Kor bi jeex na! Ramadan is over. Alhamdelilah. This year was my first time fasting during the full month. For those who aren't familiar, this entails waking up to eat before sunrise, going without food or water during the day, and breaking fast after dusk. Of course, lots of praying is involved or, as in my case, meditation and reflection on beliefs and values. The hardest part was the overall fatigue from lack of sleep and fuel. The best part was breaking fast with neighbors, friends, family, and strangers throughout the month. I can count the number of times I ate at home on one hand during Ramadan. Now that it's over and I'm writing this in an empty apartment (except for the cats) after having cooked and eaten alone, I miss the camaraderie of the ndogou (Wolof word for 'cutting' the fast).

Ndogou: coffee, tea and hot chocolate with bread and jam, dates, and sandwich cold cuts

Left: Moussou and Oumy during Oumy's Ramadan bday dinner.

Right: Oumy's bday dinner. Maty, Fatou ak bagasam, Julie (my current roommate), and me.
Far right: Malang, Papis and Ibrahima (aka sai sai bu mag).










On the down side, I totally let my application work and GMAT studying get behind due to my general lack of energy. I realize that this goes somewhat against the rules of Ramadan, which state that fasting must not prevent one from fulfilling one's normal obligations. However, I have also realized that I am really stubborn. I decided to fast and I wanted to do it all the way. Now I just have a lot of catching up to do. I'm okay with that.

This past weekend was Korite (Eid Al Fitr in Arabic), which I spent with the family at Maambooy's house (Grandma's house). Here are some pics of the festivities below.

Women of the family prepare the food during the day.

Yacine Ba, my little sister when I was here in 2006. Same age as Simone.

Moussou and I went with a black and gold theme.

We even got Tinari to dress up for the festivities.

Me and Maambooy, my Senegalese grandma.

The African Renaissance? It started sometime this past year. Oh, they're building something on the second hill, no not the lighthouse hill, the other one. Who knows, maybe a meteorological research facility? You know with all of this climate change, that would be a good idea. Or maybe a school of the arts - the light up there is probably fantastic. Who knows....

This was what was going through my head when I first noticed the construction site on the hill near Ouakam. How were we to know the extent of the project? What started as a small curiosity, something that maybe evoked some questioning in the periphery of one's mind, has now turned into a 500 meter monstrosity that cannot go unnoticed.

President Wade is building a statue that is supposed to represent la Renaissance Africaine (the African Renaissance). This is also the theme of the FESMAN, which for the third time, has been postponed a year (or two, who knows?). It seems that Senegal is not ready for such a renaissance, if it is even ever going to happen. The statue itself is the image of a man with a woman clinging to him on the left and a baby, arm outstretched pointing to some unclear future, on the right. It absolutely reeks of agenda-pushing, political symbolism and megalomania. In fact, it would be interesting to do a study of hideous political statues around the world and what point in the career of their megalomaniac-creators they represent (specifically, I'm thinking of Suharto's 'Pizza Man' in Jakarta).



Not only is the statue a looming symbol of the President's enormous ego, it also represents perhaps some millions of dollars worth of public land that were exchanged for the monument's construcation. There are many conspiracy theories behind the monument's financing; some people claim that it is funded by North Korea (oddly enough), others are sure that it is a Free Mason's project. The only thing that is known for sure, announced by the President himself, is that the he inspired the design and therefore will be claiming 35% of the tourism profit, which he projects to be comparable to that reeled in by the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty. Of course, he will be donating this to charity, a direct quote (translated) : "The copyright belongs to me and all funds earned as royalties will be earmarked for children and education." Now how is a president of a country, someone who is supposed to be a public servant, going to claim the design of a national monument to be his personal intellectual property?? It's just too much, and yet, for Wade, not enough. To top it off he is having his insidious son and successor-in-the-grooming, Karim Wade, manage the monument and its projected revenue. No comment.


For more details on the statue and the public's response, check out this short article.

La Renaissance Africaine (one head missing in it's current state)

A rendering of the final product featuring the Senegalese First family (Wade's son, Karim, as the Mini-Wade baby...lol.

SET SETAL: I'm back in Dakar and loving it, in spite of the heat and the power cuts. If I saw you over the summer, then you probably have already heard about the Set Setal that we did in my quartier (neighborhood). Either way, here is the story in full...

Set Setal
Last year my fabulous fellow Barnard alum and roommate at the time, Nomaduma Masilela (the notorious 'Duma' I've referred to in past posts), received a fortuitous grant to research what is called Set Setal in Dakar. Set Setal was a Senegalese youth movement in the late 80s that was born out of a widespread discontent with poor or nonexistent public services (such as garbage collection) and dirty politics, among many other factors. Young people took to the streets, not with sticks or guns or banners, but with brooms. They held what are essentially block parties to clean up entire neighborhoods. Local artists and arts associations emerged from the woodwork and painted elaborate murals featuring everything from the statue of liberty, to Disney characters, to public health guidelines. The movement went beyond the physical realm; it was also about cleansing leadership and cleansing self. One can still see remnants of the movement today on the fading public art throughout the city. Unfortunately, it is less common to see Set Setals organized today, though the poor public services and political corruption have not really changed.

Ouakam
Our Dakar neighborhood is called Ouakam. Supposedly it used to be a Baobab forest with lush gardens rich with all kinds of fruit during the rainy season. My little corner of Ouakam, Cité Assemblée, is nestled between the airport wall (far away from plane traffic to avoid the noise but close enough to the towers to always have the light) and les Mammelles (Dakar's only two hills that resemble breasts jutting out of the coastal landscape). On one hill sits a quaint lighthouse, which is still functioning. On the other, President Wade is building a hideous statue that is supposed to represent 'The African Renaissance' (more on hideous statue in a future blog). Apparently our cité was named after the National Assembly because this plot of land was supposed to be dedicated to housing assembly members. However, according to my expert on Ouakam history, friend and neighbor Papis Diouf, you could not pay some people to live here at that time (late 80s). Ouakam was said to be home to all kinds of evil spirits - I'm not sure if this was because of the Baobab forest (Baobabs are often spirit-inhabited) or just the fact that it was somewhat virgin territory compared to the southern parts of the city 'developed' during colonial times. Now it seems that Ouakam has been declared 'spirit free' because it is the coolest place to live.

ASC Doomu Penc Mi
Association Sportif and Culturel (ASC) is a community youth organization dedicated to hosting social/cultural events, organizing elaborate sports competitions, and encouraging community service. Every neighborhood has at least one. Ours is called Doomu Penc Mi, which literally translates from Wolof to Children of the Assembly. Our local ASC currently has a budget of $20.

The Idea
Rewind to mid-June. We were doing some final end-of-year reporting in the office before closing shop for the summer. Duma was completing her research. ASC, which we didn't know much about at the time, had just done a blood drive after a series of postponed, canceled, and other wise deferred projects. Duma and I had long been toying with the idea of doing something small in the neighborhood - something resembling a Set Setal, but not quite one. We were thinking that we could perhaps buy some paint and do a mural ourselves on the wall adjacent to our apartment. While we were at it we could clean up the trash that had been accumulating there and maybe rearrange the pile of random rocks that lay against the wall into a cute design. It was kind of silly of us. We thought keeping it small and limited to the confines of our doorstep would prevent us from being labeled as presumptuous outsiders who sweep into a neighborhood just for the sake of a project. We underestimated our own ability to become part of the community. I went to talk to Oumy, my downstairs neighbor and sister to my absentee landlord. Oumy is like a cool aunt in this home away from home. I went to make sure that our plans were okay, that we weren't going to be reprimanded for painting a private wall. I left with a much bigger vision - why not clean up something more substantial, paint something bigger? In front of the airport wall there is a canal that has become the neighborhood garbage dump. It smells, it’s unsanitary and is a blight on our public space. If we’re going big, why not that big?

Community Organizers

First we met with M. Pape Ndiaye, a very well respected community organizer in Cité Assemblée. He invited us to attend a neighborhood council meeting and present our idea to the leaders of the community. They were very receptive. Then Oumy sent three very entrepreneurial and dedicated ASC members to help us: Papis, Mustafa and Malang. Just to give you a sense of what I mean by entrepreneurial, every fall these three (ages ranging from 23-32) pool their savings, seek investors and spend about $2,000 travelling to the interior of the country and buying sheep. They buy a herd at a minimal wholesale price, pay for a truck to bring them back to Ouakam, pay for fodder, and set up shop around the corner from my apartment just in time for pre-Tabaski season. One need only spend a few days in Dakar during pre-Tabaski season to know that the mouton industry is quite lucrative. Anyway, Papis, Malang and Mustafa were invaluable additions to the Set Setal posse (as we later termed ourselves). They know pretty much every single person in the neighborhood and used that to take Duma and me door to door with our little Set Setal flyers to raise awareness about the big event. We asked families to come with brooms and to help provide water for those who would work during the day. We went downtown and bought paints and rollers. We visited the two Chefs de Quartier (community representatives) to get their blessings. Pape Ndiaye interfaced with the Ouakam Mayor’s office and got permission to use wheelbarrows, shovels, gloves and brooms that they had in stock. We rented a tent for the older people to sit in the shade and still feel a part of the action. We hired a neighborhood DJ. It became official.

The Big Day

June 28, 2009 - 8:00am: We met Oumy, Mustafa, Papis and Malang on the street and carted the materials over to the site in wheelbarrows from Mustafa’s house, where they had been stored overnight. The guys went to get the tent and set it up. Oumy and I made several attempts to wake up the DJ. We put on our gloves and got to work, a little worried that no one else would show up. An hour or so later the airport wall was bustling with activity. Women showed up and jumped into the canal with us, brooms in hand. The elders sat with the young children under the tent and watched approvingly. The men catapulted heaps of trash from out of the canal into a giant heap to be collected later. Girls walked around with thermoses of ice-cold water to offer folks who were working. Local artists whom we had invited got to work on the wall with the paint we had purchased. I’d say close to one hundred people were out there throughout the day. At around 11am the DJ finally arrived (it took about 20 minutes for some kids to cart his speakers over from down the street). We had planned to work until 2pm, the hottest part of the day, but people stayed beyond that point to see that the job was done. The end product is phenomenal. The canal is absolutely emptied of trash – kids were running through it. We cleaned the other side of the canal and painted a series of colorful murals. The two Chefs de Quartier came to show their support and, near the end of all of the work, the Mayor of Ouakam showed up! It was a good opportunity for community activists to propose long-term goals and show how this day of work was but a short-term ‘band-aid’ on a larger public services problem. Everyone was game. Band-aid or not, it was a beautiful day.

For images of the Set Setal click here.

Back in NYC! I love living in Senegal, but I must say it does feel good to be home! I arrived on Monday morning and am still pretty jet-lagged so I haven't gotten around to calling and visiting folks yet...but I will! I will be here for a month spending time with family and friends, attending a prep course for the GMAT exam I will take (along with the GRE) before I return, and meeting with grad students, professors and professionals to collect as much information and advice about the grad school as possible. I have a very full month ahead.


When I came into the city in an airport shuttle from JFK, I was overwhelmed by what felt like an onslaught of ruthless advertising: eat this, but don't gain weight, look like this, buy me to loose weight and look like this, wear this, drive this, buy me to make your life shinier, happier, sexier.....believe me, you NEED this.


The other day I was walking back home from a jog in riverside park (glorious! so green and fresh) when I saw a man on a bench dressed up as a twelve year old girl. He was wearing candy striped leggings, a tight top with a Van Gogh print, and a pink scrunchie held back his stringy, gray ponytail. He sat there casually flipping through a newspaper, impervious to my curious gaze. New York City - you gotta love it.

******

On another note, a couple of weeks ago Duma and I went to visit a well known Senegalese artist named Kansi. He and his wife, Musahna Ali (from Philly), are living about 3 hours outside of Dakar in a warehouse turned studio/gallery/living space. They are working with a team of masons and the local community to build a holistic art center using ancient mud brick and sacred arch construction techniques. It is a very ambitious, but necessary project that will not only promote and preserve the traditional arts of the region but will restore a sense of pride and productivity to the local population.


It was really fun to be able to spend time out in the open country side (nothing but baobab trees and shrubs for miles with a few cows thrown into the mix) with Kansi, Musahna and their beautiful kids. Duma and I made our own little mosquito net tent among the tents that the family and their guest friend/architect, Coleman, sleep in. Now looking back, it's incredible to think about how different life is and the world looks from the other side. Air smells different. Stars look farther away. Time has a different rhythm.


Recently one of my students sent me an email describing her transition back to life in America after spending a semester in Senegal. She said she is giving presentations about Senegal to her cousin's 5th grade class as part of her plan to promote cross cultural exploration. She included a list of questions she is frequently asked by adults (relatives, professors, acquaintances) and another list from children (the 5th graders). The questions from adults are proof that there is such thing as a stupid question (e.g. do they eat people?). The questions from the kids are sincere and genuinely curious (e.g. what does the language sound like? what kind of games do they play?).


I found this somewhat comforting. In spite of the ubiquitous ignorance about 'Africa,' there is some hope that in the future Senegal won't seem so far away.

A June 7th Surprise: Have I mentioned that I am in love with my friend/roomie Duma? Knowing that we won't be together for my July 7th birthday and also knowing the plight of summer birthday party organizing when everyone is traveling, Duma threw me a fabulous surprise party on June 7th, a month before my actual birthday. It was the cutest thing ever. She recruited some friends to help distract me during the day and her and Fatou Sow (mostly Fatou) whipped up a mouth-watering ceeb bu weex (my fave) and white sangria. I came home around 5pm and was greeted with a big 'surprise!' from friends. Thank you all - especially Duma. It was really special.

Mariam, Tinari and Gabe cutting fruit for Sangria

Ceeb bu weex bu neeeexx

gifts from Mariam and Esperance

Duma has aptly named this photo "Ceebcoma"

A call to Artists and Innovators: A new opportunity has been posted on the FESMAN website. Check it out and submit a project proposal if you are interested. For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, check out my earlier post about FESMAN in Dakar December 2009.

Support your project Fesman 2009 is launching a call for projects on a worldwide scale for artists from the black community illustrating one or another of the following themes:

• The United States of Africa, the African Renaissance
• The dialogue between the Diaspora and the African continent

These projects presented on the website will be submitted to a vote by the public. Each vote will represent a value unit of 5,000 CFA (about $10) which can be converted into any international currency. The same individual may vote as many times as he wishes. You, in collaboration with at least two artists, would like to submit a project. Please register to receive an information packet.

The projects will be on-line starting in September 2009. The vote will be accessible on the same dates.

An Update: The semester is over! We went on our final program trip at the beginning of the month (to the river delta region of Sine Saloum on the beautiful island of Mar Lodj). Then came exams, the re-entry session to prep students for counter-culture shock and advise them on how to leverage their study abroad experience in networking and interviews, and the farewell dinner. Now Serigne and I are just working on submitting grades and end of year reports before enjoying a nice long break.

In the mean time, I've met with an old acquaintance from my work with AWOMI in 2006, Coumba Toure, who is now the West Africa representative of Ashoka. For those who don't know, Ashoka is an international organization that supports social entrepreneurs through a fellowship program. It is Echoing Green's peer, but different in that it doesn't focus on start-ups and is more established internationally with regional offices and programs. Coumba came to speak to our students about gender issues and public health in Senegal (one of her many areas of expertise as activist, Ashoka rep, and childrens' book author). She mentioned that she is brainstorming around the best way to establish a new 'Youth Venture' program in the region that will fit well within the West African context and a) spread the word about social entrepreneurship; b) encourage young people to use social entrepreneurship as a way to fix local problems big and small; and c) provide support for them to do this. I jumped on board to help with brainstorming, research and yes - a little fundraising. Last week was Ashoka's regional fellow-selection period so one of their founding board members was in town. I was fortunate enough to have dinner with him, Coumba and an Ashoka intern, Simon, during which he entertained us with stories of narrowly escaping Suharto's secret police in Indonesia in the 60's due to his dissertation research on the entrenched corruption of the forestry industry and other equally exciting adventures. I'm looking forward to possibly working more with Coumba and the team to develop a network of young social entrepreneurs in the region. It's nice to know that now that I've been introduced to the world of social entrepreneurship, its lingo, its network, I can still continue to learn and contribute in various capacities anywhere in the world - thanks EG!

Another interesting update is that a couple of weeks ago I was invited to speak at the 25th anniversary of my old elementary school, the International School of Dakar (ISD). I'm sure it's pretty hard for most international schools to keep up with their alumni who are constantly in flux - so they were really excited to hear that I was in town. I must admit that I got really nervous about speaking - I'd been asked to speak once in the afternoon to the student and faculty/staff assembly and again in the evening to board members, parents and invited dignitaries. Mind you, in the evening I was to share the stage with the U.S. Ambassador and many of the parents are ambassadors themselves. But in the end all went well and I was thanked and complimented by students, teachers and parents, which was nice. It was amazing to see how much has changed and also to reunite with several of my former teachers who are still there. Overall it was a nice experience that allowed me to reminisce but also appreciate just how much I've grown since my own years at ISD.

Well I'm afraid I have to end this update because I have to run to a performance. This week is the Kaay Fecc international dance festival (kaay fecc means "Come Dance!" in Wolof). The cousin of a friend is performing in an hour and I promised to go watch. Last night's performance ranged from the incredible to the incomprehensible. Who knows what conceptual art delights tonight holds in store....