Sunday, February 23, 2014

The joy of the previous night out was short-lived for me. I got sick during the night, sudden, fortunately relatively short-lived, but draining. So this morning, I did not feel (of apparently look) very good. The last visit to the buffet breakfast at the Radisson provided me with a pot of tea, some bananas and yoghurt, and a piece of bread. I had taken some Imodium and Tylenol and had a lot of water with me and was hoping for the best. After stocking up on the food items, I elected to pass on the last study session at 9 AM and go lie down, hoping I would feel better for the remainder of the day's activities. Fortunately that extra hour really helped and I felt not exactly refreshed but at least like a living human being.

We boarded the bus at 10 AM for our last forma activity, a special meeting that had been arranged by Awa, local Dakar woman who has been active in government and is running for office as the mayor of her local region, and that was to be a meeting with Aminata Touré (Mimi), the prime minister of Senegal.

From the Guardian News at the time of her appointment in September 2013 and better written than I anything I could write"

"SENEGAL HAILS NEW PRIME MINISTER KNOWN FOR FOOTBALL AND FEMINISM"

On Sunday night, Aminata Touré was named prime minister of Senegal. True to Touré's style, she announced the appointment herself. …A new prime minister forms a new cabinet. It was thought that Touré would have the cabinet by the end of the week. She had it by Monday evening. That's how Mimi Touré, as she is called, works. Touré is known as the Iron Lady. Every woman who rises to a certain level of government becomes an Iron Lady in the press. The men are, well, just guys. Whichever mineral flows through the veins of Aminata Touré, she has spent all of her adult life working as a human rights and women's rights activist, who has worked in Senegal and around the world on women's issues and, more generally, at the intersection of social and economic justice struggles….Since adolescence, Touré has been an activist, a militante, and a footballeuse who played for the Dakar Gazelles. At university, Touré worked with the Communist Workers' League. Since then, her militancy has turned to family planning, both in Senegal, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, and around the world, working most recently with the United Nations Population Fund. At the UNFPA, Touré was chief of the gender, human rights and culture branch. There, she pushed and pulled to get all sorts of people, agencies, governments to begin to think and act more seriously about "gender mainstreaming". Touré understood that, from the state perspective as well as from an analytical point of view, women's reproductive rights are part of the governmental budget process, and so the two have to be synthesised. She has argued that women's empowerment and gender equality are key to any kind of health programme. She has said that access to health is a human right, and that that human right is first and foremost a women's right. Repeatedly, she has shown the world that, if not another world, then a better world is possible … now.

Our meeting started about ½ hour late, but understandable given that this was specially arranged at the last minute and occurring on a Sunday. We were told we needed our passports and would have to undergo security clearance, but that never happened. The meeting was in a large yellow government building.. After waiting in a room with not quite enough chairs for everyone, we were escorted down the hall passing the entrance to the Prime Minister's Office and were taken into a a lovely room which appeared to be the Cabinet Minister's Room. Seats were arranged around a long conference table with highly polished wood, and there was a microphone with on/off buttons at each site. Behind the head of the table, the wall was covered with a woven purple and gold tapestry. Ms. Toure entered shortly thereafter as we all stood and applauded. We sat down and after a few brief words from her we all introduced ourselves. Ruth spoke some words about AJWS, and then she spoke for about 15 minutes about key issues facing Senegal now and some actions being taken that included access to health care, institutional corruption, and developing an economic infrastructure. We had decided as a group beforehand on three questions to ask her that expanded on the issue of corruption and gay rights. She was candid in answering and made it clear that she was representing the opinion of the government. After the formal session we all joined in front of the tapestry for photos. What a special opportunity, to meet with someone so important who was open and candid in that setting.

We then departed, piled back into the bus, and went for a drive to the restaurant for lunch, Lagon 1, on a cliff on the end of the island. The restaurant's design was based on a yacht. There was small beach right next to the restaurant with sunbathers. The setting could have Malibu or Laguna Beach. The menu was primarily fish and seafood (no surprise.) I was feeling better and hungry and ordered grilled shrimp that were huge in a an orange with a touch of curry sauce. It was quite good, filling, and way too much. The restaurant was not inexpensive and almost everyone there was white. When finished, we walked out and spent a few minutes on the beach - I could have just stopped and stayed right there. But, alas, it was time to go, so back to the hotel. Abdou had arranged for a driver for the beginning of the next independent leg of my trip. The departure time kept changing and by the time we got to the hotel I only had about 15 minutes to collect my luggage and checkout. There were fond farewells with the few people still remaining in the lobby.

The driver was a bit late, but did arrive around 3:30.There was one other woman in the back and loud music with strong drumbeats blaring. I told Abdou I couldn't spend the next however many hours like that. I was invited to sit in the front and the chauffeur/driver turned the music down. We spent then about 45 minutes driving around Dakar to pick up two more women. The driver was not exactly sure where to go. It would seem when he would get in the right neighborhood he would roll the window down and yell at whoever was walking on the street for directions. After doing this several times for each of the two passengers, we did finally locate them and the piled into the back seat. The ride was quite uneventful. We made one stop at a gas station with an adjoining "fast food" restaurant, and the driver disappeared for a while, but no one else got out.

A couple of hours later, at some sort of intersection, the driver pulled over to the side of the road and turned around and started yelling at the women in the back. I had no idea what that was about, but after he turned off the main road and we drove all over through a town called Louga to find the place to drop off one of the women. The trip back to the highway was faster and much more direct (maybe he had missed an earlier turnoff?) We continued and I asked how far to Saint Louis and was told about 80 km. It was getting dark. About ½ hour later, I thought perhaps it would be good if he knew where I was going. He had never asked and Abdou had not known. I took out the paper with the address and telephone number and handed it to him. He just gave it to the woman in the back. I pulled out my flashlight and explained to her it was the address where I was going. She called the number on the paper and gave the phone to the driver who appeared to be better informed when he completed the conversation than when he started. We got to what appeared to be Saint Louis, but not the part I was going to on the island and dropped off the second woman. Then about another 10 minute drive. I thanked the woman in the back who turned out to be a law student and we were dropping her off near the university. Then back we came and actually made it to the guesthouse Jamm about 8:30.

I received a warm welcome from Yves, the owner and was invited into the salon to join him for an aperitif. Jamm has a lovely alcohol based punch with some ginger syrup and mint leaves and it really hit the spot. Once "happy hour" was over, up to my room, the "bleu" room to settle in.