Blogs from Fatick Region, Senegal, Africa - page 3

Vanaf Dakar gaan we zuidwaarts, even onder Dakar monden de rivieren Siné en Saloum uit in de Atlantische oceaan. De Siné-Saloum delta die zich daar heeft gevormd is een uitgestrekt gebied met moeras, lagunes en mangrove bossen. We gaan met een relatief comfortabele, maar zeker 20 jaar oude touringcar richting Mbour vandaar neem we een bush-taxi naar Joal Fadiout, twee kleine dorpjes aan de rand van de delta. We vinden goedkoop onderdak bij een gids die ons daarna, natuurlijk, een boottochtje probeert te verkopen, maar zijn prijzen zijn echt te belachelijk. We slapen in het dorpje Fadiout, dat in tegenstelling tot de rest of Senegal 98% katholiek en 2% moslim is. Fadiout ligt op een eiland en is met een houten loopbrug verbonden met Joal (en de rest van de wereld). Om een ander eiland ... read more

Farewell Foundiougne I have one full day left in Foundiougne. It’s been nearly seven weeks since I rolled into town full of enthusiasm and energy. There have been times where the weeks have felt like months as I’ve struggled to understand conversations. But there have been times when I’ve felt a real fondness for the town and I will be sad to say goodbye to some of the friends I have made here. I’ve been invited into many aspects of the town’s life that most of the visiting tourists would never see. Just the other morning, I found myself at the baptism ceremony for the nephew of WAAME’s Director, eating “Lakh” (A kind of warm millet porridge with cinnamon, raisins and soured milk), watching the cutting of a small lock of the baby’s hair and then ... read more

La Lutte “La Lutte” has several meanings in French - it’s often used to signify a “struggle” or “fight”, as in “the fight against poverty”. When it comes to traditional wrestling though, La Lutte surely has to mean the struggle the largely female audience has to contain itself. Picture in your mind those well-screened images of screaming women (and men), beating their own heads in hysteria as John, Paul, George and Ringo played inaudibly on a stage in the middle of a stadium somewhere in the states. Now dress the audience in colourful sparkling robes and dresses and dim the lights to near darkness. Add a deafening rhythm from 10 drums, strip the Beatles down to their underpants (no, actually take off their pants and give them some hot pants and a thong), put them on ... read more

Sunshine At Night “Soleil Pendant La Nuit?” (Sunshine At Night?) was just one of the posters we put up around Foundiougne's market place early on Tuesday morning before the traders arrived. Tuesday is the town’s weekly market and the road outside WAAME’s Centre De Resources is always packed with people, overloaded buses and carts, goats, sheep, donkeys, pigs and hungry looking horses - skin hanging off their hips like a heavy jumper off a wire coat hanger. With only a handful of actual “products” to show people (materials have been and continue to be stuck at Dakar Airport since the 29th September), I set the group a mini-project of planning, organising and holding a public education day to raise awareness of the group itself (who have now called themselves “FES” - “Foundiougnoise de l’Energie Solaire”), of ... read more

There’s more to life than goats I’ve been a “resident” of Foundiougne since the 16th September - Two and a half weeks doesn’t make me a fully fledged resident I know but it’s enough for me to start feeling a bit more involved in the town and slightly less obsessed by the weather. It’s long enough for me to know the difference between two different types of Thiebu Dien (The “National Dish” comprising some kind of fried fish, rice of one of two colours, a mixture of obscure vegetables and the all important tamarind sauce which gives it the unique taste - I love it). Actually 3 types of Thiebu Dien if you include the one played on the “Tam Tams” Yes, I’ve found myself a drumming teacher. Ousamane is actually the towns Maitre Batteur which ... read more