February 17, 2014

After a solid fours hours of sleep in a lovely room at the Radisson Blu in Dakar, I awoke, took a shower and got dressed, and got down to the breakfast buffet just before it closed at 10:30 AM . It was one of those nice international hotel type buffets with granola, cereal, eggs to order, various cheeses, meats, smoked salmon, breads, croissants, yoghurt, fruit, and juice. I joined the cousins, Karen and Carole for breakfast. Once finished back to the room to gather my luggage to go check out as we were leaving at 11:15 A.M. for our first visit.

We drove through Dakar, the capital of Senegal. Traffic was not totally insane, but challenging enough that I would not want to be driving there. We passed shops, large open dirt covered spaces that were variously filled with stalls selling all sorts of things, like pots, machine parts, etc. or many taxi cabs in various stages of assembly and disassembly with spare parts lying around, stray goats, and many people. We arrived at our destination in in the rough, working-class district of Parcelles Assainies — the name translates as "cleaned-up lots" to visit Y'en A Marre (Fed up or Enough is Enough). In Parcelles Assainies, the treeless streets are sandy and goats share the living space. This is a group formed by young musicians (rappers) and journalists about two years ago to work to social change due to frustrations with the government. We met with about twenty mostly men, but some women to learn about the group and engage in dialogue. Several members presented the history and structure. There is a core group comprised mainly of the founders and spirits (not representatives) 2011. started on 16 January 2011 in the apartment of artist Fadel Barro (now the headquarters where we met), over a cup of the strong tea called attaya, widely drunk all over West Africa. Dakar, the capital of Senegal, had seen three days of darkness without any electricity, and the young men sipping tea agreed that the country was on the verge of disaster. One of the first actions was called "1000 complaints to the Government" and was launched in the city of Rufisque. Everyone had their say - the farmers had a spokesperson, the women, the young etc. Y'en a marre was, and is, not a movement for young people alone - it involves everyone who is concerned about this country's future.

In this country of 13 million in which only 2 million have been registered to vote since about 60% of the population is less than 18, Yen A Marre mobilized 380,000 young people to register to vote before the Spring 2012 election and staged a major demonstrations prior to the election forcing President Abdoulaye Wade to back away from constitutional changes that would have almost ensured his third term in office. Senegal was ruled by the Socialist Party for 40 years until Abdoulaye Wade was elected president in 2000 after the "sopi" -movement ("change" in Wolof). He was reelected in 2007, but during his two terms amended Senegal's constitution over a dozen times to increase executive power and to weaken the opposition. Finally, his attempt to change the constitution in June 2011, and his decision to run for a third presidential term, prompted large public protests that led to his defeat in a March 2012 run-off election with Macky Sall. Once the new president was elected, he offered several group members government positions, but the group members/spirits do not want anything for themselves and declined. I was sitting next to the artistic director, a rapper. He asked quite an interesting question about Israel and Palestine, Jews and Muslims and the organization's position. Ruth diplomatically answered, in summary stating that this organization is about human rights, others deal with the Israel-Palestine situation. Later he told me he knew what she would say, but he wanted the others from Yen A Marre to hear the question and answer. After we heard the presentations from them, Ruth spoke, and AJWS gave them a plaque and orange AJWS bracelets. They gave each of us a Yen A Marre T shirt. Group photos were taken (I didn't get one) and we disbursed to go downstairs to look at pictures on the wall of the organization's activities, to view the posted Ten Commandments of Yen A Marre, and engage more personally. I spoke with a young woman who is a graduate student, has done work on ecohealth, has a father who is an art professor and a mother who works in the government ministry for women. We talked about her work, a bit about the status of women in Senegal, and I explained to her the term "glass ceiling". At the end, we hugged and exchanged contact information. The visit was invigorating and a wonderful way to start the formal part of the week.

We had box lunches and stopped near an empty lot to eat them. We sat on large chunks of concrete from what appeared to be a demolished building next to the weed filled lot and had our "picnic." From there we went back to the airport (was this déjà vu?) to check in for our flight to Ziguinchor. I spent some time in the airport working on the "blog" from the day before . The group is doing a daily journal with different people writing each day's entry and I was assigned the first day, so I had some pressure on me to do it. I had known about the request before we flew NY to Dakar so I had started it on the plane just before dinner.

The flight was about 45 minutes. I sat next to a Senegalese man, Pascal, who is a Catholic school director in the region (Casamance) we were flying to. He told me about 5-6% of the country is Catholic. I explained in my best French about AJWS and shared the materials we had been given about AJWS and its projects worldwide and specifically in Senegal. We exchanged contact information as we disembarked. The group was pleasantly surprised because, unexpectedly women from all the women's groups we would be meeting with, had come to the airport to greet us. There were many hugs and smiles. They brought a large bowl of rice (the grain on the plant) which is used in Senegal as flowers are used in the U.S. We all were looking forward to some rewarding interchanges the next days.

The drive was not far from the airport. Hotel Kadiandoumagne in Ziguinchor is on the water, actually a river inlet from the Atlantic Ocean. It is two stories, with rooms opening to the outdoors, lounge chairs and tables outside, a pool, dock, semi open air restaurant, and quite charming. We got our room keys (#43). The room is fine, mosquito netting suspended from boat paddles, TV, safe, bath (no hair dryer), internet. After checking in, I walked outside the hotel and just next door saw a group of people congregated by the water. There was a large pirogue (like a canoe) docked with people unloading large bags of rice. The people on the shore were talking the rice, some away in carts pulled by horses. A man named Mous approached me and explained a little about what was going on, they took me to the little booth with wood carvings by the street, telling me it was the African Museum. He explained some of the carvings, the first looking like a miniature easel. It was in fact a wooden stand to place one's cell phone on while it was being charged! So much for authentic African art. I explained to him what the word "moose" meant in English. He got the idea when he said "caribou."

As I turned to walk back to the hotel I saw several tourist with cameras pointing them up to the sky. I looked to see what they were looking at. It was a large tree filled with birds and nests. I am not sure what they are, but they are large birds, cormorant or heron sized. Back in the hotel, drop off my things, and down to the hotel restaurant for a buffet dinner. We were served Captain's Fish, ratatouilled, Grilled vegetables, Potato Salad, and Potato soup. Dessert consisted of little beignets filled with banana. Once finished, we were given the next day's schedule and dismissed for the night.