Saving a life

I was taking a Sunday afternoon stroll with some Senegalese friends after a big, heavy, traditional lunch. On our way back I heard the most heart-breaking cry from a big pile of trash. It was the most fragile kitten, no more than two weeks old. It could hardly walk and tumbled around, while calling its mother. I have little by little become 'used' to seeing these poor, helpless animals in the streets. There are so many! Especially, in the beginning you feel a constant nausea passing by this sad reality, and I guess it never leaves a true animal lover. For some reason, in this case it was impossible for me to just move on. I searched everywhere to find the mom or at least other siblings, to be reassured that someone would come to take care of the kitten at some point. Nothing was to be found. Usually if it is an area close to my place I would come back later to check up, but this was fare away from where I live, so I decided to take la petite with me right away. Senegalese purely connect cats and dogs with dirty, street animals, and would NEVER in any way touch them or even look at them. They do not understand the concept of pets. Why spend time and money on taking care of a dirty animal when you hardly have enough to take care of your family. So you can only imagine the looks coming my way as I was talking through the streets in the neighbourhood carrying a loudly crying, very dirty kitten. Not only is it a Toubab wondering around, but she is for some reason carrying a CAT!!?

I brought it back to my Senegalese family who lives close by. I was worried about their reaction. I knew I would not be able to do much for the kitten in the long-run, since I am leaving in a week, so what I was about to do, was actually forcing family to take care of the cat.... They must be so tired of all my crazy Toubab ideas. But they weren't even surprised when I introduced them to their new friend. They were just shaking their heads saying "Diouma, Diouma, Diouma - la protectrice". The youngest daughter was, surprisingly enough, overly excited and was completely understood with being its new mom. Never had I seen that coming. We gave it a wash to get rid of the worst flees and parasites and furnished a little basket with cloths and towels for it to live in for the first days. I bought milk and a small bottle, and showed the kids how to hold it and feed it. Now she is fast asleep in her new home. They have decided to call her Diouma...

The land of the Boababs

Senegal is one of the few countries in the World that has the gigantic, strange-looking tree growing in abundance. There is something about this tree that increasingly has fascinated me during my stay down here. Well, first of all, it is obviously a tree that by mistake has been planted into Mother Earth upside down! In general, Baobabs are associated with so many crazy facts and mystical stories. Here in Senegal, they are perceived as sacred, and one should never take their branches or fruits before the tree lets go on its own. From the (fallen?) Baobab fruits they make a thick, yellow juice called bouille, which is quite effective of you have a funny stomach. The white and black Baobab stones that are hidden inside the fruit are used for decorations and jewellery. When a Baobab reaches its 200th birthday the inside of the tree starts to disappear and within a short amount of time the tree is completely hollow. As time passes small holes develop in the empty 'shell', so one day you can naturally enter into the heart of the Baobab!

When I have been out doing field work during my stay in Senegal, we have always passed by the most incredible Baobab landscapes. Last time I even had the chance to see the oldest Baobab in Senegal. It is around 500 years old. Since it is more than 200 it was possible to get into the actual tree. That was such a.... special experience. It was pitch dark, but the small holes in the tree let in tiny rays of light allowing the eye to see the inside after having adjusted. It felt strangely safe and protected as we were standing there in the dark. Well, at first, at least. In the crown of the tree a big colony of bats lived. They were quietly munching around it seemed, making small squeaky noises. Of course, one of them felt like properly welcoming us by sending down a small 'gift' into my hair. Very entertaining for my colleagues. However, it is a highly sacred tree with many myths and extraordinary tales associated with it. We were even told that the tree grants wishes. You have to rest your palms against the side of the tree and give it a little push, while thinking of your wish.

Getting in and out of the tree was quite a challenge. Since the tree does not grow holes in order to have people running in and out, the exit was not too comfortable. It felt a bit like being born out of the Baobab. Seeing the pictures afterwards, it also looked like it I realised. I was the smallest of us, so judging from how awkward I look, you can only imagine how funny my colleagues looked.

Me making a wish

The Baobab from the outside

The bats

Getting out

House-sitting

This week, one of my friends went for a conference in Côte d'Ivoire, so he asked me to look after his place while he was gone. It is situated in the more exclusive part of Dakar close to beautiful beaches and delicious restaurants, and no shouting mosques. Not only that, the place is also equipped with a garden with a pool, a generator meaning no power cuts and WARM water!! Who can say no to a week in that kind of luxury?! Little did I know that the apartment is part of the coolest art house! The artist collects metal, bottle caps, broken glass or mirrors or whatever she can find in the streets. She then use these materials to make all sorts of incredible art pieces:

The garden with art work hanging from the house

The workshop where the guard is having his breakfast and one of the artist's employees is stamping out bottle caps

The famous Senegalese musician Youssou Ndour perpetuated in bottle caps

Workshopping the Senegalese way

Since Christmas, my boss has been talking about this workshop he would like me and a colleague to arrange on adaptation to coastal erosion. I cannot count the number of times we have set a date just to cancel it a few days before the departure. So I was rather surprised when I found myself in a car on my way to Joal at 5am. The workshop was held at the headquarters of our primary partner, Dynamique Femme, about 3 hours from Dakar down the coast. Now, this is not the first workshop I have participated in down here, so I know the procedures and general chaos that comes with these kinds of events. Still, being the one arranging it made it slightly more challanging. The guy who was supposed to bring the projector had forgotten it, our dictaphone and camera was all of a sudden out of battery (the driver had been having fun doing tapes of himself over the night), EVERYBODY was at least one hour late and so on and so forth. On the picture below you can see the attendance an hour after we should have started. During the day the number of participants more than doubled.

 Well, everything works out in the end anyway, so why not just laugh about it. If not before, people will certainly show up for the 'pause café'. That is an essential element of workshops here. When the welcoming speech is done people start getting restless in their chairs, impatiently looking out the door hoping get a glance of what is waiting. The pause café has to include an impressive selection of pastries, juices and hot beverages, and enough to keep you full preferably the rest of the day.

Biggest kanelgiffel I have seen in my life

When the pause café is finally done, the workshop can begin! The Senegalese just love to talk. In general, everybody's convinced that they have all the right answers and the necessary knowledge to save the world. So the least they can do is to share it with the rest of us. This means that every single participant contributed with a presentation during the workshop, which summed up to more than 30 speeches during the days of the workshop. Always being extraordinarily polite, every single presentation must start out with thanking the people arranging the workshop, the host organisation, the prior speakers for their wonderful contributions etc. That can easily take up the first 5-10 minutes of the speech. And then they start talking, rarely prepared or structured in any way, but always with a great passion and capturing gestures and vivid facial expressions. Often a speech ends out in a heated discussion where the whole room gets involved. Unfortunately, the 'plenum debates' were mostly in Wolof, so I did not understand much, however making it no less entertaining to follow.

Well, I shouldn't be the one joking with all these endless contributions. Even i had the chance to do a presentation at this workshop. I was a bit worried that a big discussion in Wolof would follow my contribution too. But, the other participants were very respectful and attentive during my speech, and kept the following discussion in French.

The lake that was supposed to be PINK

Me and some friends decided to take a day of tourism and therefore went for a day-trip to see the famous 'Lac Rose'. A certain type of algae lives in the lake, which produce a red pigment. The colour should be reinforced by sunlight. We had seen some beautiful picture on the internet and it seemed very impressive. So safe to say that we were slightly disappointed when this was what met us:

 
Apparently, the whole sunlight-colour-reinforcement concept means that there will be absolutely no trace of pink what so ever if the sun don't shine bright and has done it during the entire day. And what was the weather like when we chose to stop by? Perfectly cloudy. Disappointed over the so-called pink lake we went for a walk around the lake to see if we would bump into something more exciting. This time we were in luck. We met a couple of dudes with an old, worn-out jeep-kind-of-vehicle. They offered tours around the Dakar Rally area, which happens to be situated right behind Lac Rose. We negotiated a fair price and jumped in. The Dakar Rally has existed since the 1970s and is a huge dessert race starting in Paris and going all the way to this spot in Senegal. Since the conflict broke out in Mauritania in 2008 the final destination of the race has been moved, so now whoever who has a car they are willing to sacrifice for some hours of adrenalin-kicking fun, are free to race around the off-track tracks.

As you can see from the pictures, this car had been sacrificed for this purpose a loooong time ago. I was actually impressed that it only broke down once while we were racing the sand dunes. The guys were used to fixing it and had it up and running in no time. Fear was obviously not a phenomenon they knew of. Sometimes I wondered if they even realised that we had nothing but a small bench to hold onto in the back of the car. Grab on to whatever and do not let go! The initial disappointment turned into a great afternoon of fun and action. Typical weekend in this country. You never know what's awaiting you, but you know it's going to fun!

Christmas trip in Senegal: Saint Louis part 3

Christmas Day and Eve was celebrated in a rather unconventional way. After a day at the pool it seemed a bit bizarre that we all of sudden had to get in a Christmas mood. It turned out quite ‘hyggeligt’ though. At the hotel their mood setter involved a live band playing Senegalese music accompanied by traditional dance (some of us even participated… hrm Toby...), followed by a menu consisting of different sorts of seafood. After the show we went back to our hut where a cardboard Christmas tree (all the way back from our days in Namibia), presents and Danish ‘konfekt’ awaited us.  Honestly, who can ask for more on a Christmas Eve?!

Equipped with loads of new experiences and a sizable djembe I sent off my family to good, (c)old Denmark after 10 unforgettable days together with them in Senegal. 

Christmas trip in Senegal: Saint Louis part 2

Well, we did actually manage to go for a small trip to see the historical ‘centre ville’ of Saint Louis one of the days. Anyway, it is not something one should postpone for too long, since the small island probably soon will be situated under sea level… Saint Louis was the first capital of Senegal, back when the French had colonised the country. The structure of the city and its buildings are clearly characterised by this heritage. Unfortunately, it does not seem like it has been maintained since the French left at the beginning of the last century. Still, there was a very lovely ambiance.

The only 'mosque' in Senegal that has a bell in the tower...

However, Saint Louis also has a less charming side. The city namely has a big fishing industry going, which means that the entire town has this certain odour to it.