Showing my "Teranga" - May 10th

It has been forever since my last blog entry, but as surprising as it might seem, life has been moving pretty fast here in Senegal. Last week I had two friends come to visit – Cari from New York City and Julie, making her way to Africa all the way from Colorado. The first few days of their visit we spent in Dakar. Cari and Julie came with me to the College Le Damel to meet my students and mingle with the faculty. After the visit, both are emphatic about sending me a care package for the children. It would appear that they had the same reaction to the school as I did – the children are in dire need of supplies. After our first day at school, we went to Mame Diarra’s home (where I eat most of my meals) to deliver the things that she had requested from America. A box of Bisquick to make pancakes and as many Top Ramen soups that Cari could fit in her suitcase (which ended up being a ton.) She couldn’t have been more excited about this gift…it’s the simple things in life that matter, right? I mean, who doesn’t love a fresh batch of pancakes in the morning?!!! After 3 long, fun days in Dakar we took a boat to the Casamance Region of Senegal (see pics!.) I booked us three “couchettes” so that we could sleep the 16 long hours away and, hopefully, end up in Casamance well-rested. Unfortunately, that wasn’t exactly the case. The “couchette” cabin was more like the steerage cabin as beds were laid out one after another in a huge room. Essentially, one is required to sleep 2 feet from an absolute stranger. For Senegalese, most likely, this doesn’t prove to be as much of a problem considering that they seem to all know each other. For Cari, Julie, and I this was absolutely crazy. When we finally decided to take the plunge and make our way to the steerage cabin to sleep the night away we noticed that everyone had (much-needed) blankets.The cabin was freezing and we only had three wet towels and a change of clothes to provide warmth, so we decided to find ourselves some blankets. Somehow Julie and I found our way down to the main area (the boat was impossible to navigate) and I found the guy who claimed to be the blanket man. I wasn’t even sure at that point if he even worked for the boat company as he wasn’t wearing a uniform. With that said, he demanded my passport in return for a blanket, and I gasped at the idea. He told me, in a very strict manner, that he was not “completely joking” as I had accused him of, and that one passport = one blanket. This was ludicrous so I went back to the cabin empty handed. When I returned, having been accompanied by Julie, we decided we would turn into ice cubes without covers. Julie, luckily or unluckily, found two blankets on two empty beds. It was around two in the morning at that point so we were sure that the blankets did not have owners. She had hit the jackpot. At least we thought so until I was woken up an hour later by a really nice Senegalese woman who wanted her blanket back. Graciously, she said that we could keep the other blanket that belonged to her sister. I quickly asked her about the passport situation and to my amazement the blanket man was, in fact, the blanket man, and did require a passport for a blanket. We had, unknowingly, stolen this woman (and her sisters’) blankets!!! Moral of the story: take the flight, skip the boat. We arrived in Zinguinchor just in time for lunch. We were met at the dock by our guide/body guard Moussa for the next two days. Moussa is the brother of my friend Manga who is an artist at the Village D’Art here in Dakar. Our first stop was our hotel “Le Perroquet,” a quaint, affordable, French-owned spot located on the Casamance River. It was perfect. After “freshening-up” we hit up a local restaurant and toured the town. For dinner we returned to the same restaurant for some drinks and live music. The second day we rented a pirogue and a guide for the day. We visited the Island of Birds and two other local islands. This gave us a taste for “real” Senegalese life in the region of Casamance. We discovered a beautiful, tiny beach on one of the islands and Cari and I took a quick dip in the water. It was something between a beach a river and a lake. The only other non-Senegalese person visible was an older French man who had sailed to the island and was hanging out somewhere below deck on his sailboat. What a paradise. Throughout our stint in Casamance we continued to run into these two older French women who were on holiday in Africa. Both were well traveled and had great spirits. One of the women was leaving in the morning on the same flight to Dakar as us and was staying at the hotel next door. We decided to share a cab to the airport the following morning. When we arrived at the small Zinguinchor airport (and hour prior to our flight) we were told that we were late and that the plane was full. After an hour of attempting to reason with the guys at the airport the only solution we came up with was to take the late flight back to Dakar from Cap Skiing that night. So we hired a taximan and we were on our way. The drive was about two hours but it was well worth it. I told the taximan to take us to a hotel on the beach and that he did. We ended up at paradise. The hotel was situated on one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever been to, complete with palm trees and topless Europeans. Missing the flight could not have been a better mishap. Cari and Julie flew out of Dakar the following night – I cried on the cab ride home. Last Saturday, the project that I have been working on with Cheikh finally came to fruition and was a huge success. The theme of the project was “Clandestine” – immigration. Illegal immigration is a problem in Senegal as many Senegalese leave in search of a “better life” in Europe. I chose six students who have a background in art to work with artists from the Village D’Art to create paintings that represent their views on immigration. On Saturday, the village had an expose of the artwork of the students followed by a sketch by the English Club and a concert to close the day. I couldn’t have been more excited with the outcome of this project as the talent of the students was hard to miss on the day of the exposition. The local television station came and covered the exposition of the kids and stars were made. I was amazed at home many people saw the coverage on TV (both in Wolof and French) and happy about the exposure for Senecorps