Embassy, School, Concert, and Little Sister

Last week I visited the US Embassy to check in with them and get some questions answered. I went with a friend of mine who had never been there before either. The taxi dropped us off at a corner and insisted that the building we were in front of was the US Embassy. I looked up at the building and although there were police outside of it you could still walk right into the building so I kinda figured it wasn't the right one. So we walked down the street, which we realized was blocked off and that's why the taxi dropped us where he did. Anyway, down the blocked off street, next to the Lebanese Embassy, is a giant fortress of an embassy… the US Embassy. Tons of guards and the tightest security I've seen anywhere. I've been told that the US Embassy has much more security than any other building in Dakar. And that the Senegalese were annoyed when the US Embassy was allowed to close down the street in front of it for security reasons, cause it was a major street in downtown Dakar. The security process to get into the building was equally strict. But although it took way too much time, all went well. The Americans get to walk by the 50 or so Senegalese who are waiting around probably asking for visas and walk straight to the back where there's a special waiting room for US citizens and the waiting time is less than 10 minutes. I ran into the woman who runs the organization 10,000 Girls at the embassy and talked to her a bit more about the libraries, so that was convenient.

Thursday I visited a school (Ecole Point E II) where a group of former Rotary Scholars started a school lunch program a few years ago. It's a school in a rich neighborhood but the kids who go there come from the surrounding neighborhoods and most have hardly any money. There were many kids who didn't have anything to eat for lunch. Since the program started, the scores of the students have improved and the attention span in the afternoon has increased. The kids at the school were so great. We almost started a mini riot when we got a picture taken with them because they were so excited and basically started trampling each other… but no one was hurt. The school started an organic garden last year and it's located on the roof. The students help out with it and all the food gets used in the school lunches. They are typically given rice, beef, and some vegetables. The program was originally financed by Rotary clubs and private donors from the states, but now the students who are able to pay 150cfa per meal (about 60 cents American). Those who can't afford it are able to eat anyway. But the 150cfa per student does not come close to paying for the meal, the rest is still financed by people in the United States. They are concerned about having the means to keep the program going. So if you or your group or your organization or your church would like to get involved in a meaningful way of helping students who have nothing to eat… let me know. Many of the students who eat through the lunch program get most of their daily calories from that meal because their families don't have the money to nourish them well. The three Rotary scholars who started the program are still helping manage it from the States and are in constant communication with the project manager here in Dakar.

Friday night I went to a live concert downtown Dakar. It was a Senegalese band who broke up 7 years ago and Friday night was their reunion concert. They want to put together at least two more albums. The theater was packed with people. The chairs were filled early and there were tons of people standing all around as well. The group is called Misaal. All their songs are in Wolof. They played for about 2 1/2 hours. They were absolutely incredible! The crowd was involved immediately, and all the Senegalese there knew all the words to the songs. The first song began with a chorus that had the lyrics "Asalaa Maalekum! Maalekum Salaam!" which is the basic greeting here in Wolof. So the singer sang the first part, and the audience replied with the response. It was fabulous. My Wolof is extremely limited, so I didn't understand what most of the songs were about, but I was able to pick up on some things and that was great! People from the audience came down and started dancing in front of the stage facing the rest of the audience. I wish I had a video of the way they dance, cause I can assure you it's not at all anything that you're used to. There are a few clips on youtube from the concert… they're not very good but you can get an idea of the kind of music as well as the noise of the crowd…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXaVdzpaeH4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQNPLlyjV_s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1eNAMYGnlE

My host sister just walked up over to me singing a song that can be translated as… "There is a girl in the living room, working, on her computer, and her name is Shannon." She has been whining about everything all day, not seriously, but she thinks it's joking. Every time something doesn't go her way she says "It's not fair!" (C'est pas juste) really loudly and flails her arms and proceeds to hide her face and fake cry. It may sound cute or funny, but I assure you it's extremely annoying. Right now I promise you that she just changed her made up song to "I am sitting here singing, and now I'm going to sing a phrase that Shannon doesn't like me to say, it's not fair, it's not fair, it's not fair." She is so starved for attention. She just decided that because I'm working, she must work to, and started counting really fast.

Someone was knocking on the front door to the compound about 2 minutes ago. There is a doorbell, but they were knocking. Marianne called "Ko Kan La" (who is that? In wolof). No one answered. Fatou ran over and called the same thing. No answer. So then she walked away muttering something and headed to go answer the door. Mohammed and Marianne (who are on the couch by me) quickly knocked on the wood table and Marianne insisted that I do so as well. I asked why, and Mohammed explained that when Fatou walked to the door she muttered that it was probably a sorcerer that made the knocking sound on the door. So, because sorcery was talked about, they had to knock on wood and I had to as well. Oh, Senegal.

I found a way to quiet Marianne's singing. I started quietly singing "Away in a Manger" and she was quiet so that she could hear me. Perfect : ) And now she has started singing a real song, not a made up one, which I can live with.