounded by clean crystal water. The colonıal strustures that have been destroyed around the maınland stıll stand on Goree and make for beautıful scenery. The ısland ıs unfortuntaly famous for ıt´s connectıon wıth the slave trade. It´s true hıstory ıs a lıttle merky, and the actual extent of the the ıslands ınvolvment ıs unclear, but ın [View Full Entry]

---

---

Here are some small movies, so you get an impression about whats going on here. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Travel is so easy in South East Asia. Generally, you arrive at the bus station, buy a ticket and have a cushy, air conditioned drive to where ever. Not in Africa. There is little to no public transport in many African countries, so most travel is done using 4WD vehicles or "sept-place" taxis, French for "7 seats". That's 7 people crowd into a little wagon that seats 7 (5.5) people. On first glance the whole ordeal just appears very haphazard and confusing, but once you get the hang of it, there's quite a rhythm to the madness. I've met my fair [View Full Entry]

---

---

Here they are. Not so easy to get them online... [View Full Entry]

---

---

You should know that: the suburbs of Dakar, the capital of one of the more developped African countries, was without any water supplies for 3 days I was at 2 weddings, but I never saw the groom. In fact I assisted two huge parties for the bride. Great, isnt it, girls? At the 2nd wedding, the lights went out when the bride finally came. No electricity. After having waited for her for hours. You think thats a good start for a marriage??? [View Full Entry]

---

---

Ok, now I finally have a plan for work. Today, I am seeing the children of Daara Hamo for the 3rd time. In total, well be together 8 times, with a big party at the end. Monday I will start with Enda Sante and the prostitutes too. I will work with 2 groups, seeing each of them twice a week for 2 hours. We will sing, dance, play the djembes. Group leaders and leaders of the organisation will participate too, they want to learn as much as possible to improve their work with the women. I hope it will be good, [View Full Entry]

---

---

We're quite far behind on our blog entries. If we have had internet, it's been painfully slow, so pictures have been pretty much out of the question until now. It's hard to know where to begin describing Senegal. I regret not taking a tape recorder and as much as I don't want to smell many of the scents of Dakar ever again, it would be an effective way to convey some of the chaos that is Senegal. An English traveller referred to Tanzania as "proper Africa", which it was, but I guess then that Senegal is just a poorer version of [View Full Entry]

---

---