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A lot's been going on since I last posted, so this is going to be jam packed and a little disjointed. I'm going to try to keep things more focused in future. For now though, an update on our first week in Kaolack!
We left Dakar last Saturday, taking a sept place (long, 7 seater cars that seem to be the main form of transport around Senegal; from what I gather you get in one going where you want to go and wait for all the seats to be filled) for the 4 hour journey to Kaolack. The journey was beautiful - it started on a brand spanking new toll road out of Dakar, on the side of which we saw huge amounts of building work in progress (future sprawling suburbs?), and many a baobab tree. The last few hours of the drive turned into a game of extreme pothole dodging, which involved spending 50% of the time on the wrong side of the road, and forsaking the tarmac completely at points in favour of the (much smoother) off road.
Stepping out of the sept place outside Master P's house, a mix of his brothers, friends (cousins? We're still working out exactly how everyone's related) greeted us and whisked our bags inside. The house is centred around a courtyard, where most of the living and eating takes place, and has four or five bedrooms where various members of P's family sleep. We were immediately given a taste of relaxed life here, which involves lots of greetings (fist bump, high five, long and complicated secret handshake? Take your pick), sitting in the shade, and ataya; Senegalese tea. Ataya takes anywhere between half an hour and a few hours to make, it comprises heaps of jasmine tea, sugar and mint, and very little water; it's very strong and sweet but you only drink a little.
That afternoon, P and co took us to the centre, Diapalante (where we sleep and work), to settle in. It's a few minutes down the road from P's house but involves navigating a few very large puddles. The centre needed a little bit of TLC as it had been empty for the month between last year's volunteers (Susanna and Precious) leaving and our arrival, but a few hours of cleaning and unpacking has made it more homely. The building is on the nicer side for Kaolack, we've got power and internet (most of the time), running water (maybe 50% of the time), and, most importantly, electric fans in our rooms (thank you, whichever set of volunteers made that investment).
On Sunday morning, P took us to Kaolack market. It's huge; the biggest in West Africa, and absolutely amazing. It's a mix of indoor and outdoor, and loosely divided into sections; one part is rows and rows of tailors, the next full of fabric (I'm already planning to stuff my suitcase with it before returning to the UK), another is second hand clothes, and so on. P was born in Kaolack and says he still can't always find his way around the market. We've been back three or four times already and every time we see a whole new section. On Tuesday, Ndeme (P's wife) took us to get boubous made for tabaski (a huge Muslim festival on the 5th October). We spent a long time picking fabrics; I almost went for a beautiful jewelled blue silk, but it was rather pricey on our limited budget. It was around 8,000cfa per metre which is about £10; very expensive for life here, but beats John Lewis' £40 any day. Another one for the suitcase home. Once we'd bought fabric, we chose designs at the tailors, which Ndeme helped us to pick and explain in detail. Still not entirely sure what we'll be getting so I'm looking forward to picking them up on Thursday!
Sport, especially football, is huge here. Kids are almost always playing football outside P's, and it seems to constantly be on the telly. I think I've watched more English premier league this week than I ever did in England. We went to a game between two local teams on Sunday in which Goh, a friend staying with the family, was playing. The stadium is big and very well maintained, and the atmosphere was great. As the match started, so did the djembes, playing through the entire 90 minutes.
Work at the centre started on Monday morning. I doesn't open until after a little after tabaski but there's plenty to be done before then, like organising and cataloging the storage cupboard and dvd collection, updating the Diapalante website, attempting to fix some of the broken computers, setting up printers etc. We work from 10:30 - 1:30, take 3 and a half hours for lunch, then 4-9. Our weekends are Thursday and Friday.
I'm sure there's heaps more I've neglected to mention, but this is where I'm going to leave it for now. We're having a fantastic time; P's family are very good at making us feel at home, we've met tonnes of very friendly people, and it's been great to start to explore Kaolack a little. I'm looking forward to experiencing tabaski, meeting more of the centre's members when it opens, and really settling into life here.
- comments
mum Fab - I want all the fabrics, and can't wait to hear more about Tabaski (or is that Ta-birthday?). A brown cardboard box is on it's way...
Felicia The market sound amazing, especially the fabric! Looking forward to hearing about tabaski. Lots of love Lizzi!