Food for thought...

Having now lived in Senegal for almost 8 months, there are many sights and cultural phenomena that no longer strike me as strange. Seeing sheep and goats piled on top of public transport, watching a cow SLEEP on a horse-drawn carriage or eating out of a communal bowl with lots of snotty children... now un-phased.   However, there are a few things here in Senegal that, despite how much time I spend adapting to village life, still strike me as drastically different from the American culture in which I was raised.

On a daily basis I get the pleasure of interacting with seven amazing children (those that live within my compound). None of these children exceed the age of 11, though all of them are working on daily chores for the majority of the day. Fatou, a sassy pre-teen/my namesake/one of my best informants, is quickly learning the skills she needs to be a wife and a mother. Her responsibilities include sweeping and cleaning the compound, washing clothes (including mine), cooking lunch and dinner, pounding millet and pulling water from the well for the family to both drink and shower…all done while carrying baby Sulemon on her back (considering he prefers her back to his own mother’s). The younger sister, Awa (age 5), is quickly following in Fatou’s footsteps and beginning to share responsibility in many of these tasks. As boys, Aadama (twin of Awa) and Mali (age 8) are responsible for taking care of the farm animals (goats, sheep, ducks, chickens, a cow and a donkey). Every morning they get up at dawn to venture into the bush and fill large rice sacks with weeds to feed the animals, in addition to watering them twice daily. This may sound cruel to many, though I see a strong desire in very small children to start this process and contribute to the family’s wellbeing. Aissatou, age 3, frequently follows Fatou to the well with a kilo-tomato paste can in hopes of filling it with water, carrying it on her head and adding to the family’s water reserves. And when my morning goal was to carry extensive amounts of manure from the backyard to my small demonstration garden, I was followed by 7 or so children working to contribute their small portions of manure to my pile. In experiencing all of this, I can’t help but think that we need a taste of it in rearing our children. Make the 3-year old cook dinner! Put the 5-year-old in charge of babysitting! Or at the very least get them away from the video games or TV…

In addition, I recently had an extensive conversation with the French teacher in Saly. He was able to give me some great insight as to how families in Senegalese communities deal with money matters. As the eldest brother in his family and the most prosperous, he is responsible for funding the entire Muslim celebration of Tabaski each year (a Thanksgiving or Christmas equivalent). This involves buying new clothing for each member of his family, any food for the day and, of course, the sheep. For his family, he said, these expenses could add up to a couple thousand dollars and successfully empty his bank account/savings from the previous year of work. This does not matter. Here, if you have funds, you share them. If you see an individual wandering the streets with no way to eat/survive, you take them in or provide them with a meal…even if it generates a burden for you and your family. Our closest neighbor in village, a woman named Marem Dimb, is pretty darn old and pretty darn blind. Her daily visits to our house usually result in lots of laughter (specifically from her fear of my cat that she cannot see) but often in my father offering her some money from the family funds, despite the fact that they may not be able to afford this. Why is sharing money such a problem in our culture? This is something else I think we can learn from, Senegalese will share until they have nothing left…though maybe we shouldn’t go this far…

            Anyway, just thought I would share a few things that I’ve been thinking about and provide a little more insight into some cultural values here. Time in village involves a lot of moments to sit and drink tea and ponder all of this. Until next time!