Rotary Meeting

Tonight I went downtown Dakar by myself for the first time. I took a taxi there for my first Rotary meeting. The cab driver that took me there of course wanted too much money, and I told him my price, and he told me the higher one again, and I told him I wasn't a tourist but that I lived here and I know the price and he said "alright, I agree with your price, let's go." Haha : ) The meeting was at Hotel Teranga, which is one of the nicest hotels in Dakar. I used the restroom before the meeting and there were rose petals sprinkled around the countertop of the sinks. Much nicer than the bathroom here at my house, to say the least. The meeting precisely (with Rotary time) at 7pm. There were about 25 people at the meeting, and I was one of three women. My host Rotary Club is the oldest Rotary Club in West Africa and they are VERY proud of the history of their club. The club is filled with an assortment of Senegalese as well as some French and other foreigners who live in Dakar. I look forward to finding out more of their occupations, but there's an assortment of businessmen and two men who work for the United Nations. All of them were as nice and helpful as the Rotarians I've spent time with in the Midwest. One man gave a presentation on the role of "service above self" in Rotary which led to an intense discussion about people groups, the role of religion and politics, and generalizing people. It was quite interesting. I am the first Cultural Ambassador that this club has hosted, so one of the past Presidents gave an overview of what my role here is and I gave a brief introduction about myself. We exchanged Rotary banners, so now I have one from Dakar to give to the Bloomington Club. I'm really looking forward to getting more involved with this club. They seem like an energetic group of people.

Another Rotarian scholar arrived yesterday in Dakar. She is from Alaska and will be spending the year in St. Louis for graduate school, as she is an Academic Scholar. But for this month, she will be in Dakar taking French classes. Also, a group of students from UW Madison showed up this morning and they will be taking classes for a month, until the Kzoo College students come back from St. Louis.