So many things have happened since I last wrote. We've had the first rounds of elections for one thing and I finally visited Kaolack having not been back there since October. I also saw the president and have been going on election campaigns here for the another candidate.
There has been quite a bit of hype recently about the elections. When I first arrived people were talking about them but it was just occasionally, now almost everywhere you go people are discussing politics. It seems like everything people do relates back to how badly the country wants change. I'm under the impression that most people want Abdoulaye Wade, the current president, to step down. The day that he came to Joal started off as an average day. I taught my 6e class (they behaved!) and then on high spirits I went to teach my Germans. I ended up letting most of the students go home because everyone was SOOOO worked up about the fact that the president was coming to Joal-Fadiouth. It seemed safer to let them go home as there had been rumors that people were going to attack the convoy. I had been given strict instructions that morning that if I sensed any danger I was to come straight back home, so as the time Wade was meant to arrive neared, the school became emptier and emptier, in the end the remaining students all got sent home. I decided to go home too, there was an odd feeling in the air. I managed to video Wade as he was leaving Joal. In actual fact, I got right up to the car and got a close up video of him. He seems quite small and definitely older then I though. Being the calm place it is, nothing actually happened to the Wade convoy until he got slightly further away, outside of Joal.
My social life has been fairly influenced by politics recently. The Friday after I saw Wade I went to a Macky Meeting. It was here in Caritas (the region of Joal I live in) and was to rally the troupes to vote for Macky Sall. It was like most other gatherings here in Senegal: there was drums, dancing and a lot of kids running around. Ciara and I had spend the entire night before making paper crowns to give to the children, when we tried to hand them out the kids went mental trying to grab them. In the end they made the kids answer a question correctly in order to get a crown. That worked for one child and then they went mental jumping around everywhere. It was slightly chaotic but it made for some great videos!
I spend the next couple of days doing some interviews in Wolof, French, German and English! Not exactly sure what the people replied to my questions when I was interviewing them in Wolof but I got the general idea and I'm sure I'll find a willing translator later. I did have some issues filming people in the pharmacy but in the end I go some amazing answers. I've found that the younger generations are more willing to voice their opinions where as some of the others are more cautious about what people more highly ranked then them might think.
On Thursday the 23rd Macky President convoy came to Joal. It consisted off him driving to different locations in Joal and giving speeches. I managed to film his entry into Joal and then a big of a speech later on. I got a little bit confused about whether it was safe to follow the convoy (Aicha had called me and said something that I couldn't understand because of the noise) so got left behind with my friends from Caritas. My Uni friends had jumped on the back of the truck and headed off after Macky. Turns out I was meant to get onto the trucks as well... By the time I got to the location where Macky was giving his speech it was almost over but I managed to film the bit where he mention thanks to Madame Wone!
The 26th was the day of the elections. It started off like any other Sunday. I got up early and washed my clothes and then me and Ciara got ready to go and check out the APR headquarters. We were meant to go and film the women preparing the food. We headed off optimistic leaving the new 14 year old maid in charge. I slightly underestimated how long it was to the headquarters and insisted that we walk. About 30minutes later we arrived. We couldn't see an obvious door so we walked into the neighors front door. Turned out we hit the right house, we walked through expecting to open the door at the end of the corridor and see lots of women looking. We walk out and there are three women sitting there (peeling onions of course) preparing what does not look like enough food to feed all the civil servants who are working at the voting polls. After filming the food preparations we headed to near the old lycee to see how people in Senegal vote. We walked in joking we'd come to vote and filmed some and sneakily took some pictures. We headed to two more school after that and in each one we became less afraid that we might be shouted at and I actually got a really good video of someone casting their vote! After the elections my political social life took a bit of a break because the entire country was waiting for the results of the first round of elections to come out. By Friday it was clear that no one candidate had gotten more then 50% of the votes so the two most popular candidates (Wade and Macky) have to do a second round of voting. Because the country was safe again we decided to head back to Kaolack for the weekend. It was wonderful to be back! We got to sleep past 7am and were free to have a drink in the local pub etc. It is nice there but Joal is home and I wouldn't trade it with anywhere else. The rest of the week went by fairly normally and I didn't participate in any political events until the Tuesday 13th. I went along for a publicity caravan through for Macky President. I actually managed to get on the back of the truck this time. I filmed the entire tour through Joal so hopefully got some nice shots of where I live. I was given a cap which I spent most of the time holding on to as the kids being how they are here ran along side the cars for about an hour. (I don't understand how they can run for so long in this heat.) Wednesday was my Deutsch Essen Tag. I made them Kartoffelsalat and some Marmor Kuchen. I think it was a successful event! Thursday I decided to head to Mbour with the rest of the Macky supporters in Joal to see Macky's speech there. It was an interesting event... The only way I can describe it is to compare it to how I feel when I'm at a gig. There was people pushing us from all sides trying to get into the arena where Macky would be giving his speech. Crowd control was not what i was used to, they tried to stun gun people and in the end they even gased the crowd with coughing gas! It was an experience to say the least! I did however manage to get an amazing video of the people going nuts when Macky finally arrived! At the moment Macky and Wade are travelling the country, campaigning in most of the major towns. The second round of elections are on Sunday so we will see what happens to the future of Senegal. The people are hoping for change!